Shelby Cobra Coupe by DocRob - Model Factory Hiro - 1/12 - multi-media - Le Mans

[DocRob]

16 minutes ago, Canute said:

Riveting parts? WOW, I haven't had to do that since I built an old Bowser/English locomotive kit. They did include a riveting tool in the kit for peening over the rivets.  You two are heroes, in my book.

Well no, no riveting tool for the Cobra. There are about 300 to 400 tiny rivets made from cast white metal with the kit. They have different heads and diameters, but the ones, I have to apply in heavy doses now possess a 0,5 mm shaft, which means, there need to be numerous holes drilled with a 0,6 mm diameter. To add to that, most of the holes shouldn´t be drilled through, which makes it a bit more awkward. The tiny buggers will be glued in then with CA glue, not too easy with these little thingies, sometimes hard to pick with pointed tweezers.

Cheers Rob

[Canute]

Rob, good luck with those rivets. I salute your endeavors. 🙏

[CDW]

When it comes to something as small as those rivets, have you tried using a pointed dowel with some bees wax to hold the rivet rather than tweezers? My luck with super tiny parts and tweezers is terrible. The parts go flying off where I cannot find them. You have a long, tedious task in your future. 

[DocRob]

17 minutes ago, CDW said:

When it comes to something as small as those rivets, have you tried using a pointed dowel with some bees wax to hold the rivet rather than tweezers? My luck with super tiny parts and tweezers is terrible. The parts go flying off where I cannot find them. You have a long, tedious task in your future. 

Tweezers can be awkward with these rivets, but I still prefer working with them. I also have a wax pencil, which should be similar to your bees wax method. The difficult part is releasing the tiny rivet from the wax. With tweezers this is guaranteed, one way or the other .

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

I dreaded the day, but it had to be done. I speak about final test fitting of the main components, in this case the body to bonnet fit. This is quite delicate, as so many parts and sub assemblies are involved and the process is painful with some loosened parts, etc. and takes hours.
First, I screwed the body to the chassis. All doors and internal parts are only fixed preliminary. Then I mounted the bonnet to it´s hinges on the chassis and got that:



When I force the bonnet down, it will more or less fit, but without locking it somehow, it will open like shown.
I tried to identify the protruding parts and attempted to look, where they interfere, not an easy business, with only two tiny openings to see through on the sides of the bonnet.

As I identified the possible culprits, I dabbed some liquid mask onto them and closed the bonnet and bingo got the interfering locations.









In an iterative process, I removed the material as much as I dared and now the bonnet is paper thin, where the front funnels sit. It closes a bit better now, but not near as perfect as it should. At some point, I have no more possibilities to enhance the fit, as I also thinned the part in front, where the hinges meet the bonnet, to raise the bonnet a tiny bit. I will make a final try and then, I will add two tiny bolts, which force the bonnet into place and can be removed to open the bonnet.

Cheers Rob

Edited Friday at 02:21 PM by DocRob

[CDW]

That looks like surgeons work, it’s so delicate. In the end all your tedious work will pay off.

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, CDW said:

That looks like surgeons work, it’s so delicate. In the end all your tedious work will pay off.

I hope so Craig, there are limits about what I can further do. I may end with a bonnet, which not falls into place by itself, but needs a little push and two tiny rivets for fixing it closed. I could live with that. This is a very critical phase of the build and I don´t want to rush it, but I feel, in the end everything will come together sufficiently.

Cheers Rob

[mtaylor]

Since I doubt you can remove the motor and lower it, I think your solution is a good one.

[Egilman]

This is one of the things that scares me with MFH kits, they are beautifully made yes, meticulous details and assemble much like the real thing... But if they are off in any way in the first sections, it shows up way down the line...

 

The interference issue seen here would have easily been handled with shaving the engine parts to lower the carb and intake profile just a few portions of a mm... Then it would make it an easier job to shave the bonnet to fit...

 

I know back seat driver and monday morning quarterbacking... But I have faith that You will get it right my friend...

 

You skills are far past anything I've seen before...