100 replies to this topic

[Pablo]

Finished January 2012:

 

 

 

Here's where it all started:

Duffy gifted me a 1/32 body; don't know what it is.
My plan is an inline using a genuine Russkit bracket, endbell drive motor, Cobra tongue, piano wire rails, and tilt pans.
Kind of a Mike Steube retro inline style. No rules. No period correctness.

First step: get the mystery eBay junk motor running.

[Duffy]

"1/32"--how cute is that? It's an Elva Mk. VII, a Dilworth special, and it is indeed a tiny 1/24 body. Ohhh, we jaded Can-Am guys, our eyes're wrecked forever...

A while back, I pulled out my then-new Lotus 11 to show a friend, a former Grp. 12 hotshot; His eyes got all wide. "Ooooo....going into 1/32 now too?..."

Duf

[Pablo]

Are you sure it's a 1/24 ? The width is 2.5"

[Tex]

Are you sure it's a 1/24 ? The width is 2.5"

It could be a TRUE 1/24 scale body. I have a couple of McLaren MK.II's from Tom Andersen... 2 - 3/4" wide. Not everyone makes/made 1/24 bodies 3" wide just because the rules allow(ed) it.

[Pablo]

Strangest balancing marks I've ever seen, and about a pound of white mystery epoxy secures the comm. I guess modifying the neutral timing is not an option

[Howmet TX]

Definitely 1/24, Pablo. As The Duffster says, it's an Elva MkVII in true scale. You should see the same car in 1/32! Very cute.

[Bill from NH]

Pablo,

That arm looks like a Dyna-Rewind to me. They sold car kits with a balanced and epoxied rewound arm for $1 over the kit's retail price. Balancing grooves with round bottoms ground on the stacks and a gob of opaque epoxy were a couple of their trademarks.

[don.siegel]

Hmmm... the balancing marks do like like Dyna, but I seem to remember they were a bit narrower - will have to compare tonight. And they used a whiter, glassier epoxy that covered all the windings - very typical of their early arms! I guess it could have worn off, but seems unlikely for their epoxy.

Bill, I actually got one of those 99 cent Dyna Specials, a Cucuracha, probably in 1967 when I was fifteen... worked okay if I put goop on the tires every ten laps, but I knew nothing about the fine points of tuning RTR cars - like changing gear ratios, adding weight and all the other stuff that was needed with Cucs!

In any case, an excellent project, Pablo. Looking forward to seeing some brass bending!

Don

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

That epoxy layout was one of our bad ideas! The short version is that when the arm is hot, that type of epoxy HOLDS the heat on the wire which does a lovely bit of melting inside. Makes it a pain to strip and rewind.

But I admit, I was certain it was a good idea at the time!

No one thought about specifically distorting bodies to be wide until like 67. Before that all bodies were fairly scale. You might remember the Duffy "Lost cause" thread. In the day, I built several cars that were too small and narrow to be competitive just because I wanted the model race car to play with. Duffy's Lotus 11 was one, another was this jaildoor Lotus 7 that I did. I keep meaning to restore it!

Fate

[Duffy]

Yah, here's the Lotus again--actually the same wheelbase as your Elva here, but I can get all of 2.2" track inside that body!!



A couple other mistakes--for some reason we got to talking real small wheels on these, and I built the chassis with like 1/16" gap...it don't work. Gonna bend the body-mount outriggers up to get the look of real ground clearance, and put real tyres on it. Stay tuned.


Duffy

[Duffy]

That epoxy layout was one of our bad ideas!

"Sometimes A Great Notion..." Pablo, y'think you've got unsightly build-up? Feast your eyes on this:



Part of a nice eBay lot of motors & bits, this was in a tube marked "Mura Std" and I can't raise a circuit on it--yup, indeed, something's passing fried in there somewhere.
Duffy

[Pablo]

1. OK so it's a 1/24, now how much wheel width can I get away with ? How about 2.5 front, 3.0 rear ? No rules, so.... ?

2. Duffy should be proud.....I trued the comm using a "nothing a 12 year old using his father's tools couldn't do" theory - drill held between legs on autopilot, applied 2000 grit sandpaper Good news - the motor runs very well. Now I need to punch some holes in the can and new Tradeship black endbell

[Duffy]

1. OK so it's a 1/24, now how much wheel width can I get away with ? How about 2.5 front, 3.0 rear ? No rules, so.... ?

Ooo. Hmm, 'no rules,' Uhh....<skritch skritch> umm, what you should...<scratch, squirm>...well, maybe if you think of Scale, you might--<ScratchScratchSCRATCH> --umm...'scuse me, I gotta go get my Benadryl...

2. Duffy should be proud.....I trued the comm using a "nothing a 12 year old using his father's tools couldn't do" theory - drill held between legs on autopilot, applied 2000 grit sandpaper Good news - the motor runs very well. Now I need to punch some holes in the can and new Tradeship black endbell

...Your Dad has ENDBELLS???

In The Day, as now, I loved doing models of cars I'd seen in the magazines. I was all about Scale--except my racers: THEN it was 'whatever goes fast.'

Race night Tech consisted of dropping your car into a 3"wide box, and if it fit, you raced. My Hot Ride was a four-tube inline with a Russkit 22 rewound to last through the night, wrapped by the then-new Honda F1 body cut spatula-low and with complete disregard for the molded-in axle openings.

So, yah, "The Rules are: There ARE NO Rules." For better or for <skritch skritch> worse.

Duffy

[Pablo]

Motor runs smooth and cool, thanks to neutral timing, big air gap, and weak mags Good thing it's NOT a "hot" wind, otherwise, as Rocky said, heat under that blanket of goo could only lead to failure No post protectors needed here. New Tradeship endbell, new brushes (thanks Brian McPherson !), stock springs. It should be fast enough for this car, and last forever. If there is one thing I have learned playing around with vintage parts, it is this : "don't try and make it faster".



Duffy, too bad Roger Schmitt is NOT my daddy

Fronts:


Rears:


I plan to use brass tubes for rear axle...no bushings. I have always wanted to try it
Rear axle will be 3/32, front will be 1/8 threaded.
Rear wheels and motor bracket are courtesy of Rick Thigpen

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

Ironically, I did a lot of cars in the day using only 5/32 tube. But replaced the tube every time I ran. In later times just maintaining a car for fun, I usually redid the rear axle carrier to take bushings or bearings to cut down on maintainance.

Fate

[Pablo]

Here ya go, Rocky. Only thing is, I'm using a 3/32 axle and 1/8 tube Am I the first person to try it ? It sure feels smooth, but I have not cut the tubes yet

[68Caddy]

Looking Good.


Nesta

[Duffy]

Actually, Pablo, it's an elegant solution to a problem everybody else has chickened out on by just going to 1/8" rear axles! I commend your courage&fortitude&stuf. Next time you wanna do some damfool thing like this, contact me & I'll make you some dedicated brackets.

I can't imagine you'll have an alignment problem in any case. Remember, there's .003" clearance built-in with brass tubing. I speculate that this is why the stuff has such a short life as bearing stock--that axle's hammering around in there from the git-go, and it just keeps peening itself out larger & larger. With this in mind, I made up some "Tube" from silicon bronze, honed & lapped to my axle, for my JD GP car (utterly illegal under the rule). A year of intermittent running has shown no wear on the drive end, while I've replaced the brass-tube front carrier once & it's due again.

But still, these things are what we do for fun. Slop happens, & beyond that we're just talking.

Nice soldering!

Duffy

[Hworth08]

, I'm using a 3/32 axle and 1/8 tube Am I the first person to try it ?

No, 3/32nds axles were fairly common on the Mid-Western 1/32nd cars in the '60s. I don't remember any 24th scale cars using the little boys though.

[Duffy]

But Pablo's prob'ly still in the right range with this <2.5" wide car.

As you work through these things, I'm keeping my own Elva body lying around on my desk, keening for my attention along with my poor hapless Lotus 11, while I put the final touches on the King Cobra; small, narrow, Lost Causes all. --Friends, do we have A Movement?

Soon, we got to get up a Race. Gascarnut's already floated a Proxy offer, but we really should do this in person.

Duffy

[Pablo]

Not bragging here, just trying to inspire Nesta.
Maybe someday he will figure out what all those holes are for on his Rick's Jig
Just messin with ya, Nesta

[68Caddy]

That's OK Pablo, I'm just to it, every ones loves to kick the dog until they bite back? Anyway I have to say I'm curious I never seen jig for the rear wheel like that before, that would help me out if I could get me some.
I can't get used to Standard Measurement, I'm stuck in Metric, so I need to know who sells them?


Nesta

[Horsepower]

Nesta-If you mean the rear jig wheels, try this site...........
http://www.advancedb....com/wheels.htm
That's where I bought mine.Also a set from Rick Bennardo.

[68Caddy]

Thanks Gary, that will help me out, like the one made out of aluminum.


Nesta

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

Back in the 60s most of us in 1/24 started with threaded axles. In 62/3 both threaded 3/56 and 5/40 axles and gear and wheels were avaialable.

It wasn't until Jim Russell's Set screw stuff in the jail door era that the casual racer had good precise WHEELS with set screws you could trust that things changed.

Earlier, there were plain wheels that were press fit and some set screw in 1/32, but mostly there was soooo much noise out there that the average racer had no clue on which was round and which wasn't . A lot of "manufacturers" were selling axles from cut piano wire, or what they sold wasn't very straight Or soft metal. Threading did, of course, require a relatively soft steel.

The long way of getting to the idea that 1/8th axles having more metal were needed because of the strength.

There were treated axles, odd alloy axles and all sorts of things. The unusual bit was a plain straight strong axle.

Another issue with threaded was that of using "lock nuts" in the form of fake "knock off" hubs which were on the outside of the wheel. This allowed more room under a scale body for wide tires.

And it was common in races that racers would exit races with a wheel coming off and bouncing down the track! the joys of being a kid in the 60s.

Fate