[red73mustang]

So I picked up a Super Shells Lotus Elite body that I had plans to squeeze a chassis under and I cant help but think that the scale is somewhere around 1/36 -1/38 ( its the smallest 1/32 kit I've ever seen and I don't know what will fit.) Think smaller than a Hawk Maserati GT5000 kit. Also the body had a spot on the hood that was "peeling" like and old scalextric Tupperware car which I attempted to sand with disaterous results.

What scale is this and has anyone built one ? I do know they were sold as slot car kits as I just saw on on the auction site

Best regards, Chet

 

[PETER GUNN]

Morning Chet a blast from the past the Supershells Lotus Elite was one of a number of types issued by this company and they were all advertised as 1/32 scale in the early 1960's i had a Ferrari and my brother had a Elite they came with a set of wire wheels, set of skinny tyres and body parts ( not many ) , i remember Ian running the Elite at Hornchurch M.R.C. with a Kays Mk1 motor home made chassis and a steering unit but the rear of the Elite is quite narrow as is the real car and for racing it was not competative against fellow Supershell bodied cars in which you could get the M.R.R.C 3 pole motor and use the wider rear track to advantage, i beleive Ian still has one of these made up as a static model will check with him as i know he still has the B.R.M F1 car with the stacks as a static Keith.

 

[superhornets]

Hi guys
most of the super shells cars were made at 1/32 scale the only one which appeared poor to me was the lotus 25 which seemed too big and bulky
what you need to remember is that the elite was a small car
its length was 148 inches and its width was 60 inches

this equates to 4.625 inches long and 1.875 inches wide in 1/32 scale
I dont currently have an elite in my projects box so you might like to run a ruler over the body and let us know your conclusions

cheers tony

 

[scudbong]

Hi Chet,

The Lotus Elite (Type 14) is a tiny car in real life, I believe the Super Shells kit is pretty much to scale. The kit originally used a plastic chassis (made from the same material as the body I think) called a 'Pop in'. It simply 'popped in' to the body posts, I have a complete car fitted with a K's motor and this chassis which runs fairly well.

The material the body is made of is funny stuff, I don't know of anyone that has ever succesfully painted one???

Thanks,

Pete

 

[chenglaw]

I, too. have a Supershells Elite which I bought back in the early 60's when I got into slots. It is a very small car and somehow I never managed to get a chassis under it. It had a plastic ladder-like chassis which I didn't like and never used so the shell llanguished in my parts bin for over 40 years until recently when I dug it out after feeling nostalgic for a bit of retro slot racing. I cobbled up a very simplistic chassis for it using pvc channel as you can see here:
The motor I used was a low revving 14k slimline which is available here very cheaply. Wheels are the original S/Shells nylon wire push on's with the original skinny S/Shells rubber tyres! Needless to say, traction is almost zero, so i will have to start hunting for suitable narrow modern tyres to fit under that miniscule bodyshell. I utilised the moulded in body mounts by glueing some plastic posts to my chassis and inserting them into the holes in the mounts. The bodyshell material is very tough flexy like and, in my opinion, would be almost unbreakable under normal racing conditions. The Elite looks small when compared to an Airfix Jag E in this photo, but not too small alongside a Ferrari 250P:

 

[scaleslotcars]

Here's an original Supershells Elite I just got last week, (part of a 1000 car collection that included many fine scratchbuilt cars etc)
This one has the later Mabuchi can motor with the Popin chassis.

I also found this picture of one I must have had a few years ago, this time with the Ks motor

 

[gasowder]

Love those Eldi contrates

Eddie

 

[David Lawson]

I always assumed the Super Shells Elite was to scale but I've just measured one of my shells and it scales at 138" x 56" so it is a bit underscale.

David

 

[superhornets]

Hi David
does that dimension include the bumpers ,because think the 148" i offered earlier did

Cheers tony

 

[David Lawson]

Tony

No it was without bumpers so that would add about 5mm to the length but it is still a bit undersized on the width.

I've put a PCS chassis in one with the PCS wire wheels and there is plenty of room in the shell and it goes reasonably well for its size.

David

 

[Rob J]

A little info from a Super Shells leaflet: The Elite shell was made of polythene instead of the usual polystyrene.
The wheelbase was 2 11/16" (about 68mm), front track 1 15/32" (36.5mm) and rear 1½" (38mm).
The track dimensions were the same as for the F1 Ferrari (the 1961 156), but all three specifications were shorter than on the other two sports-cars. The E-type's were w/b 77mm, track, F+R, almost 40mm and the 250P's w/b 75mm, track F+R >41mm.
Hope my conversions are right - just done visually on slide calipers. I don't have dimensions for the 1:1 car, so can't contribute on scale.
Chenglaw's original plastic ladder chassis and wheels may have been for a static. The "Pop-in" chassis was different. Looks like a good replacement, though, chenglaw.
The passage on the Elite in the leaflet reads:

This 1/32 scale model has been moulded in polythene to assist removal
of the complicated one-piece body from the mould and to
produce a high performance, quiet running competition car. Parts include
window and lights moulding, chrome-polystyrene bumpers and
plastic chassis for static model.
The windscreen unit should be placed in position letting the lower
windscreen edge come in front of the instrument hood (above the
dashboard), then 'clicked' into position at the back. A little adjustment
with modeller's knife or file may be required to get a perfect
fit.
Drill two 1/16" holes in the body in the centre of the headlamp depression
to receive the light unit. All the parts with pins on can be
pushed into the holes in the body, then heat-sealed with a warm
soldering iron. (Test on a piece of spare material supplied with the
clear parts.) Alternatively, polystyrene cement can be applied to
the pins coming inside the body to hold them in position. The bosses
inside the body will hold the chassis either with 6 B.A. screws
or small self-tapping screws. The body is polythene and the fittings
are polystyrene.
COLOURS:- RED, LIGHT BLUE, DARK GREEN, WHlTE.
PRICE (U.K.) including set of 4 x 19 mm. Sports wheels and tyres,
axles and hub caps. 12/3d p&p. 1/-. Lotus Elite body only 10/- p&p 9d.

Wheelbase: 2 11/16" Track: Front 1 15/32" Rear 1½"

[E Type w/b 3 1/32", track F+R 1 9/16]
[250P w/b 2 15/16, track F+R 1 5/8"

 

[dgersh]

Thanks Rob, that's great info. Are you sure it's polythene, and not polyethylene? It's in the same family as the Cucaracha body I believe, ie, Tupperware! (and any chemists out there feel free to correct me!).

Here's a neat Elite I picked up on ebay a few years ago. The body was not in great shape, but I have a secret: I walk over to Pierre-Yve's and ask him to do his magic! Don't remember what exactly he did, but it worked... And you're right, you can't really sand or paint this type of body....
Don

 

[Rob J]

That's a lovely little car, Don.
As for the polythene, I'm no chemist either. I was just copying a Super Shells leaflet (copy and paste from a pdf file), and another that I have as original hard copy (actual paper) says the same.
Rob J

 

[chenglaw]

Don, I see your Elite is on 4WD with the double-shafted K's. How does it run and handle? Seeing you guys with the K's installed in the Lotus makes me feel I should have done the same with mine - still have a K's or two lying around somewhere although I don't think they'll be up to zooming around the track unless I can get them re-magnetised.

 

[dgersh]

Lim,

In a word, not so good! It actually came with a slightly different K's motor, that was almost totally dead. Not having a remagnetizer, I replaced it with another K's I had lying around. Top speed was not great, but decent, but it just didn't handle, not helped by the fact that I had found some tires sort of at the last minute and they needed to be glued and trued...

It was raced on a Carrera track for the Bordo vintage meeting a couple years ago and finished not far from the bottom in racing, although it had good Concours grades!

I haven't actually seen any K's motor with any real speed, for what it's worth! But they're great looking motors!

Don

 

[chenglaw]

QUOTE (dgersh @ 25 Aug 2012, 23:16) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I haven't actually seen any K's motor with any real speed, for what it's worth! But they're great looking motors!

Don
By current day's standards, I doubt if any K's can be considered competitive, speedwise. They couldn't have been pulling more than 10k at best and in your Elite's 4WD mode, the extra drag of the gears would have been a killer. But on a short technical track, a tiny 4WD Elite would certainly be a giant-killer!

 

[JOHN SECCHI]

The STV was quite powerful but brought in too late, had to compete with the can motors but was the hottest K's motor produced for slot cars.
[oneofwos]

 

[PETER GUNN]

Hi Don nice looking little Elite you have there i used kays in 4WD form in my early racing days in 1964 in a Lotus 19 and Aston Martin sports car, Maserati tipo 64 and Renault Daulphine and round our track at Hornchurch they were very good, i also used the K's in Fi in 2WD form in the Airfix Lotus 24 and the B.R.M again very fast but look at the year chenglaw you can't compare 1964 with today the range of motors was very limited and as soon as the M.R.R.C 3 Pole was sorted bye,bye the Kays interesting thread Keith.

 

[GT40MKII]

The Supershells Lotus Elite used a popin chassis that was unique to it it had an extra set of posts.
Regards Allan

 

[waterlow]

Just an aside I have x2 Super Shells trailers 1 made up 1 still in kit form

W.