87 replies to this topic

[dc-65x]

Sharing our builds with pictures is a great way to get new ideas Larry.      I'm always on the hunt for something I haven't seen or done before in the vintage world.

 

I thought I'd be narrowing an 1 1/4" drop arm but it turns out that a Parma 1/32 scale 1" wide arm is just long enough to work on this inline chassis:

 

 

The arm in the jig along with the 3/32" plumber hinge tubes, rear .047" wire brace and 1/16" front bumper:

 

 

Soldered up, scrubbed and scuffed with a Scotch Brite pad:

 

 

The arm is..................

 

 

............at 1/16" thick:

 

[Mark Onofri]

I/we used the white dots on c-12's and the longer red dots on the c-20's.
I'm going to implement a lot of this build in my next generation 1/32 444 type chassis

[dc-65x]

Cool Mark.  

 

I'm more comfortable installing the drop arm hinge in one long piece along with the plumber rail upward stops and vertical L-braces:

 

 

Leaving the vertical L-braces extra long makes their alignment, or lack thereof, really stand out:

 

 

The center cut out and everything cleaned  and scuffed up:

 

 

I hate to have sharp edges on my chassis so everything I chopped off razor sharp with my Dremel got deburred smooth. I guess that's a habit from my machinist apprenticeship Bill:      

 

 

OK, time to get that drop arm installed........

[Bill from NH]

I do that too, I'm a self-trained semi-machinist.    I've been known to square up tubing ends with my Unimat.

[don.siegel]

As a non-machinist, I use the Think method (from Music Man): I look at the ends really hard until they get dull... 

 

Don 

[dc-65x]

 

I don't know about this...........but I do know a file works!   

 

Before attaching the drop arm, I installed its upward stop. The jig lines everything up:

 

 

All soldered up and.........

 

 

...........all cleaned up:

 

 

The center section is starting to look like something:

 

 

Pans and plumber rails are next.

[Mark Onofri]

One wire, one bend. Not always as easy as it sounds.

[dc-65x]

One 90 degree bend and then a little kink upward gets it laying flat on the arm Mark.  

 

 

Good old .032" American Line/Parma pans:

 

 

5/8" long pin tube pan hinges soldered on the plumber rails using the pans to locate them on the chassis. The heat really warps the plumber rails so they needed to be straightened out:

 

 

The extra long pan hinge wires soldered on:

 

 

Pin tube body mounts soldered first to the long end of the hinge wires to hold them in place and then to the pans:

 

 

Finally the plumbers are connected together and little pan downward stop gizmos are attached to finish construction:

 

 

Time for a WD-40 soak and a good spiffing up.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark Onofri]

👍 inspiring

[dc-65x]

Here's the finished chassis next to the design inspiration for it. That nasty looking chassis on the right is the first version of the good old Lee Gilbert - Car Model Magazine article 4-rail chassis I built 20 years ago:

 

 

The Gilbert chassis shows all the fans of "patina" what a polished chassis will look like after 20 years of handling it without wiping the finger prints off:       

 

I can't help myself, I like a shiny hand polished chassis:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chassis has a 3 13/16" wheelbase, is 2 7/8" wide with a 1" drop arm and a 13/16" guide lead:

 

 

[Larry Horner]

Wow, that looks amazing Rick and there is nothing wrong with shiny! So what is the gauge of the wire used for your pan hinges (not that I'm going to copy this chassis ... ok, maybe  )?

[don.siegel]

Beautiful job Rick, as usual. 

 

I kind of like the patina myself, and that has nothing to do with being too lazy to polish my brass... well, maybe a little! 

 

Don 

[dc-65x]

Thanks Larry. The pan hinge wires are .032" and the hinge tubes are 1/16" OD.

 

You're not the only patina admirer Don. I bet Martin is loving it too!   

[Pablo]

It just never gets old         

[Tex]

beauty, mate!

[Pablo]

And to think they called it the "last gasp of the inlines"!

That's the most awesome inline I've ever seen   

 

You just can't beat tilting pans connected to hinged wires on a droparm.

The whole chassis is alive    

[don.siegel]

History question : were there plumbers on the inlines ? I only remember that associated with anglewinder frames, but then again, I wasn't too active starting in 68-69. 

 

Don 

[dc-65x]

Thanks guys     

 

Don, frame mounted plumbers first showed up on anglewinders and evolved to being mounted to the drop arm. They were also used on "fat GP" inline cars for a short time.

 

I want to have some fun with my scale bodies like my Lancer Honker so I’m going to open things up from my usual approach to vintage building by doing the following:

• Approach this build as if I was a hobbyist back in the early 70’s building just for the fun of it.

• Use any vintage or repop vintage component available from the early 1960’s to the early 1970’s.

• Use any style of vintage motor and chassis design from the early 1960’s to the early 1970’s.

 

[don.siegel]

Thanks for the reminder Rick; I figured you had said something like that, but was too lazy to go back and look! 

 

Like several others, I'm thinking of copying your chassis, so that made me think about it a little more deeply... 

 

Don 

[dc-65x]

You bet Don.   

 

Just for the fun of it, building an inline version of the classic "Lee Gilbert style" 4-rail chassis has been rattling around in my head for years. Building one to fit the smaller, scale bodies instead of the usual "low and wide handling bodies" seemed like even more fun!   

 

 

[Mark Onofri]

Is there a big difference in the handling between the long and short drop arms, aside from the motor layout? And also, does the with make a ?

[dc-65x]

This chassis is a first for me Mark so I don't know yet. Here are the parts to put this car together so we can see how she runs.

 

The wheels and tires I've shown before, 1" X 5/8" rears and 15/16" X .475" fronts:

 

 

The fronts were converted to independently rotating:

 

 

Gears are a 35T Weldun and modern steel 7T:

 

 

Guide is a good old threaded JET flag:

 

 

To "wire it and fire it" I'm using another pair of these Mura fat lead wires:

 

 

I've also ordered a pair of fresh modern tires for the test drive.

 

 

 

 

[Bill from NH]

Guide lead & drop arm weight are more important than drop arm width in my opinion. I also think that as the drop arm hinge location moves backward, the car handles smoother. When you move it back, you will sometimes need a longer drop arm to maintain a certain guide lead. Some, but not all, tracks will let you get by when running an unorthodox design.

[dc-65x]

Those are the gut feelings I had Bill. I chose the heavier 1/16" thick drop arm and moved the hinge location back close to the motor. I also got within 1/16" of the "magic" 7/8" guide lead. 

 

We'll see.........

[dc-65x]

Here's a series of pictures of the finished roller:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the roller on the workbench, I spread out the detail parts and body. Trouble seems to be brewing from an outside 1/24 scale influence.