In the beginning...... Options

[The Vitter]

DISCLAIMER

The contents of this thread are many, some DO NOT pertain to slot cars at all! Be forewarned that there are

pictures of BBQ, "POPS", TOYS, LITTLE GUYS and SLOT CARS that are not THINGIEES And other things

that pertain to life outside of slotcars . So, if you find things like these to be offensive, I would STRONGLY advise you not to go any

further! If you come upon one of these offensive pictures, just close your eyes and click to the next page. Some material

contained within these pages is of an adult nature So PLEASE have your parents consent before reading the

material contained with in this thread. Thank you, The Author

Hi everyone

Well here we go! There won't be any computer drawn pictures of this chassis or any other modern means to show the finish product as I have been doing my whole slot building life, they are in my head and I have a vision how the finsihed ride will come out ! Be it good or bad I will be using a Bullet body from E/D and the ones that I recieved from Scott are very nice through out this build up I will reframe from the use of the "little guys" when it's time to be serious about the build, I will be building a few of these chassis along the lines of the "Bay Area" THINGEE era. This one will have the foremention body, the others will have Choti and Hammer Heads bodies on them.I just have a paint scheme in my head that goes with the rest of the invisioned THINGEE that you are looking at in it's infancy......

Parts that I'm useing to build the chassis, U-Go Smith tonque,Champion motor/rear axle mount, bearings (1/8th) Mura Road Runners rear wheels with new do-nuts, front axle by Mid West (that will be modified)front wheels cut by myself on my lathe with fat "O" rings on them and the various piano wire and brass to build the chassis......



These pictures show the front wheels and how they fit the wheel cavities and will be "just right" when the body is mounted and will flow with the rest of the car......





This picture shows the motor / rear axle bracket before and after modification for the axle tube to hold bearings that will be installed....



This picture shows the use of a tubing cutter that I used to score the inside of the axle tube (makes for easier cutting with a fine tooth hobby saw ) and insures that the cuts will be true and square and are very easy to cut with the hand saw...... NO USE OF THE DREMEL HERE!



This picture shows the finshed motor / rear axle bearing tube installed, I'm not worried about "cosmetic"soldering at this point(nor have I ever worried about it) I'm after strength here and all will come out in the wash in the end.I have high lighted the scores from the tubing cutter with black float pin to show the cut lines and the removal of the center peice of the axle bearing tube once the main rails are soldered in place so there are NO propblems with alingment . Yes, I use a jig in all my builds.....



I have to go now ,I have some main rails to bend

As always regards Dave

[Jairus Watson]

Nice pictures, well written, descriptive. Very nice beginning Dave, I look forward to the rest of the article!

[Cheetah]

Dave, off to a good start. I have always liked the way when you start a project, you take the viewers on a cruise. They can see the parts as they come out of the box or package, see them pieced together, and enjoy the voyage of the whole build start to finish.

I agree with Jairus, you are off to a great start, and I too look forward to watching this project progress.

Any ideas on the paint yet? I know you have said in the past that the paint job always has to fit the feel of the whole car for you before you start to paint, but I am just curious if you have any thoughts yet.

I'm not one to tell a guy how he should paint his slotcar, but I would love to see some late 60's psychedelic shimmer on a Thingie. I have seen thingies painted in many ways, but have never seen one painted trippy.

Anyway you have whetted my appetite on this one. Can't wait to see it come together.

[Slots_4_Ever]

Nice!....Will be watching this build very closely.

Thanks Vitter

[The Vitter]

Hi every one

Wow!!!! Jairus I'm blown away by your kind words, thank you. Rick get your bell bottoms and ty dye T-shirt on, grab your baby doll with a flower in her hair and head to Woodstock when it's paint time Rick we will cruise back to the late 60's and lay down a psychedelic paint job for you Brian, I'm sorry I know I was going to do the A/W wire frame H.O. and I still will , this was just calling out for me to build the other night when I was ing again gentleman thank you for the kind words! Heres looking at you

I had a few e-mails about the road runners and their size ? This should clarify their size, I'm sorry for not stating their size in the first place In this picture to the left is a pair in the box ( tire foam is toast ) and the ones to the right are the pair that I will be using for the ride back in to the 60's the wheel measures in at 7/8" wide and a tad over 3/8" in diameter. Steam rollers for sure when they are all glued and trued.......



I almost forgot about a detail on the rear bracket, when opening the hole for the bearing tube I had to move the hole down before I started to ream it out due to the lack of material on the top side of the bracket as you can see in the first picture of this post ,after I was done I had lowered the axle by 1/16" which will be fine with the small diameter road runners that are being used........



as always regards Dave

[The Vitter]

Hi every one


Heres some pictures of the rear end and it's completion, as always before I build a chassis or anything that has piano wire and brass. I clean my metals with a S.O.S pad or steel wool to clean off whats hanging out on them to make sure I have "clean" metal to solder to 90% of the time I pre tin both peices to be joined and hit it with a "clean" hot iron. thus making a nice solder joint that is STRONG and APPEALING to the eye

As in "real" chassis building , I too "mouth"pieces to be joined for added strength, I took my Dremel and mouthed the rear brace that goes to the axle bearing tubes and to the main rails , also the rear of the main rails got ground a "bit" flat as did the brace to make a better joint, check it out.....



This picture show the "tinning" of parts to be joined.....



It's soldered and waiting for the next step.....



As pointed out in the first steps of the axle tube building and the use of the tubing cutter to imprint "true" lines and the ease of cutting with a fine tooth hobby saw,well we are at this stage now..... and is like cutting butter with a hot knife, even though this whole step is little pain it's worth it! You will be on when you are done......





The completed rear end .... true and straight no tricks here , just the basics of building a inline chassis , no matter what type of ride you are building. The "tricks" for this chassis are on the way in a few.....



I have to go now , I'm Q'n some meat as always regards Dave

[Cheetah]

Sweet Mother of , Dave that rear end is nice. I can't wait to see the front side.

[bill from nh]

Hi Dave!

Is this where the cut-down A-can goes?

Bill

[The Vitter]

Hi Bill

How are you my friend I tried to return your p/m to you thru the "blog" but it was blocked I would like to finish some of those posts that I started over there but was bannished to Bogie Land for reasons that are not clear about a post about using a torch to solder with the only thing I would use a torch for would be to cook my hot dogs I never mention any names or implied any thing to any one any who my friend I was going to put a cut down "A"can in another THINGEE with a Choti body on it but I see no reason why I can't put one in this one or switch bodies either I'm going to post some more pictures here in a few hours my friend ! You made my day by logging on and giving me the


As always Bill ,your bud regards Dave

[nostalgic]

Looks good so far Dave, not sure if Ive seen one of those motor brackets naked like that befor

How did you open up the axle carrier ? without ending up with a twisted mess on your hands ?

love to see a pic

Regards

[lowrider]

Looking absolutely great, Dave. Inspirational!
I've been warming my hands on a big soldering iron myself, building a Falcon powered Can-Am car, but that really belongs elsewhere. I hope to finally crack the picture posting thing when I'm done with it.
Can't wait to see the 'Altered State' paint job you're planning!
Is the cut down A-can definite or are you going to spring a surprise on us?
I hope your 'Q' was tasty.
Best regards,
Lowrider.

[MattZani]

i like the BIG wheels and tyres, shame all the thingees are expensive and mainly 1:24th

[The Vitter]

He everyone

In this group of pictures you will find the the axle braces and rear body out riggers to finish up the rear end assembly thus working my way towards the body mounts, as I stated before this chassis is on the lines of a U-GO style chassis that was modified a tad back in the day of the Bay Area THINGEE craze A very simple design that worked and was fast check it out.....

This picture shows the mouthed and tinned axle tube braces and the rear out rigger / axle braces.....



Here is the finished rear assembly ......






Hi Nostaligic

depending what I'm openning up heres what I use... A hand reamer, and in this case I used the "old" Dremel (honest it's old )with medium spaced flutes grinding bit to open up the holes and move them down and finished them up with a round file, the grinding stone is what I use to "mouth" the peices that require this step.......




Hi Lowrider

The "Q" came out great Tri Tip, corn on the cob and baked potatos to bad you didn't live a wee bit closer you could bring the Fosters and I could burn the meat! I'm not sure at this point on the motor of choice after Bill from N.H. replanted the idea in my head and now also by your self that gives me some food for thought

Hi Matt

I like big tires also

As always gentleman, thank you for the kind words regards Dave

[lowrider]

Some pretty fancy-shmancy piano wire bending there, Mr Dave.
Thanks for showing the picture of your tools. I was going to ask what you used to 'mouth' the chassis components but now I don't need to!
Fosters? Bud? It all tastes good to me on a hot day when your friends come around to shoot the breeze.
Your 'bud',
Lowrider.

[nostalgic]

Hi Dave

Thanks for the extra pic, and info, Looove the hand reamer actually i love that saw too !!

its a Staunch looking Rear end, and shaping up nicely, great pics too

Regards

nostalgic