77 replies to this topic

[old & gray]

Rich,

 

I enjoyed reading abut your Asp. I like your interpretation of the chassis especially the front axle.

 

However as a former owner of one of these cars it fails to resemble the originals on three counts.

 

1) It has a driver / interior

 

2) The front wheels are too big

 

3) It can go around a corner without a big brasss weigh on the guide post

[Bill from NH]

Bob, you forgot:

 

4.) It handles much better than either version of Classic's Asp.

[SlotStox#53]

Superbly designed and built chassis! Perfect for a Thingy !!! Love it

[Rick Moore]

1403-S01; Porsche Comes to Shove…

 

In the wise words of Commander Cody, “A whole lotta things that I never done, but I ain't never had too much fun.”

 

Besides myself, a lot of other 60’s slot car miscreants had the Russkit Porsche Carrera 6 way-way-back in the day. I remember the first time I saw one in the display counter at my local slot car raceway, resplendent in its packaging, I had to have it. Since I had already signed my life away into indentured servitude to my parents in order to maintain my slot car habit, I was more than willing to throw in some additional labors (and that was a lot of wooden fence that needed repainting…) to get that Russkit Porsche Carrera 6 for myself…

 

And when I got it, it was the most magnificent slot car ever… It was a moment of slot car rapture…

 

Yeah, well, it was the 60’s slot car era. As was the custom of the times, subsequent bastardization and cannibalization would eventually lead to the Russkit Porsche’s relegation to some long-forgotten oblivion, so that now, with the repressed reality of its desecration, it survives only in my memory as that image of its initial pristine presentation…

 

Nostalgia versus reality. Whatever.

 

I have this repop of the Lancer Porsche Carrera 6, or 906, body here for which I had no intention of tracking down a Russkit Carrera Series chassis and sundry other resto-correct parts to rebuild that car of yesteryear so I can get drunk on the dregs of some darkened distant paradise of lost youth and selective memory… Besides, I’d probably just hack the thing up again…

 

Okay, so no resto-build. A scratchbuild chassis then... Okay, but this chassis would also not be a period-correct scratchbuild, instead being another contemporary conglomeration something-or-other, preferably something I haven’t built before. However, I would give this chassis build one design concept homage towards the memory and honor of that old Russkit Porsche Carrera 6 from so long, long ago…

 

It’ll be a sidewinder.

 

Back in that dim dark past, after my banishment from the kids’ races and being taught to scratchbuild so I could race with the adults, though more accurately would be described as “the old kids”, I recall scratchbuilding only one sidewinder chassis that I also recall was an utter disaster, the taller narrower rear tires being too much of a disadvantage against the in-line drive frames of the time. Returning to the present, this time I don’t have to consider the competition aspect of this car, as the possibility of someone coming up with a “sidewinder class” in the ever popular retro-world is about slim-to-none. This car can be what it will be… which got me thinking… which is rarely ever a good thing…

 

The plan became to build a sidewinder drive using design elements from the anglewinder frames of the late 60’s: drop arm, parallel main rails, plumber (lateral) hinged side pan rails with longitudinal hinged side pans. Another more personal homage to that time frame would be to have front wings, a design element item I incorporated for the first time onto my last few anglewinder chassis builds in early 1969 (before that long hiatus from slot car fun for me until my return in the mid 90’s, that interim period during which I am eternally grateful we did not have cell phones with cameras…). To bring it all into a more contemporary build style all these throw-back chassis components would be laid out using 0.039” wire framing, and using 0.032” brass plate as framed filler (as opposed to being structural components) to give it that semi-“slab-o-brass lead-sled” look of yesteryear. Of course the motor of choice would be another of the PS Puppy Dogs laying around here; the Porsche Carrera 6 repop body is only 2.75” wide, so I figured with the P-Dog and gears shoe-horned in there I could get away with using 0.700” wide rear tires, providing my math wasn’t screwed up…

 

…So tires were a major consideration, since I was limited to 0.700” wide rears, but I had some ProTrack 0.700 wide drag rears on 0.625” diameter hubs that I could easily cut down to 0.875”, while still getting the gears and motor to fit between (and if my math was wrong, always a possibility, they could be just as easily narrowed). The front tires were more a matter of aesthetics, and after trying various optical options opted for the 0.375”w x 0.750“d JK retro F1 fronts, which are needlessly wide, but just looked “right” to me.

 

As for the Porsche Carrera 6 body, I’d cut it down getting it as low as possible while keeping the overall appearance and allowing the tires to fit without flaring the wheel wells. I don’t have one of those nice interiors that were made for this body and couldn’t find one, so I’d have to throw in some slap-dash interior until I do, if ever. Then there was that whole painting-thing… Yeah, yeah, I could paint it silver like the old Russkit car… or paint it to match one of the actual cars campaigned back in the day, sure, sure… well…

 

Wendy, I’m home…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chassis came out with the aesthetic I wanted. Cool beans. The drop arm doesn’t drop very much, approximately 0.025” between the guide tongue and the cross member of the main frame under it. The combination of the front wings and side pan rails was a flash-back for me since they reminded me of those last few anglewinder chassis I built (the last two never becoming complete cars) fifty years ago; those were the first chassis where I made front wings constructed to fit the specific body for which the chassis had been built, just as on this one. Back in the day it just would have been thicker slabs-of-brass… The chassis had limited space under this narrow Porsche body to build the typical tight-fitting motor box I like to incorporate on my chassis, so in this case the motor just sits atop the framing; and, though I considered it, there was no need for a motor bracket; simple enough. Tolerances around the motor were pretty tight as it was, and as it was the forward rear-axle tube uprights took me three tries on one and two on the other to get them to clear the motor properly, which wasn’t all that bad, really.

 

Those who pay attention to my builds (you poor suffering misbegotten creatures) may have wondered why this chassis is framed using 0.039” wire instead of the 0.032” wire I use on pretty much all of my other chassis these days; from my past experience it was just a case of foreseeing possible loading problems if I used 0.032” wire with the length and width of the straight/parallel main rails in this chassis’ design.

 

The 1403-S01 chassis design is intentionally one that I can adapt to build not only as a sidewinder, but as an anglewinder or in-line drive as well. The basic 1403 design can also be easily adapted to fit a range of bodies, which considering the number of bodies I’ve got around here is never such a bad idea.

 

Numbers stuff: Wheelbase is 3.8125”, rear axle to guide pivot is 4.625”, making the guide lead 0.8125”. I used current retro-scratchbuild rules for front and rear chassis clearances (0.050” and 0.015” respectively) since it just seemed like the “right” thing to do despite this car having no applicability in any current rule sets. All buttoned up and ready to run it weighs 113.0 grams, which ain’t bad all things considered.

 

As for the body, hey, it’s silver… well, mostly silver… bastardized with some CMF3 chevron livery white and black fore and aft, gun metal for the side pods, anodized silver for the headlamp covers, and bright gun metal interior. Speaking of which, for now the interior ain’t nothing special, but it’ll do. And, yes, I know the driver is supposed to be on the other side, but, as I said, it’ll do.

 

So the final piece of this pointless puzzle will be to see if this sidewinder scratchbuild would be as bad as that previous lone attempt I made those 50-plus years ago… It can’t be worse, that I know. In essence, all this one has to do is get run more than just a handful of laps, before getting unceremoniously thrown back in the box for future cannibalization, and it will have exceeded the lifespan and fate of that dismal sidewinder scratchbuild chassis from yesteryear… So much for nostalgia…

 

Regardless, this car was a highly enjoyable build, and a welcome break from the more repetitive predictability of the 1237-Series build progression, which I will be getting back to... Still better than a stick in the eye.

 

Rick / CMF3

 

[Alchemist]

Hi Rick,

 

I admire your patience to build these awesome chassis's of yours - they're incredible!

 

The Porsche Carrera 6 body is my favorite!

 

Thank you for sharing Rick!

 

Ernie

[brnursebmt]

Always interesting, Rick.  Very cool.

 

That's all I can say!

[John Streisguth]

Rick, someone was running one of your chassis at Retropalooza....no mistaking who built it!

[Noose]

Fast Eddie Hoffman


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rick Moore]

Thanks for the kind words, guys.

 

Actually it was Jeff Bonanno who ran my 1262.9.2-Cd3 chassis in the RP CanAm B-Main. Hey, Noose, Jeff said when you went to tech the car you looked at it and said, “Oh, it’s one of those chassis”, and sighed… I told him that made it all worthwhile... LOL!

 

Rick / CMF3

[John Streisguth]

I go cross-eyed trying to follow where all the rails go! LOL

[Rick Moore]

John, TonyP calls them "migraine chassis". LOL! My goal is to make a "MI (myocardial infarction) chassis". By comparison to the 1262.9.2-Cd3, trying to figure out where all the wires run on the Porsche Carrera 6 1403-S01 chassis above is similar to the retinal annoyance one might experience looking at bad "op-art" for too long...

[Dominator]

Jeff let me take a look at your can am's you built. The pictures don't do the craftsmanship justice. Like everyone else it took a while to figure out all the wire bends lol. Really cool designs that work!

[Rick Moore]

Thanks, Dom! High praise from a fellow scratchbuilder, especially one of your stature. At least building these weird wire things keeps me out of trouble.

 

Don’t know if or when I’ll ever be able to be in circumstances that will allow my travelling to RP, or any of the other big races… all that “life” stuff, you know... Would love to see all of y’all. If y’all get the chance come on down to Fast Eddie’s Raceway in Pinellas Park FL this September for the Southern Retro Rumble. We’ll show y’all what they mean by “Florida Fast”. LOL

[Dominator]

Maybe next year Rick, too much happening over the next 6 months. Fast Eddie's was awesome when I visited there last January.

[Rick Moore]

1404-01; King for a Day…

 

Okay, more than a day…

 

I’m starting to accumulate a bunch of JFF designs here, and trying to squeeze them in between the 1237-Series builds. Hit a point in that series where I wanted to think through the next couple of steps, which would give me time to knock out something even more pointless, do some retooling at CMF3 Headquarters, and make various attempts (results questionable) at being sociable during the year-end holidays…

 

In this case the even more pointless chassis would be one to fit under a re-pop of the King Cobra that Shelby racing had little success with back in the 1967 Can-Am Series… like that matters… fer-cripes-sake, we all run Ti-22’s, like they did so well…

 

Anyway, I always liked the ‘67 King Cobra, despite it being weird looking. I had built a chassis for one some years back, the 1110-B chassis (that had some points of contention with a few other slot car geeks…); the chassis survives in a box around here, somewhere, but the body on that car got 86’d not long after completion, cracking after light wall contact one time (brittle POS; insert “black cloud” emoji…). So, I wanted another.

 

The weird part about this re-pop King Cobra is the body width, or more precisely the lack of body width at the bottom of the body, the sides curving inward as they descend, which will only allow a 2.625” wide frame under it, but the width of the body at the fender wells would allow the tires to track more than 3” wide. Now that should make the build interesting.

 

So what to build… All wire framing; an “inverted 1237” design, parallel main rails, rear-articulated center buttress rail; anglewinder drive for “FK” sized motors; a pair of long dynamic pans. Since this would not be one of my multi-angled triangulated type frames I opted to use 0.039” wire for the main framing.

 

I actually thought about using a chassis jig to build this one… okay, only for a minute or so… then I laughed, and went back to my paper and tape… I am a creature of habit…

 

And even though technically this is an all-wire frame and would normally get a CMF3 “12XX” identifier, the odd-ball dimensions pushed it over into the catch-all “14XX” grouping…

 

The 1404-01:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing ground-breaking here as far as chassis design, in fact, pretty straight-forward, but a fun build. The 1404 design could be easily adapted to fit under bodies of other dimensions, should I ever get the compunction to build another…

 

Getting the runny-bits on this one was fun too. Opted for worn-down (< 0.750” dia) Retro F1-sized tires on front, width-wise they just looked “right”. The rear axle tube is set up so the rear tires will be worn down (< 0.790” dia) Retro tires, of which there is always an endless supply… And, since this car was intended to run used tires and this isn’t some rules-driven race car, the clearances are minimal as well, approximately 0.010” front and 0.030-0.035” rear. And, continuing the “worn-down old-Retro” theme, stuck another rusty-dusty PS P-Dog in this (with used 64-pitch gearing).

 

There was a point when I was considering adding chassis-mounted lexan diaplanes to the sides of the front of this car to look similar to the ones on the real King Cobra, but I got lazy. Speaking of lazy, paint job is typical CMF3 so-so, with a “meh” interior. Nuthin’ fancy. The actual car was yellow… I just didn’t feel that was an option; I think blue suits this body better. Gave a bit more attention to detail than usual, leaving vents and holes clear, or in the case of the rear ones cut out; used semi-translucent anodized aluminum paint on the motor well and front radiator exit vents, so chassis can be “seen” through. Added a spoiler to the rear, two pieces of 0.005” polycarb, one side each painted black, sandwiched together, and trimmed to fit. All-in-all it doesn’t look too bad… at least for my junk...

 

Numbers, for the numbers-guys: Wheelbase 4.00”, RAX-GPC 4.75”, guide lead 0.75”, chassis width 2.625”. Final tire tracks were set after RTR car completed, no rules, strictly aesthetic to what I liked the looks of, fronts at 3.08” and rears at 3.17”. The car came out to 95.3 grams ready-to-run.

 

Yi-ba-di-ba-di-ba, that’s all folks.

 

Rick / CMF3

 

[Bill from NH]

Looks like an angry-faced car Rick.   I only read the photos so far, have you yet had a chance to track-test it ? The chassis design looks good, but don't they all?   Is that King Cobra body a True scale one you've had for awhile?

[Rick Moore]

Body is one of the Lancer re-pops Mid-Am had available; don’t recall Victor/Truescale ever making one (I always wanted Victor to make one of his beautiful pops of the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe… have a lexan Iso Grifo of his around here somewhere…). Got this thing over to Fast Eddie’s for a few laps tonight (along with other testing); thought I’d put a mild set-up in this thing; it’s a rocket (!?!?); scary on the Hillclimb, but it really stretched its legs on the Oval; handles rather nice though, but it should being an anglewinder that’s low to the ground, body aero (the lack thereof) regardless. Brian A thinks the body looks like a fish… he’s right… catfish, I presume… if I were that ugly I’d be angry too… 

 

Rick / CMF3

[Bill from NH]

Thanks for the update Rick. I have to find time to go back & read the verbiage in your original post. I'm gone most of tomorrow, maybe on Friday.

[Rick Moore]

2211; a 1/32 for those who like a rear with a lot of meat…

 

Sitting on a corn flake...

 

Whilst in the midst of some retooling at CMF3 Headquarters, I dug up another blast from the past…

 

Recent dialogue got me thinking about the 2211, a long lost relic from the CMF3 Skunkworks, built back in August of 2010. The 2211 build was so, shall we say, quirky, it was a standout even among the other odd-ball CMF3 JFF cars, necessitating its resurrection from the slot car purgatory boxes…

 

The question was, where the hell was it…

 

The 2211 was a 1/32^nd scale chassis build. There was a time about twenty years ago when the majority of my scratchbuilds were 1/32^nd scale cars. That group included some of those weird wide-wheel goofball bodied things (Kremer, C-100,etc) I posted earlier in this thread, but mostly proper 2.5” or narrower bodied 1/32 slot cars, and the 2211 was one of those 2.5” wide 1/32^nd chassis.

 

What set the 2211 apart from your typical 1/32^nd scratchbuilt chassis was that it was an anglewinder that did not require the typically narrower 1/32 Eurosport rear tires (0.600”) to fit under the body, or have the aesthetically hideous 0.810” wide tires sticking way outside the body; instead the 2211 was designed to fit 0.810” wide rear tires under the 2.5” wide body. An in-line drive with 0.810’s would have been a piece of cake, I’d already done it before, but I wanted the challenge to see if an anglewinder would even fit. The math is pretty easy; that only leaves about 0.88” between the two rear tires… or, to put another value on this contraption, the rear tires would comprise about 65% of the rear width of the car... that’s a lot of tire.

 

The chassis design of the 1/32^nd scale 2211 was based on the 1/24^th scale 1219-A. The design “worked on paper”, which was the first hurdle, but it was still a big “if it would work”, or not, when I began building the 2211 (which, yes, was also “on paper”… I am paper trained...). The evening I set the rears/sprocket and tacked in the motor to find it all fit with the minimal of tolerances, and worked, was one of those serene slot car Zen moments…

 

Took a while looking, but I finally found it…

 

Since the 2211 was one of those builds that was done for no other reason than just to see if I could even do it, it ranked among my favorites. That, and it was a lot of fun to drive; looked kind of funny too.

 

I drove this car a lot, as did a bunch of others; not “show” laps, “hard” laps; now that I’d found it, the body, a Red Fox Audi R10 (RF-SC37C), showed it; beaten and battered, it needed to be replaced. The Falcon 7 that was still in the car had sharpie written “TOASTY” on it, so that meant the motor was fried. The JK-3504 guide had a lot of wear on the sides of the blade, and needed to be junked as well; the old lead wires weren’t looking so good either. And the ½” O-ring fronts showed some cracking, and, though the fronts are largely there for aesthetics, they might as well be replaced too. At least the gears, ball bearings, and cut-down rear axle (1.50”; cute little thing) were in good shape, which, compared to the rest of the runny-bits, were the only positives. Urf.

 

Tore it down, and cleaned the chassis up; no tumbler; I thought about it, but opted for the more “unrestored” wiped-down brushed-up look. Straightened everything out, which considering the number of laps on this thing was surprisingly only minor tweaking. New “old” RF nylon guide, and lead wires. New O-rings on the fronts. Replaced the toasty F7 with an unused JK Hawk Retro from the “non-comp” pile (an “R Made In China”). Cut-down/trued some used retro rears to 0.720” diameter (FYI, 0.735” is the maximum that will fit). For the replacement body I got another RF Audi R10, which is a pretty cool looking 1/32nd scale Lexan body.

 

The CMF3 2211:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I told you that was a lot of rubber on the rear of this thing. Still cracks me up (but I’m easily amused).

 

Numbers stuff: All framing wire is 0.047”; wheelbase is 3.625”; RAX-GPC is 4.125”; the RTR weight is 73.3 grams.

 

A mini-grand example of the pursuit of pointlessness.

 

Goo goo ga-joo…

 

Rick / CMF3

 

[Bill from NH]

That's a very clean build Rick, It's amazing how you got so much wire neatly bent to fit in such a small places. What's the motor, an early Falcon? And it's gearing? Now we need some 1/32 racing, using scratchbuilt cars, to be established in Florida.

[Rick Moore]

A401-01; Lotus 56B… Spoiler Alert!

 

Time for another JFF build here at CMF3 Headquarters (where time is best spent on our hindquarters). I had this Lotus 56B body, with highly oversized front wings and ridiculously oversized rear spoiler that, despite these exaggerated accoutrements, I like the look of, the weirdness making it an inevitable addition to the CMF3 stable of useless slot cars.

 

I realized early on this F1 car could easily be an anglewinder drive. Then I got to thinking (and did not wind up either in jail or the emergency room)…

 

Typical anglewinder chassis have asymmetric framing at the motor/drive to accommodate the angled motor mount and sidewinder gears. Quite some years ago having given this some consideration, I realized this asymmetry was more a matter of convention or convenience, and instead built some C-can powered symmetric anglewinder frames that merely had an offset rear axle tube to accommodate the gearing. With the contemporary popularity of the smaller “FK-style” motors this is even easier. However, for this chassis…

 

While building the 1404-01 chassis and doodling around with some chassis ideas for this Lotus, another thought occurred to me: there is never any framing between the spur gear and the tire. Why? There is certainly enough room for a rail. So, why not. This notion was a quirky enough bit of inspiration to bring the design of the chassis for the Lotus 56B to fruition.

 

Typically this F1 chassis would have gotten an “A2XX” designation, but, not unlike the clutter of the full-size bodied “12XX” chassis designs, the “A2” designs are beginning to get piled up here, so to mitigate some of the confusion (for my part, not yours) as I did with the “catch-all” “14XX” designs I have similarly started the catch-all “A4XX’ designations… So this chassis design became the A401…

 

However, the A401 is in concept an “experimental” A2XX chassis, having design and structural elements applicable and transferrable to those A2XX chassis designs, even the inline drives. That gave me an experimental design, a novel structural element, and a weird body… What’s not to like…

 

Here’s a pic I’ve included, the reason for which is debatable, but boredom and procrastination are likely factors:

 

 

 

All my builds start out the same way, lots of notes and doodles in a notebook, rough draft with more notes and doodles, and full-scaled layout. Some old farts will discern this sits on a drafting board with a parallel ruling straightedge, and one of my drafting lead holders I’ve had since the 60’s... I have had a drafting board (and for a bunch of years a big old 4x6’ circa-40’s drafting table) throughout the vast majority my life; there were more years without a TV than a drafting board. I have a CAD program I bought years ago around here, somewhere. Taught myself to use it, and did so for a while… Not sure how to describe it, but suffice it to say it just wasn’t “the same”, something lacking in the enjoyment area, I guess… and went back to the drafting board…

 

We now return to our regularly scheduled program. The A401-01:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crazy looking thing. Admittedly, while the dimensions and date of this Lotus 56B body make it incongruous with retro-world racing, I still think it is light-years more aesthetically pleasing than the current crop of M7 bodies that look like someone stuck an oversized dish drainer on the back. Nuff said…

 

The A401 is not a “1237-Series” chassis, having no center main rail (or main rail convergence point) with articulated buttress rails; on that subject, the “side pans” are functionally as much “buttress rails” as they are “side pans”, which is a another novel design element for this F1-type chassis.

 

I also did something different with the rear axle (RAX) tube uprights on this chassis. While the front axle (FAX) uprights on my chassis are almost always superstructural elements atop the chassis framing, the RAX uprights are always frame wires with vertical bends. On the A401 the RAX tube uprights are instead superstructure like FAX uprights. And in addition to the usual anglewinder’s 4x RAX uprights I’ve added a “semi-spanner” upright/support to the rear of the RAX tube for greater stability.

 

I originally intended to do a multi-wire multi-bend front axle, similar to the one on the Competition Asp build, but I changed it to a simple straight front axle with axle uprights when I opted to use the cut-down used retro F1 fronts. For the straight axle I got another idea to build a more complex five component upright combination to better support the FAX with the more medial converging main rails, but this turned out to be even more complicated to actually build than I thought. Maybe another time… After a few failed attempts I opted to go back to the tried and true 4-bend front and rear spanning uprights that, despite the narrow base attachment points, were much easier to build (relatively speaking; I’ve made hundreds of these things), knocking them out on the first attempt.

 

The front tires are worn-down used retro F1 tires shaved way down to 0.635” diameter. Similarly, the rears are used retro tires (part of that endless supply) cut down to 0.750”. These tire diameters just looked better in relation to the low profile of this Lotus 56B body.

 

And, yes, the low profile body made the fit for the motor and gears a bit close. On this car I wasn’t going to put a “sissy bar” running from the RAX tube up into the body’s goofy high rear spoiler, but after I mounted the clear body to see how everything fit, as it was barely fit, I decided to put one on for better rear body stability.

 

Numbers stuff: And, surprise surprise, the numbers are a tick on the odd side. Wheelbase is 3.5”; RAX-GPC is 4.625”; resulting abnormal GL is 1.125”; chassis width (max) is 1.5625” (1/16” less than typical “retro F1”). Framing is 0.032” wire; center dynamic pan is 0.010” brass sheet framed with 0.024” wire. Track and front/rear clearances are 3.25” and 0.015”/0.030” respectively. With a non-comp JK HR “R Made In China” for ponies, and along with the other runny bits, the RTR car came out to a scant 73.2 grams…

 

Another homage to mediocrity from the CMF3 paint shop, surprise surprise, this time a two-color variation of the CMF3 chevron livery, the “V” white front with metallic green; the side pods are gun metal. Undersides of body’s front wings are reinforced with 0.015” polycarb to help keep them intact (don’t expect me to hold my breath), and to act as “skids”.

 

Tune in next time, kidz, for another episode in the continuing “Just For Fun” adventures of…

 

…as adventures go, admittedly pretty lame…

 

Rick / CMF3

 

[Eddie Fleming]

" Admittedly, while the dimensions and date of this Lotus 56B body make it incongruous with retro-world racing, I still think it is light-years more aesthetically pleasing than the current crop of M7 bodies that look like someone stuck an oversized dish drainer on the back. Nuff said…"

 

Amen !

 

Love the look of that body and the chassis it sits on. 

 

One question. have you ever built a Can-Am with the main rails converging at the guide tongue as in this chassis?

[Rick Moore]

Eddie! How ya doin’?

 

Insightful question. Many years ago I was building my first all-wire chassis (CMF3 1202 and 1203) that were minimalistic 0.047” wire frames that had main rails converging to the guide mount, but these were pre-Retro no-rules anglewinders (that also had the symmetric anglewinder motor/drive framing); I was just starting to explore all-wire frames back then, and these early attempts created more questions than answers, so I went back to more traditional main rail configurations and proceeded from there…

 

As far as CanAms or other Retro classes the answer would be: no. However, I could show you some notes and doodles in the notebook(s) for Retro chassis with those main rails that converge at the guide mount, and, if they come into existence, would wind up being another CMF3 series… now there’s a scary thought. But, as you maybe have guessed, that was another reason for building this JFF car.

 

Rick / CMF3

 

[old & gray]

Hi Rick,

 

How about the 1305 or the 1236? Were those close to the converging wire design?

 

Bob

[Rick Moore]

Dang, Bob, either you’re taking notes or you’ve got one serious memory. LOL

 

The 1305-C and 1236-Cc2, both 1219-Series retro CanAm chassis, had the two converging main rails attach either side immediately lateral of the guide mount (as did most of the various main rails in the 1219-Series), as opposed to intersecting immediately behind the guide mount (as on the above A401-01).

 

Okay, so now that you’ve forced me to really think about this, I was incorrect before when I said “no”, as I’d forgotten about the 1211-C, which was a retro CanAm chassis based on the 1203, and it did have the main rails converge at the guide mount. I don’t recall ever racing it. Anyway, here’s a pic for those with memories not as good as Bob's…

 

 

 

Bob, glad you didn't know me back in the 70's, 80's, and 90's; you'd be reminding me of... well... let's not go there... LOL

 

Rick / CMF3