Next is the tank. My first attempt was a disaster, largely because there is a recessed box beneath the top cover, and the model tries to reproduce this. As a result the upper strakes of the bulbous sides have a big cutout in them, making them very weak, and prone to bad twisting. There seemed to me to be little point in having this recess only to hide it with its lid, so I made a new design with a solid top. Each of the sides could be made independently and (largely!) without distortion, and then joined by a strip across the top. Then I could just glue the box lid and filler cap on the top, and no-one would know.
While struggling with the redesign of the tank, I took some light relief doing the saddle. Not that light, though, as on the first attempt I had enormous difficulty fitting the completed underside to the completed top, as was required by the tabbing scheme. For my second attempt I moved a good number of tabs from the central piece of the underside to the adjacent side pieces. This was so that I could fit the side pieces to the top first, and then tie everything together with the central section. This turned out considerably more successful.
Finally for this time I made up the exhaust pipe and muffler. These came together reasonably well, though I did simplify the top flange where it meets the engine, and the "fins" at the back.
