Exhausted!

Exhausted s ow I feel today. Not because I am tired but because I have spent several hours dealing with the exhaust system on the Scania 143H model truck. I had high hopes of finishing the chassis today but that went out of the window! 

Italeri have issued this kit using the existing cab moulding from a kit that used a 4 x 2 chassis and mounted it on a chassis from a kit for a bonneted Scania on a 6 x 2 chassis. The result was that to make it look right Italeri requires the builder to shorten the chassis so that the truck looks right. Whilst they make reference to shortening the chassis rails, the side skirts and the prop-shaft, they make no reference to the exhaust system other them saying you have to make sure you drill holes in the chassis rail. Putting the kit supplied exhaust together results in a system that can not be installed because it ends up in the area occupied by the rear axles. The only thing that you can do, and this took me some time to ponder, is to mount the exhaust silencer as far back on the chassis as possible and then cut and shut the exhaust pipe  to it from the engine into four parts and glue something together from those that fits. I eventually got there and the pipe is held in position with Blu Tack whilst the glue hardens. I am not even going to bother looking what Scania actually do as it won't be what I have done but given the parts in the kit that is all I could do. Luckily much of this is hidden from the view topside of the model. Hopefully the exhaust can now be finished allowing the rest of the chassis to be completed!