Hornet re-release oil shock mount issue

[Ledfoot]

Hey guys, I'm a bit stuck with assembly of my Hornet. 

In Step 7 of the instructions, I need to attach the piston shaft (MD15) to part D13 to make the damper cylinder, but there's no screw thread inside D13, and the two pieces don't clip together. 

The other thing which is slightly puzzling is that in Step 8, D13 isn't represented accurately - the actual part has a projecting rim around the hole, whereas the illustration shows it being completely flat. I just wonder if I'm missing something but going back over the instrument 35 times I can't see it so I'm a little baffled. All the illustrations so far seem to be 100% accurate.

Many thanks in advance for your help guys. 

 

[Juggular]

My guess is that the shaft would have thread as it goes in. (I had installed Hornet shocks on a Grasshopper before but that was 1980s.)

Molding something with a thread inside is very hard to do.  So Tamiya often have a triangular hole, metal shafts thread as you turn it in.  I'd just keep turning that D13 part.  You can wrap the shaft with paper and use a needle nose plier to grab it tightly.  

 

[El Gecko]

As Juggular said, the black plastic ball ends (D13) are not threaded by default--you need to thread them yourself. Luckily, the shock shafts are standard M3 metric threads, so you can use any old M3 (I prefer hex head for more leverage) to pre-form threads in the plastic. Then the shock shafts will have threads in the D13 part to screw into.

[Ledfoot]

Seems strange that they aren't threaded but ok I could go ahead and try this. I didn't want to force something I wasn't sure of. The MD9 part or the piston which goes through the shaft doesn't have a big enough thread its very loose in side the D13 plastic part. Still ill give it a go. 

 

Alternatively could I just use grasshopper springs as they are non oil sprung? My gut says I'll f#& something up 😂