MFH's 908: Final fitting Part 1

With the chassis finished, now it's time to get the body panels to fit over it all ... easier said than done! The 908/03 was a tightly packaged little thing, the equivalent of lots of muscle crammed into a T-shirt that was a size or two small.

The first issue is that the rear subframe went together slightly wide, and slightly tall, compared to what it is supposed to be. Blame this on all the little dowel and socket joints that can't really be drilled out very far. The result is that a range of bits are preventing the rear deck from sitting right down on the sills.



In turn the sills needed to be fitted a little higher, which I did, but I am still not sure they are straight. This has reduced the problem from a 5 mm gap to a 2.5 mm gap.



Some judicious filing, of the deck as well as various mechanical bits under the deck, has further reduced the problem to about 1.5 mm. Small, but still too big -- that's close to 1.5 inches at scale.

Next problem is the stance which appears off, due either to the chassis being high in the front, or the sill panels being low in the back. I am hoping it is the latter as it will be easier to fix, and should help sort out the gap with the rear deck. I really don't want to take apart the suspension ... It could also be that the join between the rear subframe and tub is not completely flat; I can recall old E-Types sagging in the middle caused by rust in the tub. That would not be an easy fix, to put it mildly.

On the plus side, the hinges for the 'doors' worked out well. The hinges for the rear deck don't look so forgiving.



That's it for now, I need a break. While gorgeous, this kit is a constant battle. Maybe I'll go build a Tamiya Le Mans car for a break.