114 replies to this topic

[dc-65x]

It was March 23, 1968 at the Bronx Raceway's New York Car Model race. This was about a month before that fateful race that introduced the 1/24 Pro angle winder and changed the slot car world.

 

Jerry Brady won with John Cukras second and Phil Rubin third with this, as Mike Morrissey put it, "wild, wild pan thing":

 

(click on the pictures to enlarge)

 

 

The race report in Model Racing Journal:

 

 

 

The tech sheet from the race:

 

 

I really like Phil Rubin's chassis so I'm going to build one. Not a clone but my own "inspired by" version just as I would have done back in 1968.

 

I'll be building to the 1968 Car Model Group III rules shown below.

My favorite rule is #29 - ......."NO RESTRICTIONS ON MOTOR OR COMPONENTS"      It's the 1968 Can Am series in 1/24 scale.

 

 

Next, A wild pan thing needs a wild Can Am body.

[Pablo]

Sweet   

[tonyp]

That was the hottest design on the east coast and what Jerry Brady was armed with on his trip to California for the race, only to find out while in the air people were building sidewinders. Jerry did put his Batpan in the main but crashed early ripping off the drop arm.

I’m curious to see what Rick comes up with. I’m sure it will wow!

[Bill from NH]

I recall Phil Rubin coming up to the monthly races at C&C in Coventry, CT during the early 70's. He & everybody else was running anglewinders then.

[MSwiss]

That was the hottest design on the east coast and what Jerry Brady was armed with on his trip to California for the race, only to find out while in the air people were building sidewinders. Jerry did put his Batpan in the main but crashed early ripping off the drop arm.

Im curious to see what Rick comes up with. Im sure it will wow!

Did Brady travel with another racer who told him, or did he have the first cell phone? LOL

[tonyp]

Why jerrry was in the air, Steube, Schmidt and others were building their cars on Friday night. Jerry arrived Friday night, too late to do any thing. Maybe I wrote it wrong.. I’m old cut me a break. Lol

[MSwiss]

Like I tell my wife, "I hang on your every word". Lol

[dc-65x]

That was the hottest design on the east coast and what Jerry Brady was armed with on his trip to California for the race, only to find out while in the air people were building sidewinders. Jerry did put his Batpan in the main but crashed early ripping off the drop arm.
 

 

That's really interesting Tony. Thanks for sharing that. I knew it had a cool look but it was FAST too.

 

So, a "wild pan thing" needs a wild body and I think I've found it here in the 1968 Auto World Catalog. It's a Lancer Super Competition body:

 

 

I think this thing is wild indeed:

 

 

 

 

I know it wasn't successful as a full size Can Am racer nor as a slot car body in the PRO ranks (although Keith Tanaka won races with one). But man it's a wild looking car.......and I'm very much an armature anyway.

 

I've had Lancer's scale version #160 and scale lightweight version #5160 but now I finally have the #960 Super Competition version. As Lancer puts it:

 

LONGER - LOWER - WIDER - LIGHTER THAN EVER BEFORE! FOR CAR MODEL GROUP III AND IV "PRO RACING"

 

This body is wide enough that tires on a 3" track width can fit up inside the body when it's slammed down low. Here's a comparo with the Super Comp body on the left and the scale lightweight body on the right:

 

 

Super Comp in front:

 

 

The wheel openings are also smaller on the Super Comp (left) than the scale version:

 

 

Here's the knee high real car in the day:

 

 

Next up are the wheels and tires for the beast. This think it needs something more than a nice set of black anodized Riggens.......

[Bill from NH]

Rick, didn't you build, or almost complete, a Rubin's chassis cone  a few years ago? I'm thinking you said you weren't going to use it because you thought it looked too wide. Is this what you're using with your Super Comp. body?

[dc-65x]

Hi Bill,

 

I sure might have but that must have been "pre-Slotblog"....maybe almost 20 years ago. 

[tonyp]

28 days after it debut Phil’s Chassis was a historic relic. I never got to try mine as sidewinders we’re here. All those interesting inlines were never to be raced again.

[Uncle Fred]

I competed in that race but didn't move up out of the Consi.  If I am not wildly mistaken, that race was broadcast on a local radio station.  

[S.O. Watt]

That issue has a couple of inlines on the back page. One touted as “most common”.

[dc-65x]

Wheels and tires. These Riggen's would look nice (especially with blue donuts):

 

 

But I saw these 2 ads in the early 1968 MCJ newsletters I was reviewing for this build. I've always liked these "Wide Oval" rears:

 

 

These are the supposedly matching fronts:

 

 

Here's what they look like together:

 

 

The fronts are OK but I had an idea. I had an extra pair of rear wheels, K&B vinyl front tires..............

 

 

...............and a hobby lathe. I machined the width of the rear wheel down to the width of a front wheel"

 

 

 

On the top are the stock Cox wheels and on the bottom are my version of front wheels:

 

 

I stopped grinding the front tires OD's at 13/16". I think they look good at that diameter and decided not to go down to the legal minimum of 3/4".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Steve Okeefe]

Those cut-down rear wheels are unarguably better than the "matching" stock front wheels; both in dimension and proportion.

 

And that carries over to your 13/16" front tire diameter as well - the front tire-to-wheel proportion matches the rear tire-to-wheel proportion much better.

 

"Inspired-by" versions of pro cars can be beautiful models as well as surprisingly fast.

[Martin]

Rick, have bought a few of these wheel on line lately. The seller seems to have an endless supply.

I love what you did there, by modifying a rear, but is it different from this wheel being sold? 

https://www.ebay.com...QEAAOSw-hRchc-X

[dc-65x]

Thanks Steve.

 

Hi Martin. I saw those wheels and they look nice. Not sure what diameter they are. I didn't want a wheel much smaller than the rears. They are also free wheeling which I didn't really want for this particular build. It makes grinding a tire to size a bit more complicated too.....but they do look good. 

[dc-65x]

I've been waffling on what motor to build for this project. I finally decided to use a motor I built up for a Howie Ursaner car a few years ago. We ended up going with a different motor so this one needs a home:
 

The new Thorp arm arrived and she's in really great shape. Almost no corrosion which is great:



I didn't even diamond turn the comm. Just polished it with some 8000 grit cloth. I'm guessing this is a Mabuchi blank judging from the scoring on the shaft to hold pinion gears in place:



Thorp instructions on the back of the package are interesting. Don't use stock magnets but do use stock brush springs. I'm going to take their advice:



Here's the gauss reading of a good stock Mabuchi magnet:



Here's the gauss reading of an Arco magnet going in this motor:



The endbell hardware gets soldered up, attached with a stainless steel machine screw and the bearing epoxied in place:



The floating gimbal bearing is also epoxied in place with Devcon Two-Ton epoxy:



I love my "Toys for Retirement". I used to drill and tap the endbell mounting screw holes by hand with a pistol drill and a hand tap.

Not any more...





My results doing this by hand and eyeball were not so good. Now they are nice square screw installations done quickly and easily:



The finished motor "in the white". It will be painted after the bare can and endbell have done their duty as a "jig motor" to build the chassis with:



I used the brass spring posts because they slip on and off. The Champion pieces are a press fit. Howie can still choose which he'd prefer:



I followed Thorp's advice and used light brush springs. The motor buzzes up nicely and draws less than 1 amp. I can always change to heavier springs if testing dictates:



I love the big honk'n magnet clip Champion used. I added .004" shim stock behind the Champion shim per Bryan Warmack's motor build article posted above. The air gap is now just over .530" and the arm is about .510".



Onward...

It would be nice if the arm was a 26 or 27 gauge wind but it's still a new old stock beautiful Thorp arm.

Time to start the chassis and when it's done I'll paint that Mabuchi can.

[Geary Carrier]

Rick you're a fine motor man...

[dc-65x]

Thanks Geary. I love building motors. I really stink at winding arms though. Steve Okeefe winds a beautiful arm and tried to teach me......but I was hopless. 

[Martin]

Well its Thanksgiving and I am Thankful for having a friend and trading partner, Ricky T.

In early 2000s we lived closer and we did some trading. I still treasure those trades from the master.

Have been working on the patina on this chassis for almost 20 years, its almost done.

So Ricks build here has got me thinking I should gather the appropriate parts and make it the complete car it was intended to be.

Here are some pics of Ricks craftsmanship now in its golden patina.

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[dc-65x]

Hi Martin,

 

 

Have been working on the patina on this chassis for almost 20 years, its almost done.

 

It's true. Some may hang beef jerky or other food items to age. Martin hangs brass chassis.

 

OK, it's time to get on with building a new version for me. Here are the "store bought" parts for the chassis. A world famous Russkit inline bracket and Dynamic's version of "Duffys":

 

 

After a little soldering and polishing. Got to polish this thing so it looks as good as the one Martin has.

 

 

 

And..........Happy Thanksgiving!

[Martin]

Looking good Rick.

I am now looking for Mini Wheels.Can you show/tell me what Mini Wheels look like?

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[dc-65x]

The only ad I found in MCJ for this time period is for front wheels:

 

 

I'm not sure what the rears look like. There are probably different versions of wheels they made as well. This is another reason I like to do "inspired by" cars instead of clones. I get to choose the period "Korrect" parts I'd like to use.

[Martin]

Thanks Rick, not to much special there.  I prefer the telescoping Associated front and rears. Would they be sold in 1968?

I assume the body that Rubin used in the race was a Russkit Lola T70 GT. Too bad they do not show the whole car in the MCJ papers.

There main focus is on chassis development, I am interested in that also. But would like to see the complete car. 

When do they take the pic of the un-assembled  chassis I wonder?