Duck motorising

 

Hello. This isn't what I was expecting when building a silly duck kit. That's quite the gearbox. 

I assume these gears are shared with other kits, as there are far more on the sprue than used here (spares for the box - hooray!). Identifying the correct ones take a bit of paying attention - no counting teeth, but when you look closely, there are differences between the face of the gears, which are replicated on the instructions. 

Everything slides onto stainless steel rods, the main one being octagonal to enusure the gear doesn't move on it. No lubrication required, this all turns lovely and smoothly. 

Tools required  for the build are limited to those for removing parts from the sprue, and a couple of cross-head screwdrivers. The battery box and motor cleverly clip together, although feeding the wires that take power from the AAA battery is a little fiddly. Once you get the clip on the face of the motor, it's all held securely in place though. 

The finished unit. Turn the pointed back end to turn the motor on and off. Unscrew it to change the battery. An O ring keeps water out, along with a bit of (supplied) grease. A little tweaking to ensure the output shaft sticks out the same distance on both sides, and we are ready to start building the body.