A224-01; You Bet Your Asp…
Greetings, culture lovers. And by “culture” I am referring to the less sophisticated type, in more controlled environments some agar in a petri dish having mold and bacteria growing on it, but in my case would probably be more analogous to something long forgotten in the back of the fridge that is no longer recognizable…
…a moldie-oldie…
This Competition Asp body I got from Victor/Truescale is another one that has been laying around here for longer than I can recall, proverbially lost in the “back of the fridge”. I have numerous chassis notes, doodles, and designs for the Asp body dating back as long, sporadically reappearing over the years. Last year I acquired some more vintage-type open-wheel car bodies (just what I need, more slot car bodies…), so once again I began the doodling and scribbling process for those bodies along with the Asp, during which I got myself an idea that stuck, so I decided it was finally time to get my Asp in gear…
…and that gear was a spur, the idea being to make the Asp chassis an anglewinder using one of the assortment of P-Dogs I have laying around. All previous design incarnations for this Asp thingie-thing had been in-line drive chassis; I guess I was working under the assumption an anglewinder would not be possible. I don’t recall ever seeing an Asp built as an anglewinder, which doesn’t mean it hasn’t been done, just that I haven’t seen one. So, with it being a little bit of a challenge and being somewhat in the nonconformity category, I decided this was the route to take.
As such, other than the Asp body, there would be no “vintage” consideration for this build. All the runny-bits would be contemporary. And the chassis design would be based on the current CMF3 1237-Series, having a rear/drive assembly loosely based on the 1254’s, a center main rail with flanking articulated buttress rails and medial adjacent front axle rails, and, as is de rigueur with pretty much all my builds these days, framed using 0.032” wire.
I kept thinking during the build that it’s been quite a while since I built an anglewinder. I know there are numerous folks who are of the opinion anglewinders are much harder to build than in-lines, but I’ve never been one of them… and we’ll leave it at that. Also, I don’t believe I ever got around to building an anglewinder frame in 0.032” wire before this one, odd as that seems even to me, but also shows how long it’s been since I’ve built an anglewinder. Who’d-a-thunk. Anyway, I had fun building this chassis, and that’s really what it’s all about.
The more consuming thought during the build was how I would do the front axle, a decision I delayed until the chassis frame was built so I could see exactly what I had to work with and weigh my options accordingly. The easy way out would be to set a straight front axle on front axle uprights; the more challenging and aesthetically pleasing ways would be to build a multi-bend front axle, or truncated front axle with risers extending from the chassis frame outside the body (in other words, something along the lines of how I’d done the front axle on the Shinoda Dart II). Sure, the original Asp had a straight front axle, but that only made the other options more appealing. I opted for the most complex one, what else…
Let’s face it, the Asp was always cool looking. I never had one back in the 60’s, but I think everyone I knew that did have an Asp would invariably overpower them, with the inevitable result being some spectacular launch. Admittedly, the Asp even looked cool flying through the air, like some sort of slot car missile. Unfortunately, some landings would result in varying levels of disfigurement or outright damage, so that a lot of the “cool” factor had been replaced by the “maybe that wasn’t such a good idea” factor. This historical memory loop played rather persistently in my head during this build, along with the often cited quote by George Santayana…
So, why am I bothering with this? I kept telling myself I’ve got a slew of designs in the 1237 Series that need to be built…
Need. That was the word that did it for me. I am generally unenthusiastic to being told by others that I “need” to do something, and certainly have little receptiveness to my own inference to such. Screw it. I “need” a just-for-fun build to sort of clear out some of that pseudo-serious muck between the pinnae. Something ridiculous, pointless, utterly meaningless…
You know, just to put everything back in proper perspective…
The perspective on the Asp came out like this:
Whenever I have only one body, and little chance of getting another, I always keep telling myself, “Don’t screw it up, don’t screw it up, don’t…” Well… I didn’t screw up the paint too bad, but I can tell you I sure tried…
Specs for the those who like that stuff: Wheelbase is 3.875”, rear axle to guide pivot is 5.00”, making the guide lead 1.125”; width at rear tires 3.25”, and at front tires 3.22” (just as a matter of “perspective”). Predictably a lightweight, the RTR car weighs in at 70.6 grams… Okay… That’s even less than predictably... Should rocket through the air nicely. At least the landings will be softer…
The Asp is still cool looking, even after fifty-plus years. Or maybe it’s because the kid inside really hasn’t changed all that much during that same span. Probably why we all still get a kick out of playing with slot cars. Silly rabbits.
Rick / CMF3
