90 replies to this topic

[Pablo]

Finished January 2012:

 

 

 

Here's where it all started:

Mercedes vintage body by Jairus will be arriving soon.
Motor is a vintage Classic 26D endbell drive built by John Havlicek.
Bracket is a rare inline Cobra 26D. BBs are modern Pro Slot PS-420.
Wheels will be Electric Dreams .700" wide set screw with modern donuts.
BB holders (I call them "duffies") are custom built by Duffy.

My first experience with duffies, I am here to tell you, was fantastic.
The stock axle hole in the Cobra was 5/32".
The inner race of the duffy is .250" OD
I used a "step drill bit" to open the Cobra hole up to 1/4".
No drill press, no special tools, just a power drill and a lot of courage and prayer.
It worked perfect. The step bit does not grap and twist like a regular drill bit (Thanks Jay Guard !!) Now, the duffies fit with just barely enough wiggle room to align it all on the jig and allow some solder to flow.

The BBs fit absolutely PERFECTLY in the duffies... just enough room left to allow some solder or some Loctite.

[Duffy]

Thanks for nice words, Pablo. Coulda' made you a bracket, saved you the precious one!

Duffies (I'll jus' go along with it!) are machined to .001" clearance on pertinent diameters for solder flow. I tho't about it a little and figured that between the egging you get from a two-flute drill and the vagaries of jigging, we'll end up with more than .001" stackup in any roller we make anyway.

"Perfect" is what we start out dreaming about and "DamnGood" is what we aim for by the end.

Then we race.

[Pablo]

It was intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer, the duffies were extremely well thought-out.

[Jairus]

Body paint done.
Hand lettering tomorrow. Should be in the mail to you Thursday or Friday.
Wheel base is 3-3/4", track 2-5/8" front and rear.

[Pablo]

Thanks, Jairus. Not rushing you. I'm just an excitable boy.

So, it is a short, narrow body, eh? We shall see.
Meantime, the bracket and duffies go on as planned.

Next step was making the bracket square/aligned. Anybody who thinks this is easy, making a 40 year old flimsy piece of brass that has probably changed hands and been discarded in favor of straighter examples about 10 times, let me know Otherwise, excuse the plier marks in the brass.

[Bill from NH]

Tape the plier jaw serations. No marks will then show.

[Pablo]

Thanks, Bill.

[Pablo]

Some guys need the latest newest jig to work with.
I just keep on rollin' with my old jigs.
Everything is aligned perfectly.
I will match my tolerances to anybody, anywhere.
I align, check, doublecheck, then solder.
The duffies are in place.



Next step: Bracket bracing.

[Pablo]

Bracket is braced with a combination of .032" and .047" wire.
Those duffies are well-protected.

[Jairus]

More solid than it needs to be!

[Duffy]

Famouser last words were never posted.

[Pablo]

Havlicek powerplant in a Mercedes requires a strong motor box.

[Jairus]

How about: "Hey guys, watch this!"

[Pablo]

[Pablo]

The Jairus paint job is absolutely stunning, impeccably gorgeous



Jairus warned me about this body being small.
Now that I have it in hand, some major changes need to be made. The 26D motor and bracket won't work. I will use a short old 16D Mura instead.

[Pablo]

Anybody know where I can get 2 prong knockoffs like these ?

[Matt Sheldon]

Wow, Pablo what a looker! I am a sucker for silver cars with red guts, is the Mercedes logo on the hood hand painted? The cyan drivers suit is fantastic as well. Jairus did a really nice job on that!

Would not take a lot of effort to make the knockoffs out of styrene if they are not available in resin.

[Pablo]

Hi Matt,

Yes, all the Jairus lettering is outside and by hand; it looks real!

Of course, Jairus is a pro. His work is always fantastic!!!

[Jairus]

I have those knock-offs. They are by Revell I think... or MPC.
They fit tight on the end of the axle so you have to drill a hole in the middle of the insert (if I find them).

Might take me a day or two to find them in this mess though...

[Victor Poulin]

Fantastic job!!! That thing is DA-BALLS!!!

Jairus, once again you out-did yourself.

Vic

[havlicek]

Man...what a lovely car!

-john

[Pablo]

I have the inserts on order from Tom A. They are "Porsche #1" style

[Pablo]

You can say that again, Matt, and John H, and Vic

If anybody out there is even paying attention in this pic you can see some interesting things, or at least they are interesting to me :

-Chris Briggs rear jig wheels mike at .815 and are used for setting the rear axle height for a .900 OD wheel.
-RGeo jig blocks are set up in front at the biggest 1/8 setting, plus I needed to add pieces of .015 brass to shim them up for .900 fronts. If I had 2 sets of Briggs jig wheels , I would have used them.
-Note the pair of "duffies" are soldered in place with a short of tube. It is only a matter of time before the prolific scratchbuilders here will discover the precise beauty of the duffies. The oilites are only for jigging purposes - the finished car will use new Professor Motor ball bearings.
-Spur gear will be a 36T nylon that mikes at .800
-First rail set will be brass but I may add wire rails to stiffen the works.

[Pablo]

Moderators, please change the title of this thread from "Havlicek-powered Mercedes" to "Jairus painted Mercedes build". I originally intended to use a Havlicek 26D but the body was smaller than I anticipated. The H 26D will be used in another car at a later date. No harm no foul, without prejudice Thanks, Pablo

[Pablo]

Non-traditional method of attaching drop arm