With most of these cars, you will see that I have done a few things the same each time, so let's get that stuff out the way first:
1. I usually turn down the original rear wheels to make inserts for whatever rear wheels are going on the car. Sometimes these are narrowed-down JK rims with foam tires, sometimes theey are BWA Wheels with silicone or Ortmann tires.
2. I generally modify the original front wheels and tires to run on a 1/16 or 3/32 axle, by sleeving the original wheel with brass tubing.
3. Mostly I use TSRF Guides, for a number of reasons. They take "proper" braids, they work on pretty much any plastic or wood track, and they have a decent post that allows for a nice solid mounting system. They are also a bi smaller than a commercial guide. If the car is primarily intended for commercial track use, however, then I generally use a Parma or similar guide.
4. Gears are either Slot.it or TSRF usually, although the TSRF gears are a little on the big side sometimes. REmember to only use Slot.it pinions with Slot.it gears as their pitch is different to the American gears.
The first two I did were for Vinny Spina, who sent me a Fly Capri Turbo and a Scalextric Camaro, plus some ProSlot 4002 chinese arm motors:
It took a bit of time to cut the pans to fit, but it all worked out really well. The original car had a front motor and a full cockpit, but with the sidewinder I managed to retain almost all the cockpit detail.
The Camaro:
This one needed some special attention on the side pans, as the sides of the body were very shallow. I made a second hinged section that stands vertically on the outer edge of each pan and carries the pin tubes. It worked well, although it is a bit tricky to get the pins in tight.
Both of these had foam tires and commercial guides. Vinny will need to comment on the performance, as I never did get to drive them on a commercial track.
More in the next post.
