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Revell Fairlanes


Yngwie

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I was just wondering if anyone with the Revell Fairlanes and Galaxies might be able to measure the wheelbase required for a donor chassis. My thoughts, the SCX Nascar chassis might be a close fit but I do not have any Revell bodies to measure them by. Thanks in advance!

 

John

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Myself and the guys at St Andrews & Mt Annan raceways run the stock chassis with a couple of minor mods (about 10 minutes work) and they run great. They are certainly a challenge but good fun. I am running a black fantasy livery and it looks great. We have found that easy to drive can get to be boring at times. :D

Gort, Klaatu barada nikto.

 

My poor Krell!

After a million years of shining sanity...

they could hardly have understood what power was destroying them.

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A few people racing these at my place have them going quite well with the stock chassis , they are lowered a fair way though .

The plate system that holds the front axle in with 4 screws is an easy adjustment to lower the front , just remove the screws and put the two spacer pieces ( not in the picture ) under the main front axle retaining piece this allows the front axle to raise up higher . Check your tyre clearance to the track though this car pictured has different wheels .

Lowering the back axle is a little harder and involves taking the axle and bearings out and doing a bit of file work on the chassis then glueing the rear axle bushings back in - setting the axle higher in the chassis .

The body posts are also shortened and reinforced with some styrene plastic , a lot depends on how low you want to go , this gold car has the interior floor section cut and raised a little as well so it can all sit lower on the chassis . its a bit of messing around so it depends on how keen you are to get the thing going well really

click the pictures to enlarge them a bit more

th_canoncameraphotosmay5th2011472.jpg

ps forgot to add the section under the chassis for the magnet has to be ground away so the chassis can drop , this chassis has some white styrene plastic glued over the area where the magnet was sitting.

th_canoncameraphotosmay5th2011446.jpg

th_canoncameraphotosmay5th2011445.jpg

pss found a pic of the interior floor that shows how much was trimmed away to allow it to sit lower in the chassis - cut off the floor , trim it out then re glue the floor in .

Also the rear parcel shelf area is trimmed for motor and tyre clearance .

th_canoncameraphotosmay5th2011473-1.jpg

Edited by BMR
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That really dumps them on the ground doesn't it. Looks hot. Good work.

 

What are the wheels and tyres???

Edited by Bulsara

Gort, Klaatu barada nikto.

 

My poor Krell!

After a million years of shining sanity...

they could hardly have understood what power was destroying them.

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That really dumps them on the ground doesn't it. Looks hot. Good work.

 

What are the wheels and tyres???

 

Wheels and tyres are all MJK items - web site link here - http://www.mjkeng.com/list_sept11.pdf

 

Vintage narrow and vintage wide ;

 

rear rim is MJK3111 with tyre MJK4406

front rim is MJK 3112 with tyre MJK4407

Edited by BMR
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MJK can also supply a chassis to go under these

They go fairly well also.

Like every thing, :unsure: depends what yo are after.

Paul

Like this chassis MJK132A its the chassis that MJK sell in the FJ and EH Holden kits you can mount the motor as an angle winder or inline for anything real narrow

 

canoncameraphotosmay5th2011469.jpg

 

This ones not using the MJK kit side mounting pieces that glue tohe body like the slot it HRS chassis but instead its screwed to the interior

 

canoncameraphotosmay5th2011467.jpg

 

 

What da ya think Paul , I should email MJK for an advertising kick back huh :lol:

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Hi Steve,

We can only but try.

Do you think they will show for Bathurst, at Neils tomorrow evening????

I have my 69 big block Camaro ready to go (at least it was last time I looked at the thing)

 

See you then,

PAUL :ph34r:

Try Harder, if you dont fail your not trying hard enough

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Hi Steve,

We can only but try.

Do you think they will show for Bathurst, at Neils tomorrow evening????

I have my 69 big block Camaro ready to go (at least it was last time I looked at the thing)

 

See you then,

PAUL :ph34r:

I dont want to redirect Yngwies thread but to answer your question Paul - I reckon the northern guys will show up this time .

 

The number 29 gold Fairlane wheelbase is 95mm Yngwie

 

Width - front will allow 53mm witdh outer tyre edge to tyre edge

 

Width - rear 54mm width outer tyre edge to tyre edge - narrow buggas huh

Edited by BMR
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  • 5 months later...

This is a great thread, with a lot of helpful hints.

 

I have made only very minor changes to my chassis, building on some of the ideas here but not taking them quite as far. For example, I have ground down the rear body mounts by around 10 thou, and sanded the bottom of the interior tray and parcel shelf in the problem areas (rear half of interior floor and the raised ridge on the parcel shelf) to enable the chassis to sit up higher in the body. Instead of using placing the two 'spacers' from the front axle box under the box I have just inserted a sheet of 10thou styrene under there cut to fit.

 

These combine to give a very subtle lowering effect (comparing it to the #34 Fairlane above my wheels are slightly higher in the body) and raise the front axle relative to the guide, which combined with the use of the Slot.It guide and braid will hopefully eliminate the problems of the stock system. I have also removed the rear magnet box (and magnets) and ground it down to clear the track.

 

This has resulted in a very standard looking car at first sight.

 

The only real change I am contemplating at the moment is to swap out the rear axle and spur for Slot.It and using BWA wheels with inserts. It already has a 6.5mm Slot.It pinion, which works well with the stock gear. I could perhaps try using a NSR 7112 or Slot.It 6.75mm pinion though if I went to a 18mm spur

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The Pioneer Charger is a good option as a donor chassis.

 

regarding the rear axle swap on the stock revell chassis you may need a 7.5mm pinion - from memory the stock plastic revell spur gear has 37 teeth so something like a slot it or NSR 19mm spur gear may fall a bit short when it comes to the gears meshing / meeting nicely , as I said thats from memory I cant recall the stock spur gears size but its possibly a 20mm item ???

 

Pioneer chassis is the second from the left under the yellow body - click the image to enlarge it

 

th_canoncameraphotosmay5th2011468.jpg

Edited by BMR
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Nice. I am a little too familiar with the Pioneer Charger chassis after putting one in my Carrera. It is a good chassis but it doesn't work out that cheap because Pioneer still don't sell the Charger chassis as a separate unit. I only did it because I got a Charger on sale at Thunderbirds.

 

Speaking of Pioneer chassis I managed to snap one of the front axle clips in my main Mustang for the race Thursday evening. Hopefully it will hold if I super glue the bushes in, but I might need to reinforce with something. I think I have some Slot.It reinforcing clips of some kind that came with a spacer set, they might help, otherwise it's the old standby of styrene card.

 

Some of my cars have so much styrene in them I should be sponsored by Evergreen!

 

P.S. I should add that besides the gears issue I don't see the Monogram chassis as being anywhere near as bad as the Carrera one. It just needs a few tweaks and it could benefit from some Slot.It or similar gears and axles. The wheels are also a bit iffy. I quite like the box front mount design, except for the problem of accessing the guides and wires, and I have a new appreciation of the robust design of the front axle assembly after this problem with my Mustang!

Edited by Burglar
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I managed to get a Pioneer chassis as a spare part , Surely T Birds should be able to get a chassis as a spare part if I can ?

 

yep the weak spot on the Pioneer chassis is the front axle retainers , I have use the black plastic "zip" ties as fixers for that area the zip tie material glues in very well with super glue and its stronger than the white Evergreen styrene plastic , once its glued in the repair can be shaped up to accept the Pioneer axle bush again .

Alternately do both sides of the chassis at the bush retaining points and then file in a rounded slot and glue in a styrene tube or better still leave the pieces of zip tie as flats and drill a small hole to suit a pair of brass eyelets that suit the 3/32 axle , I get the brass eyelets from the hobby shop that stock bits for model aircraft . Once the brass eyelets are in the front wheels usually spin better than the origonal plastic bushes.

 

If its needed - its also an ideal time to reset the front axle height when this repair comes due

 

Back to the monogram stock car chassis , they are not a bad chassis once theyr'e lowered and tuned in a bit . A few at my place including me have got them going quite well and when they are up against the other long wheelbase stock cars they are very competitive , the motors are better than the Scaley motors IMO .

At my place the Pioneers seem to rule the roost but only because theres more of them lined up to race and most are the Mustangs with a shorter wheelbase and generally they have a tad wider stance after the locals have done them up a bit .

 

Found this picture and a supplier of the eyelets - cant be sure of the inside measurement on these eyelets but the picture gives a better idea of what I mean above the measurement given on this site is 3mm which I would assume is the outside measurement not the inside ?

 

http://www.rcplanet...._p/futfsh21.htm

 

th_FUTFSH21-2T.jpg click to enlarge

Edited by BMR
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I might have to get you to have a look at this Mustang :unsure:

 

I managed to eventually glue the old bush in and brace everything and then once super glue got absolutely everywhere - I genuinely hate that stuff - it seems that I have managed to glue it in slightly crooked! If it affects the racing I will simply take the front tyres off and run it tripod on Thursday but it might need a new chassis.

 

After that debacle I immediately pulled down my Torino as I now I weakened one of those tabs by accident when I was doing all those chassis mods. Braced it up with a couple of lengths of styrene rectangular tubing from the Evergreen 'odds & ends' pack I got from Hobby Habit. It was a dear pack ($18) but there are a lot of little bits and pieces that come in handy. on the top tube I cut a groove to allow the wires to pass over more easily. Seems to be braced up pretty solid and hopefully between that and the two Carrera axles glued into the chassis it should be rock solid. I hope. I'm guessing it will take some bashing when it finally does run against other NASCARs. I have a teaching break coming up so I should be able to attend one of your Monday nights - I'm guessing though that you are not having one Easter Monday.

 

The tubing with brass eyelets sounds like a good fix. I just worry that I will glue it in crooked again :lol:

 

P.S. I don't think that Chris Osborne is dealing with Pioneer at all anymore. I can get another Mustang chassis from Pioneer direct via ebay if I need it, although at this point I'd probably just buy another car and strip the parts out of this one as the body is clapped. There was someone selling Charger chassis, I think it was Slot Car Corner, but their shipping charges are mental and I'm not sure why they had stock, maybe Pioneer did some deal. Pioneer have never offered them as a spare part with part number though

Edited by Burglar
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Guest jazzbell
.

 

I don't think that Chris Osborne is dealing with Pioneer at all anymore.

 

Not that he's not dealing with them anymore, not nocking Pioneer, from a business end ,it just doesn't sell.

 

regards shane a

 

team thunderbird

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I bought five Pioneers from Chris - two Bullitt Mustangs (one for racing, one for the shelf), one #23 Mustang fastback (the one mentioned above with the broken chassis), one Bullitt Charger (lives on the shelf), and the Bengal Charger that became the donor chassis for the Torino all came from Thunderbird.

 

Most of his Pioneer business probably came from me! :lol: But yeah the Bullitt Charger was probably the last one he sold, and I got one of the Bullitt Mustangs and the Bengal Charger from him half price from his sale stock when he was getting out of them.

 

I think the main issue was really parts availability. That killed sales, from what he said. If other people had the same problem I've had with a couple of components - most notably the guide assembly - that might have been a factor. The guide is very idiosyncratic and thus I replaced it with Slot.It and B-NOVA parts that I bought from Thunderbird on one of my recent trips there on a Tuesday night after work.

Edited by Burglar
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Most of his Pioneer business probably came from me! :lol:

Narh... All my Pioneers came from Chris too. Trouble is that there's a bit of a limitation on how many Mustangs most folks want. It's probably be a different story if the models were all flowing like they should've been by now.

 

Like so many other things, Charger chassis should probably be available as parts soon(ish).

Computers. They'll never catch on.

 

_AM_sig_zps00cdfd1a.jpg

 

Tiny Tyers Targa - The build saga continues - Aging wood - A recipe for staining wood - Don't take a fence - Step by step paling fence - An old shed for my new cars - Wooden garage under construction

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I have a '59 Chevy convertible that is crying out for a Charger chassis ...

 

I think I am going to build that up as a fun car though, a lowrider with a garish paintjob.

 

We are getting off topic though! I will find a pic of my Fairlane chassis and post that to make amends!

 

EDIT: here they are.

 

90yuj6.jpg

 

Note here Slot.It 6.5mm 12T pinion, 5 thou styrene added to floor, front of front axle box cut away to enable access to guide screw and allow NSR silicone guide wires to be routed over top to avoid larger wires binding on axle, edges of chassis sanded down to enable float, modified Slot.It wood guide, rear chassis mounts sanded down very slightly to drop rear of body, rear body mounts drilled at base to enable epoxy glue to be poured into mounts which were then fitted with Ninco long screws, sanding of interior floor and parcel shelf for clearance, 5g weight, Maxxtrac M10 tyres on standard wheels.

 

23s9dw8.jpg

 

Same pic from a wider angle, you can see here some of the tools used, mainly the Foredom H.8 flexshaft handpiece with sanding drum, Tamiya Handy Drill, some small files. A Tamiya Handy Router - very similar to the Handy Drill but with a router bit and different gearing - was used to grind away the wheel arches a little to clear the M10s when I first fitted those. The Foredom could have been used for that task if I had it then (the Foredom has pretty much replaced the Handy Router but the Handy Drill is still useful for drilling plastic at low speeds/torque).

 

9vfkpg.jpg

 

Here you can see the magnets have been removed and the holes filled with styrene, also the round mount for the display base has been removed. You can also see here the modifications to the Slot.It wood guide if you have a keen eye. They were all done with the files and the H.8. The Handy Drill was used to open up the mount holes a little so that screws would not bind, and also to drill mount holes in the 10 thou styrene sheet placed between the chassis and the axle mount box, which you can just see as a bit of white up the front. Braid, eyelets etc are Slot.It

Edited by Burglar
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I purchased a pioneer charger chassis from slotcar corner, i sent them a mesage asking if they could do any better on their postage and they ended up sending it to me for $7.

 

I've just finished putting it under the new GTX, but after breaking the piece between the motor endbell and the rear axle bearing clipping the motor in, and the front bearing mount breaking during its first test drive, also having to replace the guide after not being able to get the braids the clip in as they should, this will be the last pioneer product i buy.

I do have a pioneer mustang that goes well, but only because for all the aftermarket running gear fitted.

They seem to be good shelf queens, which is what jules has aimed for i think.

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Yeah, there is a fair bit of hype on them online I think. They have their good features, and then there are a few 'innovations' which don't always work.

 

Good features: motors, bodywork, interiors, body mounting system, overall chassis structure geometry, axles, rear bushes, parts bag with kit, and the compatibility with Scalextric Digital and light boards if that's your bag.

 

Bad features: guide system (all aspects), axle mountings, sloppy plastic front axle bushes, wheels without grub screws on unknurled axles keep coming off and require intervention of dreaded superglue.

 

Some things like the noisy plastic gears and the plastic wheels are cost items so it makes sense to include these. At least the axles are the right size and unknurled if you want to fit aftermarket wheels and spur gears. The axle and motor shaft just need a few passes with a file to remove the knurling (you don't need to take it right off for the pinion, so I only take off what's necessary to get it started).

 

The only real inexcusable stuff is the flimsy front axle mounting (I will brace all of the cars I race from here on) and the horrible guide system with those stupid brass clips and the long post. The Charger chassis in particular has a lot of front-to-back slop in the guide post. I have replaced two guides with Slot.It screw fit guides using the B-NOVA adapter. I'd recommend the 1/16" size although I did use the 1/32" size on my Torino to give extra clearance for the low chassis. I haven't had the problem with the motor mount but I will watch out for it. I know it is tight. I generally use the little grill under the motor and push something up between the grill to pop the motor out.

 

I've replaced the gears in mine with NSR 7113 and Slot.It 1936 following rick1776's tip, and would suggest putting the rear axle bearings in the front and replacing the rears with Slot.It or similar. I've used the teflon/aluminium ones in my Torino and they seem good.

 

These could have been much better cars with a little more thought put into simple things such as the guide and front axle clips. They are indeed lovely shelf queens and when they are running right they are killer slot racers. You don't want guide problems and axles snapping off though mid race. That said I race them much more than any of the Scalextric cars I have had. The Smokey Yunick Mustang, for example, is a pile of junk. Same with the Truxmore Torino and the General Lee Charger. The Cortina rolls over due to high CG and the Escort does not have enough track clearance. And Scalextric have had 30 years to get it right!! Carrera have made nothing but shelf queens or body donors, with one of the worst chassis I've ever seen. SCX have made some decent chassis but then add all kinds of quirky nonsense like the brass contacts that cut out. Monogram made a beautiful series of bodies but then put a chassis under it which has as its best feature the adjustable front axle mount and a guide that's one saving grace is that it can be reasonably easily be replaced with Slot.It parts, with an atrocious rear axle assembly. I haven't owned a Slot.It but my next purchase with be one of their GT40s as I have unfortunately had plenty of experience fitting their parts to other brands of slot car ...

Edited by Burglar
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Our club group ( South City Raceways ) has had Pioneer Mustangs running as club cars for quite a while , we had a few minor dramas like plastic front wheels dropping off and one suffered the dreaded chassis breakage at the front axle retaining tab but generally these things are great for us as club cars , they have been flogged to death in a few long distance type events ( 2000 laps or more ) and then again in a heap of rounds of club racing on the clubs tracks . I think these club cars are up around 4 or 5000 laps with very little maintenance . I didnt build the club cars but as far as I remember hearing the only mods were alloy rims on the back and a drill blank axle , with the stock spur gear was retained .

DGM ( wizard ) on auslot put in a tiny bit of lead ballast but Im not sure exactly where it went in the chassis , Dennis did do a brilliant job of securing the stock spur gear on the axle via a small ( 1mm maybe 2mm ) pin that went through the spur gear and then located in a hole the rim . A slot it gear would have been easier but there was four club cars to do and 4 new slot it gears would have cut into the clubs funds a bit more - beer n pizza allocations come first huh

Dennis did have a " how he built it " document on the club Mustangs that was a good bit of info on getting a Pioneer mustang up and going well for timber track racing . The club cars are still being used now so thats at least two years of good service and a lot of thrashing and crashing by all our club members

 

Re chassis cracking when putting motors and axles into place , I think the plastic used by Pioneer is a bit harder than the Scalextric chassis so possibly a bit more inclined to be a little more brittle crack if they are snapped together without some extra care . I have seen plenty of other brands crack their chassis ( they are only plastic )

 

A few hints for any newbies reading would be to warm the chassis a bit in hot water so its a little more flexible when it comes to popping the motor and axles in and out

 

A better thing to do is take a little material away from the chassis retaining tabs / tags whatever you want to call them so the various parts slip in ( and out ) a bit easier . see the pic below

 

This to me is a standard bit of building effort when it comes to setting up what is essentially a mass produced plastic toy car aimed at kids for Xmas , Generally when these toys are used by us bigger kids on larger plastic track layouts or a routered timber tracks for racing then we have to expect a few short comings which will need some attention to make them fast and reliable

Often when the motor is popped out of the chassis the rear wheels will spin much easier - not just because there is no longer a motor gear to mesh against but more often than not when the motor actually drops in it puts a bit of stress on the chassis that misaligns the rear axle so the axle binds a bit in the chassis - if you dont want to pop the motor out then try it with the axle assembly put in backwards so the gear mesh drag is eliminated - Does the axle spin nice or is it tight ? now pop the motor out , is the axle spinning better or is there no difference ? If there is no difference then yeehaa you have a good chassis - must have been made on a thursday huh when everything was running well at the factory - now you just have to hope the motor wasnt made first thing Monday morning or last run on Friday when the operator was dreaming about thye weekend

If the axle is binding when the motor is put back in then the chassis could do with some work - its not a bad chassis its just a sign of mass produced plastic manufacturing , these things are dropping out of a machine every few seconds on hot days , cold days etc etc injection molding plastic has some variables that can play havoc at times on a production run that can alter the product quality even just from the morning into an afternoon production run let alone week to week runs - suppliers of raw material can have differences in the batches supplied to a manufacturer etc etc .

That aside its not hard to strip the chassis and put in a bit of attention to detail when its being rebuilt to race . One starting point is trimming the chassis tabs so the parts slip in easier and , if needed the motor mount area an be filed slightly larger so the motor drops in without altering or stressing the chassis around the rear axle area and misaligning things - after any filing work the parts will need to be glued in place but that is a normal proceedure for any slotcar thats gonna be flogged around a track anyway . Do it slow and watch the gear mesh if you start messing around with a file though , I have found its usually the width area of a chassis thats the problem , as the motor drops in the chassis flexes out wider to accomodate the motor , I have even trimmed a bit of plastic away from the plastic motor bell in some cases so it drops in nicely without flexing the chassis

 

Small bits of chassis filed away so motors and axles can drop in easier - click it to enlarge

 

th_chassiscrack.jpg

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The one thing I would say with the Pioneers is never replace the front tyres without removing the body shell first. That was the mistake I made, I was in a hurry and was trying to get some (rather tight) tyres on without removing the body. If the chassis has had this done to it a few times or has had the front axle in and out to do other mods there is a good chance that one of the clips might have been weakened. I know for a fact that I bent one of my clips slightly on the Charger chassis when fitting the font body mount for the second time so I've gone ahead and braced it up with rectangular styrene tubing up to the height of the top of the clips, with a groove cut for the guide wires to pass through. It is basically two pieces of tubing one on top of the other with superglue holding it to the chassis floor and the back of the two clips. I'll take a photo and post it shortly in the thread with the other photos of my Torino (under 'Cars')

Edited by Burglar
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I purchased a pioneer charger chassis from slotcar corner, i sent them a mesage asking if they could do any better on their postage and they ended up sending it to me for $7.

 

I've just finished putting it under the new GTX, but after breaking the piece between the motor endbell and the rear axle bearing clipping the motor in, and the front bearing mount breaking during its first test drive, also having to replace the guide after not being able to get the braids the clip in as they should, this will be the last pioneer product i buy.

I do have a pioneer mustang that goes well, but only because for all the aftermarket running gear fitted.

They seem to be good shelf queens, which is what jules has aimed for i think.

 

It's interesting that I have had the same problems with my Pioneer conversion. Basically the more you fiddle and pull things out and put them back in the more likely you are to find the weak points. You probably weakened the front clips when doing the mounting mods for the body (I assume it is a Carrera). When you are fitting the scratchbuilt front mounts for the twentieth time it is easy to bend those clips while the axle is out. Thankfully I broke the clip on my almost clapped out well race worn Mustang before trying out the Torino in a proper race, and thus was prompted to brace that one up before it hits its first wall.

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