Wednesday, September 03, 2014

Hydraulic legs

Fire Engine 4

With a tall raised platform, the fire engine needs some legs to stop it tipping over the first time the feuerwehrmann attempts to rescue a katze from a tree. (I assume German cats get stuck up trees. Perhaps they are too sensible).

The legs are box sections that slide inside each other. Care is required to ensure that the tiny tab on the inner box is running in the grove inside the other. Cleverly this stops it coming out too far and provides enough friction to keep the leg stretched out when in use.

Inside the body are a couple of metal nuts to give the plastic model much needed weight. These fit over moulded stub tubes - it's all quite ingenious really.

At this point it's a good idea if you've worked out the "do not glue" symbols. Also, since the outer box sections have holes in the side, be careful with the liquid glue, you don't want Mr Capillary action inviting it inside after all.

Fire Engine 5


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