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Brock - Johnson Sierras


rosco01

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Hi folk,

it looks as if lady luck has shone on me.... an aermodeling friend has been reading my reports on the Torana build (mainly lathe operation) and emailed me to ask if I wanted a Scalextric set of Peter Brock's and Dick Johnson's Sierras the he and his kids used to play with years and years ago that was just taking up storage space... he was going to throw it out.... or donate it to charity...

 

I have claimed it... will let you know what eventuates... no idea of condition.. but, if nothing else, I'll certainly be looking at the two Sierras...

 

frats,

Rosco

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Be prepared for a surprise at what Scalextric considered a Sierra, back in the day.......

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Cheers,

 

Tony.

 

There's only two questions:

 

1. What direction do you go

2. What's the Lap Record?

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I’ve got a couple of Shell Sierras from the early days and also a Texaco. After comparing with the latest ones throwing out is a viable option for the old ones. I have a heap of old school Scalextric and SCX cars that I will end up offering as spares for someone who wants them as they are really just hanging around taking up space. 

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1 minute ago, Mobbzee said:

My guess is these cars...

 

58D13814-FADF-4684-9061-0A9B7B8159EB.jpeg

Yep that would be them. I remember how excited I was when I saw them all those years ago but they really drove terribly compared to modern cars. Ninco really made them lift their game. 

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Just now, bov said:

Weren't they Rovers or Escort XR3s or something like that originally?

They used XR3’s with a Greenstuf paint scheme which they sold in a Bathurst track from memory. Others too as I think they used a Mondeo as an early Shell Falcon too. 

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Wow, the forum looks amazing.... congrats to all concerned - lot of hard work gone into this with little thanks for it is the usual... thanks fella's.

 

Yes, these are the cars I have..... I think there is more value in keeping the set intact.. it is a complete set and appears to be in good condition.. cars are used, but no damage.

To a collector, with the box intact (with some bit of masking tape here and there to hold the corners together) - in time, this will be valuable.

I don't believe I'll mess with either of the cars.... they are really not that good in detail... and wow!... a Commodore version as well...... thank goodness Scalextric finally put Oz on the map and made some of "our" cars.... 

 

thanks again folk... 

 

and again - congrats on the upgrade...

 

frats,

Rosco

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As Mozzbee commented 1990 is about right for the release date of the set containing the two Sierras. I can recall my oldest nephew having the set and he was born in 1982.

The drawbacks with these cars were (1) the front wheels were located on floppy stub axles that were used to enable the cars to get around the steeply-banked curves supplied in the set,  (2) the awful hump under the rear axle and (3) they are narrow-gutted with a high centre of gravity.

Somehow I managed to inherit the Brock 05 car but have rarely run it as it is almost unusable on flat tracks. I did fit a solid front axle but high COG doesn't do a lot for the handling of the car.

One of the current Launceston racers has started making 3D printed podded chassis for the Sierra and the Ford XR3i also mentioned in this thread but I've yet to put one of these on track.

When the UK lockdown eases I thinking that I may get hold of some of the JS 3D chassis which use a one-piece 'torsion bar' style design.

Den

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On 5/15/2020 at 10:29 PM, Mobbzee said:

Vinno is right....

 

0ABF7026-EB81-4665-92B4-338143C6B197.jpeg

 

Wow, my brothers and I had a set with "Brock and Johnson " cars, I think they were supposed to be Sierras, but actually looking nothing like Sierras, looked a bit like the form pictured here, though the "Brock" car was a Mobil-like livery, so must have been a later release, late 80's I guess. I seem to recall them being quite disappointing, I remember someone pulled the Brock car apart "to see what is wrong with it" but I don't think it ever went back together again. We still have it somewhere.

 

That SD1 #17 liveried car is just wrong!!! Will have trouble getting that out of my immediate memory! A bit of a laugh though.

Edited by Slotspeed
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Although those early Aussie cars were just revamped Escorts, which were terrible to drive, you can convert them into a decent handling car, if you are prepared to butcher it a bit. Wouldn't do it on those rarer Aussie cars, but I did finish off a chassis lowering job I picked up off someone else. I think the ride height was dropped a good 4 or 5 mm, and it makes a huge difference. 

There are probably neater ways to achieve it, but I decided not to try and undo what had been done, and instead just cleaned it up, added finishing touches and ended up with a fairly decent runner. Gave  a Rover the same treatment and it runs even better. There are more pics and comments here: XR3i

C390_Ford_Escort_XR3i_Red_6_prof_l.jpg

 

Graeme

~~~~~~

 

(Life is like a sewer....................What you get out of it depends on what you put into it!)

https://gtoutweb.com/index.htm

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  • 7 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/16/2020 at 8:06 PM, big den said:

As Mozzbee commented 1990 is about right for the release date of the set containing the two Sierras. I can recall my oldest nephew having the set and he was born in 1982.

The drawbacks with these cars were (1) the front wheels were located on floppy stub axles that were used to enable the cars to get around the steeply-banked curves supplied in the set,  (2) the awful hump under the rear axle and (3) they are narrow-gutted with a high centre of gravity.

Somehow I managed to inherit the Brock 05 car but have rarely run it as it is almost unusable on flat tracks. I did fit a solid front axle but high COG doesn't do a lot for the handling of the car.

One of the current Launceston racers has started making 3D printed podded chassis for the Sierra and the Ford XR3i also mentioned in this thread but I've yet to put one of these on track.

When the UK lockdown eases I thinking that I may get hold of some of the JS 3D chassis which use a one-piece 'torsion bar' style design.

Den

@big denI finished off my two early Dick Johnson red and yell Sierra's. I got a couple of PCR chassis and modified it to suit. Got the rear mounting hole to line up the did the old wall plug front mount post trick. Still have to finish the wheel inserts as I robbed the wheels off a couple of HRS2 kits I had.

They came up pretty well and actually don't look out of place with the other late version Sierra's and other Aussie touring cars of that period. 

This afternoon I will be dropping down the local track and seeing how they go which is where it counts.

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G'day Oldskool62

It's hard to believe that 8 months has passed since we were discussing this topic. Glad that you've been able to complete a couple of cars.

You mention the HRS2 kits. Recently in another topic I suggested to someone (was it you?) that these (the HRS2s) are a good option when you need to find a chassis for a special project. They also have the great advantage of still being available while other good products such as the PCS chassis series a becoming more difficult to obtain.

Those JS 3DP chassis that I mentioned last time have been delayed due to the UK going back into lock-down and I'm not holding my breath waiting for them to arrive.

No shortage of other projects to help me fill in my time though!

Den

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@big denBeing new to this forum there is such good information and older discussions that are well new to me :). 

Mate I'm the same, no shortage of projects and more bodies on order to keep the production line going :).

I have had that old Dick Johnson Bathurst Sierra set sitting around for years and anyway I thought that I would love to resurrect the old car and see what I could do to them without butchering them too much. Over the years I did the front axle mod etc etc and well put them back on the shelf. Anyway over Christmas I pulled them off the shelf along with one of my late model Sierra's to see what I could do. Anyway the Sierra PCR chassis was selected as the weapon of choice and with a bit of grafting both the old DJ 17 & 18 cars were given a new life. I had a couple of HRS inline kits sitting around that I was going to use but wasn't prepared butcher the bodies and that's why I went the other path with the PCR chassis. I ended up using the wheels motor/pod etc from the HRS2 kits. I'm not fussed on wheel originality so am gutting down the plastic inserts you get with the HRS2 kit and making the Slot.it look like deep dish Simmons wheels.

Last Thursday I took them to the local track in Penrith for a bit of a trial and they go really well. Aside from body and pod float there has been no other tuning. I'm going to play with weight later on but that can weight.

As far as the HRS2 kits go. I really like them. Being new to building cars I haven't tried to build a chassis. The HRS2 kit for me and what I want to do with my cars is affordable and reasonably complete. You get the motor configuration options which is good . I know there are better chassis out there but at this stage I don't race my car's. I will once I move but for the meantime I take them to the local track in Penrith and play.

Edited by Oldskool62
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Sounds as if you are finding fulfillment in this hobby, OS-62... good stuff.

I have a couple of HRS2 kits - one was planned for a 280Z.. but I'm leaning towards making up my own chassis for that.. and the HRS-2 can stay in wait for another day... 

I haven't run either of my refurbed little donor Bathurst Set cars yet... or any of the 8 plus cars I have picked up since the last time I put a track together... be a full on day just setting up the SCP-2 controller for each of them... 

 

Glad to learn you are enjoying what we hope will be a long lived passion for the hobby...

 

frats,

Rosco

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