[Mark50]

Nice cars Don.

Good to see another Grand Sport.

There is a lot squeezed in to the rear of the MKIV as well and a lot of lead on the sides...

 

[dgersh]

Yep, and the only Grand Sport roadster that I know of! Was a good match with the chassis too - I tested for the first time at Bordo the day before the race, and quickly lowered the gear ratio (numerically) and added that chunk of lead! I had plans to put on a brass pan once I had more time, but never got around to it...

That was a very typical Midwest club construction for the MkIV - heavy and low down, because it seems they ran on slick, high-adhesion tracks with lots of moo. And did you notice that it's a "proto-anglewinder"? In fact, it's a real sidewinder, with integral wheel gear unit to narrow the track, but on this one (and a few others I found), the builder still had to cock the motor over a couple of degrees to fit it in... maybe that eventually led to Roy Moody coming up with the first real anglewinder?

Steve, PYL is Pierre-Yves, our guru here for the artistic side of things, and much else! He also painted the Corvette (but I did the pipes!), restored my Policar P3 body, etc. He did a small range of resin cars, all beautifully done, along with various vac bodies like the one you have - and also carved the masters for part of the PSK range. A very talented guy, to say the least...

Don

 

[Coides]

We figured out it's a Lancer shell (one of their nicest, but lined with some kind of epoxy resin so that it seems to be a hard shell. One of my favorites, veteran of a couple races too... (runs well, but no motor brakes, and the pin pickup not ideal for plastic track).

Don

Lovely but weird! The whole point of blobs was to reduce weight, wasn't it? And masking windows for resin must have been tricky? And those orthogonal surfaces, would have to be done separately or the resin would ooze downwards, with hours and hours of setting time between them - no putting it in an oven!

Any idea what the four breather holes are about?

I'm still a bit dubious about the dimensions of that Lancer shell. The MkIV appeared to be a long narrow car. According to the Miniature Auto plans it should be 132 x 55mm (32nd) or 176 x 73 (24th). Whatcha got, Don?

Andy

Andy

 

[GRAH1]

This is a Chappy 2d vac form I made some years ago its made in styrene in several sections from a Strombecker shell

 

[dgersh]

Any idea what the four breather holes are about?

I'm still a bit dubious about the dimensions of that Lancer shell. The MkIV appeared to be a long narrow car. According to the Miniature Auto plans it should be 132 x 55mm (32nd) or 176 x 73 (24th). Whatcha got, Don?

Andy

Those are some damn good questions Andy.

I had never really noticed the 4 breather holes before (it's my keen sense of observation that's made me the world-famous author I am today...). Not really sure what they're for, unless the builder had a vacuum system. You can see the interior projections on the rear ones, but not the front ones. It also might just have been some epoxy that he brushed into the body. Either way, easier than doing a fiberglass body! And when you look at Hagenbuch's article on A Blob is no Slob, he considerably reinforces the blob body used, so any weight advantage is minimal at best... 2 photos of the inside below if that's any help.

Dimensions: 60 x 135 mm - it seems to be a good likeness; the above photos may have distorted the proportions a bit.

Don

 

[merkit the grof]

I must have blinked and missed all the posts from 6 months ago (How could I?).
Glad to see the gallery pictures have been restored, although plenty are still missing (presumably linked from non HTTPS sites).
Mark, thanks for reviving the thread.
I have a couple of pin cars with epoxy caked bodies similar to Don's Mk4 which incidentally doesn't look like the Lancer body to me (too wide).

Joel

 

[stuckinthe60s]

this was always a great thread. Seen any new stuff?

 

[dgersh]

Would love to see photos of your similar bodies Joel. I got three of these with same kind of chassis, but only the MkIV had this epoxy lined body. Like I said earlier, the photos may have distorted the dimensions a bit - I don't think a lot of other MkIV bodies were made in 1/32, if any, and only Lancer had this level of detail. I have the same in 1/24 and it's true that the "longer & thinner" design seems more conspicuous in the larger scale.

Steve, I did post my Authentic Avanti in a new thread, but I had forgotten about this one...

Don

 

[Mark50]

A couple more to add to the party....both 1/24.
The Penske Zerex Special is a Pactra body I think.
The Scarab is a re-pop from John Dilworth but I don't know which manufacturer produced the original.
Chassis are my scratch builds.

 

[dgersh]

Those are beautifully done Mark! And scarcely bigger than a modern 1/32 car.
An especially nice job on the Scarab - paint or decals for the scalloping?
Don

 

[Mark50]

Thanks Don.
Yes the Penske is quite small and handles surprisingly well with its narrow track. It could do with more grunt than the present Russkit 22.
I wish I had the painting skills for scalloping on the Scarab! They are decals from Pattos, but were pretty tricky to get on, particularly the white pin striping around the bonnet (hood).
Mark

 

[ArJayAytch]

Interesting to see a Rikoflash in there Mark. How does it go?

 

[Mark50]

Aah, Richard....very fast but no brakes at all no matter how I gear it! I have also tried changing the magnets but no real impact, so I have changed the motor in the Scarab to a 16D since the picture was taken!
Mark

 

[ArJayAytch]

Aah, Richard....very fast but no brakes at all no matter how I gear it! I have also tried changing the magnets but no real impact, so I have changed the motor in the Scarab to a 16D since the picture was taken!
Mark

Thanks for that Mark. I've heard similar from others. I have three or four Rikoflash but have never run one.Now I know what to expect!

Richard