10 replies to this topic

[Jairus]

Finished the "Ride of the Rat" this evening.... !
Eventhough I love building vintage racing slot car stuff, my secrete desire is to build neat cool little thingys like this:


The ol'Fink himself looks quite comfortable in there....

Side windows were removed so the big injected rat motor can breath!


This vintage DuBro body comes pre-painted. The front headlights were cleaned of paint and new vac-formed reflectors added for realism.
A side note is that I, like others, thought that these bodies were painted in a clear tint and then silver...
NOT the case! These bodies were formed in colored Lexan, Byuterate or Acetate and then painted silver. Very interesting!



Under the sheets we find a Dynamic chassis and K&B Bobcat 36D motor-vation with paintbrush ferrels used as for a duel stinger exhaust!


Some parting notes as the "Fink" drives away....
This project was built with all vintage or repro parts. The decals and engine details were from MPC repop's of Roth trike kits (Thanks to John at Retro Hobby!) The Fink was from a key chain toy... and no more need be said....

Ciao

[Modellpularn]

Cool bug, Jairus!! You really put some unusual details into it.....

[Smart-Resins]

Very Nice! I am not a slot car guy. However I have heard of a bunch of talk about guys using model bodies and parts to customize thier slot cars. I have though about finding more out and maybe dabble in casting a couple of things for the slot car guys?Thoughts? Jody

[Jairus]

Jody,
There are only two classes of slot racers that use plastic in 1/24 and those would be Drag and NASCAR.
Drag is because they are not concerned with a high center of gravity and scale appearance is very important.
NASCAR because it is scale appearance thing but it makes the cars slow in the turns unless you add lots of weight to the chassis.

Resin and plastic are huge in 1/32 scale and that is their primary material used for even chassis scratchbuilding. The market is very big here in the US and monsterous in Europe! However, what to produce is going to be a matter of dedicated research for you. Best method is to find the sites where most of the guys hang out and just read. Then buy something new and HOT from Scalectrix or Fly and see what you can come up with for it like a Replacement body, detail set, etc.
Frankly, I think the market in 1/32 scale slots may be a more lucrative market than scale models in 1/24th.... But that is just me...

[Smart-Resins]

Do you know of any good groups/sites? Just wanting to know whats good. I may take a peak around the next couple of weeks? Jody

[Jairus]

Thought you might ask....

Slotforum is basically a European forum and includes a lot of German and Swiss slot racers. Some of their abilities to scratchbuild rival a lot of model car sites I frequent.

Slot Car Illustrated? is another good site for 1:32 scale racers.

Both are good sites to watch and many of these guys spend a lot of money on 1:32 scale cars while building up their home tracks to the level of a master Train layout in the basement. I belong to both of these plus a couple of others but one is mostly Vintage stuff and the other are Wing car and Eurosport racers primarily.

Jairus

[Smart-Resins]

Thanks, thats cool. Will have to cruise on over there when I get my current run of molds and casting done. Thanks. Jody

[Dr. Cranky]

Yippy! I found it. Hey, J, this is one sweet ride. I only wish I could see it burning up the tracks . . . you did a great job on the RAT F. too!

[Nick F40]

SICK!!!!!!!

[CB]

The ol'Fink himself looks quite comfortable in there....

Dude!! you can't put th' Fink inside!! howz he gonna get any bugs?





Under the sheets we find a Dynamic chassis and K&B Bobcat 36D motor-vation with paintbrush ferrels used as for a duel stinger exhaust!

Paintbrush ferrules--sweet. We'll make a scratcher outa you yet.







Most Awesome, Jairus. Any chance of our seeing a burnout ? Later, ######'n

[TimKustom]

Way Kewl J!

You mention the Scalextric cars...

I got into them in a big way....Like I need another hobby!

Wife got me the scaley GT40 set for my birthday a few years ago. I got hooked real fast. Wound up getting about 100ft more track and a couple dozen cars.

Funny story about one track I had thru the house...

It had about 75ft lane lengths. We moved most of the furniture out and stood on the coffee table to be able to see the whole track....

The A/C in the house went out so we had to call a repairman. He didn't really say that much about it despite having to step over it many times . Anyway, a couple of weeks later, one of my wife's co-workers A/C went out. She recommended the guy that fixed ours.

Well, when the co-worker called the A/C guy and told him that he just fixed our A/C, he said "oh I remember them, they have a giant racetrack running through their house."

Wife had to explain that one...

Sorry if I hijacked your thread, great job on the bug! Luv 'ol Finky in there.

Despite what some might think, they are MODEL CARS!!! More fun than watching them sit still on a shelf!