5 replies to this topic

[Jocke P]

This vintage pintube chassis is probably OK for the R&C Proxy; a 16D endbell fits the motor bracket.

 

 

Does anyone recognize who made the motor bracket?

 

 

Any idea when it appeared on the market?

 

 

Made of pin tubing...

[Pablo]

That is a Champion motor bracket. I don't know what year it appeared.

[Steve Okeefe]

Jocke,

 

That is Champion of Chamblee part number 270-1, for 16D size motors (part number 271-1 fits 26D size motors).

 

The early version (with a smaller bushing hole to fit the 507 with a Mabuchi white endbell) appeared around May of 1967.

 

The version with the larger bushing hole (looks like yours) appeared with the Celcon endbell 517 around the October 1967 timeframe.

 

Hope that helps...

[Jocke P]

That certainly helps,

My bracket has the larger hole. this means that this bracket, regardless of version is not right for a 1966 R&C chassis....

 

....unless the bracket was available as part of a complete Champion chassis in 1966... after Pablo informed me the brand name i did a Google photo search for champion + inline + chassis and found the chassis on Slotblog as well as on scratchbuilt.com.

 

http://scratchbuilt....mycoll_065.html

 

This chassis belonging to Jim Allen seems to have the big endbell hole, but his reference to availability 1966-1967 might include an earlier version with the smaller endbell bearing hole.

 

The Can spotters guide is an excellent tool for identifying the vintage of motors, but it does need a supplementary endbell guide for Mabuchis, as far as i can see, all the endbells are the old type.

My Mabuchi motors shown in the revell motor bracket thread fit this Champion bracket, but they are later versions, when did the big bushing endbells arrive?

[Steve Okeefe]

Jocke,

 

The first time the Champion "big bushing" endbell (it was actually advertised as a ball bearing endbell) appears in a Champion ad is in the July, 1967 issue of Car Model, on the inside of the front cover.  Being in the July issue means it should have been available in June, 1967.  It is part number 507-1BB.

 

This Champion (not Mabuchi) endbell was also known as the "Celcon" endbell, because that's the type of plastic it was made of.  It featured a cheap, raceless Mabuchi style ball bearing (same as the 26D in which the motor shaft is in direct contact with the balls of the bearing) and 26D brushes and brush hardware.  In a sense, it was a 26D endbell in a 16D size.

 

The ball bearing version of the Champion Celcon endbell was not widely popular, probably because the raceless ball bearings, like those in the 26D, were simply awful.  By the December issue of Car Model (five months later) Champion was offering its Celcon endbell with an Oilite bushing, part number 517-1PB.

 

On top of that, the endbell itself, whether equipped with the ball bearing or the Oilite bushing, was difficult to mount in any motor bracket not specifically made for it, because you had to enlarge the bushing hole in the bracket to get it to fit.  This also in most cases weakened the bracket considerably.

[Jocke P]

Thank you for this information Steve, I will use the revell brackets for my first Jaildoor attempts.