Hardbody Camaro Build with Brian Meharry Part 4

While I wait for the clear coat to dry I can get started on the interior. Tamiya gunmetal is a little less boring than plain old black. The Tamiya PS series pants are made for vac-form bodies and interiors. The interior detailing and mounting tips shown here can be applied to any scale race car,

I use Citadel paints on things such as clothes, gloves and seat belts because they are a low sheen. They are paints from Games Workshop that are used to do board game figures used for example in wargaming. I dated a pretty attractive nerd a while back, and that's how I learned about these paints.

Here’s the finished interior. The helmet is Testors gold; I used Testors gloss red on the roll cage and fire extinguisher on this Parma interior.

Once the body, hood and grille are dry it's time for the final assembly. I've gone back to using shoe goo- I Don't know what it is about that stuff but it works very well keeping parts together and it remains flexible. I recommend using JB plastic weld to reinforce the inner fenders above the wheels. That is a major place where cars have the font end sheared off in an impact. Or just try not to hit anything. Good luck with that.

I used the Shoe Goo to assemble all the body pieces. I put a small sheet of styrene in the front where the hood mates up to the body. I also used a sheet of styrene painted red to fill in the rear tail light openings.

Now that the body is complete its time for final assembly. The motor bracket on the Womp chassis is designed for 16D motors so we need to open up the bushing hole in order to elevate the rear of the TSR D3 motor that I will be using.

The rear of the motor is elevated so that the 8 tooth angled pinion is centered on the axle for best gear mesh. The motor is soft soldered below the front and on top of the bracket. I used one motor screw to secure it to the bracket also. This motor isn't going anywhere.

Here’s a shot of the complete chassis. I used to fill in the blank space with brass plate when stretching a Womp chassis, but that was when the extra weight was needed and the only motors available were 16d. Tires, gears and controllers are much better than they used to be too. I think the TSR D3 motor is well suited for this chassis. This motor runs in reverse, that's why the gear is on the other side. It's an advantage for left turn oval racing.

The lightest car that I race with an FCR chassis is 170 grams ; this one comes in just below 135. You can always add weight in the tuning process to suit your driving style. From the test laps that I took, I would race it as is.

Sponsor decals are Parma self-stick. I cut them out with a knife and placed them. I feel they hold up much better than water slide decals. After a few test laps, this car turns easy 2.6 second laps on our 85 foot tri-oval (my best time with my current cars is 2.78). Braking is very good with this car because it is considerably lighter than most FCR based models.

I put the car I built in the case at Mid-America Raceway for sale. If no one buys it I'll just take it out of the case and whup on y'all later. Building this car took me about 12 hours worth of work. With a little planning you could do the same or better.

I hope that you enjoyed this hardbody building series and will visit the Mid-America Hardbody Series page on Facebook. There are more tips and tricks there as well as race reports and building ideas.

Hardbody Camaro Build with Brian Meharry Part 3

I usually free hand paint my numbers with a brush and One Shot lettering enamels, but this is another method of making your own numbers. I draw them on blue painters tape, and carefully cut them out with an Ex-Acto blade.

Number masks shown applied to the body. When spraying the main color, make sure to use light coats of paint so that the paint doesn't bleed under the masks.

I'm about 5 hours into the build now. I'm going to do some simple pinstripe techniques next around the numbers and elsewhere on the body. 

I'm going to paint a couple of red lines on each side of the car using One Shot enamel. Notice how I left the masking tape for the numbers on the doors.

Once the red lines are dry enough I peeled off the straight masking tape. After that, I outlined the white numbers with red as well with a 20/0 round brush. I layed down a few white diamonds and star shapes in white. I'm going for the early 70' s short track look here. This car is a loose interpretation of a car that ran at Raceway Park on Chicago's South side.

The main color of this car is Testors Purple-licious from a rattle can. I used a little bit of yellow to make the numbers on the doors pop out a bit. I'm going to wait at least 24 hours for the lettering enamel to dry. The body will be coated with acrylic gloss, and the hood will be coated with a satin finish.

Here's the finished body mounted on the chassis as previously built. It's a good idea to check the fit of the body on the rolling chassis before moving on much farther.

In the next installment, Brian gets into some tips and techniques having to do with interior painting and motor mounting.

Scalextric 2013 Range Announcement

Scalextric broke with their tradition of announcing the coming year production on New Year's Day by giving Scalextric Club members a sneak peek at the 2013 range today.

Notable Scalextric cars featuring all-new tooling are:

C3419 1970 Dodge Challenger Trans-Am #77 Sam Posey 

C3423 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona NASCAR #71 Bobby Isaac

C3418 1967 Mercury Cougar Trans-Am #98 Dan Gurney

The 2013 Scalextric range announcements can be viewed here

Hardbody Camaro Build with Brian Meharry Part 2

Here she is soldered together with the front axle tube in place. I cut additional slots that will be used to solder the chassis in additional spots as well as the end of the tube.

View from underneath. I rounded the edges of the angle for a little smoother look. It's also one less thing to poke a turn marshall with.

Closer view of the front end set up. I will solder the front axle in next.

After a few hours in the tumbler, our frame looks like a shiny piece of jewelry. We'll mount the body next.

To go for the American short track look...those wheel wells are going to have to be opened up.

I used JK products lane stickers, stuck them to the body in the desired location, and traced around them with a Sharpie. The shaded parts will be removed with a Dremel sanding drum.

Here's the wheel wells cut out so that we can obtain a wider stance. I'm going with a flat black hood on this one. Black hoods are just sinister looking on Camaros.

Check in next time when Brian shows his stenciling and pin-striping techniques.

Super Tires 210xR Series Now Available

Slot Car Corner is proud to announce two (2) additional "R" series 1/32 Super Tires.  The Super Tires 210xR Series is aimed at 1/32 racers who are looking for high-performance 10mm wide tires that can be used on different sized wheels.  The first 2 Super Tires in the Series, designated 2102R and 2104R respectively, are designed to fit our popular C.B. Design 15x10mm and C.B. Design 17x10mm wheels (and many of our competitor's 17x10mm wheels).  Shown below mounted on our C.B. Design 15x10mm and 17x10mm Insert Wheels, the Super Tires 210xR Series offers racers and car builders a great deal of flexibility when selecting a wheel/tire combination.

Like all "R" Series Super Tires, the 210xR Series feature a rounded outer sidewall which enhances the appearance of any car running these tires.  The Super Tires 210xR Series is available now in the "Classic" (silicone) compound and will be available in the "Yellow Dog" (urethane) compound in the not-too-distant future.

For more information or to order, please visit the Slot Car Corner or Slot Car Corner Canada website.

Hardbody Camaro Build with Brian Meharry Part 1

In this building article, Brian Meharry shows how to build chassis for narrower hardbody models such as the Camaro and Mustang.

Camaros, Mustangs, and Firebird model kits are generally much narrower than other models. Many times I see these bodies stretched out to fit the frame, this can cause the car to handle poorly.

For this reason the Parma 1/32 brass Womp chassis provides another option, not to mention it is about half the cost of the FCR chassis. 

After making sure the womp chassis is flat and cutting it in half at the desired location, mark the uprights as shown to be cut out with a Dremel tool.

This will allow the use of Parma square bushings to set the desired ride height.

The front uprights will be cut out also. I'm going to be using 1/4" x 1/8" brass tube to set the front ride height for the larger .950" wheels.

Set the chassis the desired length. 
I'm still a little bit old school, I use a simple jig for this type of building.

Cut lengths of .062" music wire to be soldered to the chassis at the outer edges.

Solder the wire to the frame. 
Now, cut K&S 1175 1/4" brass angle to use for body mounts.

Check in next time where Brian gets into the details of fitting the plastic kit body to the chassis and starting the process of finishing the body.

Racer Delays IMSA GTX Mustang?

Along with the previously mentioned additions to the Racer/Sideways "Group 5" production for 2013, the Bill Scott Racing Zakspeed Miller Mustang that contested IMSA's GTX class in 1981 has apparently been delayed from its original 4th quarter 2012 release date.

The latest best estimate is that the Sideways Mustang (the real car was based heavily on the European Capri Group 5 racer) will break cover no sooner than the second quarter of 2013.

SW24 - Zakspeed Mustang

Some news sources are now showing the "early" paint scheme for the Racer/Sideways Mustang, which is mostly white with some red trim, as opposed to the "late" scheme above which was shown on Racer's original announcement. If a change of decoration is in the works, this could explain the delay in producing this model.

Super Tires 111xR Series Now Available

Slot Car Corner is proud to announce three (3) additional "R" series 1/32 Super Tires.  The Super Tires 111xR Series is aimed at 1/32 racers who need to run high-performance low profile tires on larger wheels.  The accompanying picture shows each of the 111xR Series Super Tires mounted on our popular C.B. Design 17x11mm wheels.

Note the 1111R and 1112R supersede the 1100 and 1100B Super Tires respectively. The 1113R is a new, taller version of these tires based on customer requests. With 3 diameters to choose from, builders/racers have a wide range of setup and tuning options available. Like other "R" series Super Tires, the 111xR series feature a rounded outer sidewall which looks great on a variety of cars.

The Super Tires 111xR series are available immediately in the "Classic" (silicone) compound and will be available in the "Yellow Dog" (urethane) compound in the not-too-distant future. For more information about Super Tires or to order, please visit the Slot Car Corner website.

C.B. Design 17x8mm Classic Steel Wheels

C.B. Design has expanded their line of popular Classic Steel Wheels to include a 17x8mm offering.  Like all C.B. Design Wheels, the 17x8mm Classic Steel Wheel is precision CNC machined to very precise tolerances.  These wheels are perfect for 1/32 slot cars with relatively tall, narrow wheels/tires such as the Carrera Classic Nascar shown in the accompanying pictures.  Super Tires 1404R (shown) or slightly taller 1405's fit this wheel perfectly.  The C.B. Design 17x8mm Classic Steel Wheels are available immediately from Slot Car Corner, Slot Car Corner Canada and authorized dealers.

Carrera Wins S.C.O.T.Y. Manufacturer of the Year

Carrera wins the prestigious Manufacturer of the Year 2012 award given annually by Harry Wise's Home Racing World website.

To quote from HRW: "Carrera wins this award hands down. No other slot car company offers so much for so little. The home racing hobby needs a reliable source of products that are affordable and offer great quality. Carrera delivers on both counts and in TWO scales plus digital!"

For more information on the S.C.O.T.Y. awards for 2012, please visit Home Racing World SCOTY 2012 awards