Return to the BUILD
“In this assembly session you will attach the struts of the chassis. You will also install the antenna and the air
intake of the supercharger.“
Contents
Parts
Materials: The Struts, Bonnet Latch Rings, and the rod of the Antenna Rod are metal, but the rest is plastic.
Build
The Struts
Stage 110.1
Retrieve your Charger and carefully turn it upside down on a soft cloth. Then, fit the Left Strut to the underside of the Chassis below the left door as shown, and secure it into place with four (4) AM screws:
Stage 110.2
In the same way, fit the Right Strut to the underside of the Chassis below the right door as shown, and secure it into place with four (4) AM screws:
Stage 110.3
Retrieve your Bonnet (Hood) assembly and place it over the engine opening in the Body, as shown. The front and rear Bonnet Safety Latches (silver pins) should fit up through the holes in the Bonnet.
My hood did not quite sit flat, so I needed to gently bend it a bit to sit down better:
Stage 110.4
Insert a Bonnet Latch Ring into each of the four Bonnet Safety Latches.
You may want to use some tweezers and needle-nose pliers here to make things simpler. I did need to spread the ends of the seals apart first so they would fit into the latch holes, hold them in place with tweezers, and squeeze the ends back together again with the pliers.
NOTE: If you want to be able to easily remove the hood later on to display the engine, you should NOT install these rings:
Stage 110.5
Press the D-shaped post of the Antenna Base into this matching hole of the right fender:
Then, slide the thin end of the Antenna Rod down into the Antenna Base.
I was really hoping this would be able to slide down inside the fender so could be ‘retracted’, but it does not. I suppose we could cut the metal rod down to make it look retracted, but I left it alone:
Press the peg end of the Compressor Unloader Valve into this hole at the front of the supercharger Pulley Spacer.
NOTE: If you want to be able to easily remove the hood later on to display the engine, you should NOT install this valve:
Stage 110.6
Retrieve your Air Intake assembly and slide the three pins on the bottom of it into the matching holes of the Injector Plate, as shown:
Stage 110.7 (Optional)
Retrieve your Stands for the Chassis (from Stage 47) and place them under the car and between the wheels.
I do not use these stands. It is believed that they keep the weight of the car off the rubber tires so they will not develop flat spots. Also, they make it so turning the front wheels with the Steering Wheel does not damage any steering components. Using them is totally up to you.
Thoughts
Can you believe it, our Charger R/T build has reach the end! I love how sharp it looks with the jet black paint. There were some struggles along the way, but I am happy we made it through and that you were able to join me for the entire journey!
Next Up
Final Thoughts (Coming Soon)
The BIG disappointment I see for this build at completion is that you can’t easily raise the hood. You have to remove two parts – one that is tiny to miss, and most likely will break because you forgot to remove it to display the engine. Begs the question: Why do all the engine detail work if you can’t easily see it? AND is that how the real car is? Every time you need to add / check oil, water, or what have you, you have to disassemble engine parts?!
Actually, on the real car from the first F&F, the blower and air intake were fake. So, it is possible our model is accurate.
That’s interesting movie trivia; and from a Die Cast model Movie replica, then okay, I’ll accept that.
But what I was referring to was a REAL car. Those who build these things. Since I first posed the question, I did some searching on the Internet finding several photos that are somewhat similar, and though some look like the hood can be raised without taking off the Blower, others appear that it has to be removed.
But from a model standpoint – I would have preferred Agora designed it to allow the hood to raise with everything on. At least design the model so that the Air Intake assembly (Step 110.6) didn’t have to be removed.
p.s. – I did find some HT leads. From a Japan Company called Spotmodel.com