Seeing as the thread has become a showcase for vintage and retro chassis rather than a 'how to', here's one for
Howmet:-
It's a 1/32nd scale 1967 STP Howmet Paxton Turbine. The real car was fondly called 'Silent Sam' and it very nearly won the 1967 Indianapolis 500, with Parnelli Jones at the wheel. Jones had led 171 of the 200 laps, and with 197 laps in the bag and only three laps - 7 1/2 miles - to go, he coasted to a stop in the pits. A $6.00 ball bearing had failed in the critical gearcase.
The car was given to me by Dennis Samson (Gascarnut on this forum), about 20 years ago! Unfortunately, neither Dennis nor myself know who originally built it, other than the fact that it was a South African slot racer. There were a number of very competitive 1/32nd scale clubs in South Africa that were formed in the early to mid 1960's and cars were generally constructed to a very high standard. One such club is Ecurie Elite Model Racing Car Club (EEMRCC) in Durban, which was founded in 1963 and is still active today.
I'm not too sure when it was built. Lancer brought out the Paxton Turbine body soon after the Indy 500 race of May 1967, so the car could have been built anytime between mid-1967 and mid-1968.
The chassis is a two-piece arrangement, with a commercially made nickel-plated 'U' bracket (made by Champion?). The bracket is mounted to a brass rod space-frame, which also carries the pin-guide.
An 18 gauge thick brass plate, contoured to the bulbous shape of the body, mounts loosely via countersunk brass screws below the frame, and the body attaches by way of two more screws that thread into Perspex mountings glued into the inside of the body, thus giving the chassis a 'rattler' effect. It has a Champion 517 motor, but it probably originally had a Champion 507.
The wheels are 1/8th inch threaded Cox magnesium five spoke American mags (although I think that the real Paxton used Hallibrand wheels). It is shod with Cox rubber tyres.
Kind regards
Russell