SlotCarMAG
A Rally Legend:
FOR RACERS, COLLECTORS AND BUILDERS ISSUE 15 • VOLUME 3 • AUGUST 2013
www.slotcarmag.co.uk
Hub Habets looks at the popularity of the Ford Escort MK2
Another Brick In the Wall:
Lynne Haines takes to brick laying – 1/32 style
WIN: This fantastic BMW in our easy-to-enter competion
David Beattie:
Astounding realism from Slot Mods – what a business!
Graham Poulton:
Part 2 of GP Miniatures and the process of construction
Phoenix Nights:
Brett Jürmann looks at the Scalextric Ford & Holden
KEEP YOUR DIARY CLEAR SlotCarMAG
FOR RACERS, COLLECTORS AND BUILDERS ISSUE 15 • VOLUME 3 • AUGUST 2013
www.slotcarmag.co.uk
In This Issue:
Ford Escort Mk2
2
Slot Mods
11
Phoenix Nights
7
Graham Poulton
22
2 Ford Escort MK2:
18 Below The Radar:
Hub’s Escort Business – Hub Habets explains the popularity and success of the Escort in both the real world and SCX’s 1/32 offerings.
Martin Field – If you collect hand-built cars, you may not realise how many have been designed by Mr Field.
Problems down under – Brett Jürmann examines a lack of real world funds in 'Aussie' Touring cars during the mid ’seventies.
New tyres and wheels from Spain – Mitoos is a relatively new company that has close ties with Cartrix... we tested some of their wares.
Review/Competition – Ric Woods reviews the BMW Z4 and gives YOU a chance to win this awesome car, donated by Pendle Slot Racing.
GP Miniatures Pt2 – Moulding is easy, right? Well, no. And furthermore, if you’re Graham Poulton, it really does have to look the business.
A Man For All Reasons – Track design and builds of Slot Mods are reason to stop and take note... We caught up with David Beattie.
HO scale – Andy Player with the low-down on these pocket rockets from the smaller scale. Stand well back!
Another Brick In the Wall – Churchill used to build walls to help him think. Well, Lynne’s wall structure is pretty solid and a no-brainer for us.
Top Secret – Confusion reigns in the world of Dilworth. Undercover agents are now involved, and to be honest, he’s from a parallel universe!
7 Phoenix Nights:
9 BMW Z4:
11 Slot Mods:
15 Lynne Haines is back:
21 The Spanish Inquisition:
22 You’ve Got To Do It Right!:
25 Pro Mods: 28 Dilworth:
SlotCarMAG is an independent magazine for the Slot Car enthusiast. It is produced bi-monthly and available to purchase from either: www.pendleslotracing.co.uk (hard-copy, hi res digital) www.lulu.com/uk (hard-copy, print-to-order hi res digital with laminated cover) www.slotcarmag.co.uk (hi-res pdf download) For further information, please contact the publisher via email. Address opposite.
H
ere we are again another issue. I’ve been busy myself since last time, and can tell you that the website (www.slotcarmag.co.uk) has been revamped and improved. If you would like any pdfs of back issues, that’s the place to go! This issue, as always, is packed full of the usual wide variety of topics and there’s a superb competition prize which I’d like to be able to win myself! I particularly enjoyed Hub’s piece about the Escort Mk2, as I have one of these for my home rallying and it’s rather fun on a twisty track. There’s more landscaping work (I wish I had half their skill) and Andy’s here again with a ProMod piece. We couldn’t help but notice the picture of said author with two large trophies… good on ya, Andy, keep it up! Finally, I’m sorry to report the passing of another member of the slot racing community, Derek Cooper, after a long battle with cancer. Derek was a very successful racer back in the 1970s and became a familiar face at UK swapmeets with his stall of slot rarities from every era. To his family and many friends we offer our sincere condolences. Wayne Tooke
PUBLISHING / WEB: Wayne Tooke: info@slotcarmag.co.uk EDITORIAL: Ric Woods: ric-woods@slotcarmag.co.uk ART & DESIGN: Marc Abbott: marc-abbott@slotcarmag.co.uk SlotCarMAG is printed digitally by LDP Ltd
ldpltd@btconnect.com
Disclaimer: Whilst every effort has been made to accurately compile the information contained herein, SlotCarMAG or any of its contributors or advertisers accepts no liability for any errors and omissions or any inadvertent disclosure of any information not meant for publication. SlotCarMAG neither endorses or accepts responsibility for the reproduction of material supplied that is of sub-standard quality, such as photocopies, laser prints, pre-printed photographs, low resolution digital images etc, and reserve the right to refuse the use of such material, products or services of advertisers in this publication. Opinions expressed shall not necessarily be that of the SlotCarMAG. All information should be verified before being acted upon. Copyright: Contents of this magazine or our web site, cannot be reproduced in any way, shape or form without the written permission of the publishers.
FIND US ON FACEBOOK.COM
FIND US ON LULU.COM
Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders
FIND US ON SLOTFORUM.COM
1
A legend in Ford Escort MK2
2
The magazine for racers, collectors and builders – Slot Car MAG
rallying by
Hub Habets
T
o understand the popularity of the Ford Escort MK2, you only need visit an historic rally. It is already more than thirty years since Ford stopped its rally activities with the MK2. Nevertheless, today this car is easily the most common in historic rallying, so there must be something special about it. The MK2 is not just the average car that everyone recognises
with some more power, but a unique combination of specialized parts, and that is what makes it so popular. The sound of the (at least) 245 hp highrevving aluminium 2-litre sixteen-valve BDA engine (Belt Drive, A-series), combined with the rear-wheel power sliding and the lifting of the inner front wheel, is still a stunning spectacle that spectators really appreciate.
Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders
The use of the MK2 as a factory car actually lasted only five years, from 1975 to 1979. In its last factory year, the MK2 won the World Rally Championship and the Swede Björn Waldegård won the first World Rally Championship for Drivers title with it. The homologation of the new Escort MK2 was very cleverly solved by stating that it was only an evolution of the MK1
3
by Brett Jürmann
Scalextric’s decision to model Australian Ford and Holden touring cars has been welcomed with big cheers ‘Downunder’. First came the release of the Holden Torana L34 racers, and this year saw the subsequent release of the Allan Moffat Ford Falcon XB Hardtop. Although the Hardtop shape may appear familiar to car enthusiasts thanks to its use in the ‘Mad Max’ franchise of movies, they may not be aware of the interesting history behind this car.
I
n the middle of the 1970s, touring car racing in Australia was based on modified production cars with any special race components having to be submitted by the car makers for approval by the rule makers. But by 1975, motor racing in Australia was suffering a hangover from the global energy crisis. Ford Australia had withdrawn from its involvement in touring car racing twelve months earlier. This left three Falcon drivers, Allan Moffat, John Goss and Murray Carter to struggle on with whatever parts and resources they could muster.
General Motors (Holden) carried on as before, providing technical support to drivers of their Torana L34 which had a great engine but a fragile gearbox and rear axle. None of the Falcon drivers had a budget capable of running with any consistency in the Australian Touring Car Championship, and the Torana drivers dominated in 1974 and 1975 through reliability and sheer weight of numbers. So lop-sided was the competition, that there were strong suspicions that Holden had provided some secret funds to a privateer Falcon driver Murray Carter to keep him going so they would have someone to beat!
Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders
However, by 1976, Allan Moffat had managed to put together a budget to undertake the first half of the season. Certainly some of the money had come unofficially from Ford, whose showroom image was suffering from the public embarrassment of the poor showings on the racetrack. Those funds enabled Moffat to run a fast and consistent Falcon, running neck-and-neck with the works Torana of Colin Bond for the lead in the championship. At mid-season Bond had a disastrous crash at the Amaroo Park round and scored no points, leaving Moffat in the lead by one point. But Moffat had his own
7
ods
o by Ric W
W
e slot racers are now reaping the benefits of the successful GT3 category, as models of more and more of these racers become available from more and more manufacturers. Scaleauto has joined the fray with the Mercedes SLS and the BMW Z4, the latest incarnation of which we have here. This is the Liqui Molysponsored Z4 of Engstler Motorsport that took part in the 24-hours of Dubai back in 2011, finishing a rather off-thepodium 56th, but it had held 4th place before hitting technical trouble (quite a lot of technical trouble, if it went all the way down to 56th!).
With a retail price of nearly £50 in the UK, we are right to expect a high-quality model and the Scaleauto Z4 doesn’t disappoint, with a flawless finish and pin-sharp tampo printing, even on the brake calipers. As usual with slot cars, these revolve alarmingly with the brake discs, but it’s a nice touch for the shelfistas out there. On the subject of shelving, the packaging is rather understated, being a simple plinth within a cardboard carton that has an acetate ‘window’. On the underside of the plinth are taped an alternative front
Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders
splitter and rear wing in plain black plastic. Handy, because that rear wing does look very fragile… In the mechanical department, the 20,000 rpm SC-08b S-Can occupies a sidewinder pod in Scaleauto’s adjustable chassis. The chassis will take Slot.it mounts, but a T-piece converts their own mount to a tripod set-up. The gears are plastic, with an alloy boss on the spur gear. The rear hubs are
9
A man for all reasons... So…the initial excitement of the figureof-eight on the carpet has paled somewhat, you have some room for something better and a bank account that wouldn’t mind being a little smaller. Who ya gonna call? Well, Slot Mods of Michigan would be a good start. If you want it, they will build it, whether it be a Monte Carlo-esque street track like the Martin Raceway, a hi-tech control system with cameras and iPads for Audi or – perhaps the ultimate in keeping the fact that you have a new track from your better half – an accurate 1:1 scale Porsche 917 which hinges along its length to reveal a circuit within! SlotCarMAG caught up with company founder and owner David Beattie for a few moments to find out more…
Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders
How and when did you get into slot car racing? I was introduced to the hobby by my older brothers back in the ’sixties. I was reintroduced to slot cars back in 2004 after asking for a set for Christmas…then the madness began! Were you always interested in the ‘scenic’ side of the hobby? Yes, it’s what really fed my appetite to build a custom track. When did you make your first track, and what was it like? 2008. It was based on a circuit that ran through San Marino. It featured all of what you see on our tracks today, including a castle. Is there any one aspect of the scenery you particularly focus on, that in your opinion can make or break the appearance of the finished track? The attention to detail on the surface of the track (patches, tyre marks, etc.) is very impressive. Everything on the track is as important as the next, from the trees to the tire marks, Armco rail and structures. There has to be continuity and flow… scale and realism is the key.
11
Il Commendatore by Stuart Goddard
M
odelant have been in touch to tell us about two new limited-edition releases that are designed to complement the Auto Avio 815 we examined in the last issue of SlotCarMAG. Firstly there is a 1/32nd resin figure (an unmistakable figure at that) of Enzo Ferrari. He comes in a wooden box and retails at €17.95 + shipping and is limited to 100 units. Very spectacular indeed is the 1/32nd reproduction of the Alfa Romeo garage in Modena used by Enzo Ferrari between 1929 and 1943. This amazing piece of work will be limited to 25 units, built to order, and Modelant will only tell you how it costs when you ask them! Taking the shelf to a whole new level… Visit www.modelant.com for more information.
14
The magazine for racers, collectors and builders – Slot Car MAG
by Lynne Haines
There is an image in my
head of the interior of an old Victorian red brick
coach house. It is a little
dark inside. The grime on
the windows high up in the
walls filters the harshness
from the sunlight. There are tools spread out on the flag floor at the feet of a man dressed in slightly oil-
stained light blue coveralls. He straightens from his position beneath the gleaming hood of an
engineering marvel and wipes his hands on the
cloth that hangs from his pocket.
I
’m not sure exactly where the image came from originally or how accurate it may be, but it is an image that appears in my mind every time I read of the experimenters in auto racing. I’d like to be able to recreate something of its feel in a display piece. In order to do the scene justice though there are some specific building materials required. Namely bricks. When building my track I hand carved bricks in the tunnel. The tunnel was formed and a thick coating of plasterer’s joint compound applied, and when dry the bricks were carved out using a blade. It was slow and painful work, and although it looked OK at the end the bricks were not as regular or accurate as I would like. Another option that I toyed with was to use a Dremel to carve a brick texture into some MDF. Again the final outcome would look good, but the process was slow and laborious. The measuring of each row to ensure accuracy in scale would be tedious. There had to be a better way to produce a brick wall that would be quick and accurate and could be easily repeated.
Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders
Looking through items at one of my favourite online hobby suppliers, I discovered some packets of 1:32 scale ceramic bricks. These gave me the accuracy of scale I desired, but building a wall from these would take about the same amount of time as building a real brick wall. If I could take a mould from a wall built with scale bricks, I could cast the wall in plaster or similar and be able to quickly and cheaply reproduce as many brick walls as I desired. Having never made a soft mould, this was going to be a bit of a learning experience for me. A little online shopping procured a litre of brushable latex for mould making and the experiment commenced. The bricks are quite thin so to get some depth in the final mould I decided to build the wall on a bed to add thickness. Now, being the tightwad that I am I rather fancied being able to reuse the bricks once the mould was complete, so rather than gluing them to a backing board I decided to build the wall on a bed of plasticine. This decision would come back to nibble my posterior, but more of that later.
15
D
espite not having raced or belonged to a slot car club since 1966, Martin Field has become a very important figure in the world of scratch building in recent years. His name may not be familiar to many slot car enthusiasts, even though they could well have some of his work in their collection without knowing it. Martin is, by trade, a pattern maker, and he is currently making masters – of complete bodies or components – for many of today’s resin body manufacturers. If you want a master, the chances are Martin can make it for you. Martin has had a long and distinguished career in model making, making his name with masters for such notable 1/43rd manufacturers as Grand Prix Models and John Day Models. Choosing a spell away from model car making, aboard canal boat he had restored, Martin came across SlotForum and discovered to his surprise that slot racing was alive and well. “I stupidly announced that if somebody would do the resins I'd do the masters” and since then he hasn’t stopped. He (refreshingly) also has a bit of a reputation for ‘calling a spade a spade’, and, always craving information regarding gardening implements, SlotCarMAG bravely put some questions to him: How did you get into slot car racing? I went to an open meeting of the Romford Royal Liberty School with my yellow Scalextric pin guide D-Type and soon realized I was there to marshal! But then I read Model Cars every month from No 1 (April 1964), joined Hornchurch Model Motor Racing Club and almost immediately started making cars, ending up with a carved balsa Ferrari 158 with a Microperm, which I used to win an open meeting at Runnymede against Barrie Wade.
18
Are you interested in 1:1 racing, and if so, any particular kind, or era? I am very much a fan of hillclimbing of any kind, but in circuit racing it has to be older sports and GT cars. I’m not a massive single seater fan. You stopped racing in the mid-’60s. Was it the simply rising cost of competing, or the movement away from ‘scale’ bodies towards more ‘performance orientated’ cars that caused you to become disenchanted? It was both those things, with the
handling bodies making me cringe and the attitudes being displayed at raceways like Wonderland and Tottenham. Works drivers with endless budgets looking down their noses at those of us who had to earn the money for a new motor. Do you ever feel tempted to take to the tracks again? What would tempt you back? Scale model motor racing, accurate vacformed bodies made in female moulds for detail and a freedom to design new
The magazine for racers, collectors and builders – Slot Car MAG
Some unexpected arrivals from Mitoos…
W
e have been lucky enough to receive some packs of wheels and tyres to have a look at from the Spanish company Mitoos, an offshoot of Cartrix. From their website it would seem that Mitoos are currently looking for distributors throughout, well, everywhere except Spain! The range of tyres is vast, catering for just about every branch of the 1/32nd hobby from Rally Raid through Sports/GT and on to Classics. There are ribbed rally tyres, some very knobbly raid tyres and some with what Mitoos describe as “micro-peaks”, which resemble tread, and these would be at home on Porsche 917s and the like. I took the opportunity to try some of the racing slicks on my 50-foot test circuit, which consists of Carrera track with a painted finish. I fitted some MO80 Mk1 slicks to a standard Slot.it Rebellion Lola, to compare them with the Slot.it F15s that I usually favour. The MO80 tyres are rated at 25 shore, so they are a little less soft than the Slot.it jobs, but despite this they achieved a time only 2/100ths slower than the F15s on a 200-lap run, both types of tyre being run without any additives. Once a little oil was applied, the MO80s actually beat the F15s by 5/100ths and displayed much less wear – F15 users will probably be familiar with the horror of apparently leaving most of the tyre behind on the tape when you clean them! According to Mitoos website (www.mitoos.com) the MO80s are currently priced at 3.50 euros for two pairs, which makes them excellent value.
The test track has separate lanes for rubber and Ortmann tyres, so I then (foolishly, as it turned out) tried some of the 10.5x18 M002/2 silicons on the ‘Ortmann lane’, this time using a standard Slot.it Group C Toyota. This test served to underline a couple of things: you should always run silicon tyres on a clean track, and Ortmann tyres do leave a lot of dust. After 300 laps the M002/2s were still dragging fine grey powder from the track, but even so actually got to 2/100ths of the best Ortmann time set beforehand. A very unfair and possibly pointless test, but the performance in these difficult circumstances was impressive nonetheless. It is worth mentioning that both sets of tyres I tried were a good snug fit on the Slot.it rims, and were very concentric once in place. What I wasn’t ready for was the fact that, with the Ortmanns reinstated, the Toyota went 2/10ths faster on the now much cleaner track! One lesson learned. If you want your Ortmanns to go faster, use silicons first… The M002s are 5.00 euros for a pack of four, or 3.50 euros for two. For me the stars of the show are the ‘classic’ wire wheels, which come shod with 21x6 tyres, and with a choice of
Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders
either ‘Dunlop’ or ‘Pirelli’ logos on the outer sidewall. At 12.20 euros a pair they are a little more expensive than the popular PRS types, but they look very good indeed. Comparing the two side-byside, the individual spokes on the Mitoos wheels are a little thicker, but not unrealistically so, and the separation of the inner and outer rows of spokes is more noticeable, giving a good impression of the wheel ‘construction’. The review sample came with two-eared ‘knock-offs’, but triple-eared ones are available separately. Incidentally, there is also a range of more modern rims to be had, available as wheels-only or with suitable tyres already mounted. All in all, the package from Mitoos was a very pleasant surprise and the catalogue really does have something for everyone. Clearly the current lack of a good distribution network will be a drawback outside of their native Spain, but with the larger Spanish online shops offering worldwide shipping, it’s not too difficult to get your hands on some of their offerings.
21
“You’ve got to do it right”
GP Miniatures Part Two:
“Make a note of the stress, the sleepless nights, the tears, the frustration of a supplier who doesn’t deliver, or when he does it’s not quite what you wanted.”
T
his was my final instruction from Graham Poulton when I went to investigate the process of bringing a GP Miniatures body to the adoring public. In the last issue of SlotCarMAG we looked at Graham’s affinity with the classic Aston Martins for which he is best known, and now we’ll try to gain some insight into the magical and mysterious process of actually producing these beautiful pieces of work. I must state straight away that I have nothing but the highest admiration for anyone who can create an accurate, detailed scale body shell. I know deep down inside that if I ever attempted to do
22
such a thing I would end up giving it to the dog to play with or converting it into a novelty bird feeder. CorelDRAW software is used extensively throughout the process of making the master for a new model, both in the area of general body configuration and shape and in plans for specific detailing parts. Plans for the body are put into CorelDRAW, and provide an instant reference for the carving process as it progresses. Interestingly, not every body starts from a block of balsa. If a reasonably accurate body shell can be sourced, Graham will use that as a basis for the new model; it
may only be accurate in one or two respects, but the rest of it will then be cut, reshaped and rebuilt until a satisfactory (i.e. as near-perfect as humanly possible) replica is achieved. This process requires a tremendous amount of patience and objectivity to achieve that nth degree of accuracy and ‘feel’ of the real thing. The completed master is then used to make rubber male and female moulds (rubber, so the finished bodies can be easily released) to take the two-part resin. Graham is refreshingly honest about the initial difficulties in casting. “It took me eight months to suss out how to cast a
The magazine for racers, collectors and builders – Slot Car MAG
Pro-Mods The mighty
by Andy Player
Wizzard Storm ready to run
I
f there's one thing in the HO world that always piques the interest of 1/32 racers, it's the super-fast ProModified cars that race in the UK EAHORC series. These cars top 300 inches per second when they are running at their best. A bit of a blur, in other words. Building a car to race in Pro-Mod is a challenge. There are very few regulations apart from the limitations of running on 1.2 amp power supplies, which significantly increases the risk of burning up armatures if you don't get the set-up quite right. Parts are sourced from America, with three hobby chassis being the preferred platforms. All three are inspired by older mass-production chassis: the BSRT G3 is closely related to the Tomy Super-G+; the
Slottech Thundercat has a layout not dissimilar to Tyco 440x2; and the Wizzard Storm is, again, not unlike the Tyco. The choice of components is much wider than for the ready-to-race cars on offer from the three manufacturers. There are plenty of aftermarket magnets, wheels, tyres, gears, axles, bushings and armatures. It is not unusual for builders to use parts from mass production cars. For example, Tomy Super-G+ motor magnets work perfectly in the BSRT G3 on our 1.2 amps. It's this kind of thinking ‘out of the box’ that leads to success in Pro-Mod. It's not just about assembling the best or most expensive components. The build list of my race-winning Storm is in the table, together with approximate cost in dollars.
Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders
Description Storm Extreme rolling chassis Harden Creek Storm Neo traction magnets Wizzard SP05 balance armature Tyco motor brushes Low profile guide pin Independent front end assembly Pinion Rear axle Crown gear TTT hard compound tyres and wheels Lexan body Body pins Assorted bronze and nylon spacers Total
Price $32.95 $5.00 $12.00 $0.50 $2.00 $7.00 $2.00 $1.00 $3.00 $7.50 $2.00 $1.00 $1.00 $76.95
That original build cost £50. I've developed it a little since then, pinning the rear axle and upgrading to silver-plated
25