[Wankel Ickx]

Can't deny some self-interest in this one, since, encouraged by reading something about them on this board, I went and sought out a Bentley GT3 at the princely sum of five pounds a month or so ago, but today I saw my local TK Maxx has them at £3.99.

Tucked up like a kipper, I was: a pound and a penny cheaper!!

Anyhoo, with this post I'm hoping someone else picks one up and talks us (me

) through their conversion to a slot-going machine.

For the record, they also had an interesting looking - though the windows were blacked out - Huracan radio-controlled job at a tenner. Can't remember the brand.

 

[Wicker Bill]

Pretty easy conversion.
For some reason, I like the big lumbering Bentley Continental GT3. I picked up the Scalextric version when they first came out, then decided I needed the 1/24 version after seeing the Hawthorne Park post Bring on the 1:24th GTs.

First photo shows little brother and big brother.

Second photo is the underbody of the Braha conversion. I used a ScaleAuto Home Series chassis. It came complete except for body mounts (for some reason the bare chassis comes with mounts but the running chassis doesnt). I removed most of the Braha underbody, keeping the front splitter and the rear tunnels.
The front splitter was glued to the front of the body. After the glue set, I removed the mounting screws and Dremeled the underbody away. I glued a flat piece of styrene to the bottom of the hood vents. Chassis mounts were made with Evergreen tube and Plastruct rectangle.
In the rear, I kept the recess behind the axle line. I glued some styrene into the recess to get proper body height (the rear chassis mount sits in the recess).
Front and rear mounting screws are Slot.It brass screws. Rear screw is a small head, as I got the fore/aft location a bit off. The large heads fill the recess in the ScaleAuto chassis.
I still need a driver for the car. Ill try a BRM driver next time I place an order.

All in all, a pretty easy conversion.
Plus, the body was already decorated.

 

[GRUNZ]

how about the interior? Did the model come with one? The inserts are from scaleauto?

Fantastic conversion. For less than 4 pounds is a huge deal.

 

[Wicker Bill]

The car did come with an interior. It has a dashboard, steering wheel, drivers seat, and a complete roll cage. The bottom of the interior is about the middle of the rounded on the door.

The inserts are the Braha wheels turned down in a drill press. I learned the hard way to take my time. There is very little material left on the outside of the wheel. Three of the four are press fit; the fourth has a dab of Tacky Glue holding it to the hub.
The wheels have a large boss in the center. The front inserts were cut so thin I lost the hub center. One has the spindle end glued to the hub. The other had a round dab of glue to replicate the center. Set screw aluminum rims would surely be different. Since I was trying to keep this low cost, I went with the stock plastic wheels.
ScaleAuto does not make the proper wheel insert. The Bentley used 11 spoke wheels.

I will also mention the headlights and tail lights are drilled out, so adding front and rear lights should be pretty easy.

The ScaleAuto chassis worked great. Absolutely no modifications necessary, other than changing rear axle spacers to center the wheels.

OK. Lets see some more conversions.

 

[Wicker Bill]

Heres the car dissected.

First photo shows bottom off assembled car. At the top, note the gray plastic at the screw mount. This spacer is two thicknesses of .064 Plastruct sheet glued to the Braha chassis. I tried to leave as much of the tunnels as practical. I filed a small notch to clear the spur gear.
At the front, one can see what is left of the factory chassis. I lopped the front off behind the mounting screws to install the splitter. I ran a bead of cement between the body and the splitter, then screwed the piece to the body. After the glue set, I removed the pan up to the splitter. The two step process ensured the splitter was properly positioned.

Second photo shows chassis removed.
Again, note spacer at the rear.
In the front, the gray Plastruct, again .064, is glued to the bottom of the hood vents. This gave a flat base to glue the mounts to.
The tubes are 3/16 Evergreen tube with the next smaller size tube glued inside. I used a 2-56 tap bit to drill the smaller tube out (after it was glued into the larger tube). The Slot.It screws were then used to thread the post (these screws were an odd dimension, something like 2.56mm).
Wanting something stronger than a butt joint, I drilled a piece of Plastruct rectangular tube (from the scrap box) to accept the 3/16 tubes. The rectangular tubes inside dimension was 3/16, making for a snug fit. As I muffed the measurement, I added an .030 spacer between the Plastruct tube and the Plastruct platform when assembling. Copious amounts of Tamiya plastic cement were applied.
The toothpicks show where the headlights are drilled out from the factory.

Third photo is side view.

Fourth photo is the interior.

On the body mounts - get the ScaleAuto mounts and save some time. The front still needs the flat stock glued to the hood vents to provide a mounting area. The back mount would glue to the bottom of the interior. As I mentioned, mounts weren't Included in my rolling chassis. I didnt want to wait a week to get them from my supplier.

 

[GRUNZ]

thank you for the detailed explanation! Nice conversion.

 

[GRUNZ]

Wankel. do you have any pics of your conversion?

What wheels and chassis did you use?

 

[Wankel Ickx]

Er? Pictures as above, fella. But I'm not exactly sure of all the bits. The obvious one is the Scaleauto Home Series chassis kit, to which you have to add... everything, really.

I did keep these packet labels:
SC-1331 Bearings
SC-4042 23.5 x 10 Hubs
SC-4043 23.5 x 13 Hubs

Hope that helps.

 

[Wicker Bill]

The Scale Auto Home Series chassis pictured above came RTR from 132SlotCar.
https://www.132slotcar.us/product_info.php?cPath=2706_3132&products_id=39415
Mine was not carded and did not have the body mounts. I think he robbed it from a complete car. The one shown in link also has aluminum wheels; mine were plastic.
I have never seen the complete chassis on Pendleslot's site. ScaleAuto's website is too darned slow to search for the complete chassis.

 

[GRUNZ]

I got a 911 with the home series chassis and it came with the 22.5K motor, plastic wheels all around, and the 1/32 style guide.

It had the metal side mounts but they are fixed to the chassis: so to remove the body you have to remove the 4 screws that secure the body on the metal mounts.

I removed the magnets, light trueing of the rear wheels (they are not glued) and here we go:

The chassis had also grub screws on the top of the front axle holders. I can see that there are also holes at the bottom but not grub screw in there and in any case because it is an adjustable chassis the lower part of the holders are covered by the chassis.

 

[Crusader]

If ordering say a Scaleauto 1/24 Porsche it's very easy to order the wrong if you are not careful particularly if you required metal wheels & sponge tyres, if that is the case make sure the item no. includes RC2, this does come as a kit however.

Sorry, wrong post.

 

[Wicker Bill]

I did get around to putting a driver in.
I started with a Top Slot item (https://www.132slotcar.us/product_info.php?products_id=35683). I started by carving the seat off, then doing orthopedic surgery on the body and legs. I glued the arms to the torso, then tossed the assembly into boiling water so I could massage the arms into position so the hands gripped the steering wheel. Some paint and glue, and it was time to reassemble.
With the seat wings, roll cage, and low roofline its pretty darn tough to even see the guy. But hes there!

 

[GRUNZ]

The pic is too dark but thanks anyway to show us this.

 

[Wankel Ickx]

Er? Pictures as above, fella

Well, that was special of me. Particularly special. Seems to me I was claiming Wicker Bill's handiwork as my own. Which would confuse. I will attempt to find my own....