78 replies to this topic

[Jairus]

A while back I was asked if I had time to build a car for someone. Things were getting quiet and I needed the money so I said yes. During the intervening 2 months jobs flooded in and the side job at the sign shop increased my hours.
Now I am booked solid with plenty of new projects in the pipeline. 

The most close to completion is an Ed Lewis sidewinder that will be painted soon as I can figure out what he put on THIS CAR:

The article in the June '70 CM doesn't show a pic of the finished car and my feeble collection of Car Modeler and Model Car Science didn't pull up a race report showing the body that was mounted on this chassis... or ever a glimpse of a painted Ed Lewis body.

So... I appeal to you, my faithful audience to please post whatever your grey matter can recall. Thank you.   

In the mean time, I started cutting brass....

 

The amount of info I know about Champion motors can be written on my thumb nail.
This motor can and endbell have good clean bearings that show little to no use.  The color of the endbell is unknown since the Electric Dreams Historical site doesn't call out dates and the info... while useful... is a bit lacking.
Sorry Doc. P.


 

 

The arm is a nice REHCO/Mura/Certus item that looks to be about a #24 single. Not super hot... but clean and useful since I have no decent Champion arms available.
Brush tubes will be swapped out for big foot brush tubes as were the norm at the time.


FASS gear and rear axle tube ready for assembly.

 

Installed.

 

I don't know about you.... but it's going to be a Bi*ch carving a relief in that magnet.....  

Time to 'get Jigged up'....

 

Please stay tuned...

[Jairus]

Tooth counters are probably asking why I didn't use a 9t pinion. Right?
Because that is freaking way tooo low for todays magnets.  And... it means milimeters less magnet to carve out besides!  So there!   

[team burrito]

Personally, I would use a Pro/Slot Euro or JK Hawk set-up. I saw this article when it first came out & I thought what a cool design. With the Hawk or Euro set-up, this design is much more feasible.

[gascarnut]

I don't know about you.... but it's going to be a Bi*ch carving a relief in that magnet.....

Actually, it's not that bad these days. I did one like this a while back for Russell (you did the body), and with a 1/8" cylindrical diamond cutter in a Dremel, it goes much quicker and with a lot less heat than back in the day.

[Mr. M]

Fascinating to watch. Any good diamond small cutting tool will work. I cut many 26D magnets this way to make sidewinders. Take your time cutting the magnet as they will snap easily. Go slow and you will be fine. You can use a cut off disc too, but it is really nasty and takes a long time.

[Jairus]

Dennis, I was thinking of using a grinding bit under the water faucet to wash the bits and keep things cool.  What do you think about that?

[dc-65x]

Great project Jairus. Very nice to see it done properly with the "korrect" vintage parts.

[gascarnut]

Jairus,

 

Working under water is probably good for the magnet, working NOT under water is good for the Dremel, and presumably for the Dremel operator!

 

Quite honestly, I would not bother with the water idea. When you start measuring, you will see that there's really not that much magnet to remove, given the thickness of the can and the shim, and the fact you are using a 3/32 axle.

 

These are shots of the motor for Russell's car, that used 7:35 48DP gearing. My apologies for the fuzziness.

 

 

[Jairus]

Rick, I don't know how "korrect" it will be.
The article says .032 steel and I used brass.
The pictures show the rear wheels to be Riggen and I picked Parma telescoping with a set of your Associated fronts. (The korrect set of Riggen vintage rears I needed for another project.) No idea what the original fronts were however...

Plus... I changed the gear ratio as well! 
 

[dc-65x]

You're using period parts and I think that is what matters. We can't always find the exact part but making the effort to get as close as you can is what counts in my book.

 

I can send you some Riggen AA repop front wheels and tires and rear wheels if you need them. They are 1/8" axle and they would need bushed to 3/32". I wouldn't be surprised if the original cars wheels were bushed to size also.

 

Onward

[Jairus]

I still have a set of those.
Which are being saved for YET another project, thanks anyway sir.
But wheels and tires were swapped between races back then looking for the best grip. So... for this project I am going for what looks best and for the early 70's it was Associated.  (At least for me, unless you can identify the fronts Ed used?)

 

What I really need is a clue on the body and paint?  Else.... I'll just go rogue and do whatever I like that's period correct.

[dc-65x]

Here's an article on the car from Model Racing Journal March 10, 1970:
 

[S.O. Watt]

As Ed was then on Team Champion, in my mind the logical body he would have ran would have been the Champion/Waters M8. It was the body of choice for most pro racers during that time. As for paint, probably a Dave Bloom paint job, colour scheme lost to mankind. There is no tech sheet accompanying the race article.

[Bill from NH]

As a long stretch, you could email Phillip Niyazi in England. He had his copy of the Ed Lewis chassis on scratchbuilt.com back in 2002 & might know something about its body.

[John Secchi]

It seems the car in the article is the very same one used at a Tottenham open meeting in 1970. Checked my Model Car mags and found a race report for the June 1970 issue [page 279], there is a clear picture of the underside of the chassis but no details as the tech chart only covered the"A" finalist.

From what I can make out the front wheels seem to be the Champion set screw type made to fit 3/32" axle or sleeved to fit.

The picture in your article doesn't show it but in mine it has his name engraved on the chassis plate next to the motor!

Can't make out what body was used but it had round rear lights so wasn't an M8A, however all the finalist bar one were using them.

The only other thing different is the use of Cox or Cobra gears, probably 7 to 34/35 as this is what all the finalist were using.

Hope its of some help in the build.

[oneofwos] 

[Pablo]

Awesome, Jairus  

[Jairus]

I have both a Kirby and another M8A here.  I was leaning toward the Kirby..... but Champion it will be! So it's been stated and so it shall be done.
Just not sure the second body is a Champion.  Could it be a Mac?


 

[MSwiss]

As Ed was then on Team Champion, in my mind the logical body he would have ran would have been the Champion/Waters M8. It was the body of choice for most pro racers during that time. As for paint, probably a Dave Bloom paint job, colour scheme lost to mankind. There is no tech sheet accompanying the race article.

I seem to remember a pic/reference to Ed's full sidewinder in a MCS race report.

 

Not sure if it was the top with the body, or a chassis shot which would of been of more interest.

 

Has anyone with a full collection of MCS looked?

[Jairus]

Ho'kay... found that body in a Cobra ad for a Gp12 RTR.  Did Cobra mold bodies?
The body came from Victor by the way as a test shot.  He doesn't have it in his catalog currently.

[dc-65x]

I seem to remember a pic/reference to Ed's full sidewinder in a MCS race report.

 

Not sure if it was the top with the body, or a chassis shot which would of been of more interest.

 

Has anyone with a full collection of MCS looked?

 

There's a small picture of an Ed Lewis car in the 5/70 MCS. It's not the same car as it is described as, "a plate chassis with no drop arm..........pans are plumbed but do not tilt............center of the chassis is cut out to save weight".

[MSwiss]

I would think that would at least get Jairus closer.

 

IE-to confirm that it was a Bloom paint job.

Pro's tended to keep the same paint job.

 

I know I did when I was a Pro, albeit much later.

[Jairus]

Pic Rick? 
PLEEEEZZZEEEE...

[dc-65x]

"By your command".........scan coming

 

[S.O. Watt]

The Waters/Champion M8 had something in the mold common to the windshield piece you would cut out. A touch of crs- I *think* it was a "db". Every article I've ever seen about that car had only chassis pix, no body.

The then current body mounting style and air control Ed used was probably the NCC and USRA style. One had to cut about an 1/8" off the nose before mounting the diaplane. That then fit the 7/8" x 3 7/8" cars of the day.

[dc-65x]

Here it is: