Anyone completed the Hasegawa 250TR?

Has anyone completed the Hasegawa 250TR yet?

I had a major, pear-shaped fitment experience with mine yesterday when fixing teh body to the chassis/tub assembly. Step 12 shows (correctly) that you need to stretch the body when putting it on.

However, in my case the force necessary was so much that the glued on fender/sill panels couldn't stand the stress and they snapped off (ruining hours of putty work :banghead: )


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/250TR%20Hasegawa/TR_26.jpg

Am I doing something wrong? Did you also have trouble putting them together?

Luckily this was for a test fit and the body wasn't painted yet but I am in a cold sweat now about final assembly :uhoh:

It seems to me that it will be a good idea to ignore the instructions and instead firstly offer up the tub assembly into the body and then add the chassis/engine assembly. This should help but not solve my problem.

What did you do?

Thanks in advance for any input.

the only person i know that did finish that kit did some dremel surgery to keep what happened to you from happening

As far as I know also in the hasegawa Stratos has the same issue: in fact any wip reccomend to warm up a bit the shell with a hairdryer: you'll try in those way but.... not return way I guess...

I had a similar, but not as drastic thing happen with mine; I used superglue to attach the fender pieces and to fill; one side cracked a bit when doing final assembly. I came to the conclusion that using a liquid styrene cement is the best thing to do so that the parts are as strongly welded as possible. My fit wasn't really the problem, but just manipulating the parts into place. They really didn't give enough gluing surface for the parts, and so much of that gluing surface is a panel line. You have to plan all this in advance.

humm...lucky thing i never wanted to do this ferrari.

from the descriptions you mentioned, i think the chassis is a little too wide for the final body fitment...am i right?
if this the case, i suggest the next TR builder to slightly shave off the chassis sides a little so that the force required will be lesser.

hope this helps!

Hey Klutz,
same happened to me the first time, I tried to get chassis and body together...Man, I was super freaked about knocking the sidefenders off. From my experience - even if the sidefenders stay on - our manic panel line will crack open again, so that a refix of the paint job will be necessary.

My plan is to knock the rear panel of the interior (Part E6) loose. By this I don´t need to stretch the body thus far sideways. From what I learned from my dryfitting the body to the chassis is that this part being so bulgy makes you overstretching the body. Having the sidefenders off right now you should give this option a fair attempt. Of course in my case I will need to add the seats when the body is on the chassis.

Happy freakin´ out!

Robert

Erm, but i think i did it without any mending to the the frame or anything if i remember clearly. I guess u haf to slot the body in from the back and gently but firmly slot the sides in. I hope it can work well for you.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=910400

Ro

i think the chassis is a little too wide for the final body fitment...am i right?
if this the case, i suggest the next TR builder to slightly shave off the chassis sides a little so that the force required will be lesser.

hope this helps!

The chassis isn't really the problem; it's the wide bulkhead "fillers" that end up next to the seatbacks that have to go through the stretched-out body at the rocker area to assemble. The rear fender wells also cause a bit of the problem, but if there's a way to get the bulkhead in the body before final assembly it may help because theoretically there would be much less stretching of the rocker area during assembly. Everything in front of the bulkhead fillers slides up inside the body without any stretching. When first gluing the fender/rocker to the body, make sure it's the strongest you can make it. Weld it with liquid styrene cement. Rescribe the panel lines if necessary. Perhaps back the joints up with thin fiberglass or material (remember that the inner door area is going to be visible from inside the body, but the rocker joint below the door won't be so you can beef that area up). Stretch the body at that point, not during final assembly! Test for cracks in the primer stage. Knowing this ahead of time will save a lot of agony. I used superglue, my next one I'll use liquid cement and will test-stretch the body well before final paint and assembly. Otherwise the kit is practically a Tamiya shake-and-bake assembly.

Thanks for the input Gentlemen.

It's comforting to know that it's not just me ;)