156 replies to this topic

[Bill from NH]

I confused the aluminum brush heat sinks with the comm coolers. Parma sold the first brush heat sinks, Thorp made the comm coolers. I started using Thorp to recondition my arms in 1970. It was '72 or '73 before he notified his recon customers, he had them. Most Connecticut racer tried them for a couple months on a king track before deciding they weren't effective. I still have the used ones I bought. 

[Brian Czeiner]

I don't care if they work. I just think they are cool looking. It only has to work if people think it does. As a last place racer, it wouldn't hurt me. 

[dc-65x]

I'm with you on loving the comm coolers Brian.  

 

Here's a vintage ad for the also very cool Parma heat sinks:

 

 

I had a small lot of them reproduced many moons ago:

 

[Mark Onofri]

Very slick using a insulating washer for the spring post. I don't recall having seen that before or, maybe I just never noticed. No, I don't think I've ever seen it before. Nice!!!
Another first is the pachyderm ears. I've only seen the newer versions with the half moon holes. They would personifie the enlarged can holes but, what do I know.

[dc-65x]

As I remember it Mark, Joel Montague taught me about using the fiber washer under the brush spring.
 

Here's the progress on assembling Joel's Friend Henri. All it needs is the shunt wires to be ready to solder in the chassis. I'll do that when I get the modified heat sinks back from Joel. Here is drilling the hole for the copper wire buss bar to go through the endbell:
 

 
The brush hoods were soldered to the copper backing plates. The slot in the hood is opened up so the brush spring insulation and shunt wire will fit and move freely. A fiber insulator is installed under the brush spring post. The buss bar attaches to the lower screw and runs up the side of the end bell, goes through the hole I drilled. I sure hope this is the way you did it, Joel I think it is but it's hard to tell from the pictures . Man, those screw heads look like crud. They are new screws, too. I'll have to clean them up. Looks like I'd better countersink that hole I drilled, too. Man, these close-up pictures really show the boo-boos.
 
The brush spring are modern Camen Heavy springs. I always thought they had a vintage look to them and I've been using them on a lot of my motors. This is what Joel said about brush springs when I asked what I should use: "Actually, the springs I was going to send were modern Camen. They are very close to the Boyington's that we ran in that era and I doubt I have any Boyingtons."
 

 
Henri almost ready to go:
 

 

 
Aren't those little 0-80 flat head screws holding the endbell on cool
 

 
One last picture with Henri all dressed up with a new comm cooler. I know Joel didn't run one in the Nats but I finally got a batch made for me and I just had to see what it would look like on the motor:
 

 
Next I'll get the front wheels soldered on and... well... wait for those special heat sinks from Joel to finish Adam's bitch'n car.
 
Thanks for everything, Joel!

 
It was during one of the most memorable builds I was involved with. I got to work with Joel to build a virtually exact replica of his 1973 Nats winning car:

 

 
Here's a link to that interesting build:
 
Joel Montague's 1973 Nats Winner

[Bill from NH]

Sonic used to sell Teflon washers for insulating the brush springs on aluminum endbells. The phenolic ones were used in the early '70s, the Teflon ones in the '90s.

[old & gray]

"Actually, the springs I was going to send were modern Camen. They are very close to the Boyington's that we ran in that era and I doubt I have any Boyingtons."

 

Inthteresting, I didn't realize Joel was using Boyington's parts. I joined the party about 1975 and I don't remember springs being for sale although I had access to them.

[Bill from NH]

Russ's springs became "the spring" to use once they were available. You had to bend the short leg for brush contact & set the spring tension where you wanted. I never knew whether Russ wound them himself or jobbed them out. Bob, mine came from C&C. I don't recall if Modelville sold them, they bought most everything from REH. I saved my used ones for reuse; they were that good.

[Brian Czeiner]

For the builders out there, do you label these builds/chassis for detailed identification when those unfamiliar with slot cars are required to sort through these things in the future? If my wife had to go through my collection, and one day she likely will, the identification would simply be, "They were Brian's".

[Bill from NH]

I just engrave my signature on the chassis bottoms. In '71 or '72 I built a few chassis for my home track (Modelville Hobby) to sell. At one of the '97 USRA Nats warmup races. a guy who had bought one came up to me & said they ran good. I never identify a chassis by its body & motor. They often didn't last long enough to confuse the unknowing what they were for.

[dc-65x]

With the motor ready to go I moved on to the wheels and tires.

 

The current restored Honker uses these wheels:

 

 

I found these very similar wheel inserts by Slot.It:

 

 

For wheels and tires I'm going with the same setup I used on my previous build, the scale body King Cobra.

 

Reproduction Russkit extra wide rear wheels for the fronts and the "mythical" super wide for the rears. Front tires are Cox Firestone rears and Alpha humongous donuts for the rears:

 

 

I'm really liking using my little hobby lathe with an X-Acto knife to closely trim tires. I can get the tires really close to finish size to minimize grinding:

 

 

 

I've always liked gold wheels. In the 70's I painted the centers of the American Mags on my Datsun 510 BRE TransAm tribute car gold. So I'm leaving these inserts gold:

 

 

I cut treads in the Cox front tires. A MESAC touch I really like:

 

 

Now I can assemble the roller and get the body mounted.

 

 

[Martin]

Looking great Rick   

Have you been able to find that beautiful purple/ lavender color for the body?

[dc-65x]

Thanks Martin. I have the paint I'll be using in hand. I have lots of work to do on the engine detail and interior first.

[dc-65x]

With the wheels and tires on the chassis I mounted the body. The bodies relatively tall sides and thin plastic allow it to lean way off center and flop side to side like crazy.

 

I installed little L- braces at the back of the pans to stop that:

 

 

Also, the bodies sides are tapered. The body is 3" wide at the top and tapers to just 2 1/2" wide at its bottom:

 

 

This squeezes the pans on the 2 7/8" wide chassis and pulls the pans all the way up to their stops. I installed wire springs to stop that:

 

 

With the body mounted it now has nice "loosey goosey" movement but stays centered on the chassis.

 

Speaking of the chassis here it is all spiffed up:

 

 

 

 

[Dave Crevie]

Looking great Rick 

Have you been able to find that beautiful purple/ lavender color for the body?

 

It's Passano Purple, Ford code WT9106. You can still get it from some touch-up paint companies. Only buy the lacquer version, the enamel will flake off. I got the info from Ewe Olsen about 15 years ago when I was doing a Honker retro car. ( a total failure, by the way)  He remembered it from when he was working on the car while it was being restored. 

 

Like the gold Halibrand inserts. The originals had a bit of a gold tint to them from the DOW-20 coating that was applied. 

[Martin]

We are talking about this color ? Love this color.

 

 

 

[Eddie Fleming]

Am I correct in thinking that was the same color used on Fireball Roberts Ford's in 63/64?

[Martin]

Sure looks like it to my eye 

 

[Dave Crevie]

"We are talking about this color ? Love this color."

 

images (1).jpg

 

 

That's the color. I wouldn't be surprised if it is the same color on the #22 Ford Galaxie. Couldn't find any verification of that, though. Here's what the web says on the Honker. (I spelled Passino wrong)

 

 

I don't know if there is a model paint that matches. Rick, if you did a body already, I would go with whatever you used. I'm sure it is close enough.

[Bill from NH]

You could ask Holman-Moody to confirm Fireball's paint. Hemmings.com indicates it was metallic lavender chosen by Passino.

[dc-65x]

I have LOTS to do before the body gets painted.

 

I have found a really nice TrueScale repop of a Lancer Ferrari Can Am full interior that fits great.

 

The NASCAR 1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie "fastback" shown above is my favorite vintage stocker.   

[Martin]

Thats sounds correct Bill " metallic lavender chosen by Passino" my wife says its Lavender too.   

 

Dave "I would go with whatever you used. I'm sure it is close enough"  This is Rick we are talking about , I do not think "close enough" is in his vocabulary.

[Dave Crevie]

"Passino" means to pass in Italian. It can also mean strainer or child's step. It sometimes refers to something masculine. I don't know of anyone connected to the Ford racing program named Passino. That being said, why would there be a Ford color code assigned to a color whipped up by someone in a paint shop? I have a Duplicolor rattle can of Ford code WT9106 that I used on the Honker I built when retro Can-Am was just getting started, and if it is still good I will use it on the body I have. 

 

Anyway, I wasn't saying that Rick shortcuts as a normal procedure.    

[Jaeger Team]

"Passino" means to pass in Italian. It can also mean strainer or child's step. It sometimes refers to something masculine. I don't know of anyone connected to the Ford racing program named Passino. That being said, why would there be a Ford color code assigned to a color whipped up by someone in a paint shop? I have a Duplicolor rattle can of Ford code WT9106 that I used on the Honker I built when retro Can-Am was just getting started, and if it is still good I will use it on the body I have. 
 
Anyway, I wasn't saying that Rick shortcuts as a normal procedure.    

I'm more inclined to believe that "passino" is a typo; "passion lavender" or "passion flower" is much more credible, a very sophisticated color used in the fashion world...

[ajd350]

The Honker II color was the same as used on Fireball Roberts' H-M stock cars and was called "Passino Purpole" after Jacques Passino who ran the Ford performance ...