314 replies to this topic

[Duffy]

Yea, good luck with that one.....

...I'm lookin'...

[BWA]

Not Kal Kar Doc, Kemtron.

I got some more almost ready to go. After drilling and tapping about 80,000 wheels in the last 10 years, doing large batches is gettin hard on my hands. It's affecting my Banjo playing too, which, is not fun.

Duff, my wheel guy can do threaded axles too. What's 4140 TGP???

[dc-65x]

I've got threaded axles for ya if needed Sir Duffster. Your needs Squire .

[Rick]

Duffster, some air harden drill rod, cut, thread, heat treat. Sheesh why is that heat treat stuff for at work if not little G jobs?

[Cop Cake]

I love how high Gurney sticks up out of the cockpit here. Don't care who built it, Al, the Porsche's a wonderous-fine model and deserves its laps.


My part--
An evening's progress shot of my Pittlock build, done SteamPunk style with bronze rod & cute lil' 65 brackets from Thigpen. Fate observes that Duffy can never just make the frame--Yah, well, y'think this one's overly-swoopy, you should have seen what I originally tried to do. And failed. Four times.

Duffy

Mmmmmm, swoopy! I love it. And with ball bearings too! I think you need to add something wood to qualify as SteamPunk. I'll betcha Mr. Penrose has teak popsicle stick tucked away somewhere.....

Nice build there, Duffy.

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

Al, you know I have always liked your stuff.

Motors: In the day, I owned ONE each pittman and Scuttler clone of the 704s and until early in '64 when I got my first mabuchi 36s(seems wrong not to add "D" but I will belive), these motors migrated from car to car often depending on the class being run. So, being a packrat, I just put things in a box until later. Much later, I found a full case of 706s which I started rebuilding those old cars just for fun.

I need to get a digital camera!

One of my oldies is an early Dubro Maser 300s with a midwest plate type chassis and NOW a 706. It is a minor hobby finding the parts for these. My early relationship with Philippe some years ago was his finding me parts for my cars.

In cany case, I have NOS russkit wheels in packages. In the day, 63, Jim Russell was kind enough to regularly correspond with me about my projects. As always, I remain forever grateful for this. And in the day, loved using his wheels! So, the other day, the local track got some "American Line 3/4 Fronts" and to my amazement, they proved out to be NOS russkit 15" narrow rims. A cheap source for us!

Anyway, the point being that rotating the expensive bits from car to car means NOW that I can afford the parts to have them complete at the same time. Retro, recreations, restorations? What.

Fate

[dc-65x]

.........got some "American Line 3/4 Fronts" and to my amazement, they proved out to be NOS russkit 15" narrow rims.

Hi Rocky,

Can you double check those American Line fronts? They could very well be different from the ones I have…….but mine are about 1/16” larger in overall diameter than Russkits. They still work fine, accept Russkit wheel inserts and it’s hard to see the difference in diameter between the front and rear wheels on the car.

[Horsepower]

Duff- The frame looks like the beginning build of the original "Time Machine".

[Duffy]

HAH!! Exactly, & an earlier PM had Rod Taylor climbing into this to go do battle with guys looking like JP van Rossem.

There're structural problems with this stuff. Fate pointed out that big bends will tweak easier in a crash. The comparison he made is between Cooper's curvy space frames and Maserati's birdcage. Here I was trying to avoid stress cracks in sharp bends, and I'm just going too far. On the other hand, heck fire--I can build my Serious Racer chassis all practical-like, there still oughta be room in Lost Causes for a little noble folly. (Rocky by the way also evoked "Steampunk" which, if I got anything to do with it, will name the style like JailDoor does!)

Duffy

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

65, I have seen various rims show up in REH/American Line with the same numbers. So, all I can say is....maybe? I have some NOS fronts and rears in the package. This might be modified by two things: 1) that Russkit produced various rims, both threaded and set screw in the day, both scales. Second that someone is doing "repops".

So, I was surprised by the package I just got, but I don't know when REH put them IN the package! grin. They came with these silly rubber donuts on them. Dunno.

For a while you could get the old Cox Mags as "concours d'Elegance", but not recently. Yesterday, the local track owner found a fairly mint La Cuc, in one of his boxes with taper axles. I offered to put fresh rubber on it, but he wanted to run it NOW. The wheels were chemically welded to the axles and took some effort to break loose. We put a set of Parma 680Bs on the rear and the car ran that afternoon. He was so happy. Someone in the past had put a red wire arm in the TTx150 motor, though.

Sorry to ramble.

Fate

[Horsepower]

Ramble more, you two! This is the stuff I find really interesting!

[havlicek]

Just catching up in here and that right there is a cool looking chassis Duffy! All those swoopy curves and whatnot add a real flair and touch of individuality...build-on!

I need to get a digital camera!

Well heck Rocky that's an understatement , but you gotta phone...you gotta camera!

-john

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

I don't have a cell phone either!

Fate

[Bill from NH]

And here I thought I was the only old guy without a cellphone & a digital camera. But it's getting more difficult to find 45mm film for my Nikon. I won't bother mentioning I have a 40+ yr. background in telecommunications.

[don.siegel]

Me neither Bill, altho I do have a digital camera (confiscated by my wife). And I'm supposed to be a technical translator and occasional copywriter (as I believe Rocky is too). The wonderful ironies of life!

Don

[Duffy]

"I'm not a REAL Technical Translator; I just play one at Tri-Technologies, Inc..."
Progress on the SteamPunk King Cobra. Just a vanity paste-up this afternoon, & then I must prep a Can-Am ride for this week while I wait for the Special Paint to come over from the mixing shed.



Here's the rolling stock. The akas are a little more angular than the rest, but those big bends were beginning to damage my calm--it's not a guesswork kind of thing, y'know? Hang On Swoopy. Swoopy Hang On.

It's Ortmann silicone over Russkits all around, and I still have to spin them down to size: the rearsw just a little, fronts just a little more. After I've taken this out to play awhile I may try tying the spur to the rim and lose one setscrew boss, affording me another 1/8" of tyre width.



Going for scale ground clearance; the central chassis gets 1/16" but the body sides are hiked up over that, so everything got shimmed pretty violently.

The guide bushing is problematic. It's semi-flimsy to my sensibility, but worse, the standard tubing ID is .013" bigger than the shaft of my guide. Something may have to go here. I'll run it and see what breaks /disgusts me first. Y'think I'll end up with a large blob of lead up there, too?



My own prototype Duffy Pinners in action. I can run 1/32" wire right through all and solder my tubes in place, & use the same setup for piloting the body.



Real cars got room to lose a beer can underneath! and pre-'67, it's a Fosters. That's about five and a half scale inches we're seeing here.

Get to painting & decorating next week. Planning on setting the Hawk in here, Nassau '63. Coupla body details are different, but near-close enough.

Duffy

[dc-65x]

Hey Duffy, I like it! I really do! The body sits nicely on it too. Great build .

Say I bought some "Jelclaw" and "URETHANE" rear tires along with the Ortmann's to try on these old dogs.

Rick

[Duffy]

Yah, I saw a "Jelclaw" or two while eBay-crawling last night. Let us know what you think?

[BWA]

Say I bought some "Jelclaw" and "URETHANE" rear tires along with the Ortmann's to try on these old dogs.

I will almost guarantee you won't like them. Modern solid rubber type tires have so much grip, that these old things either corner like HO magnet cars, or, want to end up on their roof. They have no nice progressive slide to them.

Even when super round, they have an odd chatter (more like a chirp every time you go round a tight corner, or, if they start to slide) in the corners due to the amount of grip shared over a solid axle. Something has to slip, and, that's one thing these tires don't do well, slip.

I have basically quit racing over the last several years, and, almost quit the hobby altogether just because the cars drive so awful with modern urethane type tires. I hate them.

I would just about kill for a Big Bag O Vecos right now.

[Pete L.]

Duffy,

Nice chassis work ! Can't wait to see the finished car.

[don.siegel]

Beautiful job Duffy, looking forward to seeing the finished result too! Were you thinking about reducing the rear track because it's too tight, or just to have that possibility? You could also use an old solder-on spur gear to save the space of the Cox hub, without having to attach it to the wheel. I've probably got some of those lying around (Speedway, etc.), if you want to try that.

I've generally been very happy with the Ortmanns myself, and find that they slide very well, on just about any kind of track. We run a lot on Carrera plastic here, and they're very good for that. The Bordo American Black has a modern polyurethane surface and they're a bit slippery on there, but depends on car and atmospheric conditions. But on a big 1/24 wood track in England (Wellingborough club) where we ran last year, the Ortmanns were excellent, but they were a bit slippery on the 1/32 track that had a worn-down Sandtex paint job...

And if you really want some Vecos Al, just got a pack of six of them, and be happy to send you a few.... I think Rick (DC65X) uses those kinds of tires occasionally, with good results..., eh Rick?

Don

[Duffy]

Were you thinking about reducing the rear track because it's too tight, or just to have that possibility?

---Wait: Reduce the track? I want to ADD rubber, I got 3/8" wide tyres now and I can squeeze 1/2" in with a little work.

You could also use an old solder-on spur gear to save the space of the Cox hub, without having to attach it to the wheel.

Solder-on. What an endearing concept, and why didn't I think of it when I got that bag of BRASS spur gears!! Jeez, d'you guys have to write everything out for me? Amazing.

Dummy

[dc-65x]

........Vecos....... I think Rick (DC65X) uses those kinds of tires occasionally, with good results..., eh Rick?

Hi Don,

Yes I like them for the really old stuff. I wouldn't mind just a touch more grip than the now 40+ year old tires have but they're not bad. There was a guy on Ebay a month or so ago who was selling them on a Buy It Now basis and he had a BUNCH of them. I bought some to beef up my stash .

[BWA]

HHHMMMM, funny about the different experiences with the Urethane tires Don. We use mostly flat latex over here, and, this is mostly with 1/32 scale home club tracks.

This car is 1/24, and, on a tight twisty track with less than 20 foot straights will eat a modern Euro Plafit/Schoeler Worlds class car for dinner. The Euro car is much quicker on the straights, but, this thing goes through the twisty bits like a 5 magnet car on plastic steel railed track. All the while emitting a BBBZZZZZZTTT BBBZZZZZZTT sound every time it goes round a different corner or changes direction. Very unpleasant, and, most unrealistic. When and if it does start to slide, it chatters quite agressively. It's just not the same feel to driving the older sponge tired cars.



Are those the Veco tires pre cut, and, packaged in the bag specifically for 1/24 slot cars, or, original old Veco Tail Wheels. I'm really looking for the smaller 3/4" and 7/8"s inch Veco Tail Wheels uncut, and still on the hub. These had a much finer grain pattern to them than the bigger ones. Some of the Auto Hobbies sponge tires were almost identical to the Veco small tires.

Duff, another trick you can do, is to cut the hub off the gear side rim, and, Loctite a hubless 1/8" gear AND the hubless wheel together onto one end of the axle, and just use a setscrew wheel on the other end so you can assemble/disassemble everything.

[dc-65x]

Al,

Maybe I'm mistakenly lumping several different types of sponge rubber tires together. Sorry if I am. The tires I used to use in my "ute" were marked "Record Elastik", "Made in Germany" and packaged by Tradeship, Mini Auto and others. We simply called them "Germans". I believe they were originally a model airplane tire which found a following in early slots, at least in So Cal. The ones on Ebay recently were the larger "40mm X 14mm" for 1/24 cars.

You know, LM Gillett had the 7/8 Auto Hobbies sponge rear tires. Maybe he still has some .