Wtshark

Completed the 3rd wheel and tyre assembly this morning. The initial assembly (first 48 spokes) went very well and quickly, I decided to go ahead and do the front of the wheel assembly, which I don't usually do, requiring a break between. Following another's suggestion of using the tire as a support for the wheel worked great, as I began inserting the last set of spokes (B) they would not cross over. I looked and made sure I hadn't misaligned the A spokes, and no, they were spot on to the large gap, I finally figured out the upper holes on the wheel weren't completely drilled and were too constrictive to allow the B spoke to cross over the A. I used my pinch vise drill and cleaned out the holes, (I have no idea what size I used, it was just a hair bigger than the hole) but a quick spin around them, cutting a sliver from the diameter and the spokes went in perfectly fine. Not a huge deal. Finishing the wheel, I used the device suggested by Craig I think?, (though I altered my design a bit) and snugged down the screw and it held the spokes in beautifully. The tyre was mounted and the final steps in this pack is to mount the Right/Rear tire onto the chassis and insert the wheel slicer. I'm not sure I like how far they protrude from the wheel and the instructions add "you'll be given a choice of slim mount later in the build", and I'm hoping that's just the magnetic spinner from the other previous wheels. I only took a couple of photos, as the wheel assembly went so quickly, looks like Pack 6 has the final wheel assembly in it, (Yay) though as this point they are getting easier, or at least seem to be.

Hello, I am almost complete, have one more wheel and tyre assembly to go, thanks! Much like the front suspension, the rear is spring loaded and floating on points, with the anti-sway and traction bars, under tension, it is very stiff, but I am hoping it will be a bit less stiff when all of the remaining metal body panels and interior pieces are installed. I don't know how much all of that will weigh, but the rear suspension will flex on the springs and the shocks can travel up. I too noticed how stiff everything is once it's compressed and attached, but figured by the time all of that weight is added, it may be a bit more flexible, or closer to functional? I hope this gives you some insights on pack 5 and your plan.

I was very excited to receive pack 5 yesterday and began assembling through the steps. It was somewhat straight forward and relatively simple, though I did get a bit confused with a couple of the steps showing what appeared to be backwards photos. Namely when attaching the rear shocks, the photo appears to require the shock mounting under the rear axle, but it won't fit into the holes (which have locking lugs) and it would be upside down when mounted to the chasis. I worked it out, only to absent mindedly mount one of the sway bars backwards, requiring me to break out some small punches and undo a few steps to get to one of the pins, remove it and mount the sway bar properly. I took a few photos, hope they're helpful, or at least fun to look at.

That sir is brilliant! So, you've basically created an expansion fitting to tension the pins when you invert the wheel? I was having some trouble with the tissue wad with this last wheel, I just figured I'd not stuffed it well enough. I really appreciate you're telling us how to properly "get stuffed"....... with the alignment of the pins on our wheel. 😁 Thanks so much- I'm going to give this a whirl.

Thank you so much, I have admired yours as well. Ha ha, Yes! Do, undo, redo, redo again, take a break. Glad I'm not the only one who appreciates the struggle. 😁 As this is my first 1/6 scale model, and my first model in the last 20 years, it's been fun to build. Frustration does visit, but as long as I stop, remember why I am building this, it does stay fun and if it isn't fun, what's the point? I am looking forward to part 5, which I received email has been shipped, I was thinking I may skip directly to building the 3rd wheel, since I just built one with some relative ease and it's fresh. We'll see when it arrives. I'm also looking forward to more photos of your build (they're excellent inspiration), so thanks for sharing!

And done, went ok, I made a mistake, threading a "B" spoke through the same diamond as an "A" spoke, and that took a few minutes figuring out how to undo it. But, once it was done, the wheel was finished and the tire went on easier, using near boiling water, it made the tire a bit more pliable.

That is amazing, that model looks great, given the differences in technology and wheel building for the times, that wheel looks great, even with your issues, your skill seems to override it. I agree, adding a few extra spokes (as we've discussed on previous posts) would be nice. Knowing, if I lose even 1 spoke, I'll have to either order more, or follow your lead and fabricate one out of a sewing needle, (that's still pretty amazing btw). Slow and steady wins the race, using our fingers to set, mount and thread the spokes into the wheel, then using tweezers to manipulate, cajole, harass, etc. them into their final place seems to be the key. My trouble is my fingers seem to stick to every other spoke, knocking them out of position as I insert the next, and I wind up chasing the rabbit around and round, replacing/resetting the previously installed spokes.... as I said previously, deep breath and ZEN. 😅 This morning I tackle the front of the wheel and the remaining 48 spokes, wish me luck

I am finishing up pack 4, and building the wire wheel as part of the assembly process, this is the second wheel assembly, and I am half-way through. This seemed to be a bit easier than the first, though I still have to do it in 2 parts, (front section first, a break, then the back section). My eyes get a bit too tired. I see pack 5 has the third wheel build, so as I finish this one in the next couple of days, I'll (and assume the rest of us) will be half way through the wheel building. I find I have to zen myself out a bit and just relax, enjoying the process, rather than getting frustrated at the spokes, which rarely seem to "want" to cooperate. As a model builder on YT said, "that's model building", with an image of a tiny part pinging out of tweezers and sailing across the room, never to be found again presumably. I hope the rest of you are finding this build as enjoyable as I am.

I was looking through some older posts about EagleMoss and they're going out of business, but one of the posts was about Mike Lane and his amazing aftermarket custom items he made for their DB5. I looked and found some amazing 1/8 Scale add ons that may work for our Agora DB5's. I purchased the GB stickers, scale hose clamps and keys/key chain, he may add items as more order. Check them out for many of his other items, I know he did a bunch for the Delorean, but thought I'd share it for others to look at. For your info https://mikelanemods.com/products/mods/eaglemoss-james-bond-db5-mods/

Thank you, yes, I was inspired by your build.

That is my biggest fear, for the size and tendency of those spokes to "ping" off in any direction when held by tweezers, losing one almost seems to be a forgone conclusion. I had that happen during my first wheel build, but the white t-shirt I had surrounded my workspace happened to catch it. An extra spoke (or two) per wheel would help alleviate some of the pressure. I lost not one, but two of the small pins for affixing the A-arms and shocks for build #3, I searched, used a magnet for an hour and finally resigned to being unable to finish, (I may be able to finish with the next pack of pins from Pack 4), but I asked for some extra from Agora, which they were happy to send to me, for 15 USD. I don't mind, it's my mistake, but a few extra spokes would be very helpful. Using a sewing needle is a great idea, one I hope not to need, but it's good to know- 😉 Thanks!

I too am "old school" and prefer printed instructions. When my first pack arrived, I printed them out, but my printer was also dying, fortunately, the wife and I purchased a new printer and I re-printed my first pack. Since then, I download the instructions, (as they become available) and print them, (35 pages at a time) and then insert 2 pages, back to back into document sleeves and put them into a large 3 ring binder. This gives me the instructions to examine, but I'll also use my tablet to review trickier steps, where the photos may not be clear. Watching the assembly on YT is also helpful. I do enjoy the process of printing, collating and putting them into the binder, I also bought a giant 3 ring binder and document protector sheets off Amazon just for this process. The binder is large enough to hold the 400+ sheets of printed instructions, at least it's supposed to be, we'll see I suppose.

You are doing an amazing job, I too have not done much modeling for many years (40, yikes) and this is my first BIG model, but your skills are impressive and the wiring and painting you've done are impressive. I look forward to this process, working on our builds and sharing them.

I have come back repeatedly to look at the photos of your build, I am truly impressed and amazed at the level of detail you put into that. I am in the US and still waiting for my pack 4 to arrive, but really enjoy your work, thank you for sharing.

C'est magnifique!!

That looks amazing!

I was inspired by Jo.Mora and his attention to detail. I was an avid modeler as a teen, but that's been 40+ years. I did a ship model a few years back and started getting back into the hobby, buying a lot of the new tools and such. I wanted to take a stab at adding the block breather holes, so I busted out my pin vise and gave it a whirl (photo 3). I was pleased with it, so I decided to try my hand at some fabrication, making an oil dipstick tube and dipstick. My first attempt came out ok (photo 2), but then remembered the beauty of annealing the brass, and this one came out much better (photo 1). I hammered .068 Brass rod flat, then annealed it, bent it into the hoop, and cut a 3 mm .080 tube, filing it. I then cut a .014 aluminum tube and inserted the rod into that. I haven't affixed it to the block yet, I wanted to see how tall to make it. I also cut a few pieces of brass tubing to try out for scale, for some fittings. The brass and aluminum rod/tube I supply I had was far more than I remember buying and I'm debating about making some additional fuel lines, (inspired by A4 Garage on YT). I have also followed Pitstain and his build on a few of the packs, but I am enjoying this model immensely. I was wondering if anyone else had trouble affixing the brake rotor to the A-arms. The screws would not snug, I understand they need some play to allow the wheels to turn with the steering, but there was a lot of slack in the screw, allowing the rotor to wiggle back and forth. I was worried about over-torque and breaking the screw, so I left it. The rotor is somewhat stabile once affixed to the top/bottom A-arm, but there is still a little play. Thanks for sharing your work, it's great to learn new techniques and try them out.