[David Lawson]

Her indoors was out for the day and I could indulge myself so after watching the Isle of Man TT review on Eurosport (extremely scary) I spent a wonderful hot and sunny Saturday morning out in the Morris Minor and pottering around second hand bookshops where I picked up the Anthony Pritchard "Maserati - A Racing Hisory" and a couple of other good motor racing reference books. I can see a scratchbuilt Streamlined Maserati 250F as a future project.

I then dozed through the F1 qualifying session on TV and woke refreshed for an hour or so in the model room soldering up an F1 chassis.

I put together the chassis while listening to my choice of music as well as browsing through magazines and books for other ideas for future slot cars.

I finished off the afternoon with half an hour driving a few slot cars in the summerhouse and a glass of something nice and cold in the garden.

What a perfect day and a very selfish one!

Here's the chassis.

What is your idea of a perfect day?

David

 

[PastimeRaceway]

Whoa! That's an awesome chassis.

Did you custom make the rear bracket or can a person buy that somewhere?

What F1 shell is this chassis for? Inquiring minds want to know!

Steve

 

[a Bill]

You spent an afternoon building something that looks ten times better than what I spent of couple of days cobbling together. Maybe I should take up basket weaving.

 

[JohnP]

Yes, David that's looking a bit too good for a man who purports only to have a junior hacksaw and Black & Decker workmate for his chassis making!

Absolutely awesome stuff - I'm going to nick... er... um... I mean be inspired by that design right away

 

[BEEJAY7]

Very nice David, your chassis building technique is awesome.

It must be time for an update on the Summerhouse Project?. I am very interested in what design you are thinking of for your layout.

Regards

Alan

 

[vfr750]

QUOTE Did you custom make the rear bracket or can a person buy that somewhere?

It looks like an SCD bracket to me.

I've had a ride round the TT circuit a few times, yes it is extremely scary even at my modest pace. I have nothing but admiration for those heroes that race there.

John

 

[David Lawson]

Steve and John - Yes it is a bracket by Chas Keeling available from http://www.scdparma.fsnet.co.uk/

JohnP - I've got a Dremel as well. I sort of pinched the design from your Honda chassis and reworked the front axle a little. By the way are you still building a Cooper-Maserati, this wonderful photo was in the Maserati book I got yesterday.

Alan - The summerhouse is finished but I'm not rushing the design of the track as I want to be sure that I get a circuit I can live with long term. Here's a shot of two overgrown schoolkids "playing" with the test track, actually we were checking out our Fly Classic and Ninco Classic cars before the Southend Slot Racing Club meeting last Thursday - I'm the one with the hair!

Bill - The soldering and clean up only took an hour or so but I had been making the parts on and off during the week, the total build time was probably about 3 or 4 hours.

No one has said what their idea of a perfect day is!?

David

 

[JohnP]

David, I know it's mid-summer but what happened to that wonderful knit-wear we last saw you wearing? Thank goodness mrs h. is currently away touring as Maria Sharapova look-a-like with the WTA. Otherwise, I shudder to think what the poor woman would be thinking right now!

And, thanks for showing the Cooper pic - that's one georgeous car! My own T81 (based on the Jo Bonnier car at Donington) has temporarily been sidelined due to another project

...although work will be resuming shortly I hope!

QUOTE No one has said what their idea of a perfect day is!?
Family forum David

 

[David Lawson]

The Cooper-Maserati is looking very good John, I'm planning one in the future but a works car rather than Bonniers so I won't be treading on your toes.

The sweater has long gone! Thankfully my mother no longer knits otherwise I would have to think of diplomatic reasons not to have them. At 80 years old my mother has just started a stained glass course at the local college and is a dab hand with the soldering iron already!

David

 

[Guest]

David, I never have perfect days as usually something goes slight wrong but yesterday was a really good one so here is mine. I started off by planning what I am going to write on the Slot Classic 250GTB a huge amount of the fun of writing a article like this for me is in the anticipation of the car arriving the story of waiting for the postman to come is completely true in my case, in a way it like driving sometimes it better to travel than arrive. I already know it will be a great model as most unusually Slot Classic contacted me, to tell me about this car a while ago (this is very good sign it will be something really speical) So I have been getting more and more impatient.

I too watch some of the qualifying but it was the same old story!

I spent a lot of the day in the garden with my wife and youngest daughter (my two favourite people on the planet) and later on when for a brief drive in the Merc just long enough to enjoy it amazing performance, as I am still waiting for my ankle to heal after the dog pull me over nine day ago.

I have my first walk yesterday after my injury and it was really great to be on top of the mountain just minutes from my home in the sunshine. I come home and packed the copy of the book to be sent to the Spanish distributor arrange with help from Slot Classic.

Then came the part of the day I really love, my wife lit a large fire in the garden using branches from trees which had been trimmed in the garden, which I then sat down and watch this burn until very late. This to me was a great day nothing really happened but I really enjoyed it.

Nice job on the Chassis.

Best wishes,

Jeff

 

[David Lawson]

Lifes simple pleasures and close family are the best aren't they Jeff, you don't need much else do you?

I love fell walking too and you can't beat places like Striding Edge on the final climb to Helvellyn or on the top of any mountain.

Today isn't one of my perfect days as I've got to go to work now.

David

 

[a Bill]

I'm not sure if I've ever had a perfect day or not. I'm one of those people that's hypercritical of themselves. I'm trying to relax my personal standards a bit so the negativity doesn't shine through as brightly

Yesterday was a very good day for me. My F1 parts order came in from Pattos and the body is considerably larger than I was expecting. It actually fit both chassis that I had prebuilt. The wheels aren't perfect in their dimensions but the final tire size is on the money

I'm just having a little bit of trouble making the car narrow enough. From outside wheel edge to outside wheel edge it is 1-15/16" and it's supposed to be 1-7/8" but that is an improvement since it was initially 2" wide. The parts I used in combination with my newbie-ness are conspiring against me

I think it's close enough for my first attempt though and am quite pleased with it overall. I'll be sending this car to be raced for sure. I'm hoping the car finishes the race series and is recognizable as the F1 car it is supposed to represent

I know better than to expect it to rank very high anywhere but I am quite pleased to have the opportunity to toss my car in the ring with the works of art you guys produce.

As with everything I do, it is never quite right and the next one will definitely be better. Oddly enough, the next one really is always better than the last so yesterday counts as a very good day for me. Stuff worked as expected and I learned a bit more of what I need to do to improve my output. That is where the second chassis I mentioned comes in

 

[speedyweenie]

"I can see a scratchbuilt Streamlined Maserati 250F as a future project."

Oohh, the mention of streamliners sets my heart thumping. Do the references you cite have detailed plans or specs? As I think I posted awhile back, I once made a 250 streamer for a Marconi Proxy race. Unfortunately, I used a product called Balsa-Foam that tried my soul in the building process, and did not survive the race intact (although the car finished 2nd overall minus its nose and a decapitated Jean Behra). I still plan to reassemble the pieces and cast a resin version some day - project #37 on the list. I would love to see someone else's take on the subject.

mp

 

[Guest]

MP I remember how beautiful your Maser was and I really like the Streamliners. That car when right back to how the rail cars were built and I would have been very proud of it if it was mine.

RR

 

[David Lawson]

Bill - Don't be so hard on yourself and I bet the car will be fine. Your comment about the next one definitely being better applies to everyone here on Slotforum - I think it's part of what what spurs us on.

MP - The Maserati book has some pictures of the unpainted prototype and some race pictures but no plans unfortunately, if my attempt to carve one is fit for public viewing I'll post a picture.

David

 

[David Lawson]

QUOTE (PastimeRaceway @ 24 Jul 2004, 20:28)What F1 shell is this chassis for? Inquiring minds want to know!

I'm trying to squeeze it into a Lotus33 but there's very little room for Jim Clark, I'm not sure whether to carry on with it or look for another bodyshell.

David

 

[speedyweenie]

Looks like Jimmy needs to do some serious training - build up those biceps and trim those abs. Seriously, why don't you switch to a NC-2 type motor that doesn't have the brush assembly in the way?

mp

 

[BEEJAY7]

David...Now is the time to try out the Scalex MOTOGP motor.......You know you want to!.

Regards

Alan

 

[Fergy]

At least you can get that rear bracket into a car!

For my Matra, I've had to make a complete rear bracket assembly from scratch because nothing is narrow enough where the rear axle exits the gearbox.... guess we all have our problems with these tiny things...

PS - that chassis is gorgeous!! But... 3-4 hours? I've spent 2 now on just getting the motor mount and rear axle carriers shaped.... and haven't soldered anything yet!..... do you give courses? Like Speed-Building 101?

 

[a Bill]

What if you flipped the motor upside down? Then at least the wires won't interfere with Mr Clarks arms. Or, as was mentioned earlier, a different motor. The FK-130 type motors have the wiring sticking straight out on the same line as the armature.