Hi my friends, things are slowly getting better we have power on my town since two weeks ago
I live in one of the main streets, we still have problems with the water service, as of today its being
Two weeks without it, hope they can fix the problems soon. Thanks to all for your words and prayers
Every day I see more of the damage and destruction that Maria did around the island by Facebook
And on the news. We have a long way to recover but thanking good we are ok.
So here with a new update on Dora work that I was about to post right when the hurricane hit us, more mods have being done so here is part of it, I’m working on the main platform and wanted to correct an error here, as you can see on the photo When the loading platform is in the raised position and the shell cart is on its side there is a big gap between it. This gap is not supposed to be there, the platform should be at the same height and very close to the shell tray so it can be pushed from the cart on to the platform.
Here you can see the gap between the loading tray and the platform
Another big error is that the platform is divided in a strange way as part of it is molded into the floor this is a terrible design error as even the hinges of the access doors on the platform stays on the floor and the other half lifts with the platform when in the raised position.
So to fix this I started by cutting the area from the floor that belongs to the platform
The cut must be done parallel to the loading cart rail and the same length of the loading platform
Here you can see the area removed from the floor
Now the cart rail is removed and replaced with styrene as it has gaps that should not be there
The rail is fixed with the styrene strip, it measures
Now the pieces removed from the floor are to be glued to the loading platform at each side
This is how it looks with the glued part in place, do this on the other side also
With that part done now you need to cut the same amount from the main floor base so that the
Now widened loading platform can fit on it again
This inner walls on each side are cut first as it needs to be glued back again ounce you enlarge the area
I started cutting on the back all the way down
Then cut the lower side
The wall is carefully removed, now after marking each side the area is widened by 10mm
I used the dremmel to smooth the sides a little then with a sand board sanded each side smooth
Now each wall is sanded smooth on the inside
The walls are glued back in place
This reinforcements under the floor most be trimmed a little for the floor to fit in place
This is how the area for the loading platform looks now about 20mm wider
Because of the increase in the loading platform width the locking pins used to lock the platform in the upper or lower position most be reworked, I made new pins with styrene rod and tube
I had the original pins already installed, so to replace it I had to cut the tube in half to remove the pins and spring
This are the originals, the pins need to be longer now to compensate for the new width
Using a piece of styrene tube 3.2mm by 31mm long and a piece of styrene tube 4.8mm by 5mm long
The new ones are made, one end has being rounded as the original
The tube is glued in place on the rod
Here I have inserted the new pins and spring and glued the tube again with Tamiya thin glue and reinforced it with super glue on the outside
The new side walls for the platform are done with styrene sheet measuring 148mm by 36mm
The holes for the pins are drilled and the walls glued in place
Using a 5mm by 2.4mm I beam I cut 10 pieces measuring 36mm long for the side ribs
With the I beams in place the loading platform is the same width as the main platform
The platform in place to check everything is ok
Notice the loading cart rail is on its side as close as possible so the load can be transferred easily to the loading platform
And in the lowered position
With that done I started to construct the barrel, with the drawings and measurements done
I started cutting it, the barrel is too long so it must be corrected. After all the cuts you end removing
302mm or 11.88 inches from it, that’s almost a foot!
Here is the measurements drawing with the sections to be removed
I started with the front half of the barrel and cut 176mm from it
Next 15mm are removed from the back of the front half
On The rear half of the barrel you need to remove 3 sections, 26mm, 25mm and 60mm. the photo shows the original part on top and the modified part below with the removed sections
Again the original part above and the modified part below
A view of the front section of the barrel, with the cuts already done
Comparison of the original length and the new length of the front half of the barrel
Finally the sections are glued together
The finished barrel, almost a foot shorter!
The lower recuperator base has some details that need to be corrected, there are two
Socket tools on each side, I removed the molded ones and made new ones from styrene
Sheet and tube
I removed the molded ones with a chisel blade
I made a drawing of the new parts with all the measurements
I started by the handles using 1mm styrene sheet
And cut the 4 tubes
I glued the tubes and started to trim the handles
Using PE leftover carrier I made the brackets for the tools
After gluing the tools on its new location the brackets are added
Finally bits of styrene rod are used to make the bolts detail
And the reference photo
The work on the loading platform is not finish yet as new photo reference shows it still need some changes, the same with the shell and charge loading carts, already working on it.
Abdin