Orakei Racer

Hello, If is just the bushing that popped out of the tube, that is no issue...a dot of CA, and you are back in business......(I have had a few come out) If you have distorted the tube itself, well,...that is another matter. If it is beyond repair, and, you can't find another, you can make one from brass tubing (2 diameters telescoped) .....if you are up for that let me know Cheers Chris Walker Thanks for the reply Chris. I think the tube is ok, I was very careful filing it, not too much pressure. Will repair it and see how straight it looks.

I'm liking all these projects coming out of the woodwork. There are alot of creative people out there, especially when they have time on their hands! Ok this is my finished Merc - took a bit longer to finish as I realized I had to paint the side mirrors, rear tow hook, roof nob which were black plastic when I pulled them out of the parts bag. Was tossing up whether to add additional Marlboro decals on front and rear windows but figured too much of a good thing may crowd things. Will tune up the chassis and put racing tires on once I can get back to the track.

Hi Chris. Great tips on the Mosler. I was following some of your recommendations on my own Mosler project including the Slotting plus rear tube brace. Unfortunately in filing the tube down on the motor side to get some clearance between the Motor and the tube, I over did it and the right side bearing broke off from the tube. Will have to see if I can solder or epoxy glue it back on but I'm afraid I may have weakened the brace.

Hey Chris - those Helmets are a work of art, even more amazing that they are 1/32 scale! Nice one!

Hi Den Yes the decals are from my go to source - Bruce. Only thing missing from the Std sheet was the "GT". I had not seen too many 1/32 versions of Penske's Sunoco 1966 Corvette, so I thought it would make a nice model. I used Tamiya's TS 15 Blue which was a not bad match but the Yellow is wrong, I only had Chrome Yellow at home which is a bit dark but did the job. If I get keen maybe I'll do Penske's original Red Corvette before he painted it Blue. I think I have the decals from the same Patto sheet. Be interested to see your Corvette when you finish it.

Hi Mac, how are you? Hopefully will finish the Merc tomorrow. Can't keep up with you though, I think the output ratio is my 2 to your 20 projects completed!

Thanks Chas for the comments. Using the MRRC Clubman kit alloy chassis with 16k short can motor in inline config to comply with our MRRC class rules. Would love a test track at home but I'm suppose to be clearing out the Garage, my life wouldn't be worth much if the Mrs found out I was setting up a track in the Garage even just for the lockdown period! Seen a few of those Scaley Camaros - watch the rear bearing holding posts, they have a nasty habit of splitting, I ended up gluing a re-enforcing plate on the outside of the bearing post.

Thanks G - it's just sheet of Black card. Just trying to reduce natural light glare so get a sharper pic but seem to end up in Night mode. Should get some Photography tips from you!

Finally finished the Corvette. Have to wait awhile to road test it, likely the chassis will need some weight. Body is a bit heavy with the clip in rear body post attachment so COG could be a bit high. Could drop the front down a bit more by trimming the body post but will road test it first.

This one is for you Chas. Still got to paint the driver, fit the interior.... - bit to go yet.

Too easy - Marlboro scheme is simple to do and also very recognizable. Decided to continue my gold theme from last year's NZ Slotit DTM series. These are pre-final clear coat to seal the decals. The decals took alot longer to do as I didn't have a exact DTM livery to follow so copied bits from existing Merc liveries and from what I could find in my spare decal sheets. When I finished, I kept thinking looks a lot like a Mitshu Evo IV Rallyart!

Can't compete with Mac for output but this is my next project. Can you guess the car and livery - no help from Slotsnz! And this is my other project - MRRC Corvette. Not an exact replica - bonnet and rear split window are different to to the real thing but whose going to notice on the track!

The finished product! No idea how it runs, probably needs weight. On to the next project....

My first lockdown project nearly done! You ever find that starting a project is always easy, you're enthusiastic, the research is interesting, things seem to progress nicely, then you hit a snag or need to order a part. Then you suddenly lose interest, that project goes back on the shelf and you look around for a new project to start! I must have ADD, as my shelf is full of half started projects or is this normal for people in our hobby. Any way I commenced this project in early March and now being stuck at home, I have no excuses not to finish it, though who knows how long before I can test run it. It started as a Monogram 1/32 Chappy Mk 2 with a Sebring Chassis. I wanted to run it in our MRRC house class figuring that MRRC use to produce this model probably from the same mould. The challenge was fitting a MRRC Clubman kit alloy chassis under it with a std 16k FC-130 motor in inline Configuration, as the stock floor of the cockpit and motor base detail were too deep and interfered with the top of the motor. Lucky all the body posts lined up with the alloy chassis so the only surgery was re-working the interior and motor base. I cut out the cockpit floor which included the seat details and replaced it with a thin plastic card floor, cut the driver in half from the waist down, reinstalling the steering wheel was the hardest part as it turned out there was not alot of room under the windscreen, especially as I raised the floor a bit - so had to do some surgery on the steering wheel and halved it too. Used more Plastic card to rebuild the Motor base plate, the injector pipes may end up sitting a little taller but I wasn't going to chop them- anyway -just looks like a Mclaren M6A. The Body posts once I separated them from the original cockpit floor just screwed back into place on the body. In theory as I was careful cutting up the original cockpit floor, I could probably restore it back to it's original state. More later.

Hi DC Still have a month to go before cars are due to be sent to you. Any thoughts about the impact of the Corona Virus on the running of the proxy. Biggest challenge will be for track owners and if they can get enough people to help run a round or whether they even want to have a gathering of people in a small area if NZ has a major outbreak. I for one if I stay fit and healthy would be prepared to just run the round myself, may take me awhile to run 1 car at a time on 4 lanes but I have done qualifying like this so possible (I believe Munter has done this for other Proxies)and it maybe the case I won't have much else to do if we have full lock down, though I would have to travel to the track. The other consideration would be if there is contamination of the cars from handling then they are getting shipped to other people - would track owners need to disinfect the cars before sending them off to the next track. Food for thought.

The MRRC clubman alloy chassis kits come with motor brackets to run FC130 motors inline which everyone has to run ie no FF motors which levels the playing field. No one liked the Sebring std plastic chassis so we settled on the clubman chassis as it's adjustable and the mounts matched the stock MRRC bodies. Only downside is they do bend easily. At the moment we are just running MRRC bodies but I'm in the process of converting a Revell/Monogram Chappy 2A body to fit a Clubman chassis, need to make a new interior floor and motor pan to make them as shallow as possible otherwise they rub on the top of the motor but body mounting posts line up nicely with the chassis. Believe MRRC used the same body moulds as Revell/Monogram ie shouldn't contravene rules, then maybe next project will be the Revell Shelby Daytona though there is a lot of interior to remove to fit a FC130 motor inline.

Competitor cars from last Tues nights MRRC Clubman Class. The King Cobra is the favorite weapon of choice - Low, wide and light but now and again we get Cheetahs, Corvettes and Ferrari. They all run the Alloy Clubman chassis with the MRRC 16k motor inline and std gearing 9 to 27T. Overall winner was Westie(#97) second was Paul Y (#7), third was Alex (#8). Great looking paint jobs and classic 60s cars always look cool.

Counting this recent breakage as my second broken pod - both being 0.5mm offsets - maybe I just need to be a bit more gentle with the 0.5's. Never had an issue with the .75 or 1mm pods.

Thanks for the tip- I'll give it a whirl.

I have been playing around with Hawk 18K motors for a new Club Class and have noticed that the Hawk motor appears to be slightly bigger than a Standard Slot it Motor. Case in point, I found that you really needed to shoe horn the Hawk into a Slotit Sidewinder 0.5mm Offset pod - once in, it felt like it wasn't going anywhere, which is good if you didn't intend changing motors but because I was testing motors, when I went to remove the Hawk, I cracked the Can end bracket of the pod at the base, which indicates The Hawk motor was too tight and putting the pod under pressure. Any suggestions on how to relieve the pressure on the Slotit Pod pod for a Hawk motor?

Hi DC Put me down for a XB\XC Falcon Moffet #1, and if you are short on Class B cars- I'll dig up my Sierra.

Thanks for the kind comments guys. Have decided not to fit the wing on for competition but will compromise by opening the wing holes so can clip the wing in and remove as required. Finished product is below. Had to stop myself fiddling any more with the body and leave it as is, otherwise accidents start happening. Will see what the club guys make of it.

So we started a new club class for Thunderslots which is proving very successful and the Mclarens appear to be the weapon of choice. Trouble is it's beginning to look like a Bruce Mclaren or Lothar M convention and will be even worse with the Henderson and Nelson TS challenge events coming up this year. So I thought I would do another White kit body and swap it for competitions and keep the original No. 4 body unmolested. I took inspiration from the Mclaren Elva liveries again and copied the Elvis Mclaren paint scheme. Kept decals to a minimum like the real thing, to keep that clean look. Tamiya rattle can gold and white primer, finished with Mr Hobby 501 Gloss clear. Detailing was done using Tamiya acrylic, Humbrol enamels, sharpies and that magic chrome pen. I tried Tamiya panel lines paint for first time, easy to use, not sure if effect too contrasting, maybe should have used brown instead of black. Decals were a mixture of MRRC and Pioneer, the Pioneer decals must be old as they were starting to breakup on the edges when wet. Anyway the last decision is should I put the wing on? It's a little heavy and may raise the COG which will effect it's handling in races. It will also involve drilling thru mounting holes in the body which may spoil the body lines if I don't use it. Decisions decisions.... Anyway this is the semi finished project before I mount on a donor chassis and do the panel lines and touch up the rear air grills.

As per Zegas's suggestions. Try gluing some strips of lead between the side mounting knobs on the chassis. They are ideally located parallel to the side of the motor which optimises balance for inlines. Maybe add a bit of weight in the magnet holder behind the motor also. Aim to add some weight to chassis to lower COG but also bias the weight bit more to rear to promote a bit of slide when cornering instead of tires digging in at the limit. Also make sure you round the edges of the rear tires - straight edge will just dig into the corners. and cause tipping. Double check tires front and back are not rubbing on the insides of the guards on hard cornering - you may have to dremel the inside edge of the wheel openings so they are not so thick. Also check setup of your front axle and front wheels. Because of the cross beam piece on the guide holder, this limits how low you can set the front axle and the guide depth. Don't make your front tires too small in diameter otherwise you won't be able to get them to touch the track - I think I trued fronts on the mini to 19.3mm. You want the car weight on the front tires, not on the guide, to help with controlling the tipping. Also try some thin soft braid like Sideways 0.05mm braid. Stiffer braid may be contributing to the guide lifting. It's a fine balance with weight tuning - more weight you use, the more your brakes and acceleration will suffer but on the other hand, if the car becomes stable to the point you are confident to push it and drive smoothly, the fast lap times will come and you will stay in more often. Also try driving with less attack, sensitivity or power on your hand controller, this will help to keep the car driving smoothly.

We are running 1/24 Fujimi Mini kitset bodies on a HRS chassis. The body with a lexan type interior weighs 28g - overall weight of body and chassis is around 100g. Main diff is we went with a sidewinder pod and 16k MRRC motor and went Paul gage urethane tires for slightly less grip. Cars are as stable as and runs at a reasonable pace. I think your challenge is you are top heavy so you need to lower COG with some more weight down low.