73 replies to this topic

[mdiv]

Hey all,

Starting a build for the first time in a while.

 

Gonna be using a Kellison J4 body, originally a Symons (http://slotblog.net/...c/40826-symons/) that I gave to Sizzlerdom Dom Roselli years ago to repop...beautiful job by Dom!  He even made window masks for it!

 

Here's the money shot:

 

 

Going to use a Kemtron 8V for power plant, care of Rick Thigpen, a BuzCo chassis received in trade from C.A.R.S. club member Rodney, rears are a brand I've never heard of or seen before, but they feel pliable, look totally awesome(!!) and were included in my order of the 34 Dubro Ford from Herm, as well as the Club Plates and extra set of rubber you see on the right.

 

Front wheels and tires in the works (Thank you Bob!) and gears are courtesy of Bob Israelite.

 

Dynamic 1/8th inch post guide flag from Professor Motor.

 

Going to start the build in 3...2...1...

Thanks for your interest!

 

~ Mikey

[SlotStox#53]

    Watching with interest Mikey    Always wondered what those rear sponges were like after seeing some on epay the other week. Love the look of the Kellison Coupe

[mdiv]

Thanks Paul!

If you're interested in the body, here's a post from !!!!2007!!!! that sheds some light on it...

 

http://slotblog.net/...lison-j-4-body/

 

 

Mikey

[Tex]

I think it's really cool that guys keep building slot cars using parts from back-in-the-day... a really neat way of preserving history. Go, Mikey, GO!

[Gator Bob]

Mikey!

 

That is going to be a nice car.

I've never seen or heard of the Kellison J4.  It has some of the lines of a 240z, a Cheetah, a 250GTO and blended together.... how could 'ya go wrong'.

After getting some of Dom's bodies off epay a while back I can say they are outstanding crisp pulls.

Dom should put some up on here for sale, they would go like 'hotcakes'. 

 

 

The 5 hole BuzCo fronts look like a perfect match for the Dalxo rears and should be just fine in those big front wheelwells.

[mdiv]

Thanks Tex!

Bob, awesome!  Pete made up a CD with lots of images, and provided a great link about the Kellison Kit Cars in the thread mentioned above.  My avatar is one of those images.  The dragster roadsters are out-a-sight!

 

I got a little distracted with things today but I hope to get going on the build in earnest this week.  More to follow.

Thanks for your comments and interest!

Mikey

[mdiv]

Started build about 20 minutes ago and ran into issues:

2-56 screws that tie side plates of chassis to motor are too long, so I ordered some 3/32" 2-56 screws from Fastenal....they'll be here in a few days.

 

Mikey

[Gator Bob]

On the way 1st class .... Wheels and tires might just make it before you get the screws.  

[mdiv]

Thank you, Bob!

 

[SlotStox#53]

Don't you just hate it when a build stalls due to wrong or none of the right screws!    Hope the screws arrive quickly Mikey !

[mdiv]

Screws came in today, and the guide required is 3/16.  Have a few Cox flags I can use.  Just need a guide flag weight.  Going to ebay now....

 

Mikey

[mdiv]

Bob,

Parts received today from "Da Farm."  

 

Thank you, these will do nicely!

Build to follow soon!

~ Mikey

[Gator Bob]

Safe and sound ...

[dc-65x]

Hi Mikey,

 

Neat project!

 

As I remember (and I could be wrong) the motor seemed much faster spinning in one direction. If your chassis allows the motor to spin in either direction....WEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

[mdiv]

Went to The Race Place and worked on the car for a bit today.  Then I had to rush the hell out of there and go drinking with some friends.

 

Here are some pictures of the build today:

 

The messy bench ready to get some work done on it:

 

 

Some 2 1/2" Dynamic threaded axles picked up off eBay this week, 10 NIP (rusty!):

 

 

Went to Home Depot earlier in the day to get sandpaper - $3.97 got me three sheets of purple goodness:

 

 

This next picture is kinda funny.  At first it just looks like the Tire display case at The Race Place, but if you look carefully you can see a somewhat masked Kellison J4 clear body, ready to be painted by store owner Jerry Herbert for your's truly.  It's not finished as I had to run, but I'm going to keep the paint scheme with decals and detail secret for another week or two until the car is finished:

 

 

Here is the header card for the Dynamic threaded axles:

 

 

And a shot of the contents in the unopened bag - look at that rust!:

 

 

Here are the two axles I've selected for the build, rusty and dusty:

 

 

They are fitted into Mr. Dremel to be sanded clean:

 

 

One axle done, and a Cox guide flag to be used in the build. Note the 10 Volt Kemtron Box.  More about this later....

 

 

Wheels and tires selected for the build (Thanks, Gator Bob!):

 

 

The cleaned Dynamic axles, all nice and beautiful!:

 

 

BuzCo chassis side plates mounted to Kemtron motor via Fastenal 2-56 1/8" screws - gears from Gator Bob fitted:

 

 

Another Angle:

 

 

The drop arm installed:

 

 

 

At this point, Mikey got a call from a friend to go to a house party and drink beer.  A Tasmanian Devil-like tornado swept through The Race Place and the project vanished in a puff a smoke.

 

To be worked on later.................

 

~ Mikey 

[mdiv]

Just wanted to update you guys on why I have to use the 10V Kemtron from Herm rather than the 8V Kemtron from Rick:

 

The 10V is the first generation of Kemtron's X-503 motors.  The 8V is an X-503 "Wasp," which has a slightly different mounting bracket and brush placement on the "endbell" side of the motor.  The BuzCo chassis is specifically made for the first generation motors, and to get the Wasp to fit I would have to grind the bracket to attach the side plates.

 

Rick was kind enough to buff and polish the tarnish off the Wasp; it is a thing of beauty, like a cleaned up golden wedding band.  To grind is would be a shame in my eyes, so I am going to hold off until I find a suitable chassis to use it in.

 

Check out these cool scans of the Kemtron 1965 catalog from VSRN online, pages 12 and 13, that has the skinny on the second generation of Kemtron's padlock motors:

 

 

http://www.vsrnonlin...on/CatC_p12.jpg

http://www.vsrnonlin...on/CatC_p13.jpg

 

~ Mikey

[mdiv]

Worked on her a bit last night - just waiting for some brass guide flag weights that I bought on eBay recently to come in.

 

 

Thanks to ALL involved in this project!

~ Mikey

[SlotStox#53]

Nice progress Mikey! See all construction stopped for a b33r

 

It's making into a very nice car , will look forward to the paintjob that's pending

[don.siegel]

Thanks Mikey, for that info on the Kemtron. 

 

I remember now that they had upgraded (have that catalog), but didn't realize they had different dimensions in any way... It's funny, because the catalog says that all parts are interchangeable... 

 

Good looking car - I've got a Kellison body too, and have been wondering what to put under it....

 

Don 

[Gator Bob]

Mikey, Is that the one with the 'cast' endbell upgrade?

[mdiv]

Thanks for the replies fellas!

Don looking forward to your Kellison build!  If you don't wanna sacrifice the 60's original give Dom a call (www.domsraceway.com) - heck, even just the paint masks are worth $3.00 (I hate masking windows....I've got shakey hands !)

 

Bob,  not sure about the cast endbell upgrade.  I'm pretty sure what I've got is a bone stock first generation motor.

 

What IS interesting is I think the motor in the green dubro 34 ford coupe is a kemtron 1/32 "pancake" motor that can be found on page 14 of the Kemtron catalog:

http://www.vsrnonlin...on/CatC_p14.jpg

 

I'll take a pic when I get home....taking Mootsie to the dog park for some exercise.

 

Love the comments and critiques btw fellas, keep em coming

Mikey

[mdiv]

Here's Mootsie, tired after an hour at the dog park (he's 10!):

 

 

And here is what's under the Green DuBro Ford, with the X-503 shown for comparison.

 

 

Pretty neat, huh?  

~ Mikey

[SlotStox#53]

Never knew they made the "Pancake" motor! Looks really neat almost half the width of the standard X503.

[mdiv]

Hey Paul,

 

Yep, threw me for a loop when I first took the body off!  I was like, "what in the wide, wide world of sports is THAT!?"

 

Brass guide flag weights came in yesterday, and I tested out the motor to see which wire goes on the positive rail to make the tires spin forward.  With that knowledge, and the luck that the 10V Kemtron must have neutral timing (it drew the same amount of current at the same voltage with red/black on either side..) I attached the lead wires to the flag and the chassis without a body was born.

 

After taking my Mom out for her birthday, I shot over to The Race Place and tested the car:

 

(pssst...gonna show off the body too...):

 

 

 

On Red Lightning's Orange lane at 13.875 Volts.  After about 20 laps I got the lap time down to 9.73 sec. and I scooted out to come post some pictures.  The care handled well, good breaking, the tires were hooked up fine, and acceleration was modest.

 

Another shot of the car:

 

 

Check out all the rubber/dirt that came off the track and onto my orange tires!

 

 

The track, being tacky, may have added to the car's handling characteristics, so we'll see...it is being cleaned for an ISRA scale race to be held Sunday.

 

 

I know I said I'm going to wait to show the body but I'm happy with it....just waiting for a sheet of vintage decals to come in so I can put the words "Power By:  Kemtron" on the hood.  Last night I detailed the car with some sharpies.  I picked up a set of blue decals as I wanted to put my Dad's lucky numbers on the car but the blue color just didn't match.  So, it's about as plain as it gets:

 

 

 

 

 

The next step is to attach body mounts to the chassis and mount the body.  I'm not looking forward to this, it is my worst skill aside from painting.  I've chosen a pair of Dynamic brass "T" body mounts to mount to the BuzCo chassis with 2-56 screws and nuts, then bend to the body's width.  I have two screws (and probably a few loose ones...) and one nut...a trip to the hardware store is in order this weekend....or another order from Fastenal.  Once the "T's" are affixed, I'm going to solder some K&S brass pin tubing and mount via Koford body pins.  

 

Here is a picture of the body mounting "idea:"

 

 

Any thoughts on this?  I may even try Velcro if things take a turn for the worse.  Also, I may play with wheel base and front wheel track to better fit the body.  Probably about an hour's worth of tinkering for Friday night.

 

Thanks for reading, your comments and suggestions are encouraged and welcomed.

 

~ Mikey

[Gator Bob]

Suggestion:

Get a sidewinder axle to get the threads out of the bushing.

Try the Velcro but it might take off the paint if you want to change to pins or screws later. Soak it with lighter fluid to remove, try one small drop of fluid when you go to place it in position for the first time.

 

New fronts & rears left today and tracking slip says it will be to you on Sat. ... figure Monday... LOL