But, you know me. I noticed it and had to fix it. And fix it I did! I elevated the cab, removed about 1/8" of the engine cover, and found some (although a little over-scale) some roller chain to act as the fork lift mechanism.
I woke up thinking about this chain question. You can tell how unstressed my life is that I can wake up in the morning thinking about nothing more serious than how to simulate a lift chain on a train model. Life is good! I remembered that I still have an old 1:6 scale Tamiya Honda in-line 4 motorcycle engine model floating around the basement. I built the model in the mid-1980s. It had a simulate roller chain that looked like it was long enough to provide what I needed. It did.
I disassembled part of the model and cut out the chain. I mounted the bottom end onto part of the fork assembly using some phos-bronze pins and just CA'd the top to the mast. It's a tad big, but it tells the story. After I installed the chain, I epoxied the lift cylinder brackets to the fork assembly and the upper end under the guard at the top.
Also notice some bent Photoetched junk stock that acts as a shield for chain connection.
When the epoxy cured I masked the piston rods with some liquid mask and repainted the semi-gloss black.
I measured and cut the 0.040" styrene to make a new base for the cab. I also used a razor saw to remove about 1/8" of the engine cover. I finished sanded it with the power mini-sander. The base sits under and just inside the outer perimeter of the cab. I used solvent cement to hold it together.
After priming I epoxied the new base to the chassis. I used epoxy since it gave me more working time and I was gluing styrene to resin. The resin is unaffected by the solvent cement. When it cured I filled a couple of gaps with Bondic and air brushed it with Harbor Gray. I also went around and did some hand touch up on the striping. The cab is not fastened on in this image. I have to install the interior and glazing before that happens. By raising the cab and moving it rearward a bit now clears the tilt cylinder nicely. I'm glad I did the fix.
The brackets I made to hold the mast cylinders now interfere with the new front panel. I have two choices: 1) try and trim the extra brass from the brackets or 2) cut some relief openings in the front face. I'm going with choice 2 since I think that the epoxy would let go in attempting #1.
While the epoxy was curing I painted the first coat on the plaster cast stone parts for the Cabin. I used a palette of various grays and earth tones most of which were from a Woodland Scenics tinting set. I used a lot of water.
The next step will be to seal the plaster and the apply an alcohol wash to weather it and create the mortar lines. After that I'll use some weathering powders if needed. The colors muted down very nicely. They went on darker and I'm glad to see it.
Until next time.
