36 replies to this topic

[Larry Horner]

Part 1 of this saga began with a quest to recreate my first Dynamic Bandit (http://slotblog.net/...of-two-bandits/). And with the huge help of a number of members and Pablo’s craftsmanship to take it over the finish line, I now have a very sweet handling Bandit indeed! And it’s just like something one might have encountered back in the day. But since I had an extra Bandit body (thanks Gene!), I wanted to see about making the most performant Bandit I could with my own meager build skills and modern parts and design concepts. And so begins part 2 of this saga…

 

For the basic design, I choose to go with a contemporary IRRA F1 layout sans the outriggers as there just isn’t the room under a Bandit body. So basically it will be a standard 3/4” stainless steel loop flanked by a pair of brass rods. It will also have the defacto floating inner pan although in this case it will be a plumber design (sorry Dennis). Finally I’ll be using modern hardware as well, namely an offset RGEO motor bracket and MSwiss 2 degree guide tongue.

 

I realized a sticky point in this design would be the ultra narrow Bandit front end so I decided to start there first. My idea was to build it as a 3/4” subsection that I could later drop into the main loop. This ended up being a 1” strip of 1/2” by 1/16” brass flanked by 1/16”” SS axel risers. I’m also concerned with the front end being fairly fragile so I’m not going to have a solid axel but rather solder in some 3/32” tubing between the risers. My thinking here is that I can use hollow axels which are easy to replace and hopefully will bend in a major impact leaving the main frame undamaged … that’s the theory anyway!

 

Below are some construction shots of front subassembly construction:

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[Larry Horner]

Here I'm cobbling together the main frame loop and dropping in the frontend sub-assembly.

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[Larry Horner]

Finally I've added the brass side rails and so completes the basic chassis loop.

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[Pablo]

I like it      

[Martin]

Go buddy go

[Larry Horner]

Thanks for the props guys!

 

With the main loop finished, I moved on to the front body mounts next. These are just standard pin tubes but raised on 3/32" box tubing to move them up a bit higher in the body. A side effect is that this should also help tie the plethora of chassis rails together.

 

 

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[Larry Horner]

And since my pan is going to use a plummer hinge, it needs to be controlled. So here I've added a snippet of U channel to provide a top stop.

 

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[Larry Horner]

Next up is adding the rear 3/32 box tubing to support the rear pin tube. Here I've cut out the central section in which the hinge will go. The second shot has the pin tube added. I'll adjust the width of the front and back pin tubes later when I mount the body.

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[Bill from NH]

Larry, you're a very accomplished chassis builder. Your quality workmanship is very similar to Rick Thigpen's. I would think you've been at it for awhile.

[Larry Horner]

Well thank you Bill but I'm not even close to Captain Rick's league! But curiously we do have one thing in common. Eddie's Slot Car World used to be Rick's old haunt when he lived in the Bay area and now it's my home track (https://eddies-slot-...d.business.site). If you're ever in the Bay area, Eddie's is a hoot!

[Larry Horner]

Next on the agenda was mounting the guide tongue. An issue here is that the MSwiss tongue is slightly wider than 1/2” which is the space between my front axel risers. Solution was to notch both sides of the tongue a tad to allow clearance for the risers. And since the riser splay out at the top, it’ was easy to slide the tongue in at the top and drop it into place.

 

And now after Bill’s earlier accolades, it’s time to bring it back to earth. With as much work as I’d put into the various pieces up front, I was afraid to use the tried and trued method of heating the crap out of the tongue to bond it to the chassis. So instead I found some super slow cure epoxy that claims to be stronger than JB-Weld. So I keyed the brass under the tongue, applied a liberal amount of epoxy and dropped the tongue into the goo. And a great thing about this tongue is that it has interior cutouts thru which the goo gushed hence the tongue is very stoutly keyed to the chassis. The purist in me says this is cheating and the realist says it is a simple and effective solution. Then again, modern F! cars are basically glued together so I’m gonna cut myself some slack.   

 

Here is a shot of the chassis with tongue followed by a detailed shot from the front where you can see the epoxy (that gushed out of the slots) sanded flush to the deck of the tongue.

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[Larry Horner]

Lastly it is time to do the floating pan. Nothing fancy, just a piece of 1/16” plate with a hinge and a stop bar.

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[Larry Horner]

Here is the finished chassis. Despite my efforts to add weight wherever I could, it’s still a very meager 38gm. Once I get it rolling, me thinks it is going to need a little additional ballast. I have plans of powering this bantam weight with a Pro Slot Puppy Dog motor which I think might be a good match.

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[Larry Horner]

And here is the semi rolling chassis. It’s fitted with Dennis Sampson double BB fronts (highly recommended) and is one low and narrow beast. Now I just need to finish blue-printing the motor, have a body fitted and painted (Pablo?) and take it for a test drive at Eddie’s. Thanks for reading everyone!

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[Martin]

Clean workmanship Larry, look forward to seeing it mated to its Bandit body.

[Pablo]

Bandit #2 Gene/ZR1 body rough trimmed and hand sanded with 320 and 400 grits

 

 

This car won't be anything like your daddy's Bandit at all. Stay tuned   

[Bill from NH]

Larry, there have been a few brass/wire slot car chassis constructed entirely with epoxy, no soldering used. Edo, in Switzerland, has a couple of them.

[Larry Horner]

Thanks Bill and good to know! In the not so distant past, I've trashed good work with too much heat and in this case, just didn't want to risk it. Now I won't feel so guilty.

 

Body's looking good Pablo ... now if there were only some way to speed up the USPS. 

 

For those following along, the only problem with Bandit #1 is that Eddies where I race is very dark and it's hard to see ... not the cars fault but it is what it is. So this car is going to be bright yellow with black stripes. Pablo's already named it the Bumble Bee Bandit.

[Bill from NH]

Body's looking good Pablo ... now if there were only some way to speed up the USPS. 

 

 

You could try the pony express.  

[Alan Dodson]

Unfortunately, the pony express was forced to cease operations because of..................Bandits!

[Pablo]

Bumble Bee Bandit has arrived at The Wolcott Ranch. Up close I can say the workmanship is world-class       

 

My job is fairly simple - trim, pin, and paint the body.  Auto Club and Dynamic decals inside, Pactra black trim tape outside for the stripes. Color will be (a custom mix of vibrant) yellow acrylic Parma Faskolor backed with Faswhite 

[Larry Horner]

Thanks Pablo but I have to give credit to Dennis Sampson who both taught me the fundamentals of soldering and also told me to buy a Hakko. Since then I've learned to destroy brass and piano wire at a much lower rate!

[Bill from NH]

Now I know why you're so good, Dennis taught you!  

[Pablo]

Trimming was pretty straightforward, just use the cut lines. It simply requires trimming a little at a time, going slow, check, cut, check. Then hand sanded starting with 320, then 400, then 2,000. And some Dremel use. In the end, body is level, edges are smooth, and the car slips on like a glove 

 

 

Next step: harpoon the pin holes. I chucked the tool up to my drill, sanded it clean, and sharpened the tip  This has to be perfect, first try

 

 

Larry approved my test swatch for color, Fasyellow with a couple microdots of Createx Fluorescent Orange, backed with Faswhite

 

[Larry Horner]

Body's looking good Pablo!   I'm always amazed at how fast things progress once you take over. I know you claim to work slow but you're way faster than I am for sure.