Jairus

The car is not a restoration. It's a period hot rod with-which I haul t-shirts to the various local car shows. And to that end I plan to keep any and all modifications vintage circa 1968 - 1978. But, I am keeping my eyes open for another steering wheel, but this one works. I also want to dump the C-6 for a good 4-speed/clutch tranny. The arrow by-the-way, points to a switch I installed to control a fan that blows on the rear window. Rear-window defogger if you will. The switch is a 1952 Ford pickup two-speed, the chrome bezel is from some vintage Ford product of the early 60's while the knob a '58 reproduction. That pic was taken and posted for a Station Wagon Forum and that panel would normally be blank. However, I love what you have done with your customizing on that Fairlane 500 and hope you just finish it as is.

Sorry dude, I just sit behind one of those dash boards every day and the details tend to have an effect. You know?

I would NOT try bare metal in such a tight space. Just pop the top on a good home brew, put on some calming music and brush silver on with a good NEW 000 brush. No need to remove the dash, just the steering wheel. You got the white face gauges correct so all you need now is the silver. Oh... and the gauge needles are fluorescent red if you are feeling really lucky.

One thing I would like to mention is the dash trim. The panel between the top and bottom is actually texture chrome. Base line models stop with the clock panel. Only Fairlane's have the trim panel on the glove box door. Base line models have two painted control panels on either side of the steering wheel shaft, while the Fairlane is graced with chrome as shown in this pic. Hope it's not too late...

Not a supercharger. But Mercedes did flow the intake air through the crank case through a couple of ports to the updraft carb. Not sure why.... but it was probably for oil cooling. The lower arrow indicates the air intakes. The upper arrow indicates the timing adjustment which allows opening the exhaust valves to get the prop spinning. Like a truckers "Jake brake" for the opposite reason.

Rich, sorry about all the missing pictures. Combination of Gregg moving the MCM forum between servers and Fotki doing same. I will try to rebuild it with all the missing pics. Was suppose to be a reference article... but as you can see, the electronic format has huge limitations!

Looking good Rich! I have built quite a few wood bodies in the past. Even have a thread here on MCM forums... but a lot of the photos are missing due to Fotki swapping servers. Something I am currently looking into and attempting to repair. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18990 Keep checking back and eventually they will probably all come back one way or another.

Wow, so much hate on Oregon. Interesting. I have lived here all my 54 years of life and I like it. Wish it was warmer in the winter but we do have 5 months of sking plus fairly moderate weather all year round. Other than the rain. Economy sucks right now because the legislature chased manufacturing out with higher taxes. But cost of living here is no higher than Washington or Idaho and California is much worse! Portland is the armpit of Oregon in my opinion... but it is beautiful and clean as has been mentioned. However, it is a huge liberal stronghold with a limp-wrist mayor who loves anyone who peddles a bicycle. I wouldn't want to live there but there are some nice towns just outside that are are pleasant enough and with-in driving distance of S.A.B.A. and the three really great Hobby Shops. As Steven mentioned... the rain. Well, that can get you down some. Or a lot. But we modelers are introverts anyway so... once you get your nose in a project and you don't even notice the constant rain. Jobs... well, that might be a problem unless you are uniquely talented. Costco is always hiring greeters I hear. Bob Paeth did that for a while. Construction is nearly dead tho. If you have a law degree then I am sure you can find a firm to take you, but there is a glut of truck drivers vying for jobs so... don't even try. Oregon is near the tops with those registered for public assistance. (food stamps) A lot of them actually make a living out of being poor... so there might be an opportunity. If I were you I would move to someplace like Lake Oswego and start a gardening and lawn care service. Because there are lots of wealthy people living there.

During the last 100 years of automotive development nearly everything has been tried. Very little is new currently and as was posted earlier, it all depends on cost and re-engineering. Neither DOHC nor are push-rods better than one another or more restrictive in breathing. It all depends on the engineering and design... and usability. Heck, my son-in-law still has a 1937 Flathead in his street rod that starts on the first crank and purrs like a kitten. And that's an engine that was originally assembled in 1936! You can't judge an engine solely on the number of cams, technological advances or horsepower output. But instead it would be better to use the more sensible approach of .... what engine do you depend on and has never left you stranded. For me it's a 390FE. (born on date of 1975) But that's just me.

Finally made some progress on the project this evening. Mounted the body on the chassis and have a plan... Yeah... decided to build the first version of the Hurst Hairy Oldsmobile built in 1966! Here are two views. I'd like to be able to afford to pay Chris Clark to lay down the glassy clear coat... but money is pretty tight. At any rate, the next step is removing some of the molded in chrome trim, priming and then laying down some paint. (My worst thing) Rather go to the dentist... just saying. "Can't take the sky from me...."

Continuing the assembly... I got the motor pod assembled. Gear is slightly wobbly with out the set screw. This creates a slight not-concetric rotation for the gear. But after a minute of running gets quieter and quieter since aluminum is softer than is the brass pinion. The more it works the smoother it becomes. Wheels fit the axles with no wobble. Very clean tight fit and the set screw provides a good hold. But... the axles are about .0001 smaller than an industry standard 1/8th drill blank axle so replacing them will require some mill work. The bearings are the same nylon and no problem. Cox, Monogram and Classic used these during the vintage years so no drama there. Now we have a roller. Brushes go together same as before. I suggest soldering the braids to the brass clips... or replacing them entirely. But.... I managed to follow the directions with one change... The only change from the directions was soldering the wires directly to the brush clips. Other than that... the above chassis is build directly from the directions. Now... time to mount the body. And I prefer screws regardless of what others might say!

The assembly: All four wheels are now set screw and cleanly made. An allen wrench is provided to tighten. Guide still remains two piece with "assemble yourself" brushes. Allen set screw is same size as the industry standard! Way to go AMT! Wheel inside measures about .575. Assembled wheel measure 1" dia. exactly. The motor goes together same as before, screwing the adaptor to the motor and then fitting the NEW brass gear. (previous was plastic) But... found a problem. The armature shaft seems to drag slightly on the adaptor. I tried to reposition the adaptor and then tighten the screws but it still touched the shaft. Even swapping the screws and turning the adaptor around didn't help. So.... 2 minutes on the drill press with a step-drill provided a solution. Unfortunately it's a solution that should not be needed. But then... I might have simply gotten a bad adaptor so no judgments. Just reporting. Now we're cooking! Onward!

Okay, I opened the box and took some pictures. First the parts, then my opinions on some of the changes followed by the build up. Should get this done today sometime. As before, the parts are arrayed out under the box top and packaged below in little plastic bags. Window glass is both kit stock and vacuum formed tinted. (The latter eliminating the need for an interior.) Decals are of course BEAUTIFUL!!!! Whom ever designs these (I think it's John G. himself) should do a line of decals aftermarket in my opinion. Because I would love to have extra sheets of all the Slot Car kit decals for other projects. Chrome tree seems a bit empty. Probably because this is an old mold from one of the AMT model kits where they only run plastic through the body, chrome and clear. Wheels and extra parts are blocked off. But... no worries. I have some great plans for this one. Stay tuned as the build up is next!

AMT sent me a new Slot Car kit to review. This time it's an Oldsmobile 442. Came last Friday and it was not until this morning that I figured out a plan for this one! More on that later... The last review can be found linked here. At first glance I can see that a lot of great improvements have been made, including aluminum set screw wheels, a nice looking set screw crown gear and some set screw spacers which do away with the difficult "cut your own" spacers. Most of this fair is standard slot car practice and I applaud AMT for following suit. Stay tuned this week for updates.

Pretty cool! Nice detailing too.

Update: We have 21 entries registered so far and a lot of hand carving is going on all over the planet! Threads have popped up on both forums showing bodies being whittled and sanded to shape from Los Angeles to London England. Looks to be another successful event!

The most expensive thing I put in my car is gas in the tank!

I don't understand a car that simple being hard to work on?!?!!? Just don't get it. Mine is so simple I can work on it with an adjustable wrench'n a flat screwdriver...

Sweet! But... is that a traction magnet under there? Cheat!

Wheels and tires are different between the two kits Rob. But the chassis, motor, gears and guide are shared. It keeps the cost down.

To all the modelers and slotters alike on the Model Cars forum. The above was posted here for two reasons. 1. If anyone wants to join, they are totally welcome. 2. I plan to post concours photos HERE and need the members of MCMforums to vote in a poll sometime in March or late February. The polls will be for Best Paint and Best Detail/Most Realistic. I want you guys to do the voting because everyone on the Wide World of the Web knows that MCMforums has the best darned collection of modelers in the world bar none! (Can I get a witness?) Thanks for reading through all that mostly mumbo jumbo about motors and stuff'n go back to your styrene carving till spring.

The Scratch builders guild presents: Premise: A scratch builders proxy race for “pretty” rather than “fast”. Build a Sports or Grand Prix slot car using nothing more than what was available in the local hobby shop about January 1965. Hand-carved wood bodies were very popular up to 1964, as model car companies had not yet ventured far into the sports car field. If you wanted to build a racer of a 1955 Allard, you had to carve the body yourself and mount it on a scratch built chassis. So that is what we are doing here. And while there ultimately will be a “race”, the emphasis is on scale looks and period authenticity. A points system will determine the eventual winner. Proposed race date sometime in March and April. Two races to be held in the U.S. and two in the U.K. (TBA and looking for picturesque looking tracks.) Update: First race to be held at Pelican Park Raceway! (confirmed) Official Rules 1. Hand carved original wood bodies only. Any type of wood allowed, example: Balsa, Pine and Basswood/Lime. 2. Details can be either hand made from brass, aluminum, resin, plastic or sourced from static model or slot car kits. (Steering wheels, windshield, head and taillights, gas cap, wheel inserts.) 3. Subject matter is: open-top sports cars/GT cars and G.P. cars 1949 to 1960. Race markings are required with minimum of two numbers on the sides. Please register your numbers beforehand so we won’t have multiples, as that is how the cars will be called out in the race report. We will split the cars into classes depending on how many entries are received. But I do not see a problem racing GP cars with Sports cars. 4. Motors are limited to open frame Pittman/Kemtron style with two exceptions made for Bonner and K&B Challenger. A complete motor list is attached below. If your motor is not listed, then please ask the committee before entering. No can-motors allowed in this proxy! There are plenty of races for can motors and sealed Chinese motors. Motor modifications are limited to what was modified during the period, ie: bearings, balancing, rewinding, magnet zapping, removing the rear axle support arms, etc. But no Neo magnets allowed! Let’s all keep that same old block of ###### in there and have fun. Not listed but also allowed are: Atlas AT206/208 and the Pittman DC-196B. 5. Chassis are pretty much open to anything that was built back in 1964 and lots of ideas were tried. Brass rod and brass tube space frames were pretty much the standard. However, full belly pans were starting to become popular as well, so either or a combination of both are good for this race. Factory produced chassis parts are also acceptable as long as they are period correct, example: Kemtron, K&B, Echo. Drop arms legal but no body movement allowed! This is not a D3 retro race. It is a throw back to a hobby of an era gone by. So please stay in the spirit of the era and that eliminates any “Jail-door” or “floppy plate” chassis design. That said… working steering, suspension; a differential, 4-wheel drive, two motors, sidewinder, and in-line are all deemed fair game. One has only to open the pages of any Model Car Science from 1963-64 and you will see articles on building features such as these. So innovation and engineering encouraged, as long as it is in the spirit of the era. Acceptable chassis examples: 6. Wheels should be vintage threaded, taper-lock or set screw. Repops are allowed if they are close replicas. (Example: the Russkit reproductions currently available @ Professor Motor and Electric Dreams.) Vintage Dynamic, Buzco and Riggen cast wheels are also legal provided the casting matches the car. Inserts required on plain disc wheels and they should match the style and era of the car. 7. Tires to be vintage rubber or reproduction rubber scaled correctly to the car on which to be mounted. (Example Lotus 19 will have much smaller tires than will a Maserati 300S). Ortmann is an excellent source, and No foam or silicone tires allowed. 8. Driver figure required. 9. Guides are to be 1/8” post or 3/16” post “screw braid guides” only. No clip-in-braids! Please keep the lead wires to only one positive and one negative lead wire. Electric Dreams has vintage Champion “superflex” wire so keep it as vintage looking as possible. 10. Gears as vintage as possible. The most popularly used of the era were the bronze bevel gears made by MRRC, K&B, Atlas, Tradeship. No Pink Parma gears allowed or you will be mocked mercilessly I assure you! 11. Classes for 1/24th and 1/32nd scale racing. But all will compete together in concours d'elegance phase. 12. Concours d’elegance will be broken down into “best paint”, “most realistic/authentic”, and “best chassis”. 13. Entry fee: $75.00 u.s. (Estimate) to cover postage between the tracks and postage for the return trip home. T-shirts will be available for all entrants, design to be announced soon as I come up with one. 14. The committee reserves the right to add updates to this post as they happen. But, it won't hurt much. Period motors example are shown in this MC&T magazine article.

The AMT slot car kits come as both 1/32 and 1/24th. And yes, the chassis is adjustable to fit either. Although I would recommend that the pans be soldered together if serious driving is intended.

Very nice and correct! Thumbs up.

Already is. I have seen a Batmobile in 1/32. Can't show the paint dude, (prev post) because I sent the modified chassis to AMT with the hopes that they would use some of my mods on future kits.