About Ninco track, has anyone sucessfully used non Ninco crash barriers on this. I can't get any grey Ninco barriers.

Hi have been playing with some Scalextric BTCC cars during lockdown, but have found after a number of laps the lens of the digital chip starts to wear and so the changes start to get intermittent . the height under the chassis behind the led is about 1.3mm but the led hangs down lower , is there an optimum chassis height to stop the led wearing ?

It is not too hard to find ways to kill time now that I am constrained at home.(but it is  worth it:we have, so far,only 9 losses /million)
This one was lying in a drawer for quite a few years waiting for a suitable chassis,now its almost ready missing proper rear rims and light lenses,the latter were included in the kit but cannot locate them:
lightweight,World Classics body


 
Just started the Lindner one,World Classics body


 
And Ghost ModelsLM 62

 
 
plus a restoration of an Eldon one


 

Some more cars I have had in the to do pile - a couple for years and a couple that have only just arrived.

   

   

   

   

Some of my 60's (ish) GP cars on the grid...........a year here or there makes no difference, so no rude comments !! 

All are either scratchbuilt (most) or rebuilt vintage cars

 
Cheers
Chris Walker
 

 
 
The front row.......Jimmy, Dan, & Jackie
 

 
 
The tail enders..........Mr. Bondurant in the privateer BRM P261 in the middle, with Dan's brother, also Dan, (not to be confused with brother Dan on the front row) to his right 
There is a nice shot of my camera case in the upper right of this pic.....!!

Ritchie Ginther had to start from the pitlane.
 

 
 
And,.....Jackie wins by a nose !!
 

"I like those corona virus days".My grand daughters (5 y.o.) statement enjoying mum and dad being at (working from)  home all day and no school.I could use it.I have opened my  to do projects drawers to see what can i do to spend my time.First off a couple of damaged Strombecker Ferrari 250 GTO.The primered one has a damaged headlight opening and no windshield whereas the red one windshield full of glue and light damage on the body.
   
   

I started with the grey one.I used blue staff to make a mould from the red one which i then fitted on to the grey one.
   
I will fill the gap with epoxy glue later today

I then tackled the windshield issue,i was lucky to have a 3rd allmost new one from which i used the windshield to make of gypsum and plasticine  a vac form mould 
   
Windshield ready,side windows will be cut from sheet

   
Chassis is printed in ABS
   
Rims (front,to save wight) and inserts (for rear alu rims) printed also in ABS
   

SALT? – Scandinavian/American Lotus Tribute. Okay, that doesn’t help much so, expanding a little: in Carver’s Lotus IX thread on the SFI forum, the Lotus 23 was mentioned as a particularly challenging subject due to its diminutive size. I contributed to the wandering of the thread by suggesting a possible answer to that challenge and identifying a few additional challenges. Evidently, in some sort of time zone and distance insensitive fashion the same idea occurred to both Carver and me. After some further discussions we have agreed to embark on a joint project wherein I will look to the ironmongery and he will employ his artistry in creating the coach work. This thread will chronicle the outcomes of that collaboration on a completely unpredictable schedule.


I would point out that this sort of dual origin is a well-established tradition in the automobile world. It was very common in the 1930s and earlier for a manufacturer to build a chassis and then ship it off to a coach works house for a bespoke body. (I may have even partaken of some of this myself. Years ago I owned, in sequence, two Sunbeam Talbot Mark IIs. I seem to recall a note to the effect that the bodies of those cars were built by Thrup and Mayberly.)


Enough introductory blather. Having committed to the project I made a list of the questions, problems, decisions etc. to be addressed. Some, like “13 inch wheels?” were solved forthwith – RS slot racing does them. Others fell into the category of “there is probably something that I’ve done before it will work here” but one issue stood out – the gearing.


And why is this a problem? Because of the numbers. (This is a foreshadowing of what is coming so, if numbers bore you, you are advised to go to the next thread on the forum)


There are 3 numbers here that matter: the gear ratio – obviously; the center to center distance of opinion and spur – the build is envisioned as a sidewinder, probably with the axle carrier soldered to the motor so this is important and finally, the diameter of the spur gear. for most builds the latter is a major concern but given the small wheels and tires that the model will carry it turns out to be the most critical number. As measured from a scale drawing, the rear tires and 19 mm in diameter. While off-the-shelf tire availability might bump that by a millimeter, it is nevertheless, for build purposes, the target. While typical rules exempt gears from a ground clearance specification, we are, after all, talking about use on a racetrack and not a cog railway. Starting with a not overly generous 2 mm of ground clearance. this dictates in maximum diameter for the spur gear of 15 mm.


Looking at 64, 72 and 80 DP spur gears we find the following with a diameter of 15 mm +/- 0.2 mm:


64 DP:36 tooth, 72 DP :40 tooth and 80 DP: 45 tooth


The next step is to look at the gear ratios. One of the objectives here will be to build a light chassis. One can always add weight but incremental lightness is a rare commodity. Based on observations from recent builds and behavior in both proxies and on my local tracks, my goal would be ratios between 2.2 and 2.8 : 1. For planning purposes let’s choose a ratio of 2.5:1. This would call for pinions of 14, 16, and 18 tooth for the 64, 72, and 80 DP spurs. (The numbers, of course, do not come out exactly but they are close)


With this information in hand we can generate the 3rd set of numbers, the center to center distance of the gear sets. To do this we add the pitch diameter of the spur to the pitch diameter of the pinion and divide by 2. At the results are:


64 DP gearset :9.92mm
72 DP gearset: 9.88mm
80DP gearset: 10.00mm


Will this work? A few more numbers – an FF 050 motor is 15.3 mm wide. The diameter of an axle carrier will vary depending on construction but, given bearing dimensions etc. 4mm is probably a good working number so


(15.3+4)/2 = 9.65 mm. It should work but with little margin for error in the dimensions of the axle carrier. A note in passing: there are alternatives that might yield a little more flexibility in both gear ratios and build style – the obvious one is in anglewinder (and Slot It does a 15mm angleinder gear) but there is also the option of turning the motor on its side. There are pluses and minuses to both of these approaches but they will certainly get a look.


A final note on gear ratios – there is some flexibility here without the necessity of rebuilding the motor/axle carrier assembly. One of the things that comes out of the numbers is that the center to center distance does not change if the total number of teeth on the pinion + spur does not change. In other words the dimension we calculated for a 36+14 64 DP gearset will hold for any combination that adds up to 50 e.g. 37+13, 35+15 etc.


WAKE UP! Class is over.


EM

Race it - and drink it.  First, I need to point out that the "Martini" only anecdotally relates to the Italian aperitif maker and predates the racing sponsorship of same.  It was coined by my life-long friend Alain Henon when we shared a New York city apartment in 1958 and had a nearly permanently erected original Scalextric "Figure 8" track on the living room floor.  It paid honor to our preferred Friday evening libation.  More of this history can be found in this (seriously outdated) web site:

www.ecuriemartini.com

Primary interest: 1/32 scale scratchbuilding

Current projects likely to appear here:  4WD Ferguson P99, a brace of 1939 Mercedes GP cars for the Mac Pinches proxy, Lotus 23 - a joint project with Carver (from the SCI forum)

EM

Please join me as I take one of my previous scratch built cars out of the cupboard to show and go around the track!



Thanks

John

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Hi everybody

This is our HO slot car club based in Brescia (Italy), the name is Tyco Slot Car Italy


It is an eight lane circuit and as you may understand from the name, we mainly use Tyco brand :)
We have a monthly meeting of an one year long tournament

Here the VIDEO of the track: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TycoSlot...732015382/

Our website: www.tycoslotcaritaly.it