I've been hitting brick walls every time I try to build a chassis. There is always something keeping me from actually finishing one. Well, this time I just set out to get the basics right, phooey with whether or not it is race worthy.
When you see stuff from EM, Russell, Larry, Grah1 and the rest of the crew it always looks so good and many times looks quite simple. I've no idea why whenever I try it it gets so difficult so fast. So I set my sights low this time and actually got something that might run. It won't run well but that wasn't the point behind this particular chassis. I just wanted to get something together that would help build my confidence for the next one.
I have zero body and painting skills. I lean more towards mechanicals so I chose to do a hard plastic bodied car. I couldn't possibly mess up that, could I? It was close, I almost melted it once. I keep forgetting that that solder stuff is hot and anything it's touching is probably hot too. You learn this stuff, preferably from somebody elses mistakes but sometimes from your own
Piano wire was my choice this time. I was able to whittle a half decent square brass piece that would both hold the motor using its factory supplied screw holes and hold the piano wire in place. The motor bolted right in and is bone stock since this was a chassis exercise and not a motor test. I ended up using cheap plastic bushings on the rear axle but that was OK to me because it got the chassis done. There is more info posted on the link.
This car used a store bought motor, body, wheels and tires. The body, wheels and tires are from the $2 Nkok car I posted about a while back. The rest was all wire, brass sheet and solder. To actually run this thing I'll need to add weight either via lead or brass sheet but, as I'd mentioned before, this was just to build confidence after so many failures.
I'd appreciate if anyone would post what stuff I messed up or could have done better. I'm looking to use less wire on the next chassis and more brass sheet. The upcoming chassis will also sport almost race worthy components such as better bushings or ball bearings for the axles and a better motor/rear axle combo. I'm hoping that I may be able to get something together that won't get laughed at too hard for the F1 race that Professor Fate is putting on. That's why I used so much wire this time around and made the chassis so skinny under a street car body.
Don't click this unless you are morbidly curious or just looking for a laugh
When you see stuff from EM, Russell, Larry, Grah1 and the rest of the crew it always looks so good and many times looks quite simple. I've no idea why whenever I try it it gets so difficult so fast. So I set my sights low this time and actually got something that might run. It won't run well but that wasn't the point behind this particular chassis. I just wanted to get something together that would help build my confidence for the next one.
I have zero body and painting skills. I lean more towards mechanicals so I chose to do a hard plastic bodied car. I couldn't possibly mess up that, could I? It was close, I almost melted it once. I keep forgetting that that solder stuff is hot and anything it's touching is probably hot too. You learn this stuff, preferably from somebody elses mistakes but sometimes from your own

This car used a store bought motor, body, wheels and tires. The body, wheels and tires are from the $2 Nkok car I posted about a while back. The rest was all wire, brass sheet and solder. To actually run this thing I'll need to add weight either via lead or brass sheet but, as I'd mentioned before, this was just to build confidence after so many failures.
I'd appreciate if anyone would post what stuff I messed up or could have done better. I'm looking to use less wire on the next chassis and more brass sheet. The upcoming chassis will also sport almost race worthy components such as better bushings or ball bearings for the axles and a better motor/rear axle combo. I'm hoping that I may be able to get something together that won't get laughed at too hard for the F1 race that Professor Fate is putting on. That's why I used so much wire this time around and made the chassis so skinny under a street car body.
Don't click this unless you are morbidly curious or just looking for a laugh