Well, here is the final version. I shot it first in red metal flake Testors paint. It looked AWESOME! But if I held it in my hand for 20 seconds it got super tacky. Waxing it made a mess. So I sanded it all back down and shot it with black lacquer. I don't have the balls to try and mask off the bumpers and shoot them chrome. I figured I'd stop now while I am ahead. maybe after the race I'll do it...
Yardley, don't be sceerd:grin: go for the chrome! I will try to post some pics of the practice car with the GSX stripes tonight. I use a spare car to test things like paint before I put them on Brians car. The riv. looks great! I wish I had to talent to build a GS like that. But I will keep trying.
Awesome Riv, Yardley! (of course I'm waiting for the pic with you standing beside it, or peeking out from under the bottom...) Nice blacked-out Stealth look! Instead of painting the chrome, go to a hobby / model supply store and get some (I think it's called) "Metal-Chrome". It's a really thin foil, comes in shiny silver / chrome or brass. It's sticky on one side, you peel it off the backing paper and stick it on, then use an exacto-knife to trim the excess. The package I got years ago had 4 or 5, 6"x8" sheets of the stuff. Used it to 'replace' the plastic chrome on my dash bits. Not near as shiny as real chrome, but way better than the paint I had. I'd think it would make a terrific grill, glass surround trim, etc.
Awesome Jeff, That looks great! It is also an inspiration. How many hours do you think you have in it? Did you use a Dremel tool to carve?
About 40 hours...:eek2: I have that chrome hobby film. But to follow the contours would be tough. I have chrome paint that really does shine. I just may... I added wood to the sides after cutting the wheelwells out of the add-on first. Added wood to the top. Drew the profile on paper and cut it out and taped it to the side. Then I used a bandsaw to cut the basic shape. A DA sander, hand sanding and a Dremel were the basic tools. Oh, and LOTS of Bondo... why should this be any different than my real RIv???ou: I just may use that chrome film to do windows.
Brians GSX This is what Brian wanted! I think he made a good choice. I cut it out on the band saw like he wanted it, he sanded and painted. I did do the taping but he did the painting of the stripes. The wheels and axles have been polished by him and will get installed next.
Jamies Hummer This is what Jamies finally decided on! Again I did the cutting on the band saw but Jamie did the sanding and painting. I took some time to cut out paper templates for the camo. and he painted most of it. He made the flag and did the taping and painting of the windows. Jamie has impressed me with his natural ability to make things like this in the shop. He shows great patience and skill, two things that I could use more of!
I just read that to install the axles... flip the car over, put the axle through the tire, lay the axle on top of the groove and hammer it into the groove - longways! Don't hammer it in from the side like you are driving a regular nail. Then lay epoxy over the nail to keep it in place. This way you can perfectly adjust just how much angle you get on the wheels. Driving them in like a regular nail down the slot is difficult to get the angle because once you start the nail that way you really can't change the angle, you just have to drive it home.
This is the practice car This car was the one I did to practice on and to show Brian what his would (maybe!) look like. And of course it is green! Who'd a thunk that!:grin: I have taken more time to make these cars better this year than last year. I try not to get too caught up and start making them myself!:blast: I was going to get a friend of mine who is a very good artistic painter to help with the stripes, but the wife reminded me of how much the boys needed to do. Ever since I went through 4 eye surgeries and lost most of the vision in my right eye, I have wanted to spend more time with the boys and see them win before my left eye messes up. I saw myself turning into one of those parents that I have seen at baseball games that really gets upset if thier child doesn't do good and makes a scene in public.ou: I almost did that at the Cub Scout turkey shoot when they let an older kid keep winning and not letting the smaller kids like mine to have a fairer chance. We just all took a break and then the next weekend we went back and that is when Brian really shined and won one of two fishing poles. He wanted to go back and sign up for the other pole so I let him. He told the man after he gave him the money that he was going to win the other pole and give it to his brother. And that is exactly what he did! Boy did that make me proud.:grin: Brian loves to target shoot and now at just over 8 years old he can take his BB gun or my 22 pistol and shoot bottle tops at 17 to 25 feet with little problem. Well here is that darn green car:grin:
It sure is funny looking! I didn't realize you were here. I just e-mailed these same pics to you and to Karen Miller who's red GSX we copied. Later!
glue trick? It was suggested here to mix super glue and graphite together and apply it to the axles, wheel hubs and the side of the body where the wheel might rub. What are some details in doing this? I noticed that when spinning the wheels on the axles by hand that they would wobble some with no graphite on them and they still do it with some graphite on them. It acts like the wheel hub has too much clearance to the axle. I tryed the super glue trick on the axle. I made a paste but I think it was to thick. The axle looked rough. I took the axle and put it in the drill and sanded it down until it fit in the hub and the wheel spins better the more you work it by hand. I may try the clear coat tonight if y'all can help me save some time in the learning curve! I also read that you can spray clear paint on the axles and then sprinkle graphite on them. Is this better? Should I do this while spinning it in the drill? The derby is not until Sat. Thanks
GUYS!!!!!!!! Here is the poop!!!! My son's car was getting spanked in the 2 test n' tune sessions we had. So 2 hours before race time I decided we had to build a new car. My son was all for it because he realized he wouldn't stand a chance with his other car. He had the 5th fastest time out of 50 cars and took 2nd place in his rank (Wolf Cub), and we only spent a half hour on the wheels/axles and another half hour on the body. It looked terrible, but he got a big trophy and I've never seen him so proud. Here's what I learned: When I polished the axles with 1500 wet/dry sand paper, the wheels would chatter like crazy when you spun them, yet on untreated stock axles the wheels would spin beautifully. So I took metal polish, chucked the axles in my drill again (they'll fit in a dremel too) and put some METAL polish on a rag, cranked up the drill and polished the axles. They shone like a bleeding mirror!!! And all the wheel chatter was gone. Use aluminum or stainless polish. Also, file the casting flash from the back side of the nailhead. Even file the back of the head into a little cone. Burnish the graphite into the area of the car where the wheels will hit. Use a drill press, a drill a hair smaller than the axles, and drill the axles square!!! Then PUSH (don't hammer) the nails into the slots - well, actually the holes you just made. If they are loose, epoxy them in. We used a shallow wedge to tilt the body just enough so that when we drilled the holes they were at a slight angle so the sheels would tilt and be pushed away from the body as soon as the car began rolling. I have a tool to measure the squareness of the slots that are predrilled, and one of the blocks of wood was waaaaay off, the other was very close. That is what prompted me to do a quick build of a new car just before race day. I'm not impressed with the Teflon lubricant. The graphite with molybdenum seems to be the hot ticket. And it paid off. You can buy pre-selected/matched wheels on-line. You can even buy grooved axles too. The 2nd fastest boy there had them. Not sure what the 1st fastest had. The most important tech things are the polishing of the axles and the squaring of the slots in the body. If the wheels chatter and if the car pulls to one side you'll lose a ton of speed. Gosh, the kids and the dad's had fun yesterday!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations! That's WAY COOL, Jeff!!! Congratulations to you and your son, and thanks for starting this fun thread! Kudos to your son for having the courage to start over with so little time, I'm sure he's got some great memories to cherish in the years to come. Jimmy, as I understand it, the idea of the glue/graphite is to build up the axle diameter to reduce the wheel/axle clearance, which reduces the wheel wobble or chatter, and reduces friction by graphite-impregnated surface to ride on. Sounds like you're headed in the right direction, just need some "wearing in". Might try putting the axle in a slower drill and holding the wheel still to burnish the surface. I'd use graphite liberally for this, but watch out for opening up the clearances. Yardley also mentioned aligning the wheels, tilting the axles, etc, one other thing I've seen is setting one wheel higher than the other three, so the car only really uses three wheels for less drag. That and most every winning car I've seen has the weight to the rear of the car. Good Luck, but remember that the goal is fun Fun FUN!
Home computer down! I think the modumb(!) is bad in my home computer! I have to check this site at work for now. Thanks for the conformation of the wheel chatter. I am glad that I asked. I will get to work on that problem tonight. Congrats on your sons 2nd place finish! Make sure you show us a picture of y'all with his trophy. How did the Riv. do? Or did you get chance to race it? Also does your pack use electronic timers for the track? I still dream of building our own track and then getting Alan to help me build timers for the down hill part and then the flat part of the track. I keep telling the boys to not get their hopes up in case we don't win and that we are there to have fun, but I have gotten caught up in this project so now I need to be telling my self this! :grin: Thanks for all the help:TU:
My Riv got spanked, because I didn't do the axle slot drilling or axle polishing. Also, the wood I added on made the car way heavy. I had to literally gut the underside of the car to get it down to 5 ounces. And I think the bulk of the weight should be low in the car and just ahead of the rear axle. My Riv has all the weight around the perimeter. Ahh, but it looks good. Also, the axle slot closest to the edge of the block of wood is said to provide the best times when it is used as the front axle.
Sorry to hear the Riv didn't do so well, but I'll bet the other cars weren't anywhere near as cool! :bglasses: Did you do any more painting / window work on it? Got pics? I've decided that since I can't find a scale model of an early '70's 2-door, the only way I'm going to get a model of the 2NABOT is to do like you and make a pinewood version. If I start now, I might be ready by next season, as little spare time that working for the BSA allows...:rant:
