The hand brake cables and the two diagonal rods from the A-arm platform to the crossmember are bent from 0.6 and 1.0 nickel steel rod, respectively. The instructions suggest using more 0.6 mm rod for the hydraulic brake lines, but as this is 0.567" at scale, it's really too big. I've got some 0.020" brass (0.472"), which is still too big but is workable and this might serve.
Classic simplicity! There are lots of replacement chassis available today that are made of welded tube, and are probably stronger; the main reason for doing this is if you were going to put in a much more powerful motor. Chapman balanced things very carefully and the chassis was no doubt well matched to the 1600 cc Twin Cam, but never intended to take much more power.
On to the front which includes photo-etched shock towers and rack mounts, all attached with rivets.
This was considerably more fiddly, and I discovered that the rivets will indeed pull out if you work them back and forth enough, after which they will be loose. CA glue to the rescue, and overall it is possible to get this to look OK, but the issue is that the pieces are really too small.
The PE structure makes it accurate in terms of scale but requires careful fiddling.
Complete! the big pins pushed through the uprights serve as axles, and the backs had to be ground down so they wouldn't interfere with the springs. The tie rod ends are pinned into the uprights with rivets and this is a bit scary given how thin the walls around the holes in the uprights are.
Just missing the disk brakes. The A-arms are pinned to the shock towers with long, 0.6 mm diameter pins with very sharp ends, which are cut off short once inserted; fortunately this step only led to minor injuries and blood loss was minimal.
On to the Twin Cam. Stay tuned!
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