209 replies to this topic

[Alan Draht]

I changed my mind and decided that I do want to run this car at the track.  Rick built the chassis using TSR wheels front and rear.  TSR'S BBS-style photo-etched wheel inserts were installed on all four wheels.

 

The car's front TSR wheels spin independently and the hard rubber tires are pre-mounted.  No tire grinding necessary.  The TSR rear tires are dried out, so I bought another pair of TSR wheels recently which come with new rubber pre-mounted and trued to size.  I'll switch rear wheels/ tires when I take the car to the track someday.

[Alan Draht]

The other incomplete DC-65X slot car that I bought is a replica, I think, of a vintage pro - built race car from the late 1960's, before anglewinders came into existence.  It looks like a chassis from one of the big races reported on and photographed by Car Model or Rod & Custom.

 

I didn't save the eBay listing for this purchase.

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[don.siegel]

Your bodies look great Alan, and it's always a pleasure to look at Rick's fine work. That second one looks like an early 68 model - maybe a replica of one of Cukras' cars when he was running for Mura - I have to check the dates again. But the floppy body mounts only became common not long before the anglewinders took over. I know I was still running in Chicago in roughly the first half of 68, and we hadn't gotten word about the floppy body mounts yet (I was in a very local neighborhood, not at one of the more competitive tracks). 

 

If Rick sees this, I'm sure he'll re-identify it for you. 

 

Don 

[Jairus]

Cool Ferrari 550!  I got one of those built and ready for paint, although not with a Rick chassis.  Just a water cut steel plate with a FK motor.
Even got decals from Pattos.  I really should finish it...

[dc-65x]

Nice to see the Ferrari finished, it looks great.     Hope it runs OK too...........but better bring lots of lead with you.  

 

The brass inline chassis is a clone of the George Parks car shown in the bottom photo's of this Feb 17, 1968 race report:

 

 

 

Glad it found a good home.  

[TSR]

Alan, superb work you are doing.
Below is one of the actual survivors from the early 1968 days after the "flip-flop" hinged body mounts were invented in late 1967, this one built by Mike Steube, apparently in a hurry!  :

[Alan Draht]

Thanks, Don!  Thanks, Jairus!

 

Jairus, I'm not good enough to touch your shoes when it comes to painting slot cat bodies!!

 

For one thing, I'm color blind for red and green. After testing years ago, the technician explaining the results told me that, using a 100 watt red light bulb as an example, my eyes see it as a 15 watt red light.  The color red is much dimmer to me than it is for someone with normal eyesight.

 

So I'm very leery of trying to reproduce or match paint colors in general, but particularly reds and greens  That deficiency extends through the whole range of colors that use red and green in their composition, like purple and turquoise.  I know that I can't trust my eyes when it comes to anything having to do with colors.

 

I keep reminding myself: what looks like "dim red" to me, screams "bright red" to nearly everyone else.

 

So for me, painting Ferrari's is a very tricky business.  Consequently, I avoid it.  I have to rely on the manufacturer or someone else's judgement to tell me the name of the color.  And no hobby paint manufacturer outright labels their paint "Ferrari Red" to avoid tangling with Ferrari's copyright lawyers.

 

However, I have found a commercial paint that I "think" comes close to replicating Ferrari red.  I'm not sure what led me to it, probably an internet search for "Ferrari red" paint.

 

When I'm forced to paint a Ferrari body red, as in the case of the Ferrari 550, I use Tamiya polycarbonate paint, "Bright Mica Red", no. PS-60.  It comes in 100ml rattle cans.  It is slightly metallic, which seems to be appropriate for modern Ferrari's.

 

But the key thing for me is that Tamiya says right on the can:  "Perfect for R/C Ferrari F60".  Ferrari 550, Ferrari F60 ... close enough for me.

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[MSwiss]

Seems like you were one year ahead of me.  Did you know Vince Fairbrother and Angelo who when he wasn't hot wiring cars, making zip guns was building unbeatable Magwinders.

 

 

I knew Vince Fairbrother and that he and Roger Ruggieri were really tight, almost inseparable.  They formed one of the teams in the Enduro.  Maybe Nick was a member of that team?

 

Angelo was something else.  He lived somewhere in Brooklyn.  I think he said that he lived with his aunt?  He seemed to lack for nothing, including ample "walking around" money.  I didn't understand the set up.

 

Bruce Clark, Nick Eliasoff, myself, and maybe Sandy Gross visited Angelo at his apartment one day.  His aunt was at work.

 

He took each of us willing to risk his reputation and future on a joy ride through his neighborhood in the latest muscle car he had hot wired and casually parked on the street in front of his building.  He was proud to show off the car, matter-of-fact about grand theft auto, and seemed genuinely unconcerned about getting caught, although maybe it was all an act.

 

I think Angelo said he was a card-carrying NYC "juvenile delinquent" but treated it as no big deal.

 

I, on the other hand, was very nervous about getting caught in a stolen car as an "accessory" with Angelo at the wheel and was glad when the ride was over, although I tried hard to be nonchalant about it.

 

Back at his apartment, he showed us his home-made 22 caliber zip guns and fired one of them into a phone book in his living room.  Angelo had a stack of raunchy porn magazines to look through, too.

 

All of this high-octane entertainment must have blinded me to the slot car racing side of Angelo's multifaceted personality because I can't recall discussing slot cars or looking at his slot car stuff. 

 

Separate from that Brooklyn visit, I do recall seeing Angelo at Polk's a couple of times, and maybe another track or two, but I don't remember what kind of equipment he ran.  Please remind me, what were "mag-winders" again?  Were they 1/24 dragsters?

 

That day a good time was had by all.  

 

Fred and Alan,

Great stories.

 

Those guys could be characters in a Springsteen song, about slot car racers.

 

"Vince & Zip Gun Angelo".

[Half Fast]

Shouldn't the excellent Magwinder portion of this thread be spun off into a separate thread, so people could find it easier.

 

Cheers

[MSwiss]

Shouldn't the excellent Magwinder portion of this thread be spun off into a separate thread, so people could find it easier.

 

Cheers

Done.

 

The thread is now at;

 

http://slotblog.net/...inder-dragster/