Repairing an Imperial Shuttle Project

[phreatobite]

Years ago I bought a vintage Imperial Shuttle in nice condition apart from one wing not working and the battery contacts being corroded. I've seen a few old posts and finally decided that it was preferable to sympathetically repair it rather than leave it as it was. Though not as easy as a Falcon it was only two top screws and four bottom screws before the top lifted off.

The main problem was the wing - I discovered that the square stem on the wing that goes into the gear had snapped. I could re-attach but really I need to think of a way to strengthen the bond.

I will need to find or fashion some new brass battery contacts, and possibly replace the motor. Does anyone know what voltage the Mabuchi motors are in this and the Millennium Falcon if I'm looking for a replacement?

I will upload photos as things progress...

 

[aussiejames]

All (almost) Star Wars electrics are 3Volt ? 2x 1.5 V batteries.
I'll be surprised if your motor does not come back to life.

 

[Capetown]

Looking forward to this!!

 

[DarthStanley]

Hi Phreatobrite,

Took these pics,hopefully they are some use to you!

Not an electronic repair but here's what the inside of an imperial shuttle looks like!

When i acquire some more parts,hopefully i'll be able to do a full repair walkthrough so watch this space!

 

[Pomse2001]

Thanks for the information DarthStanley, let me know if you also do ISP-6 I need help to that one :idea:

 

[Richard_H]

Does anyone have these photos I badly need them?

Cheers
Richard

 

[Richard_H]

I've managed to get the photos from google cache but they're quite small. I've connected the two gears at the front but not sure about the spring. Does anyone have any photos or advice as to where the springs go?

 

[Richard_H]

And I've managed to get the motor working

Just the springs for the wings now

 

[phreatobite]

After a long hiatus I can update on the Imperial Shuttle. As I said having taken the plunge and dismantled the ship I discovered the problem was a broken wing pin.

I ended up using a good slow drying modelling two-part epoxy resin. I used a decent amount and hung the wing in such a way that any flow would travel down the pin. After twenty four hours it had hardened and had a nice smooth sloped finish around the break.

For the electrics it turned out I was lucky; the motor was ok. I would have been able to buy one from the model shop for £4 though. I removed the terminals, which were very green with heavy corrosion. I tried soaking them in a weak acid solution but I found that a several minutes sanding with some fine emery cloth was a better option to remove the tarnish.

Far and away the hardest part was putting the thing back together - this took many attempts, some tears, and a lot of trial and error aligning the wing pins in the cogs so when the trigger was pulled the wings lowered evenly. I'll try and dig out the photos I took at the time.

 

[Richard_H]

Thanks!

I find the people refer to the parts as different names. I assume what you're referring to as wing pins, I'm referring to as springs. Others have called them metal pins.

 

[phreatobite]

What I meant was the square plastic end-pin (part of the actual wing) that inserted into the cog. When I think back to when I had to align the springs again it makes my shudder.

 

[Richard_H]

The metal spring just below the black circle is what I'm not sure about. Don't know where it goes or how it lines up