54 replies to this topic

[Pablo]

I prefer clips.  But that's just me.  F1, I insist on clips - due to lack of space.  Can Am I build whatever the owner wants. 

A guy with modified clips can tear a body off and slap it back on in the blink of an eye.

[JerseyJohn]

Great work Pablo FWIW you can never over brace LOL

[Pablo]

Thanks, John, good to hear your input.

1/8 brass angle is 16 thou thick and spaces the pans out from the rails temporarily. I don't want my movements bound up. It's just my way.

Also, 063 brass rod through the square plumber hinge tube is only a temporary visual alignment tool.  I tacked the tube in

 

then got her out of the jig before finalizing the solder joint.  Here at El Rancho Pablo, jigs are for alignment, wood and granite is for soldering. I melted a Rick's jig once and learned my lesson   Mike Steube trick, get that work off the block and it heats up a lot faster.

 

John, how flat and straight do you want this thing to be ?

 

Noose should be happy, look at the width   The pans wiggle, float, lift, tilt, shift, and are almost as flat as Twiggy.

 

I'm happy with my main rail and pan design choices.  The Victory 2 RGeo brass is .050 thick and my main rails are .047 which makes everything easy.  The .032 cross connectors for the pans were a piece of cake. 

 

Heavily influenced by the works of Jim Fowler

[Bud Greene]

Beautiful job

[Pablo]

Thanks, Bud   You transitioned from Master Modeler to Master slot car body painter/chassis builder/racer so fast, it blows me away. Your opinion means a lot to me.

John said the 5 year old rebuilt pablo square tuber he raced at Peachtree City was pretty sweet, so I hoped to make this one even better. Three .047 rails on each side feel like a C11 to me.  Only the track test will tell....

[DOCinCanton]

Pablo, awesome build. I got a lot to learn. You are one of the masters.

[Pablo]

Thanks, Doc   I have a lot to learn too !  It's all about enjoying the journey

Short pieces of square tube minitorched to the rear of the pans.

 

.055 wires are perfectly placed for lift and tail wag (despite what the camera says).  Yes, I know one wire sticks out more than the other, but it's in it's "happy place" so I'm not going to mess with it. 

Trivia question for anybody reading this , who was the first person to use wires in square tubes to manage pans ? I've been doing it off and on for a few years....

 

This photo only shows what a dummy I am.  I wanted to enlarge .063 tubing to create more slop using .032 wires for my shakey weight.  I soldered a piece onto scrap sheet to get a grip on it, secured it in a vice, and bored it out to .041.  Then I realized, "Hey, dummy ! Save yourself the hassle and just use .025 wire in .063 tubes instead".  I learned it is possible to bore .063 tubing out, but hope to never go there again. Failed experiment

 

After consulting with some of the biggest dogs in the hobby, including Jim Fowler, about retro F1 shakey weights, this is where I ended up today.  Mine is different.  Everybody uses .050 or .063 brass and many builders connect them with the pans.  By no means am I suggesting that is wrong, but my shakey is independent of the pans, and is not a weight - it's a thin (.015) platform to place lead "stick on" .032 weight.  My CG is going to be lower than a brass weight.  Main rails are .047 and 15 thou plus 32 thou = .047, so it should look pretty SANO if nothing else    I also toyed with the idea of making the platform slide back and forth as a means of loading the flag upon deceleration and loading the rear wheels upon acceleration, but I was scared to try it.  Too much movement = unpredictable handling.  I want my cars to act the same way every lap   Here is the end result of much thought, 15 thou platform, .063 tubes, .025 wires.  The tops of the wires will be at the tops of the holes and bottoms of the wires will connect to the tops of the .047 main rails.  I sure hope so, anyway  I call mine "The Fowler Platform" because Jim inspired the way I attached it to the rails.

[SlotStox#53]

Always love reading and watching your builds, the different ways of doing the "usual" things and how you explain your reasons why

Nice idea of the shaker actually just a thin platform for lead to lower the CG .

More info and tips to add to a growing list of things to try when I fire up the iron for a proper retro scratch build.

[John Streisguth]

I would encourage you to go for some front/back movement. On my best F1, at one point in time I thought it had to much of that.  When I restricted the movement, the car didn't work as well.  I had probably 3/32 movement. You can always restrict the movement with tape if you feel its not working the way you want to see if it makes a difference.

[Pablo]

Thanks, John   

Right now I'm locked into .025 wire inside .063 tubing and I'm not going to look back.

Appreciate the input, and understand you had good results with lots of fore and aft movement.

[John Streisguth]

There's always another build, right? 

[Pablo]

Thanks, Paul and John S.    So many ideas, so little time

She came out of the tumbler pretty sweet.

 

Now, where did I put those doggone Samson front wheels ?

 

 

[Bill from NH]

Sweet looking chassis, but I don't see a fancy "Pablo" sign.   

[Pablo]

Here ya go, Bill.    This one got tumbled twice to polish the front axle and the rear BB's.

[Rick]

The dash plate now makes this one complete...................

[Pablo]

Thanks, Rick B.  The V2 kit was a pleasure to build, it was flat and straight, tongue tilt perfect, motor bracket the best yet. I modified it to suit my preferences, but I wouldn't change a single thing. Very nice ! 

The Samson BB front wheels were a piece of cake to install.  After I tumbled the inner parts, the BB's spun free and nice. I'm sold on these wheels. They eliminate a lot of the headaches I've experienced lately. 

After I installed a piece of .032 stick on lead to the Fowler Deck, and added a body/driver, the race ready car weighed 109 G.  It's on it's way to Mobile, Alabama.  Time for me to move onward, as Capt. Rick would say

[Bill from NH]

You must be about running out of those fancy plaques by now. For less than $20 you could get a Dremel engraver & put the real "John Hancock" on everything. Autographed historical artifacts are often worth more.

[Pablo]

Still have 18 left, Bill

I have an engraver, but you don't want to see my handwriting

[bluecars]

 I thought you did those. Now I'm not so disappointed - I can't even read mine. I tried to write "RED" but it came out looking like a Bumble Bee in a tornado  

[Pablo]

  Red, that is exactly why I had a professional trophy maker inscribe my "Pablo" signatures for me.  All I do is tack solder them on.

[bluecars]

 I could always say mine were made by Picasso

[Bill from NH]

Red, from your race results, your cars go so fast that nobody could read your name if you made them 2" high.  With my old Dremel engraver, I turn the varible speed way down to #1 & hold the tool by its vibrating tip. It writes pretty good that way, at least it's readable.

[bluecars]

 Thanks Bill. Thought I was the only one that looked at the race results. LOL. I don't have a Dremel engraver, just a red one I got for 50c at a yard sale but I'll try that   Anyone know how to spell RED?

[Pablo]

I do, but there is a waiting list and I don't work cheap !

Red's cars are OK but he drives 'em really fast

[Tim Neja]

Looks clean and sano!!!  Nice job!!