Pack 5 - Stage 35. Mudguards and wiring.

[Mark, The Master Modeller]

Stage 35 gives us the mudguards and some wiring for the lights and a switch.  We also get the front brake pipes.

We install the brake lines first.  The shorter hose is pushed onto the lower pin on the right hand caliper.

This is then pushed onto the piñon the master cylinder.

Repeat the process with the longer hose which goes to the left hand caliper.

The other end goes onto the other pin on the master cylinder.

Let's start connecting up some cables.  The red-red cable comes from the switch (stage 33) and the black-white cable is the rear lights supplied in this stage.  Connect them to the appropriate connectors forth circuit board in the left fuel tank.

The switch, rear lights and battery cables should be should be fed through the chassis by the wiring board.

These wires are now taped to the chassis.  There is a bit of a knack to getting this neat.  Start by sticking the end of the tape to the chassis.

Now lay the wire(s) on the tape close to the chassis tube.

Now wraps the tape over the wires and chassis tube, and press it down neatly.  This is the wire to the left rear light.

Repeat for the right rear light, battery and switch wires.

Take the headlight LED wire (green-white) and plug it into the green-white socket.

This is then fed under the footrest.

And the two LEDs come out on the left and right hand sides.

Now plug in the three switches, the instrument light and the speaker.  Just match colour to colour.

Slip a couple of AAA batteries into the battery box, switch the switch to the ON position and we're ready to test the electronics.

Press the light switch (white) and the headlights, tail lights and instrument light come on.

Press the brake pedal and the tail lights glow brighter.

Press the engine start buttoning the horn button for those sounds.  I did try to take a video of these, but the file size is too big for the forum software.  I'll try uploading it to Youtube later.

We move on to fitting the mudguards next.  These are just fitted with 2 screws.  Here is the left.

And the right.

The instructions tell us to remove the speaker to avoid damage.  Good idea!  They also say to attach the front left wheel.  However, I'm not going to fit the wheels until the later stages of the build as I find that they just get in the way.

This completes the stage.  However, the smart modeller will use a couple of bits of masking tape to tame the loose wires.  This will save them from snagging and getting damaged, and may save your sanity...... or at least reduce you getting annoyed at the loose cables!