I should mention that these mods. are not all that necessary, as these cars are some of the smoothest, best running Scaleys so far.......and with magnets, and for fun running, they are quite acceptable as is. The wheels/tires on the 7 or 8 cars that I have closely looked at, have the most true running (plastic) wheels I have ever seen...particularly the rears, with most needing zero truing
Both of our locations (Mini Grid) will be running a class for 70's GP cars (with limited mods.) for our winter series, and, as we are all racers, and are looking to go faster, here are a few notes that may help.
I have chosen to use the Brabham, as to my eye it is the, best rendition of the "Legends" and, Jacky was a boyhood hero!!
We are allowed to....replace the guide***/wires/braid, add weight, replace the rear bushings/axle/gears, blueprint the existing parts, and must use a spec. tire, and either the stock rear wheel, or the Slot-it F1 wheels, which are the same dia./width as the originals. The front wheel/tire/suspension must remain stock, but tires wheels may be trued.
*** A comment on the guide....the new Scaley guide (In the F1 cars) is the same "disc" design as before, but, the blade is now deeper.....deeper by a hair than the standard Slot-it guide. It is wobble free, and rotates more than any other Scaley guide I have seen (Good job Scaley) and it is certainly not imperative that you replace it by any means.....but...for no mag racing (lots of sliding) the stock solid core wires that Scaley use (brittle) just don't cut it.
So before I go on........with the few improvements (guide), and the so far high level of quality control (wheels put on properly)...I can only give this series of cars a big thumbs up. :text-bravo:
On to the Brabham.......First off, it is a snap to open up...only a couple of locating pins on the suspension bits...and these are not glued..nice!!
The following pic. shows the top/bottom bits, (held by 4 screws)...which do come apart quite easily.........I should mention that you are looking at the finished car (after the mods), and with a set of wheels tires stolen from another of my F1 cars......this is for testing only...the proper wheels will be installed soon.
You can see that there is actually little interaction between the top/bottom half bits, which is the reason for the ease of opening it up. One thing here that I do not like is that the front susp./wheels etc. are attached to the body upper, not the chassis.......this makes setting the guide/ride height bit of a pain, as you need to assemble/disassemble the car to check every little change. Additionally, the upper body is quite flimsy torsionally, so you must be very careful when tightening the body screws in order not to tweak the upper body, which results in the front axle becoming "skewed".
You can see that I have replaced the guide/braid (I have used a B Nova adapter...the middle thickness) and the lead wires.....if doing this, it is important to ensure that the lead wires stay close to the chassis plate, as if they are allowed to flex upwards, they will foul the front axle. I thought the most elegant way to do this was to install some styrene cross braces at the front of the chassis , and run the wires under them.
You can add weight (and lots of it) wherever you can........the car as it sits (with lead added) weighs 60gms......so not a heavyweight. I have added a few bits amidships on the can sides......the upper body allows this.
The next pic. gives a better view of the rear end.......standard bronze double flanged bushings installed/aligned/glued, with no issues,... and a Mr. Slotcar 8T steel pinion installed...again straightforward. This pinion has a 1.5mm bore, but, does have a 2.0mm "nub", which permits a great mesh with any standard 2.0mm slot crown gear, and is a lot less fiddly (and more precise) than using a sleeve.
Now for the fiddly bit.......the stock Scaley crown has a smaller boss than the Slot-it (I am referring to the set screw side), and no matter how much chassis you grind....it ain't gonna fit!!.......so.......you must turn the hub of the Slot-it gear down a few thou, and use a shorter than standard set screw......not really a big deal, but, it may dishearten a few of you.......the good news is that the stock gears mesh very well.
As well in the pic. you can see that that I have turned the back side of the crown, again for clearance, and again, easy to do.
(The McLaren Mk7 also needs these mods if you are planning on a gear change......the Lotus 72 does not...and I have yet to do a Tyrell)
I did turn down the stock wheels to be used as inserts on some Slot-it F1 wheels.......and while they turned out great (just need a little black paint on the wheels)........I have never felt so guilty grinding down a set of plastic wheels.......these and all that I have looked at, have been near perfect.
The finished car (except for the rear wheels)..........I have added a bit of detail paint here and there, with the most notable mod, being the addition of a visor to Jackys' helmet......not having a visor really bugged me..picky I know. It was however another easy fix....I used a piece of the clear plastic tube that slot-it use to package their eyelets...pre bent!!, a little black paint and a dot of silver for the visor hinge, and I was in business!!
I hope this may have given you folks a little insight on what is inside these cars, and a few of the things that are possible........................but, I must repeat, that these are not necessary by any means.........the car runs great as is!!................just runs a bit better now ;)
Cheers
Chris Walker
