activexp Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Been drooling over this kit for ages and finally managed to get my hands on one at an attractive price. Everything about it is impressive and dare I say 'Pocheresque'? Obligatory box shots: Clear parts for the engine and gearbox. The textured saddle is quite convincing. The box of hardware with rusty shafts for the front forks. Guess they've been in storage in a damp warehouse somewhere. The included screwdriver isn't very useful as the blade is too thick for the majority of the tiny screws. Steps 1 to 5 of the very thorough instructions are for the assembly of the crankcase and pistons. The engine is intended to be fully working but past experience with moving plastic parts has shown that this is not always successful. For now I'm keeping paint well away from any moving surfaces. Not visible in the pic is a camshaft for the valve gear push-rods. Piston rings fitted complete with unwanted fibres and dust! Steps 6 to 14, cylinders, cylinder heads and working valve gear. Amazingly it all seems to work at this stage, the engines turns (stiffly) and the valves open and close But there's still a lot more to do ............ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activexp Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 (edited) Steps 15 to 20: Oil filter, oil pump drive gearing and distributor assembly. The distributor is supposed to rotate, it doesn't Edited April 20, 2015 by activexp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krow113 Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activexp Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 Steps 21 to 24: The dynamo. Even though the innards can't be seen I thought I'd paint them up anyway. The drive belt appears to be real rubber, nice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A5h Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Wow never heard of a kit which has a semi working engine, love the idea and looks like your having a blast building it!! I will be following this one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activexp Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 Wow never heard of a kit which has a semi working engine, love the idea and looks like your having a blast building it!! I will be following this one Yes it's a fabulous kit and very well engineered with good quality materials. It's not cheap but as they say, you get what you pay for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activexp Posted April 22, 2015 Author Share Posted April 22, 2015 Steps 25 to 26: Cylinder head covers, oil-blaze tank (not sure what that is), some pipes and clutch. The 'working' clutch comprises of 7 plastic parts and 8 small springs. After assembly which was easier than it looks, only 4 parts are visible. Next step, assembling the gearbox which looks like it might be challenging! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A5h Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 Looks really good so far, bravo! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activexp Posted April 24, 2015 Author Share Posted April 24, 2015 Steps 27 to 31: Assembling the gearbox. It looked a bit daunting on paper but was reasonably hassle-free in practice. This is the tricky bit, getting the four shafts into the corresponding holes in the casing all at the same time. If just one shaft moves out of alignment you have to start all over again. After several attempts I came up with a solution, liberally coating the shafts and gears with silicone grease to act as a 'glue'. Job done complete with grease, and yes it all turns . Steps 32 to 34: Starter motor and mounting the completed gearbox to the engine. You have an option here, either engaged with the flywheel so the motor turns, or neutral. As it's visible I went for engaged. This is how it all goes together. The engine is more or less complete now as far as moving parts are concerned. Does it all move as intended? Yes! Well almost, the distributor stubbornly refuses to comply. It's quite cool to see the starter motor spinning round when you crank the engine over. Next steps, carbs and air filter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A5h Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 Very nice, I think it's awesome and very much like the way you are describing the build, keep it up!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activexp Posted April 24, 2015 Author Share Posted April 24, 2015 Very nice, I think it's awesome and very much like the way you are describing the build, keep it up!! Thanks A5h, it's good to know the effort is appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 Definitely an absorbing build sir. Simon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activexp Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 Steps 35 to 40: Carbs, air filter and battery. There are some other parts to be added to the carbs later in the build as the twist grip throttle actually functions. The air filter casing. The filter element is another hidden part. There are 17 parts to the battery plus 2 screws. I wasn't too happy with filler caps as for some reason they're chromed with rather long stems so they sit high on the top of the battery. In the instructions they are drawn with finger-grip grooved edges but these are smooth chrome. Since taking these pics I've modified the filler caps by cutting off the stems so they sit flush. Looks much better. Next up, the frame etc, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo88 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Looks like an awesome build I google'd this kit and saw the price!!! Crazy monies but yes, you get what you pay for! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpnuts Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Wow that is awesome definitely following this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A5h Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I love it and dare not use the googling tool.... But I may have too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natter Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I Googley thingied. Getting it for a reasonable price must be a relative thing. That's one kit where you don't want to fluff anything at all. Very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichO Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 You should be able to build a real one after this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Fantastic stuff! I'm just thinking, could this form the basis of a Le Mans conversion !! Cliff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activexp Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 You should be able to build a real one after this! It's certainly an education into the workings of engines and gearboxes for those who are unfamiliar with these things. Apparently the original Protar kit had a small electric motor to turn the engine over but Italeri removed it to keep costs down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activexp Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 I Googley thingied. Getting it for a reasonable price must be a relative thing. That's one kit where you don't want to fluff anything at all. Very interesting. There's certainly a big variation in price for this kit, from £230 to £350. I paid £190 for it from Germany, took advantage of the favourable Euro exchange rate at the time and also converted a shed-load of Ebay nectar points into cash. So yeah a reasonable price is a relative thing. I'm taking my time with this one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activexp Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 Steps 41 to 45: Rear brake push-rod, frame assembly, ignition coil and horn. Went together with no problems. The rear brake is yet another working part Next up, the shaft drive transmission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A5h Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Your taking your time and flying!! I looked on youtube at this kit, there's a vid on there which should all the working parts in motion, the kit is a masterpiece with over 700 parts!! and from what we have seen so far, everything fits like a glove. Anyway, your doing a marvelous job so far, keep it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activexp Posted April 30, 2015 Author Share Posted April 30, 2015 Your taking your time and flying!! I looked on youtube at this kit, there's a vid on there which should all the working parts in motion, the kit is a masterpiece with over 700 parts!! and from what we have seen so far, everything fits like a glove. Anyway, your doing a marvelous job so far, keep it up Yeah more than 770 parts according to the blurb on the box, not sure if they're including the hardware in that figure. There are 133 M2 x 4mm screws alone! Tricky little devils to handle as they're slot head. So far everything fits pretty well, some parts needing the usual flash removal and general cleaning up, nothing drastic. It does look as though I'm flying through this build which I think is testament to how well it goes together. Mind you, some steps only involve 2 parts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activexp Posted April 30, 2015 Author Share Posted April 30, 2015 Steps 46 to 51: Transmission case, drive shaft universal joint, pinion gear, crown gear and torque link. Assembling the universal joint was one of the trickiest parts of this build, if not the trickiest so far. It's a double joint with 2 cross pieces inside the small black housing which then have to be snapped into holes in the forks on the shafts. By its very nature the thing is wibbly wobbly and a juggling act to get the pins to locate and snap in. That's when something really did go 'snap', one side of the grey fork broke off Luckily this turned out to be advantageous and made the procedure much easier. Afterwards I glued the broken piece back in position. Next up, main stand and rear springs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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