24 replies to this topic

[Slot Car Rod]

MESAC had a hardbody TransAm class and an early Porsche 911 class (vac body).  Here are more of Don Sloan's MESAC cars that I restored.

 

All of the cars handle well and are fun to drive.  Thanks to Victor for parts and advice on how to restore these cars.

 

 

 

Front and rear spoilers were damaged and replaced.

 

The chassis was cleaned up and the motor was rebuilt.  The motor has Mura magnets and a rewound armature.

 

 

 

Note the subtle rear fender flares.

 

The missing spoilers were added to this one.

 

Reconstructed chassis for this one.  Mura motor.

 

MESAC had an early Porsche 911 class.  They used vacuform bodies of a 1968 Porsche 911.

 

Mild rewind in this one.

 

[don.siegel]

Great stuff Rod, and very good looking cars. Would have loved to have seen these around the Mesac track... 

 

Don 

[Alchemist]

Amazing save as usual Rodney!

 

Looking forward to more pictures of other cars you've "revived".

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Ernie

[Bill from NH]

Great job on all the restorations Rod. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the #6 white Camaro.

[Slot Car Rod]

Thanks everyone.  Great cars to restore.  Victor has this Chuck Hooton Camaro which is my favorite MESAC Trans Am car.

[Slot Car Rod]

Victor has this very cool Roger Moon Mustang.

[Lone Wolf]

Great saves

 

2ND gen Camaros are my thing.

 

My question is where the hell are you getting all those wonderful Russkit inserts

 

They actually look like vintage Mini-lites.

 

Joe

[Martin]

I'm sure Rodney can answer here but I wanted to add, Jim Russel use to frequent the MESAC track. (I have read) I noticed that the MESAC cars I am restoring have a lot of Russkit parts e.g. wheels, gears, axles etc. So I can deduce they were items Jim would bring to the track for members. 

[Lone Wolf]

Martin, I was able to obtain some stuff from Roger Moons collection.

 

As you mentioned, lots of Russkit stuff.

 

I got some weird stuff like a piece of a mis-stamped  chassis, unchromed clear knock offs, Crown gear hubs with the gear never pressed on, second series Spyder drop arms, etc.

 

As well as some assorted body parts.

 

I would say you are correct.

 

Russell probably brought boxes of leftovers there.

[Slot Car Rod]

Victor says Jim Russel was one of the original founders of MESAC and was an active member until he was hired to work for Aurora and moved to the East coast in 1969.  

MESAC was a proving ground for not only Russkit but for other manufacturers.  In 1969, when Russkit ended, just about all of the remaining Russkit parts were left for MESAC to use.  This included some vacuum form body molds. 

 

Who knows what happened to the parts.  I have been getting the Russkit parts to restore the cars from Victor.  He is getting to the end of his Russkit parts stash.

[Bill from NH]

Parma got some of the Russkit parts for resale. I have a Parma card of the popular Russkit 795 inline motor bracket. They cost 19 cents each.

[Martin]

Before I saw so many Russkit crown gears on the inline MESAC cars, I did know Russkit made these nylon gears with the aluminum hub, similar to the old faithfull Cox gears. 

Were they sold in mass back in the day?

 

One word of warning, the set screw is a bit close to center than the Cox gear, which means you should not use an allen key with a fat body. Only use a standard (skinny) allen key, or it could damage the teeth. As the teeth are inline with inside of the set screw.  Hope that makes sense? 

 

 

Sorry about the rust, all gone now.

[Slot Car Rod]

Weldun made the crown gears favored by MESAC members.  They were stronger than Cox and could hold up to more power.

[Martin]

Most of  the Don Sloan open wheel cars I purchased had crown gears with word Russkit molded in.

I thought Weldun crown gears were the ones that you always find split, but that was probably after 50 odd years? 

 

The MESAC cars I am restoring all have cut down guides too. Thanks for mentioning that, I probably might of replaced those guides thinking they were damaged. Now they are part of the MESAC history.

 

I did wonder why, if you are building a custom track like MESAC you would not make the slot full depth. Has that question ever been talked about?

[don.siegel]

It's the Riggen crown gears that tend to split - pretty much every single one I've found on an old car! 

 

As soon as the Weldun plastic gears came out, they largely replaced Cox gears on most competitive cars; but they weren't as widely distributed - nobody had distribution like Cox! I still have a few Weldun gears and try to save them for my top cars and/or the most powerful motors. 

 

I kind of vaguely remember the Russkit gears, but don't think they were widely distributed or used. 

 

Good question about slot depth! 

 

Don 

[Martin]

Thanks for the correction Don, that's correct it was the Riggen that split. 

 

My only thought about slot depth at the MESAC track is that maybe they raced on other plastic tracks that had shallower slots. Or maybe parts of the track evolved from a plastic track ?

 

Somebody knows 

[don.siegel]

I believe the early Aintree standards from England specified a 3/16" slot, but that obviously evolved later - when, I'm not sure. By the time AMR came around (64?) they were certainly supplying tracks with a 1/4" or more deep slot. 

 

Don 

[Martin]

My limited experience is that I did build a extensive Scalextric track back in the 90's and to run my cars those guides all had to be cut down unless they were Scalextric cars of course.

[Bill from NH]

Perhaps they used thinner roadbed sheet stock with the 3/16" deep slots. Maybe 1/2" particle board.

[Slot Car Rod]

Had to build a Mustang.  I flared this one and just finished the chassis.

 

 

 

[Bill from NH]

Great looking car Rod! The real Mustangs, like this one, raced Trans Am here in New Hampshire with Parnelli Jones &? driving. They raced on the Bryar Motorsport road course before the land was reused for the New Hampshire International Speedway.

[Martin]

Love those flares 

[Slot Car Rod]

I built a 16D based motor for the Mustang.  The motor It uses a Mura end-bell and armature and Champion magnets.  The spherical can bearing was replaced with an end-bell bushing.  The car handle well but could use more power.  The front spoiler needs to be trimmed. 

This hardbody MESAC class must have been fun.

 

 

 

[Bill from NH]

Rod, do you know which Mura arm is in the can? A Challenger/Contender or a Super Wasp might provide a power increase. Just having the existing arm reconditioned might help too.

[Slot Car Rod]

Good suggestion Bill.  I like Super Wasp armatures.  The 28 single armature is probably worn out.