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Listen to Morrissey 2


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#1 Steve Okeefe

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Posted 21 March 2013 - 09:44 AM

What If We Had Listened

To Mike Morrissey?

Page 2

 

Drop arm time. I thought I'd show some before and after pictures of the soldering I'm doing.

 

I can't solder like Steve Okeefe. Very few can. So I use LOTS of heat, LOTS of acid flux and enough solder to make sure it flows where it needs to.

 

When I'm done I have a good strong joint with a nice flow of solder....and one other thing, collateral damage!

 

Here’s the drop arm in the fixture. Notice the gallon or so of acid flux on the surface of the jig and the way it's turned black from heat. The brass has also turned red from heat. It was probably about to melt, HA!

 

22-morrissey chassis.JPG

 

The second brace:

 

23-morrissey chassis.JPG

 

The final braces:

 

24-morrissey chassis.JPG

 

The pivot tube:

 

25-morrissey chassis.JPG

 

Anybody can get good strong smooth joints like these. Just keep saying "HEAT AND ACID FLUX". Few of us can make it look like Steve Okeefe's, obviously I can't. I get too much collateral damage.

 

Every solder joint I try different things and try to get better but until that happens I choose to overcome my shortcomings with perseverance..... I sand the crap off and polish the pee out of it!

 

Here's what perseverance (and sand paper, a wire wheel in a Dremel tool and metal polish) can accomplish. The joint isn't sanded or shaped, that's done with the soldering iron. All I'm doing is getting rid of all the junk and discoloration from around the joint:

 

26-morrissey chassis.JPG

 

27-morrissey chassis.JPG

 

28-morrissey chassis.JPG

 

The chassis is finished except for drop arm weight and down stop.

 

29-morrissey chassis.JPG

 

30-morrissey chassis.JPG

 

Time for a motor build.  (To see the motor build article.. click here)

 

Now it's time for a Gold Cup................guide that is.

 

The Cox quick change guide was the choice of the Pros from 1966 thru 1968. I've paid as much as $20 for them on Ebay because they are so scarce (for that I received a hate message from an enraged bidder).

 

So when I saw these Gold Cup guides on Ebay I thought I'd try them. I have no idea where they came from but we're guessing they are a current Japanese part? Here it is next to a Cox guide:

 

47-morrissey guide flag .JPG

 

48-morrissey guide flag .JPG

 

Cox braid and braid clips fit as do modern braid:

 

49-morrissey guide flag .JPG

 

The guide post doesn't have a hole in it so Mr. Milling Machine took care of that:

 

50-morrissey guide flag .JPG

 

OK so I'm home free with my faux Cox guide right? Almost; Houston, we have a problem.

 

The guide post is smaller than 3/16" (.188). It measures only .178. It's just too sloppy a fit in brass tube or drop arms. Mc Master Carr Supply to the rescue. They have 3/16" O.D. stainless steel tube with a .005 wall thickness:

 

51-morrissey guide flag .JPG

 

Here's the finished product with the SS tube crazy glued to the guide post:

 

52-morrissey guide flag .JPG

 

The guide fits perfectly in brass tube now. My only concern is of the quality of the plastic. Maybe the post will shear off as I punch the bank. Time will tell.

 

The moment of truth approaches. Soon it will be time to see how a 1967 Car Model Pro car handles on 1" diameter rear tires. Here is the finished roller:

 

53-morrissey car.JPG

 

54-morrissey car.JPG

 

Here's one way to keep your lead wires neat with shrink tubing:

 

55-morrissey car.JPG

 

Time to paint and detail the body and running gear.  (To see the body painting and detailing article… click here)

 

I tried it out on Eddie's very tricky flat road course. The motor was awesome . . . too awesome for the chassis.

 

You never know what you're going to end up with when you put together a motor with a "mystery armature". I'm going to install it in something a little more modern.

 

Anyway, my friend Rodney is quite good at tuning cars. We tried everything we could at the track and it still would just roll over and play dead in the corners. I'm going to put some tires with a little less bite and see if I can get it to slide a little.

 

That together with a motor that is a little less of an on-off switch should help. I also ditched the guide weight on the drop arm for some huge hunks of lead like Mike used:

 

72-Morrissey mods.jpg

 

73-Morrissey mods.jpg

 

We'll keep trying to get it sorted out. Rodney has lots of other cars like this that work great. It just needs some TLC. I’ll report back after my next trip to the track.

 

Onward!


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Steve Okeefe

 

I build what I likes, and I likes what I build





#2 Jocke P

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Posted 05 February 2014 - 01:25 PM

....Aaaaand?? How did it work out?
Joakim Pegers

#3 MarcusPHagen

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Posted 16 November 2018 - 12:21 AM

Sorry for the necro post, but inquiring minds still want to know how this beauty eventually handled after it was sorted & had a body.

 

Marcus


Marcus P. Hagen -- see below, my five favorite quotes: applicable to slot cars & life in general.
[ "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.". . Daniel Patrick Moynihan ]
[ "Time is the best teacher. Unfortunately, it kills all its students.". . . . . . . . Hector Berlioz ]
[ "There is a very fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness." . . . . . . . . . . . Dave Barry ]
[ "Build what you like to build, they are all doomed." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prof. Fate ]
[ "The less rules the more fun. Run what you brung." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Larry LS ]


#4 dc-65x

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Posted 16 November 2018 - 11:28 AM

Hi Marcus,

 

Here's a link to my original post:

 

http://slotblog.net/...y/?hl=morrissey

 

It was done a dozen years ago and some of the text has some unrecognizable characters.

 

Bottom line, the car worked fine once I swapped out the "weirdo guide" with a real Cox piece. I don't understand what was wrong with that guide..........but it sure didn't work for me in that car. :wacko2:

 

68-morrissey body.JPG


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#5 MarcusPHagen

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Posted 19 November 2018 - 04:18 AM

Bottom line, the car worked fine once I swapped out the "weirdo guide" with a real Cox piece. I don't understand what was wrong with that guide..........but it sure didn't work for me in that car. :wacko2:

 

That's helpful information. Thanks!

 

Marcus


Marcus P. Hagen -- see below, my five favorite quotes: applicable to slot cars & life in general.
[ "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.". . Daniel Patrick Moynihan ]
[ "Time is the best teacher. Unfortunately, it kills all its students.". . . . . . . . Hector Berlioz ]
[ "There is a very fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness." . . . . . . . . . . . Dave Barry ]
[ "Build what you like to build, they are all doomed." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prof. Fate ]
[ "The less rules the more fun. Run what you brung." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Larry LS ]


#6 Bill from NH

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Posted 19 November 2018 - 09:26 AM

Marcus, are you thinking of building one of those Morrissey chassis? I thought about building one in the past, but I don't have a local raceway to run it at, if i did.


Bill Fernald
 
I intend to live forever!  So far, so good.  :laugh2:  :laugh2: 

#7 MarcusPHagen

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Posted 20 November 2018 - 12:00 AM

I love the look of the jail-door chassis, it's the kind I was building when I first graduated at the age of 14 from messing around with an MPC Ford J (aluminum frame, 36-D size motor) to building frames with brass welding rod & my trusty Weller gun. Browsing these pages has really grabbed my attention. With my Rick's jig, I'm sure they'd be straighter than the slab of asbestos-filled concrete that I drilled for my first jig!

We have a raceway in St. Paul (or at least did the last time I checked), but I'd probably run these cars on my Carrera 4-lane track, dialing down the voltage so my grandkids get a chance to sample the thrill without doing as much damage when they nerf each other.

I've been collecting parts for about 15 years (not as well as some of the others here, but have a fair number of motors, wheels, brackets, & "stuff"). Looking forward to retirement (only 830 days away!) so I can dig in & create more. It would be fun to build a collection that ranges from the early Pittman days, through the anglewinders & thingies, up to current-day retro. I was active from about 1967 through 1971, then college intervened, & by the time I was able to look into slot cars again, it was the 1980s, & most of the tracks were gone. 

 

Marcus


Marcus P. Hagen -- see below, my five favorite quotes: applicable to slot cars & life in general.
[ "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.". . Daniel Patrick Moynihan ]
[ "Time is the best teacher. Unfortunately, it kills all its students.". . . . . . . . Hector Berlioz ]
[ "There is a very fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness." . . . . . . . . . . . Dave Barry ]
[ "Build what you like to build, they are all doomed." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prof. Fate ]
[ "The less rules the more fun. Run what you brung." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Larry LS ]


#8 Bill from NH

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Posted 20 November 2018 - 07:58 AM

I've always had a soft spot for brass rod chassis too & have been known to save a few interesting photos on my hard drive. Marcus, you probably know that Car Model magazine also had a build article for a Team Russkit F1 chassis, as well as this sports car  chassis Rick T. built. have fun building & running your cars.


Bill Fernald
 
I intend to live forever!  So far, so good.  :laugh2:  :laugh2: 

#9 Eddie Fleming

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Posted 20 November 2018 - 08:25 AM

I went and found the article this build started with and I liked it.

It could not hurt to bring it forward and give it some more visibility.

post-11-0-60441100-1363878638.jpg

post-11-0-05590700-1363878641.jpg


Eddie Fleming

#10 Phil Hackett

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Posted 21 November 2018 - 12:31 PM

I went and found the article this build started with and I liked it.

It could not hurt to bring it forward and give it some more visibility.

post-11-0-60441100-1363878638.jpg

post-11-0-05590700-1363878641.jpg

 

Truth.

 

As an aside, when I started with slot cars, I was a "scale" guy. I couldn't get to MESAC so if I wanted to race I had to adapt to what was being run. At Revell the racing was far more scale than "Thingie" but was far from true-scale. Alas, time marches on.


Click HERE to contact Sonic Products. The messenger feature on my Slotblog account has been disabled.

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