95 replies to this topic

[Duffy]

Duffy, I like that leadwire holder made from what looks to be .032 piano wire.

Oh yah. the shaker pin mounts're 1/32 too.
So, not all 1/16th.
There ain't no Easter Bunny either. Oh well.

[68Caddy]

My head is spinning, but it looks great.

Crash Test Dummy
Nesta

[Ken Harris]

Nice chassis'. I dabble with building, as I'm a 61 year old novice I will probably never reach the level of most great scratchbuilders, but I try. I do like reading these threads, as I get some good ideas from them. I built this over the last couple of weeks. There is a rear air diffuser that was installed after this pic was taken.

[Tex]

Ken,

It's ALL good. Scratchbuilding your OWN car, making brass and steel stick together with solder, and seeing it go 'round the track is a feeling like no other and not that many people practice the art. Good job!

[Ken Harris]

Thanks Tex. If it will go around the track I'll be happy. It's not the first one I built, but it's better than the others. It's the first one I've built with floppy pans, and amazingly enough they actually function.

[Marty Stanley]

Thanks Tex. If it will go around the track I'll be happy. It's not the first one I built, but it's better than the others. It's the first one I've built with floppy pans, and amazingly enough they actually function.

Ken,

You fully understand what scratchbuilding is all about. The joy of seeing what you have put together from bits and pieces actually go around the track. To me, that's half the battle.

When it goes around really fast and works as you anticipated, well that's just icing on the cake!

[Ken Harris]

It's difficult to get actual 1/32 scale cars to run and handle well, because of the narrowness of most of them. The wider cars, like Can-Am's, etc. do well. I'm getting ready to start on my retro Lotus 40, in 1/24, following your thread on the other forum. It's fun to see something you built look like, and run like a slot car, and you did it all yourself.

[Duffy]

"Difficult" is a comparative term. (No, really, look it up!)

I, who have no skill and no Race Cred, have commented often on Racers' critical judgments of classes they don't prefer. I watch Hotshots in CanAm throwing their controllers down in frustration when they try Jaildoor, and then wonder why I, who can't keep my CanAm in the slot, am blowing by them with my JD car. I claim, it's because I have no set-in-stone expectations of what any ONE slot car should behave like. If they're different cars, why say any one's harder to drive? They're--different.


I've been building 1/32 cars lately, because I just dig 'em. A couple weeks back, I handed two--one narrow, one wide--to a real racer, who just had a ball putting up laps with the little darlings. Both of 'em. He had comments about the handling on each, liked the wide one's speed and also mentioned how surprisingly well the narrow one manages corners. We talked some about changing the motors, the tyres, a few other things. But--no dismissal, no condemnations. Sure, they weren't 1/24 Retro, but they were fun and surprisingly fast; and, well, surprisingly fun.

The difference is, no expectations.

--Just as a capper: has anybody recently said it's "difficult" to drive Retro, based on running glued-down Wing racing?

Duffy

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

So, last night, the pick up fun class was "fifties indy cars using GE and 36d motors". Cars that you have to drive all through the bank.

Besides "expectations" Duffy, sometimes it is "what do you think is fun".

Fate

[Ken Harris]

Duffy, that's exact reason why I like 1/32 cars, I just dig 'em, and they take up less room, so I can have more of 'em.

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

Ken, and that is where we differ: I see a different scale as an excuse to have more cars!

Bob Schleicher holds that the issues with working inside `1/32 and SCALE for a scratchbuilder is the closest we get to "art".

I have always enjoyed just seeing some of the interesting ideas people come up with. While some of racing involves finding the winning car, so much of the stuff on slot blog is someone clearly doing it "just because". Every time the "whiners" start obsessing over restrictions and rules and such, seeing some of the folks around here just doing it for the joy of the build reminds me that "all is not lost".

Fate

[Ken Harris]

I do 1/24 too, just when I go to commercial tracks, as 1/32 looks a bit odd on the big tracks. I always had a soft spot for 1/32 since I was a teenager, but the faster cars were mostly 1/24, so like most of my fellow racers that's what I ran. Here's a 1/32 Scalextric Mini Cooper body I made a chassis for.

[Duffy]

Okay, hey: credit where it's due--

Remember, Pablo was telling me how to set up a front end, way back on page 1 of this endless gobblygook?

Well, when I was setting up the front end on the Oxcart torsion chassis, I was looking around for the Cred Shot on that crossframe strap you
see in post #47, and--found it. Right here:



--one of Rick Moore's wild wiry things, back on that selfsame pp. 1.
So, it do do good to review once in a while.

Duffy

[Marty Stanley]

Duffy,

Yep, that sure does look like CMF3's 1307-C build.

Please do not ask what the numbering system means as I have absolutely no idea. He explained it to me at one time, but I did not completely understand it.

The chassis handles awesome and if I am not mistaken, he took a 3rd place in Can-Am the first time out with the chassis.

Rick is like a spider that puts all sorts of .039 and .047 wire in all sorts of bends to form his chassis. They are quite interesting. Kind of like works of art that must just be looked at and enjoyed. Very technical chassis.

[Pablo]

Awesome Mini-Cooper

[Ken Harris]

Thanks Pablo. It now resides in Florida. I gave it to a friend that lives there.

Nice chassis Duffy! I can't figure out how you guys solder that many things together in a small area. My stuff would be falling apart, or moving at the least. I like the front axle mount, very strong looking.

[tonyp]

The secret is lots of heat so you can solder one piece before the one next to it unsolders.

[Marty Stanley]

The secret is lots of heat so you can solder one piece before the one next to it unsolders.

Knowing when to move the iron is also very important!

[Rick Moore]

When it comes to amassing wire with solder, personally, I find having no idea what I'm doing beneficial. It keeps me away from not trying something I don't know I can't do.

Thanks for the cred Duffy. Glad I could add to the confusion.

RiCMFk

PS
Love the Mini...

[Pablo]

Duffmaster, with your permission, Sir ? :





I dig polka-dots

[Bill from NH]

Didn't that chassis have a different mini body on it when I had it up here? The new local Mini dealership had their steelwork up last time I was by.

[Marty Stanley]

A wonderful example of wheels that are not centered in the wheel wells!

Noose will get'cha!

Oh, that's right, Minis are not on the approved body list!

[Duffy]

Duffmaster, with your permission, Sir ?

--But for Minis, maybe "WEEdoo" would be more appropriate.
And it's good that we're all signing our names to the cars, or else it'd be down to "WHOdun"...

I dig polka-dots

Yah?

[Pablo]

I love (the paint job on that) driver !

[68Caddy]

You are right Pablo, like a slumber party!


Nesta