26 replies to this topic

[don.siegel]

I've always been fascinated by scratchbuilt slot cars, and that's become one of my main collecting interests (besides building some of my own of course, but not nearly enough...). 

 

I've tried to acquire interesting pieces over the years, whether quirky, inventive, or just very clean builds, like the one shown below. They also provide a good look at the history of slot racing and how trends evolved. 

 

Here's a Lotus 30 I acquired a number of years ago, pretty definitely in the 1965-66 timeframe, with a lighweight piano wire and brass chassis, plus a Tyco sidewinder motor with Pittman DC65X arm, lightened Weldun 64 pitch gears, ball bearings on the back and independently rotating fronts on a drop axle. Definitely a lightweight - but since I decided to restore it for an upcoming race, I added some weight up front, a chunk of lead on the drop arm and a heavy brass collar for the pickup, a Revell item of course... The original had gray foam tires, totally dried out of course, so I added some urethanes, Ortmann I think. Note that little spring like thing soldered to one of the rear cross members: ready to hold a "wet wick"!  

 

It's all very cleanly put together, with excellent metal-bending and soldering. It seems fragile, but the frame has survived until now with no problems it seems. That's the original Lotus 30 body, well painted from the inside, including the decals. It came without an interior, so I just used a piece of black cardboard and a painted driver I had in the box. 

 

I'll try to add some more examples of the historic art of scratch building as we go along, and feel free to contribute your finds. 

 

Don 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pablo]

Simple and sweet, well executed     

[Isaac S.]

Very cool. Those one rail, space frame designs always work well for me, they are easy to drive, light and low to the ground. I like the out-rigger tubes on the body mounts. It'll be fast. 

[Martin]

Nice car, Don.

 

Ball bearings, lightened gear, some thoughtful details and well constructed.

 

There was a time, way back,( pre-computer) when all I wanted to collect was hand built racers.  But just could not find enough, searching antique fares, flee markets, garage sales etc.  so I got side tracked with the production cars which were more plentiful.

But I never forgot my original goal to save and show the one-off hand made creations.

 

Now I would guess my collection is about 50/50. scratch-built to production.

 

This lightweight sidewinder comes to mind from my selves. Not painted but I OK with its nakedness.

I know I have shown this before and I hope you do not mind me showing it on your post. But would love to see more of this type of car from what I think of as the age of innocence where experimentation was the name of the game.

 

 

 

[don.siegel]

That's exactly what I like about these cars Martin: we were still trying out new concepts of all types and anything was possible!

 

Don 

[Dave Crevie]

When I was a kid just starting out in commercial-type slot racing, I wasn't much of a driver. (still ain't) So the only way I could win was to build a better motor, and/or better chassis. I did lots of rewinds, most too hot for the ready-made chassis kits available. So I just started building chassis, sometimes two in one week, with different designs and construction materials. Some worked well, but most didn't. Some were total abborrations. Some worked well enough for others to copy. I had a bit of an advantage among the Mid-westerners in that I spent time each summer in the LA area, and came back with ideas garnered from the racers out there. The end result was that I had a wooden produce box full of home-made chassis. Lately I have been picking out the ones I remember were good, and have been restoring them to running shape. They don't always end up exactly as they were, simply because I don't have, or couldn't find the original style bodies, wheels or motors. But the joy is getting them back on the track ,some 50 or more years later. 

 

 

[don.siegel]

Those are great Dave - I especially like your space frame with the modified Kemtron motor. You grafted some Pittman brushes on their, eh? 

 

The space frames seem to have been the most popular at the time in a lot of places, before the pin tube/jaildoor chassis came along. 

 

How to they run now? 

 

Don 

[Martin]

Great early cars Dave, that's great you could revive them.

Interesting how development was regional. I got my input from the U.S.mags of the time. I do remember a friends Dad that raced at a 1/32nd company club track, and I remember they were in the dark ages compared to the U.S. pro scene.

 

When I took a trip back to the home I grew up in, my son and I were poking around in the garage. At some point my son noticed this wooden box, ''pull it out lets take a look''.

When we opened the box we found some of the discarded and obsolete parts of my early scratch built chassis days. 

Bent rails that did not make the grade a couple of chassis that never got finished etc.

 

Just posting this pic to keep the scratch-building conversation going. Anything here worth finishing?

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[Dave Crevie]

Don; That is the weird KTM motor we talked about before. No modifications, just how I bought it at International Hobbies in Pasadena.

 

Martin; Same kind of box I have. Full of chassis that broke or didn't work out. Wouldn't it be cool to get some of them back up and running as they were back in the day.

 

The West-coasters were always ahead of us Mid-westerners, and it was always an advantage to come back with some of what I learned out there, long before the articles came out in the magazines

[don.siegel]

Thanks Dave, didn"t recognize that motor right away. 

 

Here"s another car I found awhile ago, in Switzerland I think - which would make sense given the mechanical construction and some very small nuts and bolts, more like a watch than our usual 2-56 or 4-40 types. A nice Ferrari P4 body too, probably Lancer and a late generation Mabuchi.

 

The body mounting is a clever concealed system, with two tiny screws going thought the back of the body, and one in front concealed under a small black strip of metal nestled in the front air intake area. Not sure how the back axle is organized, but seems to be a small diameter brass or bronze rod, with screws through the wheels into the rod, and a sleeve for the Cox gear. 

 

All in all, a rather unusual approach compared with the usual soldered brass rod and tube. The basic chassis is milled? aluminum channel, held together with spacers. 

 

 

 

Don 

 

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[Alchemist]

Hi Don,

 

What a wonderful thread!

 

The few cars that I was able to acquire in the 60's were mostly RTR - though one of my cars was given to me from my cousin, which was the only scratch built car I owned.

 

Keep posting please!

 

Thank you Don, as well as others, for sharing!

 

Be well!

 

Ernie

[Bill from NH]

Just posting this pic to keep the scratch-building conversation going. Anything here worth finishing?

Martin, do you know Phillip Niyazi of Great Britain? He's been scratchbuilding brass chassis for years, but doesn't post photos of much. I first heard of him about the same time I first heard of you. About 2002 or 2003.

[Martin]

Yes Bill I have a few of Phillip Niyazi chassis. His chassis are works of art. So when I had the chance to own some I did not hesitate. 

 

I have not communicated with him for some time. But we do talk from time to time.

[Dave Crevie]

Don; Interesting chassis. I tried using aluminum strip stock for sports car chassis, an offshoot from the rail dragsters. But because it couldn't be easily soldered, I gave up on those designs. The nut-and-bolt construction just wasn't ridged enough. I might get some of those going again.

[Mad Mark]

this is the most interesting scratchbuilt I have. pretty crude and heavy but kind of interesting.

[Bill from NH]

I like that wide motor bracket. That chassis ought to handle well. Mark, is this a chassis you or a friend built?

[Mad Mark]

I like that wide motor bracket. That chassis ought to handle well. Mark, is this a chassis you or a friend built?

it’s a eBay car. what else is weird about it is it looks like parts of it where brazed together with bronze rod then ground down. pretty strange but must have worked ok since it looks like it got a lot of use. unfortunately doing the 9v Test the motor doesn’t spin up and I haven’t made it to the track for a couple years so I’ve never tried it.

[Isaac S.]

Yeah, that rewind won't work with the 9V batteries. Draws too much amperage. 

[don.siegel]

Here are a couple more I prepared (minimally, just to test) for an upcoming race weekend. 

 

Neither one really an exceptional build, but both kind of unusual for the time, starting with a 36D sidewinder jaildoor frame. This must have been pretty early in the game, since it still uses the early 36D without the heat sinks - plus a fairly hot wind, so not sure how long it will last. A decently done frame, tho not as nice as I first thought, but it may have been repaired over the years. It must not have been that early either, since it comes equipped with pretty modern (66-67) looking spoiler and diaplane! I don't think I've seen any other cars with the 36D sidewinder/jaildoor layout. There's also those fabric covered lead wires, which I've occasionally found on period cars - thin lamp cord? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just for comparison's sake, here are a couple more Lotus 30 chassis that are probably contemporary, and would probably be more typical of the time. 

 

 

 

 

The second one is a rarity: a road-going magwinder, and with a Porsche-Lotus body, one of my favorites... As often happened at the time, it

never quite got a driver, or the cockpit cut out... A very neat and simple layout, with those wonderful smooth-meshing Weldun gears. To date, I've managed to acquire a couple magwinder dragsters, but we know there were a lot of them, relatively speaking, but have only seen two magwinder sports/GT cars and this is one of them. 

 

 

 

 

Don

[Bill from NH]

Don, I like the 36D jaildoor car & its unusualness.  I got some rectangular 36D mounting plates from somewhere. I think they're either Russkit or Classic.

[don.siegel]

Quick race report from this weekend: 

 

- The Tyco sidewinder car went 3 feet and stopped... to be analyzed! 

- The 36D sidewinder was lent to a buddy for the race and did pretty well - but had no brakes! 

- The magwinder Lotus-Porsche was lent to another buddy and he almost beat me! The car is a pleasure to drive: fast and steady. Those are cut down Paul Gage urethane tires on there. 

 

Don 

[Hzqw2l]

I'm not sure this qualifies as art but it must have taken some time to hog out a model kit body to produce this.

I think the extra body is probably a first attempt.
Kinda cool to think some kid did this 50+ years ago.

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[don.siegel]

Very nice that one - maybe not art, but very fascinating. 

 

Still not sure what he did to that body; if it's a plastic model kit, it would have been an empty shell... what kind of material is it that had to be hogged out? Almost looks like some kind of hardened foam! 

 

Don 

[don.siegel]

Haven't fed this thread in awhile, but now that's it's started up again, I'll try to add a few more. 

 

For a change of pace, an English club car from about 1965, with twin Marx Microperm motors, until a Chevy Corvette! 

 

 

 

 

[Hzqw2l]

The built car is filled with Styrofoam and 2 glued wood blocks secure the chassis.
Modeling clay is present in the black cockpit.

I imagine hood had some detail and body had some glue posts that were removed from the model.
Here's an underside picture of the extra body. Hood is glued in place.
All sorts of Dremel marks on the body interior. Seems maybe weight might have been a concern?

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