130 replies to this topic

[dc-65x]

The motor has 2 mounting screw holes. To use the bottom hole I filed a little notch in the half rail:

 

 

The screw head on the left was ground down a bit...........

 

 

..........and with the mounting surface on the can milled nice and flat the motor screws down nice and tight without and can distortion. The rear motor brace soldered on super easy on the pre-tinned can surface:

 

 

The pinion above is a modern Sonic. It meshes beautifully with a vintage Fass 45T spur gear:

 

 

Wheels and tires coming up...........

[dc-65x]

For wheels and tires on my Steube RTR inspired racer I'm using Steube Stabilizers....of course!

 

 

The fronts are 1/8" so I had to use some Fass 3/32" reducers:

 

 

The rears are 3/32":

 

 

Up close:

 

 

The guide is a green JET flag. A color PdL once told me Steube often used. The lead wires are pre-soldered vintage items:

 

 

Almost ready test........

[SlotStox#53]

Look very similar to the telescoping "Associated" rims.. Should finish the car off beautifully!

[Pablo]

Drooling on keyboard

[Martin]

Hey Rick, while working on my Gilbert car I read he used 5/8" fronts but the pics in the article clearly showed 3/4" fronts the same as you plan to use on this build. So I realized that it might of been common to take the 3/4" fronts and turn them smaller as the rules allowed 5/8" front at this time.

In the pics of your Steube RTR you can see that the front rubber have been turned down really close the the wheel, low profile tires for sure. It dose allow the body to fit that much lower. Just wanted to get your opinion on this small detail.

Do you plan to turn your tires down?

I did cut one set of Steube fronts to .690" keeping the step about .020"smaller than that.The rubber is hard enough it cuts nice, smooth and of course takes any hop out.  I stopped there because I did not want to lower the front axle on a vintage chassis.

[dc-65x]

Hi Martin,

 

I'm running 3/4" fronts and although the Steube RTR in the article is running 13/16" rears, the rules this car is being built for require 7/8".

[dc-65x]

The roller is finished....almost. More on that later. Here's the real deal and my Steube "inspired" version:

 

 

 

A big difference is I'm using Steube pans with the half circle cutouts which are super cool:

 

 

 

Mine is not a "clone" but there isn't much I did differently from the original Steube beauty:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up is the body.......what will it be?

[Martin]

Seems a shame to cover such a work of art, but a Kirby 312p would be period correct I think? A bit more down force that your average M8 

[Gator Bob]

Amazing and totally over the top Rick.

It's so perfect a clear body would be fine.

[dc-65x]

Thanks Bob, that's a tempting idea Bob as painting and detailing are my least favorite part of the build.

Very close to what I've chosen Martin!   But first............

 

The Steube car in the MAR article had a body I'd not heard of before, a Vanguard Ferrari 612:

 

 

Searching through my 70's PRO style bodies I found this:

 

 

It is Butyrate plastic, not Lexan, and factory trimmed:

 

 

It looks like somebodies Ferrari 612 but I couldn't find a match with Kirby, MAC, Associated, Lancer or Dynamic. That doesn't mean there isn't a match, but I couldn't it.

 

 

Is this a Vanguard Ferrari 612? 

[Martin]

Looks like a good pic to me.

I will look through my boxed collection and see if I can find a match, a long shot but I am curious.

I put unpainted bodies on a few of my cars for display, Saves the stress of painting a rare body and shows off the chassis. 

 

I did find one VANGUARD MODELS body boxed but it is a Lola. Not the Ferrari 612. I had forgotten the Vanguard brand. The Kirby 612 looks close but no top side scoops or head light covers but the same cockpit etc.

[TSR]

Vanguard was yet another instant brand name for bodies pulled by Associated. There were about 6 models if I recall.

"Look very similar to the telescoping "Associated" rims..."

That would be because the "Steube" products (wheels and chassis parts) were Associated products, while the "Mike Steube" motors and arms were SimCo products subcontracted to Mura.
The only "real" Steube products were made by Bill Sr under the "Team Checkpoint by Bill Steube" on the labels. That included father and son since Mike never really built much chassis production, leaving that to his brother.

 

[Mbloes]

dc-65x, on 13 Aug 2017 - 3:31 PM, said:

 

 

It is Butyrate plastic, not Lexan, and factory trimmed:

 

 

 

How do you tell?

[dc-65x]

Hi Mike,

 

I used to work at the plastics and advanced composites group at one of our nations national laboratories so that helps............but..........I'm a vintage nut and I've coveted hundreds of these wonderful vintage bodies.

 

Old Butyrate bodies often have:

 

a very definite smell.

a very different feel as you flex them.

a much different and duller sound when you tap the body or drop it on the workbench.

Vintage Lexan bodies most often don't exhibit the nice crisp pulls that their butyrate counterparts will.

There are also burn tests that can be done on scraps to help identify different plastics.

 

Sometimes I'm not sure about a body but often it really jumps out at me.

[Mbloes]

Thanks.  That body looks really bitchin.

[Jaz]

Martin, on 12 Aug 2017 - 04:00 AM, said:

Seems a shame to cover such a work of art, but a Kirby 312p would be period correct I think? A bit more down force that your average M8 

 

Yep.....needs a Kirby Ferrari!

[Samiam]

Gator Bob, on 12 Aug 2017 - 04:22 AM, said:

It's so perfect a clear body would be fine.

I agree. Maybe just a racing stripe,numbers and a few sponsor decals.

[dc-65x]

Guys, I came across this Miniature Auto Racing Newsletter (MAR) article in the February 1971 issue (the date in the race report tech sheet is a typo error):

 

 

I got to thinking, the motor article I posted for this build came from the March 1971 MAR and the Steube RTR article came from the April 1971 MAR.

 

The body should come from the same series of MAR articles:

 

 

So A Champion - Waters - Bloom Ferrari 612 is it:

 

 

It looks pretty cool: 

 

 

It's a nice pull with crisp detail:

 

 

 

It sits pretty low and swoopy:

 

 

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.........I've always wanted to use one of these and it's calling out to me.

 

 

[Jairus]

Nice build Rick.
Those Waters bodies are nice, but thin.  Careful trimming.

[Martin]

Somebody got a rivet gun for Christmas.

[dc-65x]

Thanks Jairus, I've got her trimmed out:

 

 

The real car is quite spectacular:

 

 

There is something about a red Ferrari that pushes all my buttons:

 

 

 

It's such a nice body, it even has a real nose with radiator inlet. It's "low and wide" to be sure but it does still look like the real car....just a bit flatter!     

 

Do I really want to do something like this to it..........Lexan side dams, tall rear spoiler, Mylar front diaplane, lay down driver figure, strapping tape and staples? 

 

 

I think I may have another period "Korrect" idea..................stay tuned. 

[Half Fast]

Great Build Rick!

 

But who is that Sohl guy whose name keeps popping up in those '70s race reports (see post #93 here), whatever happened to him?

 

Oh wait

 

Cheers

[Tex]

what's the wheelbase on that trimmed out Bloom/Waters Ferrri 612? I had one a few years ago.... seems it was pretty short(?)

[dc-65x]

Tex the wheelbase is the same as Lee Gilbert used in his well known Car Model Magazine how to article car, 3 13/16".

 

Since I'm not building a replica car from one of the great period PRO's, but rather a car I might have built for my amateur self back in 1971, here's my plan:

 

I am a "hobbyist", meaning I enjoy building models of real cars......cars that are at least "semi-scale" and hopefully go pretty fast too. I am not a "sportsman" that may think of the car primarily as a tool......a tool to him win races. Of course I'm not saying one is right and one is wrong, they are just different ways to enjoy slot cars.

The hobbyist in me loves to build slot cars that look like real cars so that's what I going to try to do with this build. When I get in my time machine and go back to my local raceway in 1971 I will be with a group of like minded hobbyist in their local race series.

 

In their series they still want to go fast so they're not using 1" or larger tires but rather 3/4" fronts, 7/8" rears and 3 1/8" track width. But no glue piles on the track and air control is limited to a rear spoiler. A concours event is held in every race that awards some points toward the overall series results.

 

To go after some of those concours points I'm going to put some Cox Ferrari wheels to good use by lathe turning them down for wheel inserts:

 

 

 

 

My friend Rodney turned me on to the "korrect" decals on eBay:

 

 

OK, onward to some simple and light weight engine, interior and, hopefully, transaxle detailing............

[Gator Bob]

Inserts are awesome, great color choice too.