seventies racers body shell finish?, advice needed... Options

[dragracer]

I am getting on with returning my mid seventies club racers from Yorkshire, remember those anglewinders?...to their former glory.
I have obtained from the wunnerful' mr Howmet TX (thanks John) his super repop shells including a FAB McClaren M20, which Ihave already trimmed, and it looks great on the MG 550 chassis.
My questions are: were club racers using brush paint finish inside the shells and what standard of finishing were they using ie. was the aim to produce a real scale model with decals etc or was there a more practical approach taken for racing with colours and race numbers to the builders choice?...i expect it depended on who did the job..from rough and ready to concours?
I would welcome insight from those who were involved "in the day"...ta for now Ken

rough trim ready for sanding edges!

[superhornets]

hi ken
virtually all slot racers in the70s painted their shells inside
a quick rub down with a bit of wet and dry and then brush some cellulose dope or acrylic onto the shell
how much detail you put on the shell is up to you ,but there wern;t too many concours shells around
in the 70s

cheers tony

[roblees]

It really did vary but mostly people used one or two brush-painted colours in fantasy liveries. Humbrol enamel used to just about work, if used thin enough, or the new-fangled acrylic paints. Lexan spray and brush paint arrived and stuck much better, but probably not until the 80s. People did use cellulose car paint, but that has to be used with extreme care as over-use could lead to the body curling up, and it attacked any non-cellulose paint it came across. Decals were a bit hit and miss, and many people used to hand-paint their numbers and leave it at that.

Even in the 1970s 1/24 racers dabbled with airbrushed bodies but I don't know what paint they used.

I do remember Ian Fisher having a nice M20 in the correct-ish orange with dark blue wings front and rear - easy to see the stickers on colours like that, and that was always a consideration. John Goldsmith used to do great concours bodies - I remember his BASF BMW M1 (check out the real thing, red and white swirls) and another M1 with a map of France on it. Both were prototypical and I think brush painted, on the inside of course.

I think Tony's M20 would have been two shades of green, but then all his cars were!

[dragracer]

thanks guys, things are becoming much clearer now!...ken

[howmet tx]

PS, Things will get even clearer when you peel the protective skin off the shell.... It's there so you don't need to worry about getting any fingerprints, overspray or paint drips on the outside, but when the paint's done, pick away at a little corner and it will all peel away laving you with a bright 'n shiny shell. (Just in case you were thinking it looks a bit cloudy...)

[howmet tx]

PS. Don't use Humbrol- or any- enamel paint. It doesn't stick to lexan. Use Tamiya R/C colours, or household emulsion or good old Halfords spray.

[dragracer]

thanks for the tips john...i had not realised there was a coating DOH!....it must be doing its job well....any tips on mounting bodies on mid seventies chassis? tape? as there are no pin tubes...ken

[Rob J]

Not talking about the paint here, just a comment on the colours and the decals, as we call them today:
Liveries were simpler in the early years of slot-car racing. Cars were one or two colours, first with just a marque badge, later with oil company logos and driver names.
Water-slide transfers were available in an adequate range in the late 60s. I still have the remains of a sheet of marque badges, probably produced by or for MRRC, including MG and Elva as well as GP and high-level sports-racing marques. Driver names were available too.
GLTL changed things in GP racing, though in 1969 most cars still had fairly simple liveries, and dragracer's CanAm McLaren is still a one-colour car.
Anyway, while some club competitors revelled in doing their own thing, others did take pride in authenticity and were able to reproduce good-looking models without sacrificing speed. The cosmetics didn't take as much time as they do today.
Rob J

[300SLR]

....any tips on mounting bodies on mid seventies chassis? tape? as there are no pin tubes...ken

That chassis with no pin tubes would almost certainly have used tape for body mounting.
Pin tubes were widely used in that period, so it would be perfectly reasonable to add pin tubes.

[janj86]

always use to rough up inside

[Yazoo]

Rob, did you ever see the car John Goldsmith built with a steaming cup of coffee on the front. He used to do shells for me and a guy called Chuck Palmer from Rapid City, South Dakota. His work was awesome. Mike