5 replies to this topic

[Jairus]

There are a lot of manufacturers I love from the classic era. One in the top five is Russkit. Never known a manufacturer who experimented more with chassis and motor designs as Jim Russell did for Russkit.

About seven years ago I received a commission to paint a Russkit Dune Buggy body. It looks like this and was never released as an RTR.  Just a body that fit the Carrera chassis... poorly.
 

 

Not sure where this came from but it's very informative.



Here we have Jim Russell holding his creation. I believe my customer provided that pic.

 

When Victor started out producing some of the best bodies in the hobby, his line up then included this Russkit Dune Buggy along with a beautiful Porsche 906 (and interior). So, I put both bodies into a box hoping to find a chassis someday.

Was outbid many times in the last five years of the search, but finally this fall managed to score a nice chassis sans tires. Wheels, but no tires. But that's more important than you think, because the spur gear is part of one of the rear wheels! So to have all four correct Russkit wheels was a huge break for me.

 

Even better was that the chassis contained a 23 motor instead of the more correct 22 (upgrade!).

 

Here we were last November with the chassis being re-assembled after a thorough cleaning and a set of new motor brushes.

 

Yes, body is painted! Not stock Russkit colors, but... this is pretty much how I painted the body for Bertl last time.

 

All done!

 

That's want I meant about not fitting well. Even with the front wheel bearings in the rearmost holes, the wheelbase of the body appears to be too short for this chassis.

 

Rear tires are Russkit marked German rubber that I trued up. Fronts are NOS Russkit.

Chassis is totally stock and gear mesh perfect as most sidewinders usually are.

 

 

Just a mention about the intake stacks. I only had one correct set so I used them on the Porsche 906. The set you see here are actually Tamiya 906 detail parts.

 

So, Joe Lupo, please do not compare them to the one's you showed yesterday. ;-)

 

Here's the Porsche still to receive decals to be finished.

 

Decals came from Patto's and the large #148 is too big. So I need to order a second set to get the right size numbers.

Also need to make a set of headlight bits for behind the clear panel.

 

Not totally sure if I want to have two bodies for one chassis.... more likely the Porsche will receive a Jail Door chassis in the spirit of Team Russkit!

Go Russkit!

 

[welslotcar]

Go Russkit, Jairus, and Victor!

[Lone Wolf]

Got ya on the stacks. As usual, super nice. 

 

Yes, that integral gear/wheel is hard to find.

 

I love the little stuff, my favorite part? The gloves   

[Jairus]

Yah know Joe, I actually wear a set of those when I drive in the winter.  They don't last long because the leather is so thin.  But.... oh the fit is perfect and super comfortable.
 

[TSR]

The Russkit dune buggy was issued as a RTR with a standard "Carrera" series chassis, anodized clear, standard wheels sporting no inserts, and generally powered by a Russkit "27" motor.
It was always painted medium metallic blue and never has any decals. The body was topped by a clear windshield, a part familiar with Russkit enthusiasts because it was also used as a spoiler on several models.
It was packed inside a black plastic box with a clear top, slightly larger than the car itself. I will post a couple pictures in a couple days.
The picture shown with Russell holding a model is mine, and there, you can see an actual pre-production model, donated to the LASCM by Russell.
But the production cars were painted differently as you will soon see.
Both the original RTR models and the clear bodies are tough to find.

[don.siegel]

Nice one Jairus, 

 

The 23 was the standard motor on most of the Carrera chassis, except a few of the later ones with the 27 or even 28... 

 

The 22 was used on their earlier hard-body F1 cars, plus the Black Widow 4WD models... 

 

About your first picture from the book by Roger W. Greenslade, when he wrote that book in 1986 there was still a lot we didn't know about vintage slot cars - and for a guy in England, he still managed to put together an amazing collection, with a lot of knowledge. 

 

Don