No replies to this topic

[Steve Okeefe]

TonyP Super Bat Pan Plumber

A replica 1968 race winning chassis by Rick Thigpen

Something's wrong; this guy is having more fun than allowed by law...

 

 

 

I was searching through old magazines looking for what to build next when.... BAM!:

 

 

No, not Dan Gurney's NASCAR Fairlane (it is nice though) rather "How To Make The Latest 1/24th Super Bat Pan Plumber Chassis"  A TonyP how-to article   , sounds like fun to me   .

 

Mike Tango Captain of Team Nutley and owner of Nutley Model Car Raceway, won a New York Car Model race with this TonyP designed and built chassis.

 

First up in the how-to article is the motor bracket and rear axle tube. Here's the Dynamic bracket used before it is cut off:

 

 

 

Here are some of the alternative brackets the article talks about. The REH bracket is a Russkit and is still available today:

 

 

 

Here's a simple way to cut the tube so the cut is nice and square to the tube. Slowly spin the tube in your drill and cut it off with a tube cutter using light pressure so you don't distort the tube:

 

 

You should NEVER use the side of a Dremel cut of wheel to grind as it can easily explode with too much pressure. But spinning the tube in a drill while touching the cut with the side of the Dremel wheel sure does true it up as if it were done in a lathe   :

 

 

A little deburr action:

 

 

Here are the tube and bracket ready to go:

 

 

Double-check the tube length with the wheels, gear, bearings, and spacers you intend to use:

 

 

I temporarily soldered in the motor per the article:

 

 

I took everything out of the jig and set it on top of the article's full-size drawing. So far it looks good...

 

I had to do some solder sucking on the motor bracket so I might as well go after the old drop arm as well. Tony used a 1" Cobra arm and I took one off an old eBay junk chassis (junk except for the drop arm  ). Here it is in all it's glory... or horror  :

 

 

I was worried what I'd find under this mess:

 

 

 

Every time I have a mess like this to clean up I think of our own Greg Wells who turned me on to solder sucking braid. Thanks, Greg.   :

 

 

I double back taped the arm down to a piece of cardboard and sanded the pee out of it. It turned out better than I thought it would. I still need to saw 1/4" off the end per Tony P's directions:

 

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm... COBRA goodness:

 

 

REH still has some similar drop arms today:

 

 

You can try to order them with these part numbers for 1/16" thick by the following widths:

 

7/8" = 3200

 

15/16" = 3201

 

1" = 3203

 

1-1/8" = 3202

 

1-1/4" = 3204

 

Onward...

 

I finished through step 7 in Tony's How To article. I spent 6 enjoyable hours absorbed in the project. I must have put that first motor box piece on and off a half a dozen times until I was happy with it:

 

 

If you decide to build one for yourself watch out for the motor box measurements in the drawings. They show overall dimensions while the text describes dimensions between bend locations. The first pieces I made from the drawings were too small. Following the text dimensions bend to bend worked fine:

 

 

 

 

Next up is laying in the main rails.........and all but two are BRASS...........UMMMMMM.....golden goodness   

 

As I was soldering today visions of the Mike Steube chassis building video kept popping into my head. This chassis is coming together better than any I can remember.  Every time he touched the iron to the chassis he added more acid flux. Mike also does a lot of tacking things together and coming back later to resolder.  Today, I did too. Here's what the jig looked like when I took the chassis out      :

 

 

After scrubbing the chassis with soap and water I hit it with a Dremel and a wire wheel and it cleaned up "real perdy"   :

 

 

 

 

So, I'm through step 13 in the how to article. I've got about 16 hours in it so far. I bet TonyP would have 16 chassis done by now     .  Oh well, I know I'm slow but I'm having fun     and I can't recommend Mike's video highly enough. If you scratch build you should own it   .

 

Onward to step 14..............

 

Progress so far is a drop arm:

 

 

 

The plumber rails:

 

 

 

And pans cut from K&S brass sheet:

 

 

I'm up to step number 26 in Tony's article and getting close to finishing the chassis. Baby steps...."Inch by inch life's a cinch, mile by mile life's a pile" 

 

 

 

To be continued...