The echo in here is amazing!

Some folks may wonder where all the entries have gone, others will already know. Two situations occurred at a similar time; A slight lack of contribution as has happened, will lead to a slight lack of followers, and so on. The second situation is perhaps the more important.

This new forum has created a great interest from scratchbuilders.

http://f-one-thirty-two.proboards.com/index.cgi

This forum is one which is specialised however. Originally created to cater for mid-60's GP cars, the list has expanded to both earlier and later times, with the following criteria.

Accepted cars are;

                            GP cars
                            F1 cars
                            Open wheeler cars
                            Indy cars

The periods covered include, well, all areas. as one who encourages pre-war contributions, potential contributors are reminded that;

                           Many pre-39 GP cars were 2-seaters
                           Some pre-war GP races were run as sports car races

Those who view this blog are invited to view the site, and join if it suits them.

The old Slot Forum International is under new ownership. The next few months will see if any changes are made. Methinks it tries to cater for too many areas, and specialises in none...

Peter.

MG K3 Magnette from GTM.

Along while back I was planning a build of the old 'Airfix' MG K3, so naturally the wheels were drawn up for this car and included on a fret. Problems were encountered, a re-draw was made, just in time for the GTM kit.

 

 

Few mods were made on the first model, a few more are being made on the next in the production line.

 



Although good old perpendicular English, it behaves quite well on the track, but probably needs more low down weight at the rear.

One of the best kits from George Turner models so far.

Peter.

Here are a couple of old projects which are now back on the table. The Aston DB2 is being dressed as the 1950 Le mans car of Abecassis and Macklin. It is by no means my favourite shape of Aston That's a close thing between the DBR series and the Project cars) but it was a successful car and is happily still with us today.

The body is Ocar, or should it be Ocar copy. The rear end looks kind of wrong, rear screen too low, wing line too low. generally ok though. I've lost the grille, so must make another, the earlier vertical slatted example found on only the very early cars. The chassis is from Slot Classic, so much better than the PCS copies, a bit more expensive, but the gears line up. GMC do a good package for a good price.

Originally made for the DB3, the wheels are also fine for the DB2, or the early ones at least

The other car back on the table is the TVR Griffith 400. The original of course is something of a paradox, highly sought after today, when new the quality was bad and the reliability abysmal. I'd love one!
The Ocar body on which this model was based is equally bad with symmetry totally out of the window. This was helped when a 4mm section was removed to obtain the correct Griffith wheelbase from the original Vixen model. A few other lesser mods have also been made including a couple of piano wire strengtheners bonded in over the rear wheel arch.

 

The body was completely lacking in any form of rear mountings, so epoxy ones were cast in. Again, a Slot Classic chassis has been used.



 

The wheels are Scaley Lotus 7 (?), which are pretty accurate for a 15" wheel. These were machined to accept my Scaley urethane Sharknose rears, with standard Scaley up front. All need a little sanded off the diameter.

Peter.

My very first proxy race car

Quiet, so quiet here!
Well, something new from Germany: Invited by Mark Huber for the "Grand Prix de Garagista" I have built my first proxy race car.
Its a 1966 Ferrari 246, driven by Lorenzo Bandini in the Spa GP, wher he finished 3rd. I used the very good PP-kit of the Ferrari 1512 for conversion:

I hope, you enjoy!
Taffy

MGC GTS

This is one of George Turners kits for which I have been waiting for years. Martin of course was working on one when this came out. Most things are pretty well spot on, though some detailing seems a little oversize. I'll have to measure up sometime.
All the mouldings were good clean examples, minimal pinholes and whilst the castings were scrubbed before painting, I doubt they needed it. The screen frames were done with bare metal foil which I think was a waste of time.













The livery is actually wrong for this particular car. Too many replica cars around, this it seems is a combination of 1968/1969 liveries. The chassis is the resin one which came with the kit, the wheels modified Scalextric to take the Scaley GT40 tyres. I was pursuaded to build a car for magnet use on my newish Scaley track, what a waste, no fun at all.















I have two more of these kits to build, one will be an accurate model of this car, the other will be an out and out racer, modelled after the present V8 MGB's which take part in the MGB/C/V8 Championship.

Peter.

BRM V16 and Talbot Lago

Induced by Peters fabulous wheels (thank you very much, Peter!), that came to me as an Pre-Easter surprise, I had to start with the BRM V16 and the Talbot Lago - immidiately! Bodys are MacPinches´, Chassis: Penelope Pitlane, tyres: Ortmann.









The Talbot is Pierre Leveghs car from the 1950 Silverstone race, the BRM is Froilan Gonzalez´car from 1954 (note: the red mirror housings), Silverstone, too. Had to change the body in the front, so I had to weld a new radiator grille. Added also tire valves and the "BRM"-engraving to the wheel nuts.



Taffy

Wheel consolidation.

After what might be described as 'the disaster' of the last wheel fret, this item is now being re-drawn with several deletions and several additions.

With the project originally started to provide wheels for 'older' cars, this will continue to be the bias, with an emphasis on pre-war cars.

The new drawing includes for the first time wheels for beaded edge rims, primarily for a couple of future projects. These are modifications of the earlier 21" parts made, but not as yet used.

A wheel for the T59 Bugatti has also been drawn up. Not 100% correct, this cross laced wheel omits the cros laced spokes which still leaves a very crowded wheel.

One of the problems with the last fret was the K3 MG wheels, a total of three problems contributing to their failure. The problems have been corrected and variations to the type made to provide correct sets for ERA 'E' Type, both early and late versions.

All cross laced experiments have been deleted. I am advised that stainless steel as used for the etches is not reliable as regards finished dimensions, etching companies recommending drawing to plus 30% of finished size. Results have shown this to be good advice as for the drawn 0.008" wheel spoke (0.006 desired size) some results have been up to 0.010" with others on the same fret down to 0.004", resulting in burning when heat treated. Cross laced wheels need spokes to be narrow, and consistant.

Jaguar XK and HRG wheels are continued with the additional 16" Aston Martin DB2/3 wheel.

The 16" wheels for (primarily) Vanwall, Maserati 300S/250F and Maserati 4CL/CLT are being complemented with a 17" version, though the associated machined parts are in limbo.

With the earlier VERY limited vintage type steering wheels so popular, modified, smaller versions are being made for PVT cars. Spring spoke and wire spoke Bluemels, early and late Alfa and Mercedes GP are probably the limit as my computer is finding the file size more than it can cope with.

Peter.

1:24 Formula racing

Last weekend the new season of "Classic Formula Days" started in Düsseldorf.
This 1:24-slotracing series is dedicated to the midengine formula racing cars of the sixties.
The series is divided into two classes: "Formula 65" and "Formula 70".
In formula 65 the 1:1 model must have been build until 1965, in formula 70 until 1970.
Formula- and Indy-cars are allowed.

I liked to start the season 2012 with two new cars and builded a Lotus 29 Indycar for the 65-class:





and a Ferrari 312 1966 for the 70-class:





(note: the cars don´t have to be exact copies of the 1:1-model,  so I use my freedom as artist...)

Bodys are resin, chassis is the SOLID formula chassis, FOX-motor, tires in front: material is free, rear tires are Sigma black magic-tires.

Taffy

Bugatti number 25

Some 5 years ago I started to build a series of Bugattis, all based on the Airfix kit and a purpose made chassis. The last one was completed a couple of weeks ago and was tested/raced over the weekend to see if the sums were right. This is the first car of what I hope will be an increasing number which are retained and used for racing.

The chassis is a modified version of that used for all cars built. 16 gauge aluminium is heat treated and beaten over a steel buck, providing the 'canvas' to which various parts may be added. The SCX motor was added for the hell of it, but actually works quite well. The axle runs in brass bushes, with the highly modified MRRC guide pivoted in a similar way.

The wheels are fully machined Airfix originals with Scalextric tyres at the front and urethane at the rear.

The first 'official' car in the stable, suitable companions are expected over the next few years.

Peter.

Wheels, rejected and embraced...

The recently introduced 16"Borrani wheels have done rather better than expected. Originally made for the 300S Maserati, they are inevitably correct for a number of other cars, though the one below is not one of them.

The Ferrari TR 59/60 should indeed have wheels similar to the above, but not quite the same. All wheels should be cross laced, the rears not noticably so, whereas the fronts should have a row of spokes anchored into the outer wheel rim. Still, not far off.

The recent tyre venture, whilst having proven a 100% success performance wise, is being cut back due to the labour involved. Existing purchasers of these tyres will continue to supplied.

Recent continued experimental wheels are a continued drain and are thus likely to cease, therefore the proposed Alfa 2900 wheel, due to expense and complexity, will be limited to the few sets made.

The present range of wheels will probably reach its' peak (30 different wheels) in the present year, after which production will be cut back to certainly no more than 10, readily available.

Peter.

Last of the DBRs.

The DBR1 was the first serious model I worked on. Reworked from the re-issued early Scalectric bodyshell, the shape was not bad. The fact that it was a little over scale has always irritated me a little and if it was photographed alongside any of the other Astons, it's size would become apparent.

So i've made the decision to delete it from the range. I had a dozen or so shells left and decided to built up three to represent the tean cars that ran at Le Mans in 1958. The paint on the first DBR1 was totally incorrect being California Sage. These three will be painted Ford Forest Green which looks much more like it.

The photographs show one of the cars dry fitted with a few details and a test of the decals. Hence the wrong number.

All three cars will be fitted with a front mounted motor in a nickel silver photo etched chassis. They are now sold and will be going to a collector.

Graham.

Production at last....

Having waited a long while for machined parts, they are at last with me and I am thus slowly finishing machining parts and making up wheel kits, whilst at the same time trying to find time to build up a few sets of wheels for my own use.
One of the long overdue 'new' wheels is that for the primarily the Alfetta 158/9, as shown in the picture below.

This wheel, like most is to some degree a compromise, as there were many different wheels fitted to this type of car.
The illustrated wheels are a scale 18" both front and rear, and feature 3 rows of 24 spokes. The front rims are 5mm wide, the rears are 6mm wide. The tyres are those I had made, and will soon be supplied direct from the manufacturer, though I will continue to supply tyres with wheel sets if requested to.

Also for Alfetta are alternative 60 spoke wheels (3 x 20 spokes) and for rear fixing only, 17" (x6mm) wheels, also with 60 spokes.

Decent pictures in the future.....

Peter.

More wheels on their way.

The recent cold weather was bound to prompt the arrival of new parts, and thus it was that a further spoke etch fret came on Saturday.

I thought I'd show a complete fret rather than just a set of etches and felt it would be a help if the wheels were labelled up to some extent.

The Alfa 2900, 1960's Ferrari/Maserati and MGA Le Mans wheels are all of an experimental nature, and since they take up over twice as much space as a similar sized wheel, are costlier to make.

Above the MGA wheels will be seen more 16" etches, plus a new part in the form of steering wheels, another experiment.

The 'alternative' etches are the result of looking at vast numbers of photographs and finding that racing and sports racing cars even if of the same type, don't always have their wheels built in the same way. The only difference for example between the Vanwall and 1950's Maserati/Ferrari wheel in the spoke lacing.

The 17" wheels will be new, and have only appeared after I was asked if I'd be prepared to do some V16 BRM wheels. The BRM rears are at the bottom of the 17" column.

The K3 wheels were ones I wanted anyway, then someone asked me to do them. The spokes are the same as the ERA E Type front, not the rear as in the caption. The rears will appear on the next, and last wheel fret.

The 21" wheels were a surprise. Initially done for the Bentley, there are two types, one for the standard 3 and 4.5 litre, the other for the Blower car. Other wheels I wanted to do this size were for Delage GP and Mercedes SSK, both of which appear to be the same as the first wheel, whilst a combination of spokes could also make a passable Mercedes/Auto Union 'Avus' wheel, which should I believe, be 22", not 21".

Plans/drawings are now progressing towards my last new wheel fret with perhaps a dozen new wheels, a few new etches to allow further flexibility and probably a complete column of steering wheels.

Peter.

Austin Twin Cam - George Turner Models

Another car completed.



The GTM Twin Cam has been on the go for some while and is at last finished except for a few tweaks here and there. Full testing on a decent track takes place later this month.

Construction is pretty well standard, using Scalextric motor, guide, rear axle, contrate etc.

The front axle is 1/16" and runs in a 3/32" outer tube, which in turn has a locating spigot. The axle has a little rock in addition to the 1/32" vertical movement.

The wheels are my own of course, and are prototypes for another somewhat limited issue.

Tyres at the front are Grahams G.P.Miniatures examples, sanded down to give a suitable diameter. The rears are tyres made for me, very soft and very grippy, these were originally made to suit the ERA in a harder compound. I had softer ones made as well and am glad I did.

Peter

Cooper - Scaley -Scratch

I think the car is great, but who are you?

Peter.

Modified Scalextric w/ Scratchbuilt Parts

Hello, this is my first post.

This is a Scalextric C66 Cooper Austin "Formula Junior". First released in 1963, the Formula Junior cars were marketed as budget models in the Scalextric range of ready-to-run slot cars. The cars were fairly basic, with simple two piece bodies and few details.

For this project, the goal was to create a better running Formula Junior, detailed to the specifications of a 1962 Cooper Mk3 T59 Formula Junior as it might be currently configured to race in a modern vintage event.

The running gear is original, with modifications to the chassis, guide and ride height. The car has been detailed with scratch built parts.