Tamiya 1/12 Tyrrell P34 cracked suspension question

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Tamiya 1/12 Tyrrell P34 cracked suspension question

Post by amerikalei »

After years of building 1/20 Tamiya F1 kits, some from my childhood, I finally took the jump to 1/12. My son is at an age where I figured he might be interested in the larger working details, plus I've wanted to try one since watching my dad work on a similar Ferrari 312 kit back in the 70's. So I started with the P34 6 wheeler, since I thought it was curious to better understand how the front suspension and steering worked. This is the original issue of the kit I think. All was really going well until I tried to attach the lower front A-arms. The ends felt tight, but all the non glued bits till then fit really well (1/12 seemed to be much better in this respect than 1/20 due to the larger sections). Then I cracked two ends trying to work them onto the posts. Not sure if this is a result of the old (1977) plastic being more brittle or not. So I have a few questions:

1. Any suggestions about a fix? With relatively little suspension travel I can I suppose fix them with glue, but it seems a letdown after making the shocks and all, and everything else so far moves easily and freely. Or I might be able to fabricate new ends and then splice them on to the fatter part of the arm, but it would be a bit of uncharted territory for my skills. Has anyone build this kit who can tell me if these really need to move much?

2. Re vintage plastic generally. I trusted trying to snap these into place because the Tamiya fit is usually good, but... After the break, I wondered about trying to heat some boiling water and warming the end prior to trying to work it onto the post? Has anyone tried this, or are there other suggestions to avoid this type of issue.

3. For those of you who may have build this kit, any other potential problem areas to look out for?
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Re: Tamiya 1/12 Tyrrell P34 cracked suspension question

Post by Orso »

Don't use boiling water. The plastic will shrink
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Re: Tamiya 1/12 Tyrrell P34 cracked suspension question

Post by rasputen »

Which ends of the lower control arms are you referring to?? Got any images??? I've been able to restore some broken ends but I'm not quite sure which ones you are having trouble with.
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Re: Tamiya 1/12 Tyrrell P34 cracked suspension question

Post by tubegenius »

Where are you located? I might have spares.

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Re: Tamiya 1/12 Tyrrell P34 cracked suspension question

Post by amerikalei »

Bjorn: thank you for sparing me from further indignity!

Rasputen: My issue is with the inner attachments. The a-arm has "c" shaped clips that snap over posts on the chassis side. The outer end is a ball socket. Have not tried to attach those yet. I'll see if I can send a pic later.

Tubegenius: I'm in NH, but actually will be in Toledo later this month for a few days and would def try to make is easy for you if you had spares.

Thanks all for the replies so far.

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Re: Tamiya 1/12 Tyrrell P34 cracked suspension question

Post by jordan »

Do you have any relation with Antwerp / Belgium ?

Alex.
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Re: Tamiya 1/12 Tyrrell P34 cracked suspension question

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Re: Tamiya 1/12 Tyrrell P34 cracked suspension question

Post by acer709 »

Hey Amer,
Its no problem but in future I recommend using vaseline to slide them on.
And to very carefully open up the gaps a little with a needle file etc.
The plastic does get brittle over time.
To make new ends is easy as you can use new plasticstruct tube cylinder type of the appropriate size and drill the ends out
then rejoin with pins to the original A
tube.
Hope this helps. 8)
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