71 replies to this topic

[dc-65x]

It’s 1964 and you’ve just picked up the new October issue of Car Model Magazine. Something on the cover catches your eye….



... What’s that space frame racer with the golden motor? It looks like the full-size tubular space frame race cars seen on the pages of Sports Car Graphic and Road & Track magazine. Time to check this article out:



"Lighten your way to more speed" eh? Jim Russell (Mr. American Russkit his own self) supplied the photos and captions for the article. Maybe he even built the car…cool.



Russkit has an ad for their new Russkit 22 motor in the same issue:



I’ve always wanted to build the car in that article. 47 years later and it’s better late than never! Here’s a NOS (new old stock) motor and spec sheet:



I’m not sure if I’m going to use this motor or rebuild and repaint an old used motor:



If I rebuild a motor I can use the cool “Russkit” decal on it like Jim did in the article. Hmmm...

Time to round up the parts to build this puppy...

Onward!

[The Bugman]

Rick,,,,i was 14 when the Russkit came out,we used to build chassis very similar to what youre going to do,and besides an F1 body,we used to mount a Morris Mini Cooper on them ,wow would they surprise the Pittman guys,,
youre gonna do a great job with your build,,,im excited to see it happen.

[dc-65x]

Hi Oscar,

I was 14 years old too. At my raceway in Pasadena, CA we were very influenced by Russkit and we built pin tube space frames. One racer I met there shined his frames up with Brasso metal polish. Man it looked like gold, just beautiful.

Sorry, I'm babbling.......

This build is going to be a GT car........

[Pablo]

I spy the clear phenolic washer

[Mark Wampler]

Brings back a lot of memories. That endbell with no heat sinks makes my eyes burn.

[Hworth08]

Hey Mark,

Burning eyes? Naw, the green commutator ones could stand 80 of 32 and last a dozen races in a light car (usually).

I built what seems like a lot of these motors but it was probably only four or five, that's all I had time for before the 23 appeared.

Really good mentors, wide open frames, a track full of racers. If I had just had enough money!

[Lone Wolf]

Mark, Very funny on the eye burning thing . I was thinking the same thing, a "23" would be much better but lets stay true to the original build. What about using that " Pinion chewer " crown gear. You can see it eating the pinion already. Why did they not use a Russkit gear here? Also, I was trying to figure out those wheels. At first I thought Corben but they are too shiny. I am going to guess Buzco. Tires look like Revell. Rick, I am sure that even on the simplest builds you will create a masterpiece.

[YetiSRP]

Wow! And I just came across a small hand-full of these in my basement a couple of days ago!

Mostly installed in some 1/32nd scale F-1 cars!

[dc-65x]

I’m glad this is bring back some fun memories. It is for me too .

…….Why did they not use a Russkit gear here?

I really wanted to use more Russkit parts like their pot metal crown gear and wheels and tires off of their first kit cars, the Ferrari and Cooper GP. But, the first mention of those cars I can find is in magazines dated March 1965. The only Russkit parts I’ve found in the October 1964 and earlier magazines is their Dragster, controllers and Superleggera bodies.

So, I’ll be using parts similar to the article. I’m looking forward to seeing this car “move”….a 1964 “hot dog” !

[TSR]

If I rebuild a motor I can use the cool “Russkit” decal on it like Jim did in the article.

Rick,
It was an ink rubber stamp... same as on the "24".

[Steve Deiters]

Anyone know what the wind and timing was on these "mighty" motors? Just curious.

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

The wind was 140/34.

In the day, we shimmed the magnets, and usually ran 110/32. This would usually end up melting the posts for me in that I was a "midwest" racer doing plate and pan chassis(heavier). So, we would carve off the spring post and replace it with a self tapping screw and bit of tubing to delay the melt. Usually, the next bit to melt would be the little brush guide under the hood. So, we would then fabricate a brass place to replace the face and guide. "racing" to find out what would fail NEXT.

I was pen pals with Jim Russel back then. My first exposure was with his "superleggara" line of bodies and kits. If you remember THOSE, they came with this molded plastic tray holding the tubing, wire, and all the bits inside the "kit". What people do not realize is that the tray approach was how Jim actually built. He had a tray for his organization of the build and decided to include a version in the kits.

Fate

[dc-65x]

......"superleggara" line of bodies and kits.....

I would love to see the earliest dated magazine ad or article on those "Scratch Builder" kits.

[TSR]

Rick,
You can see them in the 1965 Russkit catalog and in the distributors adverts, and there MIGHT have been mag adverts but my memory is cloudy on this at the moment, I would have to look....
Jim Russell told me that the first ones (1/32 scale with the colored styrene bodies) were issued late in 1964. He could not put an exact date on it. It was mere weeks after the motors arrived. These "22" were a second generation of the Mabuchi FT16, using the no-rust lamination and the "green" commutator. They were much more reliable than the original FT16 but still had issues with the brushes melting into the Delrin endbell when hot. The "23" took care of that in 1965.
The 1/24 scale Scratch-Built 1/24 scale kits came in 1965 with the styrene bodies and in 1966 were re-issued with clear bodies.
There are of course 4 of each, in 1/32 and 1/24 scale.

[don.siegel]

The first Superleggera body ad I have listed is from Rod & Custom in September 1963, then they were in the Car Model Preview section in November 1963. The Adjust-O-Jig, Eliminator dragster and controller was in the preview section in May 1964...

There was also an article mentioning Russkit and Superleggera bodies in Model Car Science in June 1963 (by Jim Russell himself, if I remember right), and then another Superleggera ad in that magazine in October 1963.

The Ferrari and Cooper F1 cars were first metnioned in March 1965, right about the same time as the first Cox models...

Rocky, are you sure the Russkit 22 wind was the standard FT16 wind? Seems they were hotter than the equivalent Revell or Monogram motors...

Don

[don.siegel]

Here's the article I was thinking of, but it's in the November 63 issue of R&C; I can dig up the even earlier article if you're interested Rick, or if it has anything interesting in it... Another great project by the way!
Don

[don.siegel]

And here's the earlier one, from the June 1963 issue of Model Car Science, just two issues after it started! Turns out I already had both articles in my Photobucket archives.

Jim Russell was good at promoting his new company!

[dc-65x]

The 1/24 scale Scratch-Built 1/24 scale kits came in 1965 with the styrene bodies.......

That’s what I was afraid of. They came out to late for this project. Onward with the stuff I’ve gathered up then.

Thanks Philippe

Hi Don,

Thanks for posting the cool articles .

So many slot cars to build, so little time.......

[don.siegel]

You're welcome Rick, but sorry, I didn't really read your comment closely enough: thought you were asking about the Superleggera bodies and not the scratch-builder kits. But it turns out I can't find any ads from Russkit for those kits, and in fact I don't remember hearing about them at the time - seems they were a lot less publicized than other products of theirs... but I'll try to keep an eye out - they must have been mentioned somewhere in the literature!

Don

[TSR]

Don,
They are in the 1964 and February 1965 Russkit catalogs and price lists, all of them and with the colored styrene bodies, but the 1966 catalog only has the 1/24 scale kits with the clear bodies, under different stock numbers.
The 1964 kits are the 4 in the 1/32 scale, the 1965 are the 8 in both scale (same bodies in both scales) and the 1966 are only the new 1/24 scale with different bodies
The 1967 catalog shows none of them.
In the magazines, the only adverts I could find are from direct-mail sales by various distributors full-page ads.

[dc-65x]

Thanks for everyone's input . And based on that input and my own research I'll be using these parts for the build...



….Revell front tires and BRM wheel inserts, Mini Auto threaded wheels and 30mm German tires, a funky steel pinion eating crown gear, threaded axles, the full size Russkit slant guide.

For the body, I'll be using one that shown on this September 1964 Car Model Magazine cover:



I'm using the Lancer No.103 Porsche 904 GT. Here's mine after polishing out over 40 years of scratches:



Time to start building...

[slotbaker]

[tonyp]

I can't wait!

[Mike]

Well, it's close. This was under a Revell Lotus 23 body some years ago.
Interesting choice of rear tires, the very same on mine!

Mike

[Hworth08]

The Revell steel crown gears were not as bad as they seem. Being punched and formed not every one was good but a good, broken-in one ran as quiet as a mouse.

The Russkit and to greater degree Revell pinions were a fair quality steel pinion. Not as good as todays but steel. In proper alignment, both had a long life.

The steel ring gear would eat a brass pinion in no time!