664 replies to this topic

[dc-65x]

This will be an ongoing thread dedicated to the restorations and original scratchbuilt cars by my friend and mentor Rodney. He has been building and racing all types of slot cars continuously since the early '60s. When we go to Eddie's Slot car World in Vallejo, CA, I always bring my camera, light box, and flood light. He always has something cool to show me and I want to share it with everyone on Slotblog.

As Rodney said, "People like to see junk". His cars are hardly junk but you get the idea. We like to see pictures of other people’s cars. It gives us ideas and inspiration for our own builds... and it's just plain fun.

So here we go with some Mustangs (Rodney's comments will be "in quotes" and in blue color):



"The '68 Mustang is a fantasy car for what would a 68 Mustang look like in the IMSA GTO era. It uses a Raitz resin Mustang body."





Check out the attention to detail in the rear end:



Now let's lift off the hood...



"The hood pins are made from LED leads."

... to see the detailed engine compartment and engine:



The chassis is brass sheet hand-cut with a Dremel tool. No Laser Dude here:



The next Mustang is a 5.0. "The GTO Mustang uses a standard kit."



Again we can lift off the hood...



... to reveal the underhood detailing and engine:



Really cool! "But now for something completely different"... How about a Lotus 11 based on a '60s Merit model kit from England:



It started as a built model from eBay that was rebuilt and repainted.



The chassis is a modified modern sprint car:



Something else completely different. "Lola with Lancer factory-painted body and DC-65 with 6 volt arm. Hand-cut mag chassis from the '60s. Took eight months of playing around with this one.





Looks like it was worth the effort! Nice car and a nice original vintage restoration.

Enjoy and onward!

[Ron Hershman]

Wow... awesome "Tangs"... where is Willy T??? LOL.

[68Caddy]

Finally I seen something that makes me tick. Wonderful body modifications and details and I sure got my battery recharge finally, thanks for posting that.

Now I got to do something with a 1/32 car.

Nesta

[spudboy]

My compliments to Rodney!

Rick, thanks for posting. Any chance you have more photos of the chassis beneath the Mustangs? Technical descriptions would be much appreciated.

[don.siegel]

Great stuff, Rick. Thanks for posting. I really like that Lola!

Don

[dc-65x]

Two more to show from last weekend. A pair of Super Cucs:



Both with "factory painted" bodies by Raynoda Dream Werks:



Ones a 16D and the other a 26D:



Gotta represent the thingies too

[TSR]

Rodney can "Chew" more than most of us...

[dc-65x]

Rodney sent me this picture in an email titled, "Got Wood":



What the heck is going on ? Look at all the wood chips and saw dust

It turns out he won the bid on an Ebay auction for this Allard model:



It's hand carved from a hunk of balsa wood :



Here are some more pictures of the original model car:









Now that's one cool car. But it could be even cooler if it was not just a model car but a SLOT CAR. So all that saw dust and wood chips from the first picture above resulted in this hollowed out body shell:



Next a brass pan chassis starts taking shape.....No CAD models....No laser cutting or milling.....Just a Dremel tool, files and pliers :



Here's the finished rolling chassis with Revell-Pittman 77 power:





The finished car:



I think it looks amazing. I love the exposed motor in the interior...very period Korrect.

I give this one 2 thumbs up and a too cool for school

Thanks for sharing Rodney

[endbelldrive]

Now that's my kind of car! Good show!

[don.siegel]

Amen! Beautiful job Rodney.

I was tempted to bid on that car too, with the same nefarious deed in mind, but I see that Rodney actually went and did it right away, whereas I would have thought about it for another 5 or 10 years...

I did an Allard a couple years ago, with a Pactra body, and also used the Pittman DC-77 for power, and it was also poking through the cockpit - kind of inevitable in an Allard! But Pittman is the Cadillac of slot car motors, so it's a Caddy-Allard!

Don

[Duffy]

There'll be heck to pay if that driver goes rummaging around for a sam'wich.

[dc-65x]

Rodney has finally got a shop space to work on his rides:



Here are a few more incredible cars as they rotated through the shop:





More cars coming.......watch this space

[dc-65x]

This is Rodney's Cox Cheetahracha Roadster...a very rare factory prototype:



OK, it's not really a factory prototype :



But it looks good enough to be one :



This is a replica of a Pontiac Tempest that factory Pontiac engineers built and raced in the Trans Am series with some success:



It's a resin body that I wish was still available today. I love those huge fender flares:



A Lancer Ford GTX survivor from back in the day:





Next up a pair of 26D angle winders. A Russkit Ford MK4:





And a STP Indy special:



The spur gear is inside the body:



Lastly a pair of Trans Am cars. A Cuda and Challenger:

[idare2bdul]

Thanks for the post, great cars!

[mowyang]

I raced HO with Rodney in the 60's, and remember a neat 4WD can powered car he built. Would love to see pics of that car and any other notable HO stuff Rodney has stashed away!

[dc-65x]

Here's another of Rodney's projects I really like. He built up a 60's Kemtron Hot Rod chassis kit with Mabucni motor:



Talk about "low slung"!



The body he used is really wide with a short wheelbase. The chassis almost looks square :



The body is (I believe) a Monogram Cobra Coupe:



I love the look of those K&B brass wheels with the dark blue paint:



Onward......

[dc-65x]

Here's one of Rodney's latest:

Rick,

There was a Cuc on EBay (cuc2 picture) I found interesting. A 36D powered Cuc.
I decided to build my own version (remaining pictures).

I had a Cuc with a hole cut out for a 26D. What to do... cut a larger hole for a 36D Nascar motor! Radius out the frame for the larger motor and modify a sidewinder motor clip for the Cuc chassis. Install larger tires and crown gear.

The results remind me of when Jim Hall installed a big block Chevy to create a Chaparral 2G. Over powered and lost some chassis balance.

Amazingly the car has a little more than 1/16" clearance (the motor hangs down below the frame) and the larger tires clear the body without cutting off the rear fenders like the EBay car.

The 36D Nascar motor screams like an open motor and flies around Eddie's Blue King. You have to get the car pointed straight before punching it. It did turn turtle once while testing hence some loss of helmet paint. Great fun to drive. Very wild.

There is so much torque that I had to tighten down the wheel and gear set screws a few times before they took a set.

Hope Edo likes this Cuc.

Regards,
Rodney

Here's the Ebay inspiration for Rodneys latest ride:



Rodneys Big Block Cuc:









Still a low slung racer:



Cool!

[One_Track_Mind]

Pinks All Out!

Nice job!

[dc-65x]

Rodney just emailed me pictures of his latest creation. All I can say is WOW!

The following is his description of the build:

Rick,

I sent you pictures of my Phil Hill Russkit Ferrari.

I wanted to have a full driver in the car. So a 13D motor was used. The motor is set back and is also set at an angle (lower towards the middle of the car). The front and rear tracks were narrowed by re-bending the uprights on the chassis.



The 13D is a late model one that has a fixed bushing in the can. There is no performance advantage with this can. I used this motor because it is slightly shorter then the spherical bushing can. A '68 armature is used.

When first testing the car the motor ran real hot. I used a 26 tooth Weldun crown gear with a 7 tooth pinion. Small gears were used to allow the motor to be located as far back as possible (more room for the driver). I next tried a 42 tooth Tradeship 80 pitch gear along with a 9 tooth Sonic gear. Little better temperature wise.



Next modification was to change the magnets! The stock magnets had as much strength as two sticks of bubble gum. Magnets were taken from a Falcon "China" motor. I think the Falcon motor is a Falcon 5. The tops and the bottoms of the magnets were ground down and then angle ground to fit in the 13D. This allows the magnets to be retained in the can just like the stock magnets (with the stock C clip). The Falcon magnets have about the same strength as stock '68 Mabuchi 16D magnets. The Falcon magnet material looks like the same material as Mabuchi magnets. Air gap is perfect.
Now the motor does not heat up at all. Power is about the same as a '68 Mabuchi.



Russkit wire wheels are use along with trued Russkit tires. The tread is re-cut after truing. With the Russkit body, the original driver was cut out along with the engine velocity stacks. The hardest part of building this car was removing the windshield from the used body to allow painting. Aluminum roll bar and paint brush ferrule exhausts were added. Velocity stacks from a model kit. They were individually glued to a flat sheet. New Russkit decals. The rear brake scoops are made of 1/32 scale driver helmets.



The car drives nice and tails out when pushed. The Porsche F1 you built is in one of the pictures. Trued the tires and narrowed the front and rear track. Great car you built.



On to a vac. body 1.5 F1 car using one of your bodies.



Rodney

Great build Rodney and thanks for sharing it with us!

[Tex]

Very cool. Slot cars will live as long as we do. Once we're gone, who cares? Bury me with a car and a controller. You guys do the same and we'll be able to race!

[munter]

Awesome line up of photographs...thanks Rick.

Loved the GP cars.

[slotbaker]

Awesome cars, thanks for sharing them.

Is the Porsche GP body available from anywhere?

[dc-65x]

The Porsche is a vintage Pactra body. Tom Anderson's site lists a '64 Porsche GP repop:

Vintage Slot Cars

[TSR]

Tom Anderson's site lists a '64 Porsche GP

In 1964, Porsche was out of F1. The body is a 1962 "flat-8" type 804, as driven mostly by Dan Gurney. It is at this time that he met his second wife who was Ferry Porsche's secretary.

For 1962, a newly developed flat-eight powered and sleek Porsche 804 produced Porsche's only win as a constructor in a championship race, claimed by Dan Gurney at the 1962 French Grand Prix. One week later, he repeated the success in front of Porsche's home crowd on Stuttgart's Solitude in a non-championship race. At the end of the season, Porsche withdrew from F1 due to the high costs just having acquired the Reutter factory.

[dc-65x]

I didn't see a picture of what Tom calls the "'64 Porsche GP" on the site. Hopefully it's the Korrect version.