SlotForum banner
Cancel

And now for something a little different

3129 Views 20 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  driver#8, 
driver#8
2
I think I've well and truly reached saturation point on reliveries for the time being, so here's a car that needs no cosmetic work to be one of the nicest-looking slot cars of any kind: the AutoArt Peugeot 206 WRC.


As we all know, however, the on-track experience leaves a lot to be desired. This particular example runs the whole gamut of AutoArt ailments: shabby rear pinion with irregularly-set teeth, baggy tyres spinning on the rim, loose electric connections that fall off no matter how you crimp them... you name it.

I gave her a run tonight and the rear gears just gave up, while the front wheels spun uselessly inside their tyres as they attempted to pull the carcass along the track. It was painful to watch. So: something needs to be done. Here is the guilty party:


I'm not a technical person. So I need to make it as simple as humanly possible, while hopefully getting the kind of performance that is worthy of the late Richard Burns's last car.

Also it has to retain the gorgeous scale looks of the model. So my feeling is this:

Axles and bushings - swap out for Slot.It 48mm with brass bushings
Wheels - Scalextric 5-stars from the Mitsubishi Lancer/Skoda Fabia WRC
Tyres - Slot.It P6
Motor - swap this for a Slot.It 21k, removing the contact strips and cutting where needed to get a Slot.It guide to work. Also pulling out the lights which do nothing but put a rosy glow under the bonnet.
Gears - Ah now here's the plan: mounting the inline motor to drive the front wheels using the stock 11-tooth pinion and a Slot.It 29-tooth crown. Then mate this to the rear wheels by using band drive from the Scalextric Fabia - plenty of grunt to carry out the push-me-pull-you job of negotiating twisty rally tracks.

Apparently front-drive 4WD is a big hit among Spanish slot rallyists, especially for ploughing through cocoa, cornflour and other naturalistic surface enhancements. Also I hear good things about the fun handling of Scalextric's RTR rally cars with this setup - very driftable once the mag is removed.

The chassis is ideally designed to take rubber bands between the axles - just cut off the sill plates. As you can see, there's plenty of room behind the motor for a big slab of lead to give 50/50 weight distribution right down the middle.

With AutoArts now at £14.99 apiece, this could be a remarkably economical way of making a proper slot rally car.

And if it goes wrong I can just reassemble what's left of the original model and have a pretty static Peugeot!

Here goes nothing, then...
See less See more
Reply
Save
Like
1 - 11 of 21 Posts
driver#8
Thanks Chris,

Any particular hazards to be avoided?

Done a trial fit of the Slot.It motor this morning and it sits in there fine but in standard inline configuration - namely set up to drive the rear wheels. Fortunately the shaft is long at the back and it sits - just! - at the right length to spin the front wheels with a pinion on there.


I've ordered Scalextric Fabia axle assemblies and drive band - might just keep them stock and fit a Slot.It gear. We'll see...
See less See more
Reply
Save
Like
driver#8
2
QUOTE (not alone after all @ 18 Oct 2011, 17:20) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I might be wrong but don't Slot It do the pulley things you require? I'm sure if it's not them, I've seen them somewhere.

Hi there, I don't remember Slot.It making them but will have a little browse down at Pendle, thank you!

Now, I know that the whole point of this was that it's not a relivery but one thing's bugged me from the start...

AutoArt has such a well-deserved reputation for detailing (check out the Sparco logos on the roll hoop, for example), that having Richard Burns and Robert Reid dressed head-to-foot in tomato red bugged me. Yes, the overalls were red but their gloves were white and of course both wore Richard's silver and orange helmet design.

So, as I was pulling all the lighting and associated junk off the inside anyway, now my little fellas do too...


See less See more
Reply
Save
Like
driver#8
Thanks Chris,

Indecision setting in a bit on the gears. The shaft from the AutoArt motor will fit nicely onto the Slot.It and allow me to run the original setup with better parts. Also I've got gears sitting around from my SCX Pro Xsara.

At first the plan was just to make it go and give my SCX Octavia something to play with. Now I think I might want it to GO!!!

I'll sleep on it and wait for the wheels to arrive.

Sleep... knew there was something I'd forgotten in all this!
See less See more
Reply
Save
Like
driver#8
2
QUOTE (FZSsemans® @ 19 Oct 2011, 09:38) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>GOOD PLAN!!
Allthough, why not paint the interior above the lights black.........makes it less shiny coz I like the blue lights a lot. And why change the wheel? just for the use of the P6 tyre? or just coz the wheels are eggshaped?

Hi Peter!

I figured that if I'm going to be modifying the car, I might as well pull the lights out. There's a LOT of weight up top with all that prettiness going on, so anything I can do to redress the balance is fine with me. Most of my rally cars don't have lights - either by design or the SCX ones burnt out!

And yes, the egg-shaped wheels that no other manufacturer does tyres to fit means that they have to go. Although looking at pics of the 1:1 car, it mostly ran on 5 Star wheels rather than the jazzy asphalt wheels anyway.


Speaking of which, the new wheels have arrived - ooooh and they're pretty!


They've also made my mind up on the way she'll be geared: they're from the 2WD version of the Fabia and so don't have the extra groove to run a rubber band. After much searching, these were the only 5 Star wheels I could find anywhere and actually I'm rather happy to keep my little Pug with real 4x4 rather than a rubber band.

I'm taking the oily bits to the club tonight, where I can get a bit oh help juggling the pinions. Now there's only the final decision on whether to use Slot.It or SCX Pro crown wheels.
See less See more
Reply
Save
Like
driver#8
QUOTE (FZSsemans® @ 19 Oct 2011, 11:23) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>WOW nice wheels indeed. they were standard on the #2 Argentina version too. I use a Xsara for fun, sliding and solo driving, but an upgrade like yours is some idea!

The original plan was to use this one for sliding fun to keep my SCX Skoda Octavia company - but she had other plans and decided not to go anywhere!

After these upgrades she's probably going to be a little bit too fast for the old Skoda to play with, so maybe I need to find her a new friend...

AutoArt Peugeot 307 perhaps??
See less See more
Reply
Save
Like
driver#8
3
I don't think an SCX Octavia would see which way a Ninco 307 went! Nice car, though. Very nice. Hmmmm...

Meanwhile, I had a chat with the experts at Pendle this afternoon.

Unsurprisingly nobody else makes a guide with a stem as long as AutoArt, so I'm going for a Slit.It screw in with the strong possibility that I'll have to trim the cup that it sits in. Smashing.


Meanwhile I just tried to slip the Slot.It gears onto Scalextric axles to measure where the pinions need to sit. Couldn't get them on - thought they were supposed to be the same size! Oh well, have to jiggle the pinions blind at the club tonight and hope that I guess right, then wait for the axles to arrive.

Off to the club to tug some pinions around and lose some races!


See less See more
Reply
Save
Like
driver#8
Slot.It axles arrived and the gears sit beautifully, as do the wheels. The guide also fits - just, mainly due to the washers rather than the design of AutoArt's sleeve.

I need to put spacers on the wheels to make sure that the axles stay straight and the gear mesh is constant, but that's after I've cut away some chassis to give the guide room to move. So I'll be enjoying some quality time with my Dremel!

Nothing worth photographing yet, so here's how progress has gone with the 205...
See less See more
Reply
Save
Like
driver#8
QUOTE (FZSsemans® @ 21 Oct 2011, 21:22) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>is that a Spirit?

No it's the old Top Slot resin kit sitting on a Ninco Peugeot 306 chassis with SCX BMW M3 wheels!

It doesn't count as a repaint!
See less See more
Reply
Save
Like
driver#8
2
QUOTE (FZSsemans® @ 22 Oct 2011, 10:35) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>looks GREAT!


Thank you! I seem to be harvesting a fleet of Peugeots, this winter, though...

Meanwhile the little red number... hmmmm.

Well, last night Jexy and I burnt the midnight oil trying to fit the pinions after club racing. In silence not to awake family. In the dark. After a couple of beers.

Not perhaps the ideal environ.

So, siting here today looking at the results I've decided to K.I.S.S. and go back a few steps in order to go forward.

With this in mind I'm going to retain the original motor. The Slot.It shaft isn't long enough to sit in the knuckle on the crown wheel to hold the axle in place. It's JUST long enugh for the gears to mesh, but the only way to support the axle and hold the whole assembly together is by shimming all the play out at the wheels and that doesn't seem right at all.

I'm not too concerned - the AutoArt motor is rated at 26k after all, and with the right gears, axles and wheels could prove a surprisingly rapid little unit. Thank goodness I still hadn't removed the contact strips or started chopping the chassis up!

So we've got a standard motor and chassis, drawing power through the original guide and contact strips. This then gets fed out by Slot.It pinions to Slot.It gears sitting on Slot.It axles which will hopefully make the lovely Scalextric wheels turn with precision and vigour.

I just need to get the long-suffering Slot.It pinions in place on the AutoArt motor... and find a new spring for the driveshaft to replace the one Jexy and I broke last night!

After that the 206 will be golden, promise!
See less See more
Reply
Save
Like
driver#8
2
QUOTE (PeteN @ 1 Nov 2011, 22:59) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>A ball point pen inner tube works pretty well in place of the drive shaft spring in a pinch. FYI

Super tip, thank you Pete!I love proper thrift tips!! I'll give that one a go - would have completed the build for me there and then but having now got the 48mm axles in place I've realised they are JUST shy of the right length. While 48s were fitted on the original model, the Scalextric wheels sit a little deeper than the skinny AutoArts and are a touch too far inside the body so a set of 50mm Slot.It axles are on their way.

Meanwhile, although this wasn't supposed to be a cosmetic job, I've decided to put the missing white squares on the car and on Richard and Robert's helmets.




I can see now why they deleted those naughty white squares from all the model versions. Already I've done 10 - before I know it I'll be a 40-a-day man!
See less See more
Reply
Save
Like
1 - 11 of 21 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
SlotForum
A forum community dedicated to slot car owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about collections, racing, displays, models, track layouts, styles, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
1:32 scale Cars Tracks & Scenery Scratch building Scalextric Digital (APB, ARC PRO) The Pit Lane
Top