A LEAP OF FAITH

[HERMAN BIX]

Fair call lads.
I’m going to place the hull shell with no extra styrene into the Hooben category.
Now it’s reinforced, it’s easily up to H/L or Taigen standard.
There is almost no flex in it whatsoever.
The upper hull won’t add any support due to it needing to be removed for battery access but it won’t need to be.
The suspension pivots are the only weakness but that’s been mitigated a bit by filling the gap in the kit hull with styrene & glue, then the floor over top then the pivot hole drilled into what is virtually solid plastic.
Certainly no worse than a HL

[Stormbringer]

The upper hull wont add support ?
is that because your using magnets to hold it together ?

[HERMAN BIX]

The upper hull wont add support ?
is that because your using magnets to hold it together ?

Magnets or friction fit with styrene sheet wedges.
Not sure yet.

[Stormbringer]

Ahh ok just im considering magnets on my Centurion and never thought of support

[HERMAN BIX]

Im calling the gearboxes IN.
Aligned with a steel ruler along the length of the hull from the side of the drive sprocket and its within 1 mm along the entire length both sides.
That'll do Pig...........That'll do
I used some scrap styrene to make stop-blocks for each side of the hull to the gearbox side plates to assist in maintaining the alignment, and also glued a stop plate on the rear of the gearbox frames just to assist in maintaining the forward/backward forces that the tracks will exert on the fasteners.
I still need to get the new motor cables soldered on but there is enough room for me to do that in place.
The fasteners on each gear set do need to be replaced with nylok nuts & washers, but at least until I get those I can get the thing to run under its own power soon enough.

Hindsight being 20/20 it is a must-do for anyone wanting a relatively easy run on one of these to use a set of genuine low profile gearboxes.
You gain space to align, to raise for sprocket height and not have to touch the underside of the Trumpeter transmission plate.
There is not a lot in it, but the right side motor is half a poofteenth (see the appendix- 1) of a mm below the kit transmission plate & thats had a close shave of plastic removed.


# Appendix-1 :

A "poofteenth" (sometimes spelled pooftenth or pooftence) is an informal, humorous Australian slang term for an extremely small, almost immeasurable amount, distance, or gap.
Here is a breakdown of what a "poofteenth of a mm" means in Australian English:
Definition: It refers to a tiny, microscopic distance, often equating to a fraction of a millimetre, a "smidgen," or "half a bee's dick".
Context: It is commonly used in, but not limited to, engineering, carpentry, and general conversation to describe when something is just slightly off or needs a minute adjustment.
Usage Examples:
"Move it over by a poofteenth."
"That cut is off by a poofteenth of a millimetre".
Origins: The term likely originated in Australian workshops and shearing sheds to describe a negligible measurement.
Similar Australian colloquialisms for tiny measurements include "a bee's dick" and "a hair's breadth".