Leaderboard

After 2 months of poor weather conditions, I have managed to continue with painting and some assembly. I finally fitted the last of the valve covers on the cylinder block after setting all the valve event adjustments and finishing the motion work off to a standard of sewing machine smoothness. This allowed me to apply a penultimate semi matt black coat over all the joints, stud heads and nuts to consolidate the whole finish. The Chimney saddle and the exhaust pipe were painted separately, as the saddle is bolted, instead of the original model design of riveting. It is easier this way, as I can reach into awkward corners and touch in the bolt heads with the Airbrush on a fine setting. Just need a little more care this way of fitting without paint damage. I detailed the exhaust a bit more with fitting a bolted flange at the cylinder end. The exhaust is 1/4" diameter pipe for clarity- The Regulator Rod just under the safety valves in the next pic has a dummy tail rod and gland. I have to make the 2 x 14ba studs and nuts for it yet. I decided to machine and file it from the excess metal on the casting to give it some detail, as the original model design just showed a lump of round metal there. A bit of cleaning up of the overspray on the raised brass lettering to do, but otherwise a major step forward on the assembly front- I did manage to get the top coat on the flywheel last month and very pleased with the finish. Only temporarily fitted, so the gib key pulls out easily- Hopefully progress and updates will continue to speed up now, as the jobs on other projects are building up as well as work down at the museum. I have managed to get some lathe time in though, helping out with making unobtainable parts for old mowers for a guy on the Old Lawnmower Club forum, so I have been busy really. Regards.

Finished the Chug-a-Drill (at least until I find a loop handle or have one made). Took some serious cleaning but well worth it. It’s definitely an awkward tool to sit down without the loop handle. Resting in on either side makes contact with the exhaust, tank, air cleaner or coil.