Return to the BUILD

“Now that you have the main body frame, you can attach the floor panel, the dashboard and the front wheels to it.”

This is going to be one of the best packs of the entire build. So many things will be coming together!

Contents

Parts

This image includes the parts for the entire issue. However, the parts included with this pack are:

• Main Body Frame

Materials: The Main Body Frame is metal.

Screws

This pack comes with four bags of unlabeled screws containing the following type(s):

• Three (3) Type A – We have seen these before
• Six (6) Type C – We have seen these before too
• Nine (9) Type G – These are a NEW type of screw

• Three (3) Type V – These are also a NEW type of screw (similar but slightly smaller than Type A screws):

Build

The Main Body Frame

To complete this pack, we need to collect the following parts:

• Main Body Frame from this pack
• Front Left Wheel assembly from Pack 18
• Front Right Wheel assembly from Pack 22
• Dashboard/Steering Wheel assembly from Pack 27
• Speaker assembly from Pack 28
• Floor Panel assembly from Pack 35
• Front Suspension Springs/Shafts/Retainers from Pack 78
• Front Axle and Front Suspension Pins from Pack 79

Step 1

Fit the Floor Panel assembly down onto the Main Body Frame as shown, aligning the four posts on the bottom of the Floor Panel to the matching holes in the lower crossbars of the Main Body Frame.

Before we install the Floor Panel, I recommend protecting the wiring behind the foot pedals. This ‘pedal box’ will be pressed up against a metal firewall and we don’t want any damage or electrical shorts. The first thing I did was to carefully bend the wires straight down through the bottom of box. There are tiny notches here, so I feel this is where they were supposed to go anyway:

Then, I just covered the exposed end of the box with a piece of black electrical tape:

Before we can slide the Floor Panel into place, these two pedal switch wires need to be routed through the Main Body Frame as shown:

Now, slide the Floor Panel assembly down and forward into the frame so that these two lower tabs of the floor are beneath the frame…

… and this forward edge is sitting on TOP of these two metal tabs of the Main Body Frame:

The four posts underneath the Floor Panel can then be ‘snapped’ into the matching holes of the frame crossbars:

You have it placed correctly if the floor is flush with the metal door sills on both sides, as shown:

Secure the Floor Panel assembly to the Main Body Frame from below with four (4) Type Q screws:

Step 2

Press the hexagonal holes of the Speaker assembly over these two pegs on the Main Body Frame, making sure the speaker itself is facing back towards the interior Floor Panel:.

Before we attach this Speaker, route the plug and wire of the center console Monitor out through the bottom of the car, as shown:

Now we can feed the plug and wire of the Speaker down through the same hole:

Then, we can slide the Speaker assembly onto the two metal pegs of the Main Body Frame. Press this onto the pegs as far as it will go, as shown:

Step 3

If your Dashboard is not already completed like mine, you may want to check out my Fixing Mistakes post to catch up. An optional step I took here was to bundle and tape together the four sets of wires from Dashboard. This made the next few steps a little easier to do:

Before the Dashboard can be installed, its plugs and wiring need to follow the Speaker and Monitor wiring down through the Floor Panel:

First, feed the gear on the end of the Steering Wheel shaft under the upper Main Body Frame crossbar towards the front, as shown.

The Steering Wheel shaft should also rest in this slot above the pedals:

Next, clip these two tabs of the Dashboard onto the matching pegs of the Main Body Frame.

This was one of the hardest things to fit in the entire build. There are two tabs with holes in them at the front edge of the Dashboard. The inner holes of these fit onto pins on the underside of the Main Body Frame’s upper crossbar. Here is a better view of the the holes and matching pegs, looking to the rear and up from the engine bay:

As you move these tabs forward into position and onto the pins, ensure that you carefully keep feeding the Dashboard wiring down through the bottom of the car. It is probably going to take you a few tries to get this into place. When you do, those tabs should sit under the crossbar, like this:

Then, make sure the Steering Wheel shaft is sitting on its rest, as shown here.

This darn steering gear is what made fitting the Dashboard into place a pain in the butt! I had to actually bend the shaft a little bit to get this to drop into place. I only nudged it though and did not force it enough to leave a permanent bend:

Finally, secure the Dashboard into place with two (2) Type Y screws from above:

Steps 4-5

• Align the knuckle of the Left Front Wheel assembly over this post of the Main Body Frame and slide a Front Suspension Shaft (78-C) down through the knuckle and into the Main Body Frame.
• Slide a Front Suspension Spring (78-E) over the exposed end of the Front Suspension Shaft.
• Fit the Left Spring Retainer (78-A) over top of this spring/shaft and align the central screw hole to the Main Body Frame post below.
• While holding this retainer in place, secure it to the frame with one (1) Type A screw.

After examining Eaglemoss’ steps to install this Front Suspension, I chose to change it up a bit. First, as the wiring is never mentioned, I ran all of the existing wiring to the back of the car and temporarily taped it all out of the way:

Next, I test fit the pin and socket of the Left Spring Retainer (78-A) to the matching front left section of the Main Body Frame. If you try to use the wrong spring retainer here, it won’t line up the pin and post. The correct part should look like this:

Then, I removed the Left Spring Retainer and inserted the splined end of a Front Suspension Shaft (78-C) into this hole, as shown:

Hand tight is fine here; just push it in as hard as you can:

Fit this assembly back onto the same location on the left front Main Body Frame, noting how the metal shaft slides down into this matching hole:

Remove this assembly once again and slide a Front Suspension Spring (78-E) over the shaft, as shown.

Note how the spring fits into the circular recess on the retainer:

Now, we need the Left Front Wheel assembly. It is the one where the black Left Caliper looks like this:

Slide the free end of the Front Suspension Shaft through both eyelets of the Left Caliper, exactly like this:

Since this entire front left suspension will be held in place with only one (1) Type A screw, I chose to pre-thread the hole. This will also make installing the screw again in the next step easier. This is your friendly reminder to try using 3-in-One Oil on all screws going into metal:

Finally, as we have test fit it before, place the entire Left Spring Retainer assembly to the Main Body Frame one final time. Carefully squeeze it down towards the frame to compress the spring, and…

… secure it all into place from above with the one (1) Type A screw:

That completes the mounting of the left front wheel!

Steps 6-7

Repeat the previous steps, but using the Right Spring Retainer and Right Front Wheel assembly in the same way:

Again, I pre-threaded this hole with a Type A screw:

Then, as before, I fit the spring retainer assembly to the Main Body Frame, squeezed it, and secured it down with the one (1) Type A screw:

Step 8

Align the Front Axle to this eyelet of the Left Caliper and secure it with a Front Suspension Pin (screw 79-A).

Before we connect the Front Axle components, manually center the front wheels and the Steering Wheel:

The Front Axle has a toothed section that is meant to rest on top of, and mesh with, the gear on the end of the steering shaft. In the image below, I flipped the Front Axle upside down to show you the toothed section:

With the Front Axle right side up, there are threaded holes at both ends. These line up to the eyelets in the arms of both wheel calipers.

Secure the Front Axle to the underside of the Left Caliper with a Front Suspension Pin (screw 79-A), as shown. Once tightened, the axle will be able to move up and down along the pin, this is expected:

Step 9

On the other side, secure a Front Suspension Pin (79-A) down through the eyelet of the Right Caliper and into the Front Axle. Make sure the toothed section of the Front Axle is on top of the steering shaft gear, as shown:

Looking at the car from below, we can see how the steering wheel gear and Front Axle toothed section mesh together:

I have to be honest, this steering mechanism feels like a pretty bad design. The Front Axle is basically a solid tie rod that relies on gravity to stay in contact with the steering shaft gear:

I tried spacers on the necks of the ‘pins’, but this actually made the steering even worse.

I never expect the steering on these large, heavy models to work very well, but, if you lift the front end a bit to take some weight off the wheels it actually works OK. Here are the front wheels at full left and right ‘lock’ (and by turning the steering wheel only):

Thoughts

I have been waiting for the entire build for this big, pre-painted body frame. If it had arrived earlier in the build, we would not have had so many parts just laying around in storage for so long. Still, we now have our interior, front suspension, and front wheels installed! This pack also contained the last of the screws we need to finish the car, so keep them all safe!

Next Up

Pack 82 – Left/Right Exhaust Pipe Top/Bottom Pieces, Left/Right Exhaust Pipes