99 replies to this topic

[Pablo]

Before I lift a single finger to start this Pablo build, the history has to be understood. Otherwise, it would just be another shiny vintage replica slot car

 

Howie Ursaner was a young slot car designer in 1967, employed by Cobra.

 

Even today, Howie is a world class driver. I watched him win the F1 Main at Chicagoland Sano VI 2012 (with a Mike Iles chassis).

 

 

Zero deslots in the entire race 

 

My mentor Rick Thigpen recently finished a re-creation of the car Howie built for the 1967 Arco Nationals race in Atlanta. It's headed for the Los Angeles Slot Car Museum. Rick already did the hard work, I'm just a copycat along for the ride.

 

This is more than just a slot car. 

 

Next step is parts gathering.

[Pablo]

I decided on an Outisight Lotus 40. It's Lexan, affordable, nice quality, and easy to obtain.

WB 3 7/8, GL 3/4

 

Noose interior, Tom Andersen Lotus wheel inserts, Koford big head body pins and some decals.

The Havlicek 65/30 armature is under construction. I picked 2 can choices, both have BB's installed.

A Tradeship endbell, 36D hoods, Big Foot II brushes, Champion Light springs, Professor Motor post protectors

[Pablo]

Russkit replica wheels, EJ's #15 front tires, Weldun 29 crown, Sonic 7T solder-on steel pinion.

Genuine Russkit bracket, Dynamic bushings, Champion steel spacers, PCH 1/8 axles

[SlotStox#53]

Nice little collection of parts gathered for the build Pablo

Love the Lotus 40 shape and look forward to seeing you work you magic :

[Pablo]

Thanks Paul. No magic here, just a lot of work and good tools

Side note; I have a TrueScale Lotus 40, but the sides are curved inward and the width is <3".

The Outisight is an honest 3" wide and the sides are more vertical. One of the main reasons I chose it for this build over the TrueScale.

Not sayin' there is anything wrong with the TS, just sayin'

Wheelbase on both is 3 7/8.

[Pablo]

One of my custom vintage cars needed fresh donuts yesterday, and I realized something:

I need to be able to remove wheels and inserts without damage.

In other words, the cars shouldn't need new inserts each time the wheels need new tires.

I got lucky; all inserts popped right off with zero damage.

They were glued to the axles only, so I plan to use that same method on this car, and perfect it even more.

 

These Lotus inserts had big variations in width (depth) and OD, flashing on the edges, etc.

 

I cleaned and blueprinted them before painting.

The narrowest of all four miked at .097, so that became the target width.

Smallest OD was .488 so yada yada...

 

This time, when they come to the hilt at the axle they will all be exactly the same depth in the hubs.

No fumbling or guessing. No masking this time because the only glue point will be the ends of the axles

[SlotStox#53]

Nice job on blue printing the inserts realized my R&C cars inserts are glued to the wheels, luckily their sponge is still fresh so all good.

The glue point on the axle is a perfect idea

[Bill from NH]

Rubber cement (not contact cement) from a craft store would probably work too on the wheel inserts. In the days before double sided sticky tapes, that's how lead weight was added to a chassis & still be removable, when wanted.

[dc-65x]

This stuff also works well and is removable:

 

[Pablo]

Thank you, gentlemen

Onward to my brass rod party. Only the straightest make it past the quality control bouncers

 

Must have been a good batch, because only one piece failed the test

[Pablo]

The Mike Morrissey article solders the bushing assemblies in first, followed by piano wire bracing later.

Every time you solder wire to brass, something moves a little. So I braced my bracket first.

.039 wires on the face and .063 rod "gear guard" brace

 

[Pablo]

My version of the motor bracket. It ain't pretty, but it's right

[SlotStox#53]

Nothing wrong with that braced bracket Looks like it should, and ready to rock!

[Pablo]

Thanks, Paul for appreciating the work involved

Dynamic bushings and Russkit motor bracket are original antique items gifted by Rick Thigpen   

[SlotStox#53]

Those Dynamic bushings are cool, being I think, 3/16 × 1/8 ? An improvement over running in bare tubing .

Will have to find the right build for the Russkit bracket sitting in the parts vault

[Pablo]

3/16", right. Their length makes perfect alignment difficult, especially on a flimsy .025 bracket. Every time I even look at my Ungar they move

Getting some rails on will help.....

[bluecars]

Looking great! I see from post #10 that you have plenty of supervision. That's good. You need watching. LOL!!!

[Pablo]

H Armature has arrived

[dc-65x]

Another beauty from "The H-Man". It will have a great home.

[SlotStox#53]

Tasty! ! Looks fast just sitting there

What magnets are you using Pablo? Can't remember if you said.. Epx?

[Pablo]

Thanks, guys

Paul, magnets will be modern Pro Slot Speed FX 16D. For vintage 16D motors I've found that any standard modern 16D magnet will work fine.

They have plenty of strength. The trick is placement, since their size and shape is usually different than the vintage cans.

That is where shim creativity comes into play......

[Slot Car Mods Magazine]

Way kOoL build, looking forward to seeing the finished ride...

 

[Pablo]

36D hoods soldered and wire tabs tinned

 

I usually drill my can hole and endbell with the same pilot bit, that way the holes match perfectly.

But this chrome can had pre-existing .055 holes, so I drilled 'em out to .063 and used .063 tubing as a guide to center the EB pilot.

A .035 bit fit inside the tube nice and snug

 

Perfect pilot

 

Then I removed the gizmo and enlarged it to .040 which made a nice home for the .058-ish threads

 

 

[Pablo]

The H arm loves it's new home, sounds great !

[Pablo]

Rails were a piece of cake, thanks to dc-65x for crystal clear photos of the museum car

Deciding which rails do what and go where by looking at a 47 year old magazine article isn't easy

Rick, I didn't have any problems with my Champion steel washers, either. Piece of cake, again, thanks to you