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Building the Dragon 25pdr w/ Trailer

Step 8

Now to the rest of the trailer body and attaching the wheels. Detail here is good with only one misleading picture in the instructions to lead the unwary astray, this being the placement of parts E4 and E5. These two parts are shown in the instructions attaching to a nipple towards the front of the trailer, but they should connect to the trailer almost dead centre; if you get this wrong I will hear you cursing from here. The nipple that is shown on the instructions is actually a part of the braking system. Otherwise this is one of the easiest and most satisfying stages so far.

Step 9

The assembly of the braking system on the trailer wheels brings together the previous sub-assemblies, the tool tray and mud guards. I recommend this stage is started by attaching the braking arms to the previously assembled wheel hubs, followed by the gun towing hook. DML have provided two designs of towing hook, but as I have yet to ever see the first option on a real trailer I’d recommend you stick to using the second option.

I then attached the towing face of the trailer to the rest of the trailer box, this being a very good fit, and followed by attaching the wheel assemblies, making sure the wheels go on the correct sides of the trailer. The stage is finished with the addition of the tool tray and mud guards; while these fit well, care is needed to line up the mud guard brackets, which are moulded in two parts, with one part on both sides of the trailer, and the other on top of the mud guard itself. I caution you to be careful with the brake handle as I managed to trap the handle under the mud guard and didn’t notice until everything was set up. While I managed to get the handle back out and correctly placed, it wasn’t the easiest task as there is no room there in which to work or see.