42 replies to this topic

[dc-65x]

I tagged along with my friend Rodney to our favorite raceway (Eddie's Slot Car World in Vallejo, CA) and thought I'd share some of Rodney's Kool cars. He's always got slot boxes full of cars from the "Dawn of Time" to today's prototypes. All the cars shown will be 1/24 scale:



Let's not forget "McLaren World" :







He has just finished building all the versions (I think ) of the Can-Am Shadows. Here is the first version as it appeared on the cover of Road & Track magazine back in 1969:





He used two vintage Dynamic Handling Body Shadow bodies...







... grafted together to get the correct length for a scale version of this single "ray gun" cover car:



Next up is (I think ) the first as raced version. Yes the driver really sat up that high... or is it the sides of the car are really that low . This is made from a modified Dynamic body :







Now a later version again from a heavily modified Dynamic body:





This last version is from a resin body:







Next up some vintage scale Formula A racers...

[Tex]

Are those all 1/24 scale?

[dc-65x]

Hi Tex,

Yes, all are 1/24. I'll edit the post to indicate that. Thanks.

[dc-65x]

Here we have a couple of scale Formula A cars:







My favorite, Mr. Red Lola:





Front suspension detail complete with brake scoops:



Engine and rear suspension detail:



Transaxle and rear wing detail:



Here's the chassis:



As you can tell by the braid, these cars are run. We like to "see them move" .

More to come...

[Bill from NH]

Rick, both these Formula A cars have great detail! Do their bodies and engines come from model kits or originate elsewhere? Can you give us a few words as what chassis was modified to fit them and what these cars run for motors?

[dc-65x]

Hi Bill,

I'll ask Rodney to fill us in and post it here.

[idare2bdul]

Wow! Thanks for sharing.

[Edo]

WOW!
Outstanding cars, R!
Not my cup of tea but what beauties!

Are those tires Arodyn's "vintage" foamies which were available a while ago at Proformance, by any chance?
Does Rodney keep them on the cars all the time or he takes them off and puts them away after racing to keep them fresh?
(I ask because I have them on many of my cars).

Regards,

Edo

[Roger U]

Rick, thanks for sharing the photos. Those are REALLY nice looking slot cars. Great work, Rodney!!!

[dc-65x]

Thanks guys, it is my pleasure to share these cool cars or as Rodney would say, "People like to see junk". Some junk these are NICE cars . Anyway here's what Rodney had to say about building the Formula A cars:

The Formula A car is based on a 1/25 scale AMT Penske PC-6 Indy car kit. Cars are patterned after a Lola T330 and T332. Lots of sheet styrene plastic, glue and a bit of putty were added. Patterns were made with file card stock. The patterns were traced onto the sheet plastic. The sheet was cut out for the various body sections and air box. The windscreen on the red car is sheet lexan and the windscreen on the blue car is from the model scrap box. The small block Chevy engines are from stock car model kits. Engine header on red car is made of solder. Engine header on blue car is from the stock car kit. The two-piece chassis are made of sheet brass cut out with a Dremel tool and bent using a small sheet metal bending break. The blue car uses a Monogram U-bracket. The red car U-bracket is part of the sheet brass chassis. Chassis has shaker top plates that the bodies mount to. Motors used are H&R. The electric motors are covered with a removable metal shroud that is covered with the V8 model parts.

Hi Edo!

Here's a Cooc for you:





It was at Eddie's too; you can see it in the slot box. Never know what you might need.

[Bill from NH]

Rick, thanks for the write-up on the cars. I recall seeing the AMT kits a few years ago but not recently. However, tracking one down shouldn't be too hard.

[68Caddy]

Sure a nice collection of Can-Am cars are some of them Vanquish?

Nesta

[dc-65x]

No problem Bill, sounds like it's Ebay time .

Hi Nesta. These are all 1/24 scale cars .

Here is another one we ran. It's a fiberglass Auto Hobbies Lister Jag body from the Bill Sipple estate. It's powered by a Pittman DC-65 6 volt motor:





I'm saving my favorite car of the day for last.............

[Horsepower]

Would this work?

Attached Images

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[68Caddy]

That's incredible, I have to say what a collection, thanks for sharing.

Nesta

[tonyp]

The original Trevor Harris designed Shadow was so cool and bursting with ideas and innovation which unfortunately did not work. Too much "new" all in one package. It was thinkers and cars like this that made the Can-Am series so interesting. All the weird and interesting designs that were tried to dethrone Mclaren who dominated with what probably with the most conventional cars but the best tested, tuned and tweaked.

God I love these cars.

[dc-65x]

WOW!
Outstanding cars, R!
Not my cup of tea but what beauties!

Are those tires Arodyn's "vintage" foamies which were available a while ago at Proformance, by any chance?
Does Rodney keep them on the cars all the time or he takes them off and puts them away after racing to keep them fresh?
(I ask because I have them on many of my cars).

Regards,

Edo

Hi Edo,

Here's Rodney's response:

Tires are mainly Pro Track Drag Race wheels and tires ( 5/8* hub, .700 wide). I start with 1 5/16" diameter tires and cut them down to about 1 1/8" diameter (rear) and about 1" to 1 1/16" (front). I mainly use regular sponge tires instead of the natural sponge tires that ProTrack offers. I also have been using H & R wheels and tires. Their tires, both foam and fish foam, seem to work the best at our local track. H & R rubber tires are too hard.

Tires are kept in the plastic tubes the tires came in when they are not in use.

Thanks,
Rodney

[Edo]

Thanks Rick, thanks Rodney!
I have a bunch of questions about the kind of foamies you use but let's leave it at that now, before we sidetrack this great thread.
BTW you guys look like you have a lot of wonderful toys!
Ciao for now
Edo
PS that Moster Cuc!

[Gus Kelley]

Hey Rick! What a fantastic corral of cars. I willing to bet there are more. Gus

[dc-65x]

Hi Gus,

Welcome to Slotblog .

The cars shown all belong to my friend Rodney. He's a fantastic modler/slot car builder. I hope to get together with him out at Eddie's again soon. I'll post more pictures of his cars then .

Rick

[idare2bdul]

Thanks for the post. It made my day.

[dc-65x]

I went to Eddie's Slot Car World with my friend Rodney yesterday. I thought I'd share some more of his Kool cars. This is a AMT model kit McLaren Mk1 hard body. All these hard body cars have "shaker" body mounting:







One of my favorites, a Revell BRE TransAm Datsun 510 model kit body:





Rodney tries to match the speed of the real cars. So this 510 is slower that the McLaren above:



This is a...........ah..........Toyota based on a............ah..........a Japaneese model kit . Darn he told me what it was too :







A TransAm Javalin. Not sure if it's a model kit or resin with kit bashed parts. It's cool though . I like those Mini Lite wheels :







OK, here a vac Chaparral 2J "vacuum cleaner" or "sucker" car:







"But wait, there's more" He cut out the fans from the body. Then he opened up each blade and angled them so when they power up they blow air out from inside the body:



Wait did I say " power up"? YES!



HOLY SMOKES!

more to come.........

[endbelldrive]

HOLY SMOkES...INDEED!

[Alchemist]

I try and get out to Eddie's Slot Car World every Sunday when Rodney drops in. All I can do is drool (with a bib) when I see the car's Rodney brings to the track - as he likes to put it "I like to see'em move!". He has a plethora of cars that he brings to the track besides the ones he also has at home. You gotta see the cars in person and "see'em move". It's so cool!

Thanks Capt'n Rick. Hope to see you at Eddie's sometime soon!

Ernie

[dc-65x]

Yup, all of Rodney's stuff GOES! No shelf queens.

Ernie, hope to see you next time .

OK, here's my personal favorite. It's a Monogram Ferrari model kit body..........





........with the full interior............



.........and a scratch built pan chassis:



Next a pair of Lola T70 hard bodies:



Both have cool engine detail:











Here's a modern era Porsche 911 body..........



........the body was painted with Tamya yellow and everthing else is hours of decal application:





Last is a Porsche GP car. I built it a dozen years ago. It was one of my first cars after I returned to slot racing:



It's a Pactra body with a Cox driver and Revell wheel inserts:



The chassis is a Kemtron and the motor is a Pittman DC70 6 volt:



When I built it I had no idea what an NOS DC70 should run like. When I tested the thing it was so slow it wouldn't make it around the bank . When I sold it to Rodney it woundn't even run. He took it the motor apart and reassembled it. Now it works great .

I need to build another one of those DC-70's

Onward