Low Budget Race Team

[vins123]

Hi
nice looking T-Bird, did they make the 64 too?
btw we can see on EBay from Brad's tracks the borders you talked about on page18, they look nice.
Sylvain

[Ralphthe3rd]

[Ralphthe3rd]

In case you never knew about this, check out this link about the Aurora/Ford Nationals back in '62.
Btw, Henry is still around, and STILL Racing Slot Cars !
http://www.eastcoastslotcars.com/2012/0 ... ora-champ/

[vins123]

hi
i read the story about Henry, that is the first time i hear about it, i gues i will try to get a 63 t bird...
i am wondering if 63 t bird can be fitted on narrow turbo chassis?
Sylvain

[Ralphthe3rd]

Sylvain, Sorry my friend, the Tomy(narrow) Turbo chassis is still waaay too wide to mount a T-Jet Thunderbird body. Even if you ground off the mounting tabs on the sides of the chassis, it's still 1/16" TOO W-I-D-E ! And for the record, the original Aurora '63 T-Bird Roadster bodies in un-cut condition, are selling for $50-$150 depending on their color and condition.

And just for reference, check out these Bodies From Butch's Resins.... Link > http://public.fotki.com/ButchsResinBods/

Do Note However, they are ALL T-Jet Bodies, and No Inline chassis will fit them.

and MEV Resins(which btw are very tiny and around 1/76 scale) ... Link > http://www.tjets.com/

[Ralphthe3rd]

FYI, first off the HO Car below is NOT mine :( But I'm a HUGE Fan of the '55-'56 Fairlanes :)
And I just wanted to post pix of this wonderful Build-up of a Butch's Resin cast '56 Fairlane body :handgestures-thumbup:








Oh, and btw- here is a pic of ME, @ 3 months of age, with my Mom, and OUR '56 Ford Fairlane :D


Today, I'd be Happy if I owned something like this in 1:1...

[vins123]

Hi
nice looking cars, a while ago you told me one of you friend has almost a thousand cars, and how about you?
everytime i read you you always bring some nice cars pictures...
btw i went to see the link you wrote earlier, about resin cars, they are nice but i did not see the one i want...
Sylvain

[Ralphthe3rd]

Sylvain, I myself, ONLY own about 150 HO Slot cars. Of those, roughly 100 are pancake cars(either T-Jets or A/FX), and the other 50 are Inline powered cars. But I will no longer BUY an inline powered car, unless it's 30 or more years old, or unless it's just a couple of dollars at a yard sale or flea market, and then I'd only use that car for trading purposes only, as I HATE running inline Cars with Traction magnets.
And I know they didn't make a resin body of the car you desired, I just wanted to show you what might be out there, which is alot, BUT NOT EVERYTHING - LOL :D

[vins123]

Hi Ralph
you have a lot of car, i am searching a cheetah who can fit a narrow srt chassis, i do not know if somebody make those...
btw did you start making you Atlas/lionel layout? I am working on mine soon i finish to get all the tracks wanted, i am planning to get a layout, slot car and train, before doing it i wish to sale my 1/32 first...
Sylvain

[Ralphthe3rd]

An old Street & 'Strip Hot Rod is back in our shop for some work. Back Ground on this Rod is, it's a DASH HR Body painted and detailed by our shop, it's mounted on a NOS Aurora Chassis that features DASH Magnets, Wizzard E81 Brushes, and a 6ohm Mean Green Arm pushing a 14tooth drive pinion, that is meshing with an Auto World 18 tooth Crown Gear properly shimmed for a perfect mesh....that unusual combo turned out to work best with the TALL AW 4 gear wheels(which have been modded and originally came off the AW Gene Snow Dodge Charger F/C). Rear tires are Super Tires, and Fronts wheels are heavy Solid Brass- Hot Rod/ Indy size, with Lo-Pro Silicones from BallsOutRacing. The Car is in for some Custom Lettering, as this Car is headed back out to hit the Nostalgia Drag Racing circuit :mrgreen:

[vins123]

Hi ralph
nice looking car again, i am amaze each time i look at what you did
Sylvain

[Ralphthe3rd]

Today, I have a bit of a RANT and a Warning ! And it's about Auto World Slot Cars, which IMHO, are mechanically, a pile of CRAP !
Let me explain, recently I received a customers brand NEW Chassis that was a 4 Gear from the latest Legends -Funny Car series. The customer wanted me to make this chassis as fast as possible while still using the stock armature and basic chassis, but change as many other parts, to make this chassis able to compete in a Drag Class for 4 gear Auto World cars, that his local slot car Club has. Okay, this should have been a simple Blue Print job, and tightening up the specs, and swapping out a few crappy pieces(like Axle, gears, wheels, com brushes, pick-up shoes etc) to make this chassis as smooth and friction free as possible, and with better electrical flow and less drag. First off, I tested out this stock chassis (after a break in period)on my 1/4 scale Dragstrip. And this chassis didn't run too bad at all, and was probably faster than all my stock(old) Aurora Specialty Chassis(which don't have Neo Traction magnets). Anyway, I proceeded to tear it down and start blueprinting, ie- tightening up axle and lower arm shaft holes, swapping axle and gears for aftermarket, Aftermarket wheels and tires, losing one of the Neo traction magnets, swapping to better comm brushes, polishing the commutator, lapping the gear train, etc. Okay, done that, and proceeded to break-in the new parts, and everything was looking good and sounding alot smoother, more like a new old stock Aurora Specialty does. Now time for some Drag strip testing, and wow, quite an improvement, and was running perfect and FAST.
Then, BAM ! Power dropped right off and that's not good, I checked the shoes and they were still clean, so I made another run, which was half the speed of the earlier runs. Something was definitely Wrong! So even before I opened her up, I could see the problem clearly thru the top and side vent ports in the top plate and chassis. What had happened was, at High Rpm, it THREW the Windings off of Two of the Three poles and broke a wire doing so on one of the poles. IE- The Arm is Now Toast ! So I have to tell my customer, the work went fine, but the motor Blew ! And who has to pay for a NEW Arm ? ...I DO !
So that's my Rant ! And my WARNING IS > When you Buy Auto World Slot Cars > CAVEAT EMPTOR !
I will replace this arm on my own dime, and not charge the customer for a new arm, and I PRAY that the NEW Auto World armature doesn't throw it's Winding too ! And btw- Don't think that it was my fault, because I created too much horsepower for the arm to handle, coz that's bullshit, as these Four Gears are Not as Fast as AW's stock X-Traction chassis or any stock Aurora AFX MagnaTraction I own. This is just Poor quality control, as the windings weren't wound tight enough to start, and this was bound to happen sooner or later. I think on the replacement arm, I'll paint on a touch of Super Glue over the windings, just to be SAFE !

[Ralphthe3rd]

ANYWAY, here's the update on the customers F/C Build. Although you really cannot see much externally, this Bounty Hunter Auto World Mustang Funny Car, is the one I was Hopping up, when the motor threw a couple of windings on the armature. It got a replacement arm, which is now lower Ohm than the original, the new one is around 16 ohms, while the one that came with the chassis was about 24 ohms on all three poles. I wrote about some of the mods before, so I won't go into them again- unless someone asks ? But without further ado, here is THE Fastest 4 Gear Chassis I've yet to build....it down right SCREAMS Now :D

[Ralphthe3rd]

This week, I've been working on TWO Custom Body Conversions. ie- I'm taking two Plastic Toy Car Bodies that were Pullbacks, one is a really sweet model of a '39 Chevy (Four Door) Master Deluxe sedan, and the other model was everyone's favorite Star of the Disney/Pixar CARS movies- Tow Mater :) The '39 Chevy is a long body and is 1/64 scale, and luckily it's wheelbase measures out exactly for the Longest Wheelbase position on the Original Aurora Specialty(4 Gear) Chassis, and that's what I'm using. FYI- the Auto World 4 Gear chassis has basket handle body mounts, and will not for this Chevy Body unless you cut OFF the protruding tabs on the sides of their chassis.
The Tow Mater body was originally gonna have a T-Dash Chassis mounted up, but a T-Jet chassis is too short, and would have needed to use a Divorced Front Axle, so instead, I chose to mount up an old JL X-Traction Chassis, which has the correct wheelbase, and all I had to do was cut slots on the inside of the Mater body, to have it snap-on, like it came that way from the factory. Due note, that in these photos, taken at the start of the project, I have a T-Dash chassis next to Mater, but it's now riding atop of an X-Traction. BTW- both cars are now 98% complete, and I'll try and take some newer pix later tonight.

[Ralphthe3rd]

I could start to add more detailing on Mater(like I did on an unpowered model), but I'm just gonna touch up a few areas(like maybe paint the side windows?), and call him -DONE !