Hi All,
Today (day off :-)) I've spent part of the day constructing this engine. the detail is indeed incredible but... this build is not for the faint of heart I'm afraid.
Some of the parts are incredibly fragile and even looking at them can break them so to speak.
Especially the rocker mechanisms are very flimsy. first of all you have to cut the rockers with a fresh blade VERY carefully from the carrier. (I ruined 2 before I got the hang of it, and as taurus offers only 2 spare rockers, there was no room for error after that.., thank god I've pulled it off...), and after attaching them to the cylinder heads, you have to be incredibly careful not to break them off again... I have the feeling that these parts should have been provided as PE parts instead of resin parts
After about 3 hours of sweat, high blood pressure and a lot of swearing, I got the engine together. All i have left to do is to paint the damn thing and to attach the wire harness to the spark plugs.
As said before, the details are incredible, but, although Taurus specifies that they go for the full detail without compromise, I do think they should reconsider this point of view and think about a better way to engineer some of their products. Otherwise, i'm afraid that many people will become demotivated and steer away from their products, which would be a pity.
Also, I think they should put a little bit more effort into their construction manuals.
All the best
Flip