Russell's Slot Cars

C A R S  I  H A V E  B U I L T

Marconi 2000 Cars Greenwood Corvette Ford Galaxie Lola T70 UOP Shadow Alfa Romeo 12C

OWH Proxy II Cars Ferrari F50 Opel Calibra Jaguar XJR9

Marconi 2001 Cars Autocoast Ti-22 Lancia-Ferrari Audi R8

TMAS Tiger Cars Alfa Romeo 156 Jordan Yamaha 192

Other Cars Chevy Montecarlo

Resulting from a discussion on the Internet Slots DL,  a free e-mail based slot racing discussion forum, Bob Ward and Paul Kassens (editor of the Old Weird Herald e-zine), undertook to host a series of mail-in proxy races. This presented 'basement racers' from around the world with the opportunity to compare cars and building skills, without having to leave home! The first event, Proxy I, was held in February 1999 and not knowing what to expect, I went completely overboard with the cars I built, taking full advantage of the rules.  I used a CAD program to design the chassis and sent the diskettes off to DvR Slot Racing in South Africa to have them laser-cut from spring-steel.  The cars were in a class of their own, totally dominating the event. OWH Proxy II Cars: Ferrari F50 Consequently, the rules for Proxy II, held in October 1999, were revised, correctly, in my opinion, so as to attract more  entrants, regardless of their level of building skills and with only basic workshop facilities at their disposal.

The rules for the Production Class were fairly straightforward, being for any production-type GT or touring car, as raced in Trans Am or any of the European touring car series.  With the emphasis on 'scale', bodies had to be injection-moulded or resin.  Thinking that most entrants would opt for Corvette's, Mustang's and the like, I decided to use a Ninco Ferrari F50 body, which had been modified by PRS of Italy to resemble the racing F50GT model.

Pictured is my Proxy II Production Class entry, using a Ninco Ferrari F50 body which has been modified by PRS of Italy to resemble the Ferrari F50GT.

Chassis had to have an in-line configuration and could be manufactured from any material except spring-steel, and no laser or EDM cut components were permitted, other than the guide tongue. Chassis weren't allowed to be hinged, although they could flex, but as a single unit.

In order to optimise the rule allowing 'chassis to flex as a single unit', I decided on a simple two piece design, using the rear piece to hold the motor and rear wheels and the front section the guide and front wheels, connected by two single piano-wire main-rails. Using the statistics from Proxy I as a guide, I opted for a fairly heavy chassis and used .063? brass plate with .047' main-rails. The 0.062" thick brass plate was cut using a Dremel Moto Tool mounted in a Vandalay Accra Mill Plus, which firmly holds the Dremel and has a sliding-table on which the work-piece can be securely fixed. The various chassis components are shown above. The simplicity of the design is evident. I used a combination of Dremel and Slick 7 cutting disks to cut the brass plate. The most difficult part to cut was the motor-box / rear axle unit, which I wanted as a single piece to ensure rigidity.  The rules required all cars to use stock Plafit Cheetah motors, and 48DP gears. Since my tyre grinder can only accept 3/32' axles and no manufacturer produced 48DP crown gears for this size axle at that time (these are now available from Slot.it), I used brass tube to sleeve a Plafit 30 tooth gear down to size.

OWH Proxy II: Opel Calibra Having finished the Ferrari, I felt I could build a better chassis, with more flex, and also wanted to space the rear-axle bearings as wide apart as possible.  I also felt it needed a longer guide-lead, so I started all over again with a second car. Using the same simple basic design of the Ferrari chassis, I redesigned the rear-end, to position the main-rail attachment point about where the pillow-blocks were mounted on the Ferrari chassis.

This time I opted for a Scalextric Opel Calibra body, widening the wheel-arches out to the maximum permitted width of 2 ½' using Plasticard and modelling putty. I also built up the front valance, to accommodate the guide. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and didn't finish the detailing body to the standard I wanted.

The body is mounted to the chassis by way of counter-sunk screws, which attach to thin "L" shaped brass strips, which are glued to the inside of the body.

OWH Proxy II winning Jaguar XJR9-LM Having capitalised on the fact that the rules for Proxy I didn't specify the type of materials nor method of construction to build the chassis, I went completely overboard and designed a spring-steel chassis, which Dawie Van Rooyen of DVR had laser-cut.  This really wasn't in the spirit of the rules and for Proxy II, spring-steel and laser-cut chassis components were specifically excluded.

The chassis design is a bit of a 'blast from the past', using 16 gauge brass plate with 18 gauge piano-wire main-rails, with a central 'flexi-iso' pivot.  The side-pans are hinged, with plumber hinges located directly ahead of the front wheels.  The mandatory Plafit Cheetah motors were not allowed to be modified in any way, which dictated the rather large angle at which the motor is placed relative to the back axle.  Front wheels are SCD Delrin.  The scale size rear wheels were also machined by SCD and tyres are Ingram 'fish rubber'.

Whilst Proxy I had specified injection-moulded or fibreglass bodies, vacuum-formed bodies were permitted for Proxy II.  I opted to build one of my all-time favourite cars, the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Jaguar XJR-9LM, driven by Wallace, Dumphries and Lammers to victory in the 1988 Le Mans 24 Hour endurance race.  The body is actually a 1987 Jaguar XJR-8, made in Lexan by Betta Bodies,  which has been painted to resemble the 1988 car.  I added a full interior, mirrors, headlights and a windscreen wiper for realism.  The 'Silk Cut' logo's were hand-painted by Gary Cannell.  For some odd reason, the correct shade of purple in which the body is painted, does not show in the photographs!

Marconi 2000 Cars Greenwood Corvette Ford Galaxie Lola T70 UOP Shadow Alfa Romeo 12C

OWH Proxy II Cars Ferrari F50 Opel Calibra Jaguar XJR9

Marconi 2001 Cars Autocoast Ti-22 Lancia-Ferrari Audi R8

TMAS Tiger Cars Alfa Romeo 156 Jordan Yamaha 192

Other Cars Chevy Montecarlo

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