SlotCarMAG issue 7

www.slotcarmag.co.uk

ISSUE 7 • VOLUME 2 • APRIL 2012

FOR RACERS, COLLECTORS AND BUILDERS

Mazda Mania:

Has Mr Slot Car made a serious challenge to the establishment?

Shed Happens:

Lynne Haines builds a shed – just marvel at this superrealism!

Ferrari 187:

The promise of a turbocharged Ferrari F1 was too much to miss for Jim McNeill

Le Mans oXigen 2012:

A big race took place and Ric Woods was part of it – read his official report

!

N I W

EERk N O A PIchbac Notustang3 M PAGE SEE

PLUS:

How to race-finish your bodywork

by Jay Laverty

(Editor of Scale Aircraft Modelling)

Mag SLOT CAR

FOR RACERS, COLLECTORS AND BUILDERS

Contents

ISSUE 7 • VOLUME 2 • APRIL 2012

visit: www.slotcarmag.co.uk

In This Issue:

2

Pit Board: Bite The Pioneer Bullitt Issue 7 gives you the chance to win one of the fabulous Pioneer Mustangs. Just answer the very easy question and a muscle car could be on your track soon!

4

Nonno Slot Ferrari F187:

7

Mazda Mania:

11

Building an HO Slot Car:

Review of a “race” car.

Jim McNeill eagerly awaited the postman delivering a model from Nonno Slot. He was delighted to find that the kit was a joy to build, as well as a marvel to drive.

The Le Mans winning beauty from MrSlotCar The Mazda 787B was a great-looking car, but does this new 1/32 scale replica live up to the hype? Marc Abbott takes a test drive to find out.

13 17

The secret to win It’s not that hard to bring your HO car up to a racewinning speed. Basic steps and pointers will shave lap times, and not your bank account.

Shed Happens: All men needs a shed, and well, so does Ms Haines This build has been ongoing for some time at her home in Australia, and here Lynne shows how patience and time will get you into super-realism.

Stirling Work: How to make your cars look “real” Jay Laverty is well-known in the scale aircraft world for producing models so realistic that you have to look twice to make sure they are just that. Here, he breathes life into Stirling Moss and his BRM.

SlotCarMAG is an independent magazine for the Slot Car enthusiast. It is produced bi-monthly and available for purchase via our on-line store at www.lulu.com/uk and printed in hi- resolution digital format. Hard copies are also available from www.pendleslotracing.co.uk It is also available to purchase as a pdf download from the SlotCarMAG web site.

For further information, please contact the publisher via email. Address opposite.

20

Le Mans – oXigen 24 Hours: Multi cars on an incredible 4 lane track Ric Woods was honoured to be part of the Carazing Team, whose team leader put together one of the most impressive races this country has ever seen.

23

Applying Decals:

25

Club Focus:

Part 7, and the fun bit of your design Richard Bennett shows the best method for preparing and applying decals to your cars. Get that saucer ready!

The London Scalextric Club Steve Carter tells the history of this old club that is steeped and dripping in... history. F1 driver Johnny Herbert started his career with them too!

27

A Questionable Character:

28

The World According To Dilworth:

BC

Go West!:

Adrian Norman Some call him Mr Scalextric, some just Adrian. If you’re at the Slot Car Festival, search him out and prepare for a dose of infectious enthusiasm!

Mon Dieu!

Not yet finished with our nearest European neighbours, the French, Dilworth shows us why he really should be nominated as our cultural attaché!

Slot.it Lancia LC2!

As good as the Toyota? Probably! Eric Cropper takes a ride and dissects, West-sponsored sponsored Lancia model from Slot.it

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

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.

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1

Nonno Slot

Ferrari F187 You can say what you like about Jim McNeill – no really, you can – but he’s a man of his word. In the last issue he said he would buy a Nonno Slot F1 car and build it, and we never doubted him for a minute…

by Jim McNeill

development, the snappily-titled F187/88C, won its only race of that year, at Monza (where better?), where Senna’s famous collision with Jean-Louis Schlesser at the Rettifilio chicane handed Ferrari a very popular 1-2, with Berger again leading Alboreto across the line.

The Kit

I

was so impressed by the philosophy of Nonno Slot when I wrote about them in the last issue that I couldn’t help but invest some of my hard-earned cash in a kit of the Ferrari F187, which any budding Sherlock Holmes will tell you was their F1 car from… yes, 1987.

The F187 was designed by Gustav Brunner, with assistance from John Barnard, and although it was fundamentally a quick car, it was plagued by unreliability. By the end of the 1987 season Ferrari had sorted things out, to the point where Gerhard Berger won the last two grands prix of the year, including a slightly fortuitous 1-2 in Adelaide after Senna had been disqualified.

Coincidentally, it was at Senna’s expense that the 1988

The kit arrived in the UK from Italy a mere five days after posting, well packaged and intact. The parts themselves come in a quite flimsy, but nonetheless attractive, origami-style box, with plenty of resealable plastic bags holding the precious parts. The body is a robust, yet neatly-moulded resin job. As I found in my report, the nth degree in scale accuracy has been willingly sacrificed to provide a range of cars with a ‘one-size-fits-all’ chassis, but not to the point where they lose the character and looks of the real thing. As if to underline the fact that these cars are made for racing and not shelving, Nonno thoughtfully provide spare front and rear wings. A nice touch is the roll hoop, fashioned from two pieces of soldered brass rod. A good-quality decal sheet with numbers for the 27 (Alboreto) and 28 (Berger) cars is also included.

4

The magazine for racers, collectors and builders – Slot Car MAG

History

MazdaMania 787B

by Marc Abbott

The Mazda 787B from MrSlotCar, modelled on the No.55 Renown Le Mans 1991 winning car, boasts to be an all-encompassing serious slot racers’ model. On first inspection it would appear that the hype is well justified. Here we strip it to the bones and find out just how much punch this new company will have against the already wellestablished brands. In future issues, SlotCarMAG wants to put this car up against the best-of-the-rest by pitching it, running as a standard car, against allcomers, in a no-holds-barred ‘Formula Libre’ series...

Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders

7

Building an HO race car

by Andy Player

Stock AFX Mega-G chassis top & bottom

J

ust like 1/32 you can buy an HO car and run it straight out of the box or – more commonly – the blister pack. Of course, just like 1/32, you want to get that car going faster.

There is one easy thing to do to get an HO car running better, and that is to simply remove the stock rear tyres and buy some silicone or urethane replacements. At around a quid a pair, that’s a no-brainer.

An HO car is basically a motor with wheels on, topped with a body, but having said that, each HO chassis type is intricately designed. Most components are changeable, which means they can be upgraded with aftermarket parts. Constructing an HO car to competition rules is great fun and not expensive. However, it is not just a case of chucking the best parts together – there is an art to getting a well-balanced car on the track.

Building a car for the WHO Modified class at our Worthing HO club is a challenge, as the rules allow any unmodified ‘toy’ chassis with strictly stock motor components, but almost all the other parts are open. For the 2012 season I decided to modify the

Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders

current Tomy AFX production chassis, the Mega-G. It is not a chassis that has been raced much beyond a stock format, but I wanted to give it a go. The rolling chassis cost me £9.50.

Stripping down the chassis, I left just the motor assembly intact. I planned to use a new front axle, rear axle and gearing, guide pin and traction magnets. I’d also be fitting brass pin tubes for a lexan body. The value of the new parts was less than £10, although most were already in my box, previously surplus to requirements. My aim was to get a car with a faster top speed, plus increased downforce and front end stability.

The central upgrade was using stronger traction magnets. In the Mega-G these are tiny neodymium bricks. The strength of the stock mags is notated as N35. I sourced pairs of N42 and N48 bricks that would fit the chassis. Testing last year in another chassis suggested the N48 mags were just too strong, even when set up in a configuration that worked against the motor magnet field to give a ‘low downforce’ or ‘high horsepower’ effect. Okay, we are into the realms of HO Dark Arts now, but all I will say is that by having two motor mags in one plane and two

11

Shedhappens

by Lynne Haines

This shed is a side project that has taken on a life all of its own. It was born as a place to experiment with some techniques before using them on the track, and as a portable diorama that can be moved into better light for photographing cars. Having seen the

Lynne Haines was awarded Best Trackside Project of 2011, by Slot Forum members for her work on the “shed”.

beautiful buildings that others had created for their layouts, I wanted to see what I could achieve. So with a nod to Graham Lane, Frank Tutass and Brad Korando, to name but a few, the shed was born.

With the intention of using it as a photographic set firmly in mind, the need to have internal and external structure meant echoing real building construction techniques on a small scale.

Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders

13

Stirling Work

by Jay Laverty

We are delighted to be joined in this issue by Jay Laverty, the editor of Scale Aircraft Modelling magazine. We supplied Jay with the Stirling Moss Cartrix BRM and asked him to make it look a little more race-finished. Here he explains the basic techniques he and his fellow modellers use to achieve a bit of realism...

Gathering Moss Weathering any type of model follows one simple rule, and that is to pay attention to what you see in what aviation modellers call “reference”. That is photographs, video and the subject “in the flesh”, so to speak. Obviously there is no way I can transport myself back in time to view Stirling Moss’s BRM P25, however there is plenty of imagery available to work from.

Media Choice The second important aspect comes in the form of a decision - which type of media to use for your weathering. I use enamel-based media as I prefer the versatility and durability of them, however there are acrylic alternatives available to you as well. The main advantage of acrylics is the lack of odour they give off, although the trade-off is that they do not give as long a working time before they dry.

Tech Definitions 1. Wash: Artists oil paints diluted in a mixture of approximately 15% Paint and 85% thinner, although this can vary 2. Filter: Artists oils diluted to a mixture of approximately 25% Paint and 75% Thinner, mixed to represent either a lighter or darker version of the base model colour 3. Pigments: Weathering pigments are used in a variety of techniques and applications and can be set in place either under thinner or varnish.

Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders

17

Le Mans Slot.it 24 HOUR DIGITAL

by Ric Woods

L

ike so many adventures these days, this one started with an e-mail. Gary Skipp, a long-time racing adversary and occasional team-mate, was asking if I would like to join his team for the Slot.it oXigen Le Mans 24 Hours. Gary and his colleague Alex Jones had taken on the most ambitious slot project to be seen in years – to build a 235 feet long replica of the Le Mans circuit and race two classes of car on it for 24 hours. Not content with that, they decided to use the Slot.it oXigen digital system and push the new technology to its limits!

I have to admit that I hesitated. My ego was saying that he wanted me for my experience (this would be my 14th 24 hour event) and my safe, car-conserving driving. The more cynical side of my nature reasoned that he had clearly obtained some local government backing, subject to him giving an elderly person a nice day out… Anyway, I said “yes”, at least making this article a lot easier to write. I duly turned up on the Thursday

before the race to ‘help’ (in that way I have of not actually helping much at all) put the track together. The barriers on the Mulsanne Straight? I did them! I had harboured some hopes of stealing a few laps of extra practice, but the whole thing was still some way off being completed before I had to leave Gary (nursing the mother of all colds) and Alex (trying not to catch it) and head home again.

Friday, and as the teams started to arrive, to a man they were blown away by the fantastic track; it was clear that this event was going to be very special indeed. For our team, Sports Carazing, practice was a disaster. I arrived with far too much food (I’m still eating it a week later) and enough energy drink to hydrate an elephant. No time for snacks; the car – an SCX Peugeot 908, with Slot.it V12 and Slot.it gears, guide and rear wheels – wouldn’t run cleanly down the main straight, hesitating, then slowing, on acceleration which, on a straight which was some 70 feet in length (21.33 metres for everyone in the 21st century), was a

Each driver was presented with a free official 28-page programme produced by the SlotCarMAG team

20

The magazine for racers, collectors and builders – Slot Car MAG

Car customisation, Part 7:

Applying Decals

by Richard Bennett

F

inally you have your decals, printed and lacquered and ready to apply to your car. You will need a few basic tools for this that you should find around the home, or at least be able to “borrow” from ‘the other half’.

Assuming you have a dust-free, clean and dry car, you can get going with the masterpiece-in-the-making. You will need a saucer of water at room temperature, not fullto-overflowing as you need to have a lip of the saucer that is above the water, and you will need some sharp scissors. That’s all really; additionally you will find it handy if you have some curved nail scissors. It’s so much easier cutting out a circle with curved scissors than straight ones; conversely don’t try to cut a straight line with the curved nail scissors. Some people also swear by decal softening and setting solutions like Micro Sol & Micro Set. I personally don’t use them and usually find decals will mould and fit to body lines and shut lines very well without them. I wouldn’t say don’t use them, but try with and without and see what works for you.

You should have your painted car body to hand, so make sure it’s clean and dust-free. An option before you start decalling is to give the entire car body a coat of lacquer first. This will have the effect of filling in any unevenness in the paint which the decals may highlight. I wouldn’t say it was 100% necessary but it certainly won’t hurt to do. You do however need to make sure the lacquer is completely dry before you handle the car to be decalled.

Hopefully at this point you have your body with the paper decals on it to act as a reminder of where the decals are supposed to go. Alternatively you can work from a picture.

However, this isn’t necessary, as if you are a budding Picasso you can just go with the flow and apply decals where your heart feels is right for that truly original look.

Like I said a few months ago when we started this ‘how-to’ series, it is best to have an idea of what you want the car to look like and where the decals need to go. It is also important to look at the car and think about how you are going to physically handle the car while you are decalling it. The Porsche in the picture does not have too many decals, around 25 in total. The roof and the rear wing are relatively free of decals. So, if possible, this car needs handling by the roof and not the sides, otherwise you will end up moving decals by accident after they have been applied.

So let’s get on with it, cut out your first decal. Try to cut as close as you can to the image of the decal. This is not so important with clear decal paper, but with white decal paper it is a must. As you can see from the roundel picture that you can get close to the outer margin with relative ease, so if the roundel is clear then you can leave quite a good margin around the decal.

Also it is advisable to follow the outline of the decal image, like for the Shell logo. Try to follow the line of the shell and then the line of the lettering. If you were to just cut this out as a square the

Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders

Above: The main tools for the job when decalling Below: The decal sheet and clear lacquer

lines of the paper would catch your eye after it was applied to the car. Also if you are applying it to a curved surface, which we are in this case, an irregular cut-out shape is easier to mould to a curve than a perfect square. So the rule of thumb when cutting out is to stick as closely to the shape of the image as you dare.

Once you have cut out the decal, pop it onto the surface of the water in the saucer for around 5 seconds, and if it is a larger decal leave it for 10 seconds. Do not submerge the decal. Just let the surface tension do its work. After 5-10 seconds move the decal to the side of the saucer out of the water and let it rest in its own dampness for another 30 seconds at least. Then with damp fingers pick up the decal and slide it between thumb and finger. The decal should separate from the backing paper very easily. If it doesn’t, don’t try to force it. Put it back on the water surface for 5 seconds and then let it rest on the side of the saucer for another 30 seconds.

Can you over soak the decals? Yes you can! If you over soak you may see the edges of the decal begin to distort, a little like a clam shell. You can still apply to decal - you may be in luck and it sticks well - but you may find the decal will not sit right or stay in position. The only thing to do then is discard it and cut another out, which is a good reason to always have spares in a decal set.

So you now have your decal on your damp finger tip. Apply it to the car and slide your thumb and finger together to slide out the last of the backing paper. The water in the decal should make the

23

Club Focus The London Scalextric Club

by Steve Carter

T

he London Scalextric Club owes its existence to a dance instructor from Enfield, Middlesex, by the name of Roy Charlesworth.

In the mid-sixties heyday of slot car racing, Roy held dance classes at the Court School of Dancing in the ballroom above Burton’s the tailor in Enfield Town.

Having privileged access to this venue, Roy utilised it for his other great passion, slot car racing...

The club he started here was known as The Court QC’s. They raced as part of The Model Car Racing League, and in 1965 they claimed a new British 12 hour record of 74 miles, 179 yards and 1 foot for racing a slot car. The hobby and racing grew at an astonishing rate, but with the arrival of scratchbuilt cars, commercial raceways, and finally radio control, the hobby all but died. So Roy packed up his Scalextric plexytrack and carried on dancing.

Then, in 1977, in his new dance venue of the Odeon, Wood Green, he decided it was time for a revival. By now Scalextric racing was rarely heard of and the surviving slot car clubs were few and far between, so Roy advertised in ‘Exchange & Mart’ for

Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders

racers to rally to his call to come and race on Sundays every other week. The old plexytrack from his ‘60s club in Enfield was resurrected to build 4-lane circuits on which to race, and sometimes the best part of a Saturday evening was taken up for this purpose.

To Roy’s amazement, racers from all over London and the South East region responded, and things went so well that in 1978 the club hosted the South of England Championships, attracting an entry of 54 drivers. They raced Super Formula Scalextric Grand Prix cars, and the favoured model of the day was the new Lotus 77.

One of the drivers using a Lotus that day was a young John Herbert from Romford, Essex, who arrived with his dad. He had never attended before but went on to finish third, beating all but two of the favoured home drivers in the process.

Johnny Herbert, as he later became better known, went on to achieve much greater acclaim, winning Grands Prix and Le Mans for real. Still, two drivers from that day back in ’78 can still claim to have beaten Johnny Herbert in a race!

As well as the competitive racing back then, there was a

25

Go West! with the Slot.it Lancia LC2

by Eric Cropper writing for homeracingworld.com

I

t’s been a while since I’ve had, let alone run, a newer Slot.it release. So I jumped at the chance to review this car and, overall, I came to be pleasantly surprised with this one.

My first impression is that the body is too white for me to be absolutely in love with the paint job, but for the most part is everything is crisp and solid. Some small areas weren’t perfect, but who is?

I noted the overall profile of this model and it shares the cockpit and rear end with the older Lancia release. The most notable difference is the extended front end and the side body panels and it is lighter overall, weighing in at 16.4 grams. The nose is flattened and houses rectangular headlights (not the best looking, but they serve their purpose), and is that Amaretto logo in the nose tampo printed, because it’s a bit rough and crooked? The rest of the logos up front are very sharp and opaque though.

The rear wing throws a surprise with its mounting. It’s only secured to the two white tail fins, and does not actually connect to the centre supports from the chassis.

Another surprise was that the “24 Heures Du Mans” logo and drivers’ names were in fact a sticker and not printed. The antenna is rubber and seems sturdy. I don’t see the mirrors sticking around long when racing the Lancia hard around your circuit though!

The wheels are a simple 5 star design with a silver-painted centre cap and brake rotor behind it. It creates nice depth and contrast. They’re wrapped in Dunlop rubber (my favourite tyre brand). The rear wheels measure in at 16.5 mm, but there is still a ton of fender gap in the rear, which will allow you to run taller tyres if needed.

Overall, the LC2 and is a decent-looking car, but I’d rather have the Martini version. Perhaps it’s the white, but you can’t go wrong with Martini decals.

The Chassis The typical quality components can be found once the body is removed from the EVO6 chassis and latest style motor-mount. The Lancia in stock form is an inline configuration and can be easily upgraded to suit your need for speed and control for all types of tracks and surfaces. It also features the newest guide which feels solid and there’s not too much play in it within the post.

Track Time Ok, since everyone tunes their cars to suit their own needs I chose to run the Lancia as is and with minimal tuning. Every owner will figure out their own preferences to get their desired performance, so it makes no sense for me to try every possible car setup.

Main Pic : Another great car from Slot.it Below: Roof stickers rather than tampo printing

I tested on Legion Region Speedway, which is a 4 lane Scalextric Sport track running at 10V with an MG Power Supply and my newly-acquired Difalco Genesis DD303 controller. Here are the results and changes I made to the Lancia during the test runs, only cleaning the tyres each time with a mixture of H2O and Simple Green mixed at a 50/50 ratio.

• • • •

Magnet with all screws tight = 4.990 Best Lap No magnet with all screws tight = 6.149 Best Lap No magnet with the body screws backed off ½ turn = 6.092 Best Lap No magnet, body screws backed off ½ turn & pod screws ¼ turn = 6.073 Best Lap

The most impressive part of this testing is that I did NOTHING to the tyres.

They are very true and hooked up really well on the Sport track. The car accelerates incredibly quickly due to its light weight. I also didn’t add any weight to the chassis. The rear end could use a little taming, but for untouched box stock, it handled very well and could be controlled in the curves without an incredible amount of rear end sliding.

Judgement Slot.it is always changing and trying to improve the performance and reliability of its cars for the serious world competitor, and it still benefits the simple home racer too. This car has good looks, quality parts and the box stock performance that really shocked me from the first pull of the trigger. I think it’s a great addition to the Slot.it line and a very welcome one for someone who’s tired of another Porsche showing up as a “new” release.

Thanks to Bruce at CincySlots for helping sponsor this review!