89 replies to this topic

[Pablo]

This chassis needs a motor box. Inspired by Tony P.'s 1969 Bat Pan Plumber on Independent Scratchbuilder forum

 

TonyP Bat Pan Plumber 6901 - Chassis Building - Slotblog

 

I used brass rod to make mock-up pieces for guides, then bent some Swiss wire

 

 

Switching to jig mode

 

[Pablo]

Motor box is done. Strong, yes. Overbuilt, of course. I like strong boxes 

 

Maybe I put a lot of architecture into the EB side bracket instead of simply using one piece of wire brace to prevent "bunny hop". But doing it this way with the Weaver bracket allows an adjustment factor for gearing changes, etc. without ever having to fumble with heat and acid near the endbell

 

[Slot Car Rod]

Great idea using brass rod to make mock-up pieces for motor box.

[Pablo]

Thanks Rodney. It's cheap and I can bend it without fear of ruining plated wire    

 

Outer rails done. Drop arm out of the Phaze III kit box is stamped "FERRET", 1" wide, 1/16" thick, and length is about right. It's designed for a tube inside the flag hole, which is nice because I can custom size it to fit whatever flag I choose. 

 

With a drop arm like this, I don't think the car has any choice other than staying in the slot    

 

[Pablo]

Wire and brass rail sandwich with an .025 cross-connector piece

 

 

[Pablo]

Ferret trimmed to size, giant heavy downstop sliced off, edges rounded, sanded, etc. I slipped and gouged the top a little. No problemo, that's where I'll put my 1/16 rod downstop. If I didn't admit it, you'd never know LOL My choice of flags is a white old skool Parma. I want this car to perform - it's such a perfect part, how could I resist?

 

 

I put two 10 thou Koford spacers on it for insurance and faced the lower end of the tube to meet it. The upper end I left long to be trimmed later ....

 

[Pablo]

I noted in the Tony P. build article he used a Champion flag spacer gizmo. Spiffy, but I don't have one so I improvised.

Flag deck height .063 plus two 10 thou spacers = .083

My special jig nut is .085

 

 

 

Tilt checked both fore/aft and left/right, straight up and true

 

 

Excess tube meat on top hand sanded down flush then faced with Magnehone

 

[dc-65x]

As a soldering geek, I think this is beautiful:

 

 

Perfectly even solder flow from the top down to the bottom.  

[Larry Horner]

I also like that once sanded flush, you can't even see the joint from the top. Pablo, did you use a torch on this guy? Nice work!

[Pablo]

Thanks Larry  I could have used a torch but this time I used my Hakko 601 on full power and it flowed almost instantly. Hakko 455 would have worked as well, but the tip on the 601 is thinner

[Pablo]

Jim Hall interior by Noose arrived today - spectacular 

 

Chassis progress - almost ready to attach drop arm and pans. I decided to make the pans with no fancy cuts or extensions up front, and hinge pins will be brass. The body itself is rather boxy so the pans are simply what I feel in my heart will suit the car.

 

I gotta tell ya, it feels great to have a raceway nearby to test. No more getting up at 3 am to rush the dog to the pet sitter, driving 4 hours each way, and getting home at 9 pm, once a month, to test my creations. If a car needs mods, I just drive home and change it. Not that they always need changes. It's just nice to have the option.

 

Here is the Chappy 2H so far

 

[Pablo]

New Slick 7 bushings installed, no photo because you've seen it before. Drop arm upstop in place. Bulletproofing provides the spacing I need for the downstop. All it takes is a hair of drop to make the magic

 

 

Drop arm hinge method is from Lee Gilbert era. Hinge wires are .055 which give a hair of lift/wiggle/droop. She's still ugly, but will clean up real nice 

 

[John Luongo]

nicely done!

[Pablo]

Thanks John 

Ready for the tumbler

 

 

Somehow I ended up with a gazillion Pablo emblems. So many chassis to build, so little time 

 

[John Luongo]

Hmmm... weighted pablo emblems. i see another slot car must have part.

[Pablo]

They weigh about .05 gram apiece 

 

After 8 hours tumbling

 

 

 

 

[Pablo]

Havlicek motors always run cool so the motor doesn't really need it - but I installed a comm cooler just for style. I shortened it enough so a pinion puller can remove it in the future if it becomes necessary. Secured with Loctite 271

 

 

I masked, scraped the paint off, and acid tinned the can where she will be soldered to the rails. Paste flux will be used to make the final connection so no more acid near the chassis. Pablo emblem affixed with JB Weld  

 

[Pablo]

Motor installation complete. Can soldered to gear side rails, and one screw secures the endbell to the Weaver bracket up top. If I sense any wiggle, I can easily add a bottom EB screw or even a wire brace to the tube. But I don't think it's going to need it.

 

Drivetrain test - gears are very smooth. Cox spurs and brass pinions have always liked each other. Axle rotates at the first click of power. At 3V she draws 1.45 amps, at 5V same amps. Sounds very happy. Then I fed her some beans and it screams fine. I could not feel any warmth from the motor at all. 

 

[Larry Horner]

At first I read your post as "it screams fire" ... not sure what that would mean but I like the imagery. Beautiful chassis Pablo.   Can't wait to see it with the body!

[Pablo]

Thanks Larry. If I wanted to mess with you I could go back and change the "fine" to "fire" LOL Your avatar "screams fire" as well LOL Now I lost my train of thought ...... 

 

Oh yeah, assembly has been smooth. 3/32 fronts are independent rotating, Parma white flag has 25 thou of spacing as planned (JK clips are just for mock-up, I have more old skool Parma brass clips en-route). Chicagoland brass flag collar.

 

Weight with body was 148 grams and fore/aft balance point was slightly rearward of where I wanted it. So I added a couple chunks of 1/16 lead, temp stick-ons for testing. Now total weight is 158 and balance point is midway between the axles. That's just my guess for a good test starting point

 

[dc-65x]

Your project is looking great Pablo......and I've hesitated to mention this........and maybe it's just the photos........but........did your Mississippi water get your chassis shinier than the Tennessee water you tumble in now?     

[Pablo]

Good question, I was curious myself. I'll bet you are looking at post #41 and, no, it's not any shinier than MS tap water. I shot those photos outdoors in the morning sun on my back deck. Simply better lighting than normal 

 

I don't see any difference between the results. TN water is very pure just like MS, only slightly harder. The big difference is, when you shower or wash dishes, the soap rinses off quicker. My hobby room bathroom shower has a hi-flow nozzle from 1989 and talk about a good hot shower ......

 

Glad you checked in because I have a Chappy paint question. For everybody. To my eyes, the white paints on both the 1/1's and 1/24's seem to be off-white, more like cream white than a 2% milk white. So I'm thinking ahead ... I plan to use RTR white acrylic paint, which is a brilliant white. My experience is, a dot of blue added to white makes it even more brilliant. That's not what I want here. 

 

I'm thinking a microdot of brown, or black? What do you think? Noose, are you out there?  

[dc-65x]

Oh boy Pablo. I'd just paint it with out of the bottle or rattle can white with whatever paint brand I chose. You need the painting pros and rivet counters to chime in. 

[Pablo]

Understood, thanks Rick. I'm in no hurry - it will probably take me several days to pin and mask anyway 

[Martin]

I have seen some off white Chaparrals but bright white looks best to my eye. This shot is from Laguna Seca 2005.

They ran all the Chappys that weekend. I enjoyed every minute. Even got to chat with Jim Hall.