41 replies to this topic

[Jairus]

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away... I got banned from this forum.

(Shocker right?)

I upset the owner (not Cheater) and he had me restricted for a week.
Longest week of my life and I was currently working on what I thought was a pretty cool project for a customer.
After released from the iron box I swore I would never post that project on this forum as my recourse for what I believed was an inappropriate use of power.

 

Well... that was a long time ago and ownership changed since.

So, short story long, where is the project.

Tom Scott used to send me stuff and one time in 2011 he offered up a John Havlicek 26D and a beautiful Lancer Paxton STP Turbine car body from 1967...

 

 

Here are some of the bits I pulled together for this project.
Cox crown gears, various idler gears from my collection, and ball bearings of course in order to keep the rolling friction down.

 

As I mentioned, the motor was re-wound by John Havlicek. Pretty sure the motor contained the stock ball bearings, but maybe John can join in and give us a little info. But it was seven years ago so....

 

Here's the primary gear train.

The only two important gears are the pinion and the spur, also known as a crown. Those are the two that determine the ratio of arm to axle. Anything in-between is nothing but an idler and do not change the ratio.

So I used a mix of parts box gears to move power to a common shaft between the axles all held in place with ball bearings and solid chassis mounts.

 

 

 

More tomorrow!

[JimF]

This looks like it's gonna be really cool!!!!

[Cheater]

Actually, Jim, Jairus built this car several years ago. He'll have to confirm if he still owns it.

[Cheater]

Here's the primary gear train.
The only two important gears are the pinion and the spur, also known as a crown. Those are the two that determine the ratio of arm to axle. Anything in-between is nothing but an idler and do not change the ratio.

I am always surprised how many people insist this is absolutely not true: that in a train of gears, the ratio is determined only by the first and last gears.

 

I have seen several contentious threads, both here and elsewhere, on this subject.

 

Edit: Since a member sent me a PM regarding this claim, I've explained this situation in a separate THREAD in the Technical forum.

[JimF]

Actually, Jim, Jairus built this car several years ago. He'll have to confirm if he still owns it.

 

Oh... uhhhh... still really cool!

[Cheater]

Ya think? LOL...

[Bill from NH]

Actually, Jim, Jairus built this car several years ago. He'll have to confirm if he still owns it.

 

If this was built for Tom Scott, it's probably somewhere in Michigan.

[havlicek]

I remember the build vaguely, and saying to myself, "Yikes... better a man like Jairus than me!"

 

As for the motor, that's one of my really early ones, and Jairus was one of the first to encourage me to keep at it... as well as Pablo! Those were all static-balanced, and there was a little hubub about that at the time.   I also had nothing more than a basic multimeter to check the arms which seems kind of ridiculous now since a pole could be pretty far off and the meter wouldn't necessarily even show anything was up. Then too... all of them were soldered at the comm and I had no way of powdercoating the stacks. 

 

Now that's what I call "old school."  

 

-john

[Bill from NH]

John, would this motor also have had its stacks covered with thinned furnace cement? Or would it be older than that?

[havlicek]

Man, I don't know, Bill. I went through all sorts of contortions trying to figure out a good way to insulate the stacks without using the fiber end insulators!
 
-john

[Jairus]

Paxton Turbine: Episode 2
 
In the first post we simply created a motor mount for the 26D with an idler gear supported by two axle bearings and a short length of 1/8" axle. The shaft is removed by loosening the set screw on the idler and sliding out the shaft. The ball bearings can then be removed or replaced.

 

Now I needed a support structure for the main drive shaft made up of two plates and a few rods in-between to set the distance.
 

 

 
Now we have a power pod with a pinion at each end. This unit was the most important part and is self-contained.
To this, I'll build the rest of the chassis around, while mounted in a chassis jig.

 

The drive shaft is 3/32" diameter axle and the three identical vintage pinions all have their own set screws allowing a total teardown.


 
Plenty of room under that 1/24 body. Heck, I could have made this chassis fit TWO motors if I had them. The drivers side remained mostly empty throughout the build.
 

 
Basic chassis is done at this point. No drop arm yet but still in that "planning stage."

 

Prior to this point I still entertained the idea of working steering, but the engineering hurdles appeared much too high at the time.
 

 

 
Drop arm is pretty short with a pivot tube just under the forward pinion. On the test bench with power to the motor, the gear train with all those straight-cut gears sounded like an in-sink garbage disposal!

 

If I was to do this again I'd consider using toothed belts or replace some of the gears with plastic.

 

But it's sooooooo pretty at this stage.

 

[Dallas Jackson]

Wow, what a great build!!!

[Slot Car Mods Magazine]

That is an absolute work of art...!!!

 

Thanks for sharing...

[Tex]

Very cool, Jairus... an engineering marvel!

[boxerdog]

I'd like to hear it run on a track. Probably pretty impressive!!

[dc-65x]

A car just can't have too many shiny brass rods, gears, or ball bearings... NICE!

[Jairus]

Paxton Turbine: Episode 3

I agree Rick!


 
One note however regarding gear ratios.  Current set up is 4.3 to 1.
To change that ratio means replacing the crown gears and/or replacing the central shaft pinions with smaller gears.
Not easy on that 3/32" shaft, but it could be done.
Like Cheater said, a gear train is simply a transfer of force and unless a gear reduction is installed somewhere WITHIN the process much like a clock movement, the train is just a train.
So like a quick change rear axle, someone could change the gears at the front and rear to change the ratio.  But the gears in-between the motor and driveshaft have to remain, in order to maintain mesh.
Hope that's clear.?!?!
 

 
Okay, enough of that.
Time to start making this look realistic.
Once I had the frame fitting and mounted on the Lancer body it was time to set my sights on some of the details, like driver, paint and wheels.


 
The driver figure is just a resin cast vintage piece, probably Cox from Professor Motor.
But I needed a cockpit... so that I had to make out of styrene.


 
The length of insulated wire becomes the steering wheel hoop once thread through the holes drilled like so...


 
Parts all together it looks pretty good.
 



 
For instruments I picked something out of a pile of crap that I was saving.  Not totally accurate, but better than hand painted and only thing cool I had at the time in 2011.


 
After a little paint applied things are starting to look much better.


 
 

 
Roll bar hoop was painted gloss black and then Alclad chrome.  Rest of the interior painted with basic enamel model car paint.
 
Stay tuned for episode 4.

[Jairus]

Paxton Turbine: Episode 4

Wheel inserts gave me fits for a long time.
In fact I stopped working on the car while searching for the right insert which I eventually discovered in my cast off model car parts box.

Below is a scan from a magazine showing the original car and the unique Halibrand cast mag 5-spoke wheels fitted to the first Indy Turbine car.

 

Most of the other views were color, dark and hard to see the wheel details.

 

 

The closest I could find was this model car wheel from a Deora kit.  It's a 45 year old survivor of my mis-spent youth since the other three wheels were either covered with glue or missing.  This one wheel however fit the Russkit wheel and with paint would look perfect if I could use it to make a set of resin inserts.

 

 

Well, it had to be turned down a bit but with paint it'll look great!

 

The first step was to make a mold for casting.
A ring is held in place on a sheet of glass using modeling clay.
The part placed inside with a dab of superglue to keep it still.

 

Molding rubber is mixed up from an Alumilite molding kit and poured into the ring.
Once set the clay removed and the rim lifted off the glass.
Since the part was glued to the glass it popped free leaving a nice void for casting.

 

Now resin is mixed up in small batches and one at a time poured into void until it hardens.
Unfortunately no matter how many I made I couldn't get the airbubbles out of the ends of the spinner so.... new spinners were sourced elsewhere to replace.

 

Finished insert and wheel with new rubber looks ready for the track!

 

I also added lead wires and pick up brushes.

 

In order to keep the lead wires from snagging the moving parts,  they were routed through a couple little tubes soldered to the drop arm.

Next time we paint!

 

[dc-65x]

Man, I love wheel inserts... especially with knock-offs!
 
Nicely done, Jairus. 

[Cheater]

Mpre like masterfully done IMO.

Just like all of your stuff, Rick...

[Jairus]

Paxton Turbine: Final episode.

Since the body was vintage material, I had to use only enamel paint.  Testors Model Master bottle paint was thinned and shot in very thin coats and allowed to dry.  I believe the red was "Italian Red" while the black just "Flat Black".  Both were backed up with flat white to brighten up the red.

 

 

 

Took a lot of time but painting the stripes and rounds meant the decals could be added to the exterior closely trimmed.
Not sure where the decals came from... but probably Slixx since they do a lot of Racing stuff.

 

And.... the final pictures with the driver installed.

 

 

 

 

Another detail I added but hardly shows is the exhaust port...

 

I opened up the port and added two vanes just like the original turbine engine.

 

Pin tubes are just behind and forward of the wheels.

 

And that's it!
Now, go build something.

[Phil Smith]

That is just so cool! Has anyone done a 4 wheel drive slot car drive train like that before? I've never seen anything like it.

[Half Fast]

Yes 4 wheel drives have been done. But not at this level of craftsmanship/artistry.

 

Cheers

[Jairus]

Lots of guys have played with it and the idea is not new.
Steve O'Keef drew this up using modern bits.
He even added gear ratios and tire sizes.

[MattD]

Why in the world would you paint that body! The engineering and workmanship in the chassis is so great I would never cover it up if I had that ability! That is one of the neatest builds I have seen. That work is at a level very few can achieve.