OK, Not your usual fare in the scratchbuilding section, but I can guarantee this is 100% scratchbuilt.
The following photos detail the build of my Class 9 Special which is one of my entries to Dodgy Dodsy's Autograss series at Nercs.
For anyone who hasn't seen an Autograss special, here is the photo I did much of my scaling from.
and some great images can be found here
I first started messing about with some brass rod to see if this build was feasible. DD's rules require a plastic chassis to be used in the build, but he is open to the rules being pushed somewhat, and as I wanted to situate the motor in the correct position I decided right from the start to chop up a scaley sidewinder chassis and up-end the motor mount.
I had intended on building a class 8 special, but the above mock up showed me that the class 8 are just too narrow to make into a slot car with a standard motor, so I had to rebuild a wider frame, more akin to the class 9.
This frame ran in its bare form at Nercs a few months ago and was a surprisingly good runner considering it breaks many of the established conventions. DD particularly like its handling in the corners.
I thought long and hard about how to make the infill panels and nothing I tried seemed to work, until I tried crisp packets, super-glued to the frame and then warmed with a hot air gun. I reinforced these from the rear with a coating of epoxy resin.
My special ran again at Nercs the following month in this guise. The panels came out looking amazingly realistic for unpainted panels, but I wasn't happy with the contrast with the bare brass, and anyhow, I wanted a simple unifying paint scheme. So I gave them a spray, and they looked carp. The edge of the material stood out like a sore thumb, and nothing I did to smooth it out seemed to help. So back to the drawing board. I removed the crisp packet material and 'eureka' the epoxy remained in place. It was very untidy, but it had given me the idea of casting in-situ epoxy panels
They were spot on.
So finally I was able to put the car through the paint shop. The colours for any one who is interested are Halfords' rattle cans. Rover Inca Yellow and Volkswagen Brilliant Orange. And here is how it turned out, resplendent in its tequila sunrise livery (unfortunately, I don't think my photography shows the colour blend off to its best).
Frame and chassis details....
The two part chassis allows the front and rear to rotate slightly around the pin.
On the track (well, sort of)...
Front wheels are Sloting Plus Atlantis, and the rears are NSR airsystem, sporting Ultragrips.
Engine bay...
With its Class 6 big sister.
The chassis is fixed using these two brass screws. A quarter turn backwards allows enough movement between frame and chassis, and has the advantage of allowing the front and rear axles to flex independently.
This car is a great little (and I mean little) runner, and I'm dead chuffed with it. Let me know what you think.
Best Wishes,
Al.
PS. Its a bit of a bugger to put together. lol.
The following photos detail the build of my Class 9 Special which is one of my entries to Dodgy Dodsy's Autograss series at Nercs.
For anyone who hasn't seen an Autograss special, here is the photo I did much of my scaling from.
and some great images can be found here
I first started messing about with some brass rod to see if this build was feasible. DD's rules require a plastic chassis to be used in the build, but he is open to the rules being pushed somewhat, and as I wanted to situate the motor in the correct position I decided right from the start to chop up a scaley sidewinder chassis and up-end the motor mount.
I had intended on building a class 8 special, but the above mock up showed me that the class 8 are just too narrow to make into a slot car with a standard motor, so I had to rebuild a wider frame, more akin to the class 9.
This frame ran in its bare form at Nercs a few months ago and was a surprisingly good runner considering it breaks many of the established conventions. DD particularly like its handling in the corners.
I thought long and hard about how to make the infill panels and nothing I tried seemed to work, until I tried crisp packets, super-glued to the frame and then warmed with a hot air gun. I reinforced these from the rear with a coating of epoxy resin.
My special ran again at Nercs the following month in this guise. The panels came out looking amazingly realistic for unpainted panels, but I wasn't happy with the contrast with the bare brass, and anyhow, I wanted a simple unifying paint scheme. So I gave them a spray, and they looked carp. The edge of the material stood out like a sore thumb, and nothing I did to smooth it out seemed to help. So back to the drawing board. I removed the crisp packet material and 'eureka' the epoxy remained in place. It was very untidy, but it had given me the idea of casting in-situ epoxy panels
They were spot on.
So finally I was able to put the car through the paint shop. The colours for any one who is interested are Halfords' rattle cans. Rover Inca Yellow and Volkswagen Brilliant Orange. And here is how it turned out, resplendent in its tequila sunrise livery (unfortunately, I don't think my photography shows the colour blend off to its best).
Frame and chassis details....
The two part chassis allows the front and rear to rotate slightly around the pin.
On the track (well, sort of)...
Front wheels are Sloting Plus Atlantis, and the rears are NSR airsystem, sporting Ultragrips.
Engine bay...
With its Class 6 big sister.
The chassis is fixed using these two brass screws. A quarter turn backwards allows enough movement between frame and chassis, and has the advantage of allowing the front and rear axles to flex independently.
This car is a great little (and I mean little) runner, and I'm dead chuffed with it. Let me know what you think.
Best Wishes,
Al.
PS. Its a bit of a bugger to put together. lol.