85 replies to this topic

[Edo]

Gentlemen,

Today we're beginning a series of pictured models done by various master builders and which are in my collection (besides my beloved Thingies).

The vintage forums and the old magazines I've read since 2004, the time when I became interested again in slot cars, were the source of this passion: a discovery of a period I completely missed during and after the times I was playing with cut up Cucs in early 1967.

I would like to begin with a TrueScale Lola T70 painted by Jairus Watson on an Arodyn "Sandy Gross Five-Rail Sports Car" chassis (a design dating back to late 1967) which you can see the construction of on Steve Okeefe's site here:

The Independent Scratchbuilder

Here's the assembly:



Front and rear wheels are Arodyn's Russkit replicas with inserts by Tom Andersen (painted by Kaiser Edolf Tuning, Inc.):



Motor is a Igarashi "Hemi" can with a Tradeship endbell and a "silver" wound Mura (or French?) arm:



Guide is a modern "faux" Cox modified by Steve himself to look like the rarissime original:



And here on the track:













More cars to come...

[TSR]

Vealy nice, Your Kingeeness. You need a Cobra motor in that thing...

More please?

[Edo]

I don't have a Cobra motor 'cause you gave them all to the Evil Emperor for his Museum!

[JerseyJohn]

Awesome!!! Keep them coming...

[TSR]

I don't have a Cobra motor 'cause you gave them all to the Evil Emperor for his Museum!

We have a cool lease program...

[gascarnut]

Nice-looking car all round!

Does the interior need to be that far forward to clear the motor?

[Jairus]

Yes!

[gascarnut]

Thanks - I thought that was the case.

[Edo]

If I may:

I think D3 guys don't have that problem because Falcon-TSR D3 motors are about 7-8mm shorter than most vintage Mabuchis).

This interior "far forward" stance shows up on many of these vintage (replica) bodies, as you will see soon...

Regards,

Edo

[Bill from NH]

Not only are they shorter, they're not as tall either.

[Edo]

Gentlemen,

Here's an Electric Dreams body painted by Tom Andersen on a Bob Suzuki chassis (hey Bob, since I dislike those two-wheels Japanese rice burners, don't you want to change your name into Bob Ducati instead? )



Tom tends to use an interior that covers the canopy completely but that raises the pilot's head a bit too high up, so I lowered the whole thing and I will soon cover the gap between the interior and the body in such a way that the motor does not show.



Bob on a blog he carries on SlotForum had the following to say about the chassis:

"This was an old F1 frame built a few years back and was included in a box of old frames that I sent to Edo. I guess I'm a little old school as there is no cleanng up of the solder although the frame was very lightly reheated to "relax" the ten-year-old solder joints."





Motor is a lovely French who runs very well and does not heat up at all (like a few others you will see soon):





Certus wires and post protectors, Cox crown and quick change guide with soft moustaches, and Arodyn's Russkit replica wheels with Tom's inserts, complete the assembly.

And here it is on the track:











Go, Bob, go!





More?

[endbelldrive]

I would prefer changing my first name, too. Roberto Ducati... has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

By the way, that car looks nice and low... I'm going to have to build one for myself one of these days!

[Tex]

Go, Dan, GO!

[loudspeaker]

Vealy nice, Your Kingeeness. You need a Cobra motor in that thing...

Hi,

Actually, I ran the original at Don's when I was still running for Russkit. I wound the armature and built up the motor. I am trying to remember what can and color but can't fully visualize it. I believe it was a Mabuchi can with the large bearing assembly.

An interesting story about the motor: at the Thursday warm-up race before the big Car Model event on Saturday, I ran an older chassis (it worked well but I was looking for more and built-up the five-rail race-winning chassis on Friday) with a good motor I had been running.

This was during a brief period of time during the Pro years when a motor could actually be used for more than one race. Howie asked me if he could borrow a motor for the Thursday night race and I loaned him one that I had run previously. He put it in his car and I was watching when he placed the car down on the track on the straightaway and punched it. Pow - it shot out like a rocket, the fastest thing anyone had seen on the track, flew over the bank and mangled the car.

Needless to say I put the motor back in the box and saved it for race day.

I can't remember what happened to the chassis. I remember I tried it at the Arco Race that followed in New Orleans but while it ran like it was on rails at Don's, it didn't work in New Orleans where I ended up running the warm-up race chassis (probably with the race-winning motor). I know I sent the car off to Al Hall to draw for Car Model and then??? I sort of thought Bruce bought it but if he did I would think you would have it?

[68Caddy]

Edo, you have a hell of a arsenal when it comes down to cars.

How many?

Nesta aka 68 Caddy

[stevefzr]

I've got a can just like that that has become separated from its endbell. I was just looking at it yesterday and thinking about reassembling it, as the French sticker looks cool. I assumed that given the era it should have heat sinks and 16D size brushes, not the C-can style bulletproofing.

If that's correct, would it have had a Mabuchi endbell? Flat brush holders or pent roof?

Regards,

[One27ray]

President/Kingie Edo,

Wow... great

i-noda

[TSR]

I sort of thought Bruce bought it but if he did I would think you would have it?

Sandy,

He probably did but nearly 60 cars were stolen from him during a move from one city to another. Bruce even hired a private detective to find the culprit but nothing was ever found. Bruce donated all his cars and documents to the LASCM four years ago. All what survived of the stolen cars are pictures of a few that Bruce took (some in color) and I will check if your car is in there.

I've got a can just like that that has become separated from its endbell. I was just looking at it yesterday and thinking about reassembling it, as the French sticker looks cool. I assumed that given the era it should have heat sinks and 16D size brushes, not the C-can style bulletproofing. If that's correct, would it have had a Mabuchi endbell? Flat brush holders or pent roof?

Steve,

The motor is an assembly of a 1967 French Motor Co. (San Francisco) can and stock magnets with a Mura endbell dating from 1968. The arm is more than likely also by French Motor Co., this armature and motor made for them by their business partner, Mura. French Motor Co. was a subsidiary of Tradeship, a distributorship owned by Fred Foyn. Fred imported a lot of parts from Japan and Hong Kong and was also the original distributor for Mura products.

I am not sure if the motor is entirely original or if a later assembly by a hot rodder because all the French motors I have seen so far (and that is quite a sizable number of them) had a stock Mabuchi endbell with stock brush holders but stiffer springs. However anything is possible.

[Edo]

Oh, so that is a Mura endbell? Wow, great! I thought it was a Mabuchi which got that color with use and age.

Anyway the motor really works well and stays pretty cool unlike the one you see below.

Read on, please:

Today we're showing a TrueScale Dynamic Ferrari F1 body replica, painted by Jairus Watson on an Arodyn 1967 F1 replica chassis:







Motor is some sort of early Mura (the can seems to be of a Russkit 23 origin):



Unfortunately it seems to have a totally flat torque curve and heats up like a fritto misto which just came out of boiling oil. That will be looked upon very soon.

And here's on the track:









Nice, no?

Onward* with more soon...

*Onward is a dc-65x trademark, I hope Rick won't sue me for quoting it.

[Jairus]

Unfortunately it seems to have a totally flat torque curve and heats up like a fritto misto which just came out of boiling oil.

Beautiful car, Edo, but then I might be biased!

I think the motor is rotating in the wrong direction, might be why it is heating up. The gear is at least on the wrong side of the pinion for an endbell drive (Hi Bob!) motor and that might explain the poor power and heating. Zapping the magnets can never hurt either!

Nice wheels! What inserts are those and with what type of paint did you paint the rims please?

[Edo]

Hi J.

That motor is an eBay find which I took apart, cleaned, and checked the comm advance. I then put it back together making sure that gear turning direction followed the advance. Everything seems fine that way but maybe the mags are too weak for that wind. I will take it apart again and check it out.

About zapping the mags: it appears there is no consensus about taking them successfully at the original levels if they are old vintage magnets. Apparently, but I could be wrong, zapping works only on Arco type mags onward.

The wheels were gold anodized but the rears, being another batch (a different kind of aluminium?), did not come out as well as the fronts which were done a while ago. Inserts are Tom Andersen's, made in resin and painted by Kaiser Edolf Tuning Services, Inc.

Ciao for now.

E.

[TSR]

Indeed that gold motor is an early Mura. They had a healthy operating temperature. The spring post sleeves are a good idea!

Oh, so that is a Mura endbell? Wow, great! I thought it was a Mabuchi which got that color with use and age.

That's also a possibility, sometimes they turn that brownish color from the packing foam in the box. But in that case the bottom of the can also turns very ugly...

[Prof. Fate]

Hi,

There were orange endbells then prior to the odd Champion/brass plate toy. They were very popular in the mountain west and were supposed to be more heat resistant. And I though they were Mura, but that is hazy. I think I still have a couple very used ones around somewhere.

We all chatted about this back in the hemi thread and trying to make those '66-7 rewinds LIVE. "Frankenmotors" RULE.

As far as the driver moving because of the cans. A lot of people, including myself, did a lot of work on the drivers. Painting the cans to match and cutting part of the driver away and or heating the driver and molding him around to fit the end of the can and not show were common.

It was just part of the "no part of the running gear when seen from above" rule.

On Sandy's chassis. With the guys I was chatting with in the US, a lot of them were using the four or five rail of the period, but some were doing an older mod to it by making the outriggers a sort of "floating plate". That is, that central tube/mount would have a smaller piece of wire or tube thorugh it allowing it to "rattle" and the pin tubes at each end would be about .032" above the rail as both up and down stopps. The weakness was that the single tube in the middle was subject to being damaged in a hit.

Fate

[Edo]

Thank you, Fate, always great to read you!

In the meantime Roberto Ducati (aka Bob Suzuki) is back with a 1967 "Cukras" replica chassis dressed by an Electric Dreams Russkit replica Lotus 40, painted and detailed by Jairus Watson:







Motor is a Champion 517 can, Mabuchi endbell, Mura Arm with Certus post protectors, and Champion light brush springs. A bloody speed monster, BTW!

Wheels are Russkit replica in the front and BWA wides in the rear, with set screw inside the rim, which, for this particular chassis, allowed to use a wider tire than a Russkit replica wheel would.





Inserts are also BWA.









Next big questions about the Mura advance (pics, too!).

[n.elmholt]

Beautiful, both chassis and body - who need Rembrandt now??

These cars are true art.

Niels