[BAracer]

#53

"Happy Anniversary"

It's amazing to think that this Chat has been going for a full year now. I can remember when it started, it was just a group of grown up children enjoying chatting about their favourite hobby and sharing top tips, all in black and white, and just look at it now...

John Kitt has gone colour with his castings. And each one is a unique shade, mainly because he hasn't managed to consistently mix the pigments yet. Wayne preferred "1958 blue" to "1975 red". Paul has no problem with his colours...only blue and yellow. Although he did this time with the yellow as it wasn't paint but decal...he decided it was still a work in progress. 

Dennis showed us all something that has been hidden in plain sight, certainly for me and, I think, some of the hardened slotters on the chat...BRMs with cambered wheels. Front cambered wheels, not a problem, angled stub axles. Rear powered cambered wheels, how do they do that? Dennis showed us their secret...gasps all round. Strangely, some BRMs had cambered front, some had cambered rear, none had all four. It was agreed it was a great way to minimise grip levels due to the reduced contact area of the tyres to the track. But it was agreed that this was a minor set back because it allowed the inside rear wheel to lift every time you went round a corner, and this was generally agreed to be a good thing. Later on, Paul showed us a 3D printed chassis he'd bought that allowed all four wheels to point in different directions, all at the same time. Based on the knowledge shared between Chatters over the past year. everyone agreed this was not a good thing. Look away now if you don't like seeing chassis being broken live on air. And Paul clarified it wasn't a chassis he had printed, as his 3D printer was still safely in it's box. The first ever 'Shelf Queen' 3D printer?

"What you got there, Lough?" Oh that's just another stunning routed track he's been working on since breakfast. Fully 3D hill climb circuit. Just finishing off the scenery by tea time. He also showed us his latest slot car innovation, which suggests he doesn't accept all the logical tuning advice given out over the past year...a slot car where the driver sits in a seat on a sliding rail. So when the car accelerates, the seat and driver slide to the backstops on the rails. Or as Lough puts it, he transfers his weight over the rear wheels on acceleration to enhance grip levels. And when the car brakes, the driver and seat slide forward till they hit the frontstops on the rails. Or as Lough puts it, he transfers his weight over the front wheels to enhance grip under braking. Or did he just forget to glue the driver in place?

Greg was intending to announce a loyalty reward scheme for anyone who has watched all the previous 52 Chats, but John Kitt got in first. In fact, instead of just finishing off every announcement that Greg made in the Chat, John anticipated most of them, leaving Greg with the worst possible punishment for the Canadian, 10 mute minutes in the Sin Bin. Once he got out though, JK announced his own 'loyalty' scheme...anyone who votes for him in the forthcoming Chat chairmanship election will receive one of his little chequered flag trophies.

Wayne gave us a masterclass in plastic track refurbishment, or more specifically the rail elements. Only using ingredients found in a typical kitchen, he tried every combination of fluids to try and get the metal back to the original, better than showroom, 'Chris Walker' finish. Despite having to stop to actually clean the oven halfway through, as far as I could tell, he clearly and scientifically proved, that rather than use wet and dry paper like last week, if you use tin foil & water, then vinegar, then egg white, then oven cleaner, and then wet and dry paper, you get a much better finish. 

He also gave a really clear explanation involving a simple screwdriver on how to refurbish the pins that link the rail sections together.

"To get power to your car, first you must get power to all the rails"

Newcomer Mark had something to show that even had Dennis asking questions. Who is familiar with a recent slot cat that uses a rubber disc as a pinion and a motor that moves on sprung loaded rails? Lough obviously wasn't, as I saw him taking notes on that one. Mark then showed us another rarely seen item...a BUM slot car. The only one not taking notes on that one was Paul as he has a couple of bummier ones. So much so, that it only took a bit of winding up for him to lose his grip and demonstrate what the sound of a car body snapping in half sounds like. 

And did anyone else notice that all the while this was happening, Greg was sitting there playing with his Rubik's Cube?

Come on Greg, GET A GRIP!