10 replies to this topic

[dc-65x]

I came across a super cool body by TrueScale on eBay:

 

 

It's a reproduction of the Testors Plymouth Hemi Special:

 

 

I'm a big fan of Victor's TrueScale bodies but this body is also reproduced by eBay seller "sizzlerdom". A link to his body is below:

 

1/24 scale slotcar repro Vintage CLEAR body Plymouth McKee Hemi Special Can Am by sizzlerdom

 

I turned 16 years old in 1966 and my favorite cars are those that raced on America's road courses in the 1960's. It's a big powerful brute of a road racer:

 

 

This car fills the bill even though it wasn't especially successful.

 

"What's that coming up to pass me?"

 

 

"YIKES.....it's Bruce McLaren!"

 

 

But, it's got a Plymouth Hemi "elephant" motor, cross ram intake manifold painted "hemi orange", dual 4-barrel carbs with velocity stacks, chromed "zoomie" exhaust and 5-spoke American mag wheels:

 

 

For me, what's not to like!       

 

There are several nice writeups of this car online. Below is a link to one from Hot Rod Magazine:

 

HOT ROD MAGAZINE  McKee Engineering - A Special Plymouth

 

I'm still finishing up my last build thread of the McLaren M6 but I can't stop thinking about this build. I'm in the planning stages but I'm pretty sure of the direction I'll be headed with it.  

 

I'm waiting to share lots more vintage pictures of the race car as they relate to my progress in the build.

[don.siegel]

Another DC65X build is always very exciting. 

 

Can't wait to see what you come up with here. 

 

Offhand, I would have said a Ram-Boochie, but you've already done one or two of those I believe... 

 

Globe? Pittcan? or a big Strombecker Hemi? hmmm

 

Don 

[Larry Horner]

Nice find as that's a gorgeous body. I'm with Don ... seems like it was meant to have a Strombecker AT-400 Hemi!

[dc-65x]

 

Hey Don and Larry.

 

I agree, that thing has got to have a Hemi!  

 

Below is a link to PdL's great thread about all the different iterations of the "Hemi" motor including the one I've decided to use:

 

A review of 'Hemi' motors to deconfuse the innocent

[pn6]

Cool!!!! Another great build!! Wait a minute.....the McLaren isn't done yet. Are we getting into Multi-tasking here?   The more the better!!!!

[Larry Horner]

Looking forward to this one as I've always loved the Hemi motors. When I was maybe 12, I bought a can bearing adaptor that allowed me to drop a Hemi 300 into my Dynamic Bandit. It was like kicking on afterburners! But what was curious is that even with all the additional power, the car seemed to handle better too and was much more manageable. Maybe the better braking from the stronger magnets ... who knows but that Hemi transformed the car. I was giving some of the scratch guys a run for their money with off the shelf parts.

[dc-65x]

You are right Paul. I'm planning on mixing up my version of the McLaren color and airbrushing the body this week.   

 

Larry, I'm going with a motor I've been wanting to try for a long time. 

 

It's a Testor Mark III. Here's an eBay picture of one in what's left of the package:

 

 

I'll be rebuilding this used motor and adding a few period "hop ups":

 

 

 

The armature was very interesting. It only has .4 ohms of resistance which is pretty good especially for 1967. On top of that check out the timing advance on the comm:   

 

 

The arm will get epoxy coated, hopefully a thread wrap on the wires right behind where they attach to the comm and a check of the static balance:

 

 

But first, the chassis with a few twists I haven't used before........and painting that McLaren.  

[don.siegel]

Ah yes, the Mk III... interesting motor! I've run one of these, and it's about as fast as a 26D, but braking not very good. So mods might be welcome! 

 

Testor offered two cars with this motor, one sidewinder and one inline, neither one easy to find! 

 

Here's my P4 Spyder with a repop body... and the motor mounted sideways in a specific chassis. 

 

 

 

 

They also did a ducktail Harrison Special, with this motor in an inline chassis. No photo for now... 

 

Don 

 

 

[Dave Crevie]

Looks like you have some good shots of this car. I have a ton of them, but they are at the house and I'm not sure I can get them Shots with all the body off, of work being done on the motor, etc. Known Bob McKee for quite a while. Heard lots of stories about this car.

[Mark Onofri]

ANXIOUSLY awaiting the Mklll build. I purchased one 5 or so years ago. In January, 2 came up on evilbay on the card with the header. Poor timing because they wound up victims of the fire at my house. During the salvage operation, I found the 2 from January.
One was intact and running,with the exception of the idiotic "T" shaped spring spreaders.The other has some how suffered a broken mica(?) Brush holder.
The plastic blister packing and the paper behind it survived, the header was not so lucky.
Ps: I was able to purchase a card of Cobra hemi arm blanks.

[dc-65x]

I'm not building a MESAC car but I have taken inspiration from one aspect of Rodney's MESAC Firebird recently posted:

 

 

Link to his thread below:

 

MESAC 1971 Firebird

 

I was intrigued by its 5/32" rear axle tube being soldered directly to the motor can. There is usually plenty wobble as the axle slops around in the brass tube. That would be really hard on the gears, especially the aluminum Weldun spur on Rodney's car.

 

Rodney told me the Firebird has a custom aluminum (!) axle precision fit to the brass rear axle tube with zero slop.    Those MESAC guys were amazing!  He also said only red anodizing is worn off the fragile Weldun aluminum spur gear and the gear's teeth are not damaged.

 

I have come up with the goodies to make my own version of a precision fit axle to a brass axle tube. It starts with an oversized rear axle made from a McMaster Carr "ejector pin" used in the injection molding process shown below:

 

 

These pins are hardened steel, 6" long, straight as an arrow and come in sizes slightly larger than 1/8":

 

The other part of this is some "mystery" 5/32" brass tube I bought years ago from an art supply dealer on eBay. The tube was not in a K&S package. It had the art supply dealer's label and part number. Who made it.....who knows but the inside diameter is smaller than my current production K&S brass tube.
 

So with an oversized axle and under "normal" size ID brass tube I got a precision, slop free fit using the goodies below:

 

 

In the picture below we have from top to bottom:

 

.126" diameter ejector pin (.0010" to .0015" larger than an 1/8" slot car axle.

.126" reamer to open up rear wheels and spur gear to fit the ejector pin axle.

.126" gage pin shown slip fitting into my "mystery" axle tube.

Lastly, a .128" gage pin shown fitting into current production K&S axle tube. A slot car axle really slops around in this stuff.

 

 

Now I have my own precision fit between my axle and brass axle tube.   

 

Time to solder it to my Hemi can:

 

 

I have 3 different gear ratios that will fit this non adjustable setup from approximately 3.5:1 to 4.5:1. I just need to keep the total number of teeth the same when adding up the pinion and spur for them to fit.

 

 

Figuring out all this and acquiring the parts and tools has taken up my spare time. But now that I know it works I need to paint my McLaren body to finish that project before starting the Hemi chassis......