[TheUnfather]

Hi everybody from Hampshire, England!

I've been lurking around here for a while now exploring the scratch building stories and advice with great interest and I've decided to dive in!

My early experiences of slot cars were in the mid 90s and I thought they were amazing.... And dreadful. Terrible power supplies, dodgy connections and unreliable cars. But so much fun when it did work! Now I have a small collection of 90s cars (and newer/older).

I'm a carpet track guy and enjoy putting up a random, challenging track as much as I enjoy the racing.

As seems to be the norm for scratch builders, I've gone from nothing to 4 or 5 projects on the go at once!

I'd like to start with a question to the sage community here

What do you use as screw posts on your builds and how do you attach them reliably?

I've been toying with 7 or 8mm square wooden baton but don't want do anything permanent without advice!

Many thanks!

 

[gus3049]

I'm a woodworker so I use wood and wood screws to mount the chassis. This applies to plastic as well as my own wooden bodies. Mix of superglue to tack in place and then epoxy around to make secure or just wood glue if wood to wood.

PS. Welcome to the forum

 

[TheUnfather]

Thanks Gus, I'm fixing to plastic bodies so think I need to invest in some epoxy then!

 

[Trisha]

Lots of different ideas on the subject of attaching bodies to chassis. If it helps I usually cut a piece from the body of a ballpoint pen and fill it with Araldite.

I then allow it to cure for 24 hours before drilling a hole big enough for a small screw.

I'm hoping a chassis kit arrives today, so I might be able to post method pics soon, as I want to start the pre War Merc below.

 

[Gripping Pneus]

I use pieces of 1/4" wooden dowel, epoxied to the body. Mount the dowels on the chassis and trial fit, cut to length until the body sits properly, then epoxy resin the dowels and plonk the body in place. Leave overnight to cure, remove the body and reinforce the dowel/body joint with more epoxy.

Welcome to the forum and the most addictive side of the hobby IMO.

 

[TheUnfather]

Thanks for the input. The idea of using a ball point pen is brilliant! Very resourceful Trisha! (Also, thanks for inspiring my next build... A beetle &#128513

Dowel size pieces of wood is what I have to hand currently so will be trying that out with the first couple of cars, a late 70s 911 and an equally old MG metro. (Will try and add pics of the progress so far)

The Porsche is sat on a clubman chassis and the metro is sat on a chopped up Porsche chassis (handy that they had the same wheelbase!)

Definitely agree this is addictive... Totally changes the hobby for me!

 

[Trisha]

TU

Look forward to seeing your Beetle build. Incidentally, my awaited chassis kit for the Merc mentioned above still hasn't arrived. Will post pics as soon as it does, therefore.

 

[Autoavia]

Other alternatives for body mounts are plastruct tubing or you can buy 3D printed body mounts from Amato Slot Car Design in the traders section.

There isn't a best way - It is one of those situations where you just find the way that works for you and you will probably find that different solutions work better on different builds.

 

[Trisha]

TU

Pic below of Merc chassis with pen body in place as a mount. It's too long and will have to be trimmed down. Always best to start long and trim back rather than too short and having to build it up again.

 

[EMPO_Z102]

Yo guardo todos los tetones (soportes) de las cosas que se rompen en casa y realizo un agujero de acuerdo al tornillo que quiero poner.

Si no encuentro ningún poste, utilizo una mina de bolígrafo, cortada y abierta en su base para asentarla a la carrocería.

Luego pongo una funda al trozo de mina: masilla, pegamento de dos componentes, fibra de vidrio, otro tubo de plástico, etc.

I keep all the lugs (supports) of things that break at home and make a hole according to the screw I want to put.
If I can't find any posts, I use a pen lead, cut open at the base to seat it to the bodywork.
Then I put a cover on the piece of lead: putty, two-component glue, fiberglass, another plastic tube, etc.

Frederic

 

[TheUnfather]

Hi all,

Thanks for the tips! I spent my evening experimenting with pencils (I'm sure the kids won't miss them) as a nice hybrid of the wood/dowel and pieces of pen. It was all going well until the superglue bottle went supernova after getting a plug of semi dry glue in the nozzle... Like a total newbie I squeezed harder. Ragnarok followed.

I managed not to swear but I don't think my pcs chassis will ever be adjustable again. Also wrecked a front tyre that was heading for my Aoshima sileighty. And a pair of scissors.

We live and learn I guess. Epoxy arrives tomorrow, let's hope I'm better with that.

 

[chappyman66]

In the US, I use Evergreen plastic styrene tubing and #2-56 brass inserts with #2-56 screws.

The method Trisha shows is pretty reasonable......just trim down the posts until they are the right height, then put glue on top, and position the body correctly.

Once dry, you can remove the chassis and re-inforce as you require.

And BTW.....no need for Ragnarok (although that is entertaining...) as acetone nail polish remover (or straight acetone if you can get it) should help next time. CYA doesn't have good shear strength, so with some work and a fresh blade in the Xacto knife, your PCS may adjust again....

 

[mickey thumbs]

I, too, like the brass inserts and machine screws. The inserts can be epoxied into styrene tubing or wood blocks, or soldered into brass tubing. This method allows for unlimited removal and replacement of the body. Wood or plastic will wear out with repeated use of self tapping screws. Available from Slot Car Corner in the US via their website. Similar bits are surely available from someone in the UK.

 

[TheUnfather]

And BTW.....no need for Ragnarok (although that is entertaining...) as acetone nail polish remover (or straight acetone if you can get it) should help next time. CYA doesn't have good shear strength, so with some work and a fresh blade in the Xacto knife, your PCS may adjust again....

Thanks chappyman, had a quick panic Google last night and saw that acetone works, my nice new pencil post also won't come away from the chassis now so it's off to the operating table we go tonight!

 

[Trisha]

TU

Don't know if this helps, but both body mounts are now screwed into the chassis. All that remains is to trim the rear down to size, and glue both to the underside of the body.

 

[EMPO_Z102]

La ventaja de tener muchas opiniones es que se puede adaptar algunas de ellas a las necesidades de cada coche. Y yo cojo todas las ideas, así que gracias por compartirlas.

Una de las razones de poner un alma (interior) de mina de bolígrafo del tamaño adecuado, es porque es un plástico flexible.

La funda que coloco a su alrededor, a menudo de fibra de vidrio o de plástico rígido, con los años he tenido algún caso en que se ha rajado, roto, etc, pero la mina se mantiene. Esta ventaja me deja reparar sin mayor problema.

The advantage of having many opinions is that you can adapt some of them to the needs of each car. And I take all the ideas, so thanks for sharing them.
One of the reasons for putting a proper size ballpoint core (inside) is because it is a flexible plastic.
The cover that I place around it, often made of fiberglass or rigid plastic, over the years I have had some cases where it has cracked, broken, etc., but the lead remains. This advantage allows me to repair without major problem.

Frederic

 

[TheUnfather]

Great tips thanks guys. Yes that picture helps a lot thanks Trisha.

I hadn't understood fully what you meant with ball pont pens until your comment EMPO. Using the core of the pen as a flexible screw hole and the outer part of the pen as the post makes much more sense now!

Using epoxy to fill the void seems like an expensive fix, but after my rather stressful evening last night, I'm inclined to try it out and follow the advice of the masters 😁 (and stop being a penny pincher)

 

[Trisha]

TU

Both body posts - a BIC pen body filled with Araldite - have now been cut down to size with a grinding disc to the correct height. Further blobs of Araldite will be shortly applied to the top of each post, and the body stuck on top.

If the Beetle you propose to build is by Airfix/Revell, the best way I've found for making a rear mount is by using the back seat curved to suit the rear part of the body. More on this subject anon.

Again, I hope this helps.

 

[TheUnfather]

Looking great, my pencil posts appear to have worked, especially on the Porsche. The Nissan may need filling with something to give the smaller screw more "bite" though. Or a bigger screw.

Just waiting for the araldite to arrive now.

My planned Beetle build is an Airfix or Revell yes, can't really say no when they're so cheap! I'm sure I'll bother you with plenty of questions on that one when I get to it 😁

 

[TheUnfather]

Well this evening was far less eventful! Only one minor problem with araldite - snapped the applicator in my excitement!

The posts look good and the final pieces of the Porsche have gone together. (I suppose a small hiccup was the realisation that I've modified the wrong Porsche body, planned on modifying a silver or gold one and repainting, not the red one, I like the red one as is!)

Oh well... Guess I'll just have to build another one...

Luckily it looks like all the moving parts of my glue splattered pcs chassis have survived last night's super(glue)volcano eruption, so that's a win anyway!