Screwing down and chasing shorts

 

The chassis works, so time to finish off the body. This was part started when I got the kit, so in theory, it's not going to take too long to add the remaining whitemetal parts. 

First though, and most importantly, add the bolts used to screw body to chassis. The front one had been done, but the back one needed a touch of 100 degree solder to fix it to the footplate. I have managed to forget to do these in the past and had to become creative once the body was in the way of the fixing hole...

Of course, when the body is screwed in place, the model doesn't run any more. That's the trouble with a live chassis, electricity everywhere, and the different polarities will find each other. Sometimes you see helpful sparks, but not this time. 

The first culrpit was at the front edge of the footplate. The wheels touched the corners, and needed a little metal removed to stop this. I went a bit mad with a coarse file, but this won't show on the finished model, and I like to be better safe than sorry. 

 

 

The other issue was at the front. I still don't understand this as the polarity where the pickups are is safely contained, but gently pushing body and chassis together resulting in sparks, so insulation was called for. A thin coat of PVA now coats the top plate over the clylinders, and all is well. I'm pleased how neatly this has gone (you can't see it in the photo!) even if I don't know why it cured the problem.