664 replies to this topic

[Slot Car Rod]

Here is a Dodge Charger I restored many years ago.

 

The chassis is made out of tubing.  I capped the tubes with solder and added the piano wire brace to the motor bracket.

 

The motor is a Champion 507.

 

Anybody know what the other Riggen bodies are?  I have an anglewinder Eagle Indy car body that is a Riggen.

 

Rodney

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[Martin]

I have the Riggen/Brimhall Lotus 40 and the Lola T70(post 286) and the M6A you showed (post 297),  So I have only seen those 3.

They came in plastic bags and a lot of them got distorted in storage.

Nice orange color on the M6a, did you mix that?

[Slot Car Rod]

My friend Eric wanted me to build the Dynamic Z-drop arm chassis found in the Oakland Speedway junkyard into a period correct Dynamic-bodied McLaren Mk8.  I like to restore a car to look like it was built back in the day. 

 

The center section was aligned and the drop arm guide angle re-bent.  The pans were attached with conventional hinges and plumber  All of the solder joints were re-done.  I spent eight hours on the chassis resurrection.  You can see the difference between this amateur-style build versus Rick's professional build.  Other than the obvious difference in build quality (Rick achieves perfection), Rick corrects design flaws such as the lack of bracing of the rear axle bracket to axle tube bracing.  The chassis is 3 1/8" wide.  The wheelbase is 4".

 

A Mura A-can motor was freshened up and installed.  Dynamic gears were donated by Rick.  I chose Riggen wheels and tires for this car.

 

An original Dynamic McLaren Mk8 body was painted with modern Pactra paint to replicate the old TCL dayglo orange.

 

Rodney

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[Bill from NH]

Your Charger looks like one of Cotton Owen's which was driven by David Pearson & later Buddy Baker. Good looking chassis!

 

That Dynamic kit chassis has a lot of pieces, always did.   Great before & after photos. I doubt I'd spend the time you did restoring it. I'd probably have  just built a new chassis in the day. With today's shortage of brass chassis parts, I'd probably have a different outlook about restoring it.

[Slot Car Rod]

Martin, the McLaren M6A orange (post 297) is old Poly S (not Poly Scale) paint.  Poly Scale paint curls up old bodies.

 

Bill, I agree.  In the day a new one would have been built.  These days, I enjoy restoring old slot cars more than building new "old" ones.

 

Rodney

[Slot Car Rod]

Two 1967 Shelby King Cobras.

 

Lancer bodies.  One scale and the other a low and wide.

 

The yellow one has floppy pans.

 

Rodney

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[Isaac S.]

Looks great, I finally finished mine up. Cleaned up and statically balanced Paul' motor and using it till I can get a Champion. My Dynamic Talladega body doesn't fit though.  Excited to test it soon. 

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[Slot Car Rod]

Isaac, the car looks great.  Let us know how it goes.

 

Rodney

[Slot Car Rod]

Simple multi-rod frame car purchased from PdL many years ago.  

 

I removed the Team Russkit-style front spoiler and cut down the rear spoiler that came with the car.  Urethane rear tires replaced the dried out tires.   

The car weighs in at 4.2 ounces.

 

The 16D motor is vintage and has strong magnets.

 

What is amazing is how nicely this car drives,  Perfect balance with no front push and good power.  

 

Rodney

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[Bill from NH]

Neat looking McLaren-Elva Rodney. Since this particular chassis handles well, have you ever thought about building its clone to see if the handling could be duplicated? The motor bracket appears to be a Russkit 794, The drop arm weight is a Champion  item. With so many great looking slot cars, do you have a place (room, cabinet, cases, etc.) at home where you can keep them displayed?

[Slot Car Rod]

Bill, thanks for identifying the motor bracket.  I will try to build a copy one day.  I have built copies of the Champion frames using main rails formed with Rick Thigpen's bending jig.  The copies drove just like the originals.  I have purchased a copy of the Cox Gurney Stocker chassis from a Canadian builder.  It worked better than the originals.

 

I keep the cars in wood slot car boxes.

 

Rodney

[Bill from NH]

The Russkit bracket is packaged with a support piece for the can end of the 16D style cans with the blind bushings.

[Slot Car Rod]

Thanks, Bill.

 

Three McKee Can Am cars.  As I remember, left to right, Lancer, Russkit, Riggen brands.

 

Rodney

 

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[Slot Car Rod]

Rick Thigpen was kind enough to give me a mystery chassis center section.  Rick tried a bunch of motors and none really fit.  The wheel base was a short 3 7/8" for the 1/8" axle era.  The front axle tube was set also set very low.  This flat wire chassis center section was nicely constructed with flat wire.

 

I found that a '68 Mabuchi motor fit.  Rick suggested building a period race motor with Champion two-piece magnet shims and magnets, a Mura endbell, and a period Mura armature.  As Rick suggested, the Mabuchi can ball bearing was replaced with an endbell bushing.  This replacement is not an easy task.  The ball bearing did not want to leave and had to be machined out.  The can and endbell were drilled out for pin tabs.  The first armature tried did not pass the motor break in test.  The second one chosen works fine.

 

The front axle tube was set very low and needed to be raised, so I decided to move the axle uprights and stretch the wheelbase to close to 4".  When I unsoldered the uprights, to my horror, the four main rails unspring themselves and pointed in four different directions.  Well, all was repaired and realigned.  Rick and I both agree, many times it take more time to restore a chassis than making a new one.  I then added the body mounts, cross braces, and plumber stops.

 

Rick contemplated building the chassis center section into a sports car by adding pans.  I wanted to build it into a Formula/Indy car.  After going through all of the period low and wide open wheel bodies, I found that the Lola Indy fit perfectly.  I mixed Blue Angel blue with black paint to make it darker.  The decals are Dynamic.

 

Riggen wheels and tires were trued and installed along with what I think is a Versitec crown gear.  

 

This was a fun build and it's time to try it out.  Thanks again, Rick.

 

Rodney

 

 

 

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[Martin]

Love the extra effort you take to save vintage chassis etc. Well done Rodney. Great looking cars

[Bill from NH]

Neat chassis Rodney! It shows a new (at least to me} to use a 1 1/4" side drop arm in an inline chassis. The motor bracket appears to be a well braced & shortened U-GO item. Rick used one of these on a build awhile back .It might have been a Lotus 23, but I'm not sure. From the location of the hole, the drop arm isn't a Parma, It could be a Camen or one made by Joel's supplier.  I would have used that Blue Angel blue straight up. The last time I saw them fly, their color reminded me of the blue on Roger Penski's Sunoco cars. I'm rolling around in my mind if I want to build a similar center section with pans. 

 

Do you have any other photos you can post of your three McKee Can Am cars in post #313? I'd like to see what's beneath their skirts. Thanks!

[dc-65x]

I was impressed with this chassis but could never figure out how to finish it. I'm glad you brought it to life....and beautifully too!  

[Pablo]

"When I unsoldered the uprights, to my horror, the four main rails unspring themselves and pointed in four different directions.  Well, all was repaired and realigned.  Rick and I both agree, many times it take more time to restore a chassis than making a new one"

 

The dreaded "Schprooiinggg" LOL I feel your pain   

[Isaac S.]

I thought I remembered PDL saying that Versitec didn't make crown gears, just spur gears. I don't remember who made it though. I could be wrong. 

[Slot Car Rod]

Thanks everyone.

 

Rodney

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[Isaac S.]

I did find the thread I was thinking of. Looks like you have something he has never seen. http://slotblog.net/...bodies-or-rtrs/

 

Your cars are amazing! The Team Nutley drop arm is so cool.   

[Bill from NH]

Rodney, thanks for posting the additional McKee photos. 

[Slot Car Rod]

Midwest dirt late model Darrell Dake Ford.

 

I have built three similar cars over the years.  The chassis is built like the MESAC Trans Am cars from the 70's.  This is the only one I got to drive well.  

 

I put hard compound Plafit tires on the front (two tires per side), narrowed the rear tires, and added guide spacers to get rid of chatter in the turns.  Also, the first super Wasp motor installed had too much punch and brakes.  The second motor is milder and a good match for the car.  A new thinner guide helped also.  We used to race this type of hardbody car.  Great fun.

 

Rodney

 

 

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[Bill from NH]

Looks like a fun car to run. I your last photo, the motor can appears to have been shortened, Has it been or is it a standard C-can, as it looks in the first photo? 

[Slot Car Rod]

Bill, the car is fun to drive.  The C-can is of unknown vintage that had Arco white dot magnets in it (now has standard Mura magnets).  The can appears to be standard size.

 

Rodney