93 replies to this topic

[Jairus]

Alright, after being shamed into pulling this project out of the cobwebs.  Spent SIX HOURS working on the front axle.  Yes, you read that right, mostly because I had to fabricate a jig to hold the two wheels in perfect alignment while I soldered a cross rod the exact length needed to keep the front wheels from toeing in or out.  

 

 

And it wasn't easy.

 

Probably the reason this went into the box in the first place.

 

But... the race is coming.

 

And Régis' car looks sooo nice!

 

Next steps are mounting it to the pan and fabricating a drop arm.  Not to mention some tiny little rod end caps to keep the cross rod in place.

 

 

 

[Tex]

Sweet! A steerable front end!

[dc-65x]

Neat chassis Jairus. If it had a guide pin instead of a guide shoe I'd have thought it was a plate chassis made by the great Pete Hagenbuch in the old Car Model Magazine!

 

Well done!

[Regis4446]

 

 We must dare.

Very difficult to make

 

 

[Jairus]

You are very correct Régis!

 

Well, made some progress this morning. I now have a "roller".  And roll it does, very smooth and very sweet.

 

Chassis is now a solid space frame with no flex.

 

 

Camber is about 1 - 2percent.  No toe-in or out, but I did consider the "ackerman" effect.

Built as strong and realistic as possible. But... should it become damaged beyond repair during racing... soldering everything solid is an option.

 

 

Axle stubs are drill blank 3/32" and all joints wire wrapped where appropriate.

 

Still lots to do so onward!

 

 

[dc-65x]

Truly beautiful Jairus.

[Marty N]

WOW! This car is sick man.

[havlicek]

Jairus buddy.  You once again show us all how it should be done and do real justice to the art of modelling!

 

-john

[Jairus]

Thank you Gentlemen!

Nothing to show you from Sunday other than I got the body down over the chassis finally.

Then realized that I didn't have a proper steering wheel. 
All my research shows that the wheel is huge! Scaling out to 5/8" - 3/4" diameter. I have nothing like that in my model car stuff. So I called my buddy Norm Veber at Replicas & Miniatures.  He is sending me a 7 part vintage racing wheel that'll fit the bill. (Much assembly required.)

 

Love Norm's stuff and I will show pictures when it comes time to assemble the cockpit.

But... tonight I plan to get that drop arm mounted.  That's the last major piece before testing...

[Jairus]

Finally got caught up on some other peoples projects enough to get my entry back out on the bench.

 

In less than an hour I had the marine grade plywood epoxy'd to the nose and carved to shape.

 

Also worked on the problematic drop arm.  The idea was that it only need move 3/32" up and down to accommodate various track braid depths. A long drop arm tongue keeps the guide closest to the optimal angle but... due to the narrow width of the car, also allows the tongue to move side to side slight wobbling. 

With steering... this side to side movement tends to move the wheels and that won't allow the car to go straight down the track smoothly.  

so... I soldered an alignment pin to the tongue and drilled a hole in the pan. (see arrow)

This pin moves freely up and down through the hole and won't let the tongue shift side to side.  A Dubro .062 set screw keeper (not installed yet) will keep the tongue from swinging too far down, but now I gotta make a trip to the hobby shop to pick one up. 

At least I made some progress last night!

 

Now that Spring is here it's time to get our racers finished and tested.  I plan to paint this weekend and track-test it the next.  Then we will revisit all the tracks and I'll post pics of the U.S. and European tracks so we can get this race on the road!   B)

[dc-65x]

Man, I love this car. Nice Jairus!

[Tex]

Really love that front end suspension!

[Mark H]

!!! dont know what to say. that car is amazing. i wanted to try and make a steering front end but it would never be that beautiful. a whole thread could be devoted to just the steering.

[Marty N]

You got skills friend. Pure art work.

[Pablo]

Holy Cow !!

[Jairus]

Okay, spent a lot of time on my build this weekend and nearly burnt out unfortunately.

Progress was miles ahead of where I was tho.... 

 

First off I turned down the front wheel rims to remove the outer flange since the rims were wider than was needed for a F1 car circa 1957.

 

No, I don't have a lathe.  The rim was chucked up old school in a dremel and the lip removed with a file and sand paper.

The far left is an untouched rim.

The middle is the modified rim and the far right is a rim with a new wire bead.  A slot had to be cut into the rim with a file to give the wire loop a "seat" to sit in and hold the tire in place during the flexes of racing.

 

The extended rim is suppose to replicate the brake drum from the original car...

 

Onto the body, a pair of brass machine screw inserts were soldered/epoxied into the body to provide a way to mount the body to the chassis securely.

 

And a driver plate installed with 4 screws to allow easy removal and give it some structural benefit.

 

But, had to cut clearance for the brush gear. (See Steve Okeefe's article on the Pittman 196B)

Now time to get ol'Fangio cut and installed....  

  B)

[Tex]

The extended rim is suppose to replicate the brake drum from the original car...

 

While viewing the pic above the quote and BEFORE I read the quote, that's EXACTLY what I was thinking! Excellent!

[SlotStox#53]

Excellent looking maserati Jairus! Loving the wooden body and that steering/front end detail . Such a good idea to recreate the large brakes ,even more amazing without a lathe.

Top build ,looking forward to seeing you finishing it off with one of your amazing paint jobs.

-Paul

[MrWeiler]

GREAT! Having fun watching the progress since I can't do much yet..

[dc-65x]

No, I don't have a lathe.  The rim was chucked up old school in a dremel and the lip removed with a file and sand paper.

I feel your pain Jairus. You do fantastic work with what you have. Your car looks wonderful!

Mucho inspiration

[Mark H]

While viewing the pic above the quote and BEFORE I read the quote, that's EXACTLY what I was thinking! Excellent!

me to! PERFECT.

 

wish i had threaded axles straight enough to do that with my dremel lol.

[Jairus]

Barring any huge life changes.... this is going to the track today at 3:00pm PST for testing.
Got the chassis and motor together last night for the last time.  Sounds smooth and powerful. Tho... those Monogram rear tires will probably need gluing before the race me-thinks.

 

Body still needs lots of details and of course a driver figure.

 

Underneath one can clearly see the machine screws holding the body to the chassis and the drop arm.

Spray deflectors are .025 brass sheet with three pins providing location. After the final paint goes on they will be permanently epoxied in place. Car weighs 169g just as she now sits.

If the vintage Monogram rubber tires don't have enough grip, I have a set of Ortmann's coming...

 

Can't wait till the track opens! 

[Tex]

Really sweet, Jairus... can't wait to see it painted and all dolled up.

[Jairus]

Me either Richard!
Okay, spent time running about 20 laps today. 

 

 
You'll just have to trust me when I say that there is little chance of harming this car.  Deslotted a couple times and find it never goes further than a few inches from the slot. Never turned over or tilted... but there was a bit of rear end swing in some of the tighter turns. Those vintage Monogram tires just don't have a lot of grip.
Going to try a set of Ortmann skins next.
 
While the car managed to take the bank at full speed, which is considerable I have to admit (teeth firmly gritted), some of the shorter corners tend to be a bit of a challenge.  I checked the depth of the Cox guide and it measures a meager 9/32" while a screw-in braid Dynamic checks out at a full 3/8"! That by the way is the same as a modern Starburst or Parma guide depth, even if the blade length is considerable shorter than the Starburst or Parma. But I believe the greater depth to be a benefit.
BTW, I ran the Dynamic Challenge 10 races with a Dynamic screw-in braid guide with little problem. (don't know why I didn't consider that in the beginning.... )
 
Next test day I plan to have new tires and another guide installed.  
Be nice to have the car painted too...
 

[SlotStox#53]

Sweet! The car looks right at home on the track,would love to of seen it at full tilt round the banking!

-Paul