As I mentioned in my previous blog posting I was concerned about the design of the fan and fan grill for the Slater's Simplex. As the kit doesn't provide for the fan to be driven the grill around the radiator would prevent the fan and the belt driving it from being removed ever being replaced.

I decided to see if, rather than just gluing the radiator grill in place, I could make it removable by using 16BA bolts. I bend up the grill which is provided as a etch and strengthened the corners with solder. Then I drilled .75mm holes into the plastic radiator casting into which were glued some 16BA bolts.

The holes in the etch were opened up slightly with a broach to fit and the bolts cut off to just leave a short stub. Then the etched grill would 'ping' over the stub and could be secured by a 16BA nut.

I'm quite surprised about the amount of clearance between the radiator fan bearings though. The distance is set by the holes in the support bracket etching and there is almost 2mm of movement back and forward on the bearing. I note the kit included two bearings for the fan and wonder if one is intended to be added almost 'as a washer' to reduce the side-play. The other option would be to re-drill the holes in the bearing frame to bring it closer to the radiator.

I'll try and assemble the radiator onto the footplate tomorrow.

David