AMT Watson rear suspension question

[David Sullivan]

Hello all, been a while since I posted anything. But am slowly getting back at it, and have pulled out the Old Calhoun I have 1/3 done. Ran into a snag today with the rear suspension. On this kit, what exactly holds the rear axle in place? Here is why I ask. I re-cut and glued the body to that I can slip it over the completed chassis and not worry about paint on that. Have the chassis done, minus the rear end. Last night I glued the 3 interior panels in, plus the dash board. Realized today that there was no way in hell I was getting the rear end with driveshaft attached into the car. Solution? cut the shaft off and replace with aluminum tube. Test fitting the other pieces, and I see no way for them to tightly support the axle. Is this correct, or did I mess up too much? Have another kit I can scavenge parts from if needed. Have left it alone for the time being to see if I can figure out how it all goes together. Thanks!

[billj]

Maybe this helps? Hope so.
public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/mkiba-build-under-c/amt-instructions/figure-racing/amt-parnelli-jones-/t1626.html

[David Sullivan]

Thanks Bill, but I have that set of instructions. Also have the set from the Indy Hall of Fame set. But on mine, those pieces on the ends of the axles fit very loose. Thinking I have erred by removing the drive shaft. Have a feeling that is what secures the rear end assembly into the model.

[smbrm]

There is a little bit of artistic licence in the way the kit reproduces the rear suspension. The tops of parts 13 and 21 need to be rigidly fixed to the chassis. In some cases these cars used jacob's ladder linkages for additional lateral location of the axle. You would need to research specific cars to see which one's used this solution. Once you glue the torsion bars in place you may have to glue the rear axle rather than allowing it to rotate in the rear hubs as shown in instructions. Besides the rear axle cross tube (11)would not have rotated as suggested in the kit. The axle shaft would have rotated inside a rear axle tube, the tube fixed to the upright.

Hope that helps

Stephen

[hurtubise56]

I'm pretty sure the Roadsters used an open-tube rear axle and bird-cages, like current sprint cars. I think the AMT kit is fairly correct overall, but it is just a little flimsy in scale.

Brian

[David Sullivan]

Thanks for the input. Figured out that I needed to glue the rear differential to the cross tubes that run under it.