[scudbong]

My 1/32 Cox Cheetah was involved in a nasty racing incident a few years ago

and ended up hitting the floor hard (it wasn't even me driving!). It put a hole in the rear and cracked the body. The car was never concours to start with so looking at it in a positive way it was the perfect excuse to restore the car. I have repaired all the damage and got the bodywork in pretty decent shape and the car is ready for painting.

The trouble I am having is that the windscreen doesn't seem to fit very well, it is definitely the correct one but the rake of it seems too steep. When I raise the roof a few mm by pulling it up with my fingers it fits perfectly but otherwise the front of the roof hangs over the top of the screen, I'm not sure if that makes sense and I will take some pictures to show what I mean but I know that when I acquired the car the front of the roof was glued to the back/top edge of the screen so I presume it has never fitted that well.

Is it normal for the screens to be a poor fit or am I unlucky?

I could just use some strong glue to glue it in the correct position and hold it until it sets but it might be under tension if i do this and i also prefer to use PVA when gluing clear parts in but this won't be strong enough and takes a long time to set. Another solution is to try and permanently raise the angle of the roof with some help from steam or possibly file a few mm off the top of the screen, both seem a bit risky and drastic though.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Pete

 

[gar]

The roof should be slightly ahead of the screen but not too much. I think there should be some guide bumps inside to align the glass. When I have a problem like you describe, I like to use 5 minute epoxy to get things in the right place. You actally only have to hold it in place for the last 2 or three minutes until the epoxy is dry enough to hold everything in place. Then I go around the set epoxy with the 3 hour epoxy. To get more adhesion , you can scuff up the surfaces which are to be glued. After the 3 hour stuff is set , you can peel off the 5 minute stuff and use more 3 hour stuff. The 5 min doesn't hold well but should keep everything in place long enough to get it set right.It is getting harder to find truly clear epoxy that won't yellow in time, but I try to keep it all out of sight anyway.
One other thing I noticed on the 1/32 Cheetah was that the original guide flag post was too long to allow the front wheels to touch the track so I switched mine with a cox guide with a short post and set screw and washer through the top of the post.

 

[CJA]

Wow,

Thanks Gar, for that, have never heard of that technique, will try it at first opp.

vbr Chris A.

 

[BEEJAY7]

Any help Pete? :-

Photo before restoration.

Photo after restoration.

Car for sale open to offers...(only via PM)

Regards

Alan

 

[scudbong]

Gar, Thanks for the suggestion, I'd rather not use epoxy but if I have no other option then I will and may well try your clever suggestion.

Alan, thanks for posting the pictures, yours seems quite flush compared to mine (unless I raise the roof with my fingers).

I've taken some pictures and you will see where I have repaired the front edge of the roof which had been badly glued to the back edge of the screen. I'm pretty sure I have shape right and I haven't extended the roof.

QUOTE I think there should be some guide bumps inside to align the glass

This have disappeared now under the filler, could explain a few things???

I've also cleaned up the top of the dash/bulkhead where the bottom edge of the screen is attached.

Anyway what does everyone think?

Thanks,

Pete

 

[John Cahill]

hi, Pete
nice looking project! I'm throwing out an idea...but as you know I only have Strombecker Cheetahs, and so really only relying on the pics presented. It looks to me like the windscreen could sink a bit deeper into the body/bulkhead at the front/center where the carb is...staying the same at the outer edges. This would rotate the screen into place I believe.

It's tricky of course...and can't see from the pics if there are still fragments of bondo in the front of the body, or whether you would actually have to sand away a bit of the body in the windscreen cavity...and perhaps of the windscreen base in the front/center as well. A little adjustment could go a long way...as could a judicial swipe of Milliput on the top thereafter.

I'm sure you've already considered this...personally, I might try to copy the windscreen with some Smooth-on clear first, and try some of these ideas on the clone...and/or try to make an extended clone to fit.

I'll be very interested to see what you end up doing...best of luck with it!!

John

 

[scaleslotcars]

Pete, this is really difficult without actually having the car in your hand (you should'a bought it to Stantsted at the weekend) but it looks like to me that you are just trying to fit it wrongly.
The top should be flush with the roof and the bottom edge fits into the bulkhead, you seem to be tipping it backwards so the top of the screen is fitting under the roof which is leaving a gap at the bulkhead.
But the body may be a little warped, as I say difficult to say without physically looking at the car.
This is what it should look like

You seem to be lining it up with the roll bar at the sides, it isn't supposed to line up with this necessarily.

 

[lowrider]

I've wanted a Cox Cheetah for 45 years now and I'm still saving up ...

Comparing the photos of Pete's and Phil's cars closely, Pete's roof seems either level or slightly downward tilted whereas Phil's seems to have a very slight upwards tilt which might help the fitting of the windscreen a bit. Even more helpful would be to clean the bottom edge of the glass fully and, as Phil noted, getting it right into the groove in the bulkhead.

Hope it works out,
L.

 

[TSRF]

The Cox Cheetah body on either scale always had an issue with the roof. Depending on which color it was molded in, the roof has a tendency to shrink, its front edge wanting to push itself downwards. On the gold examples, it is often found broken as the plastic is extremely brittle and when someone tries to insert the windshield in the reduced space, its simply snaps off.
On the smaller model always molded in black, this also occurs, especially on cars that have been used and exposed to daylight for too long. It can be fixed (very carefully) by jigging the body on the chassis, inserting a spacer in tension between the edge of the roof and using the motor as a base, and gently heating the roof sides with a hair dryer until the spacer... falls off.
GENTLY!!!! Or your car might become... toast!

 

[munter]

QUOTE I've wanted a Cox Cheetah for 45 years now and I'm still saving up ...

me too...

When I was a kid there were a few at tracks I visited....the Cheetah was to my eye and ears quiet,fast,impressive in its appearance and exclusive.

I've convinced(consoled)myself that it would be a disppointment by todays slotcar standards......thats what I'm telling myself anyway.

 

[BEEJAY7]

QUOTE I've convinced(consoled)myself that it would be a disppointment by todays slotcar standards......thats what I'm telling myself anyway.

Oh Dear....sorry to dissapoint you John but the Cox Cheetah's are perfectly able to keep up with modern slotcars(on wood at least)....Just need decent rear tyres. Incidently my example came from Aus.

Regards

Alan

 

[munter]

Alan ! ?? now I have to re-convince myself !

I have a set of Amercan mags(Cheetah) that I love and built a car around them....a lexan bodied corvette angle winder/drop arm chassis usng foam tires and a S16D motor.
Ridiculous power but back when I built it,it seemed the right thing to do as I was trying to create a car that was similar to the Cheetah...big power,big looks and a big aura.
It sits in my scratch builds drawer with some other early creations.....aaaah, sigh....... 1/8 axles mmmmmmmmmmm!

regards

 

[scudbong]

QUOTE The Cox Cheetah body on either scale always had an issue with the roof. Depending on which color it was molded in, the roof has a tendency to shrink, its front edge wanting to push itself downwards.

This makes sense and I think is/was the case on my body. I have now remedied this with the hair dryer (thanks Phillipe) but the steering wheel didn't fair too well and was more oblong than round when I was finished, whoops! No bother I have a very suitable replacement.

Thanks for all the other suggestions and help, I'll be updating my progress, hopefully it won't take too long to finish as the rest of the body was already ready for paint.

Has anyone got a pair of original front tyres going spare??

Thanks again,

Pete

 

[scaleslotcars]

QUOTE Has anyone got a pair of original front tyres going spare??

Got plenty, even got NOS rear ones!

 

[scudbong]

Finished!

Hope you like it.

QUOTE Got plenty, even got NOS rear ones!

Sorry Phil forgot to reply to this, would you be able to take a decent pair of fronts to Orpington please? While we're at it have you got a good pair of fronts for a 1/24 Cox GT40 as well please?

Thanks,

Pete

 

[justDave]

Very nice work as always, Pete - good to see the finished car, quite a bit of work since the Norwich Revival!

David

 

[Mirrorman]

QUOTE (scudbong @ 6 Nov 2011, 22:46) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Finished!

Hope you like it.

Thanks,

Pete

Nice build .. I like that color you chose, suits the body shape.

Cheers, Michael