[BAracer]

#72

"Protect us from what we want!"

Lots of newcomers on the chat...Everyone seems to know Jim from his YouTube channel, Dennis thinks he might have met him years ago at an RC event. Graham is from the UK and brings enthusiasm and a massive 'track shed' in his garden; videos to follow. Larry is the first WWSCC love child of Greg and John, having got enthused in the hobby by watching the Chats. He brings a history of model making and scenery/figure painting with him. John brings a decal printer and Greg without realising might have a set printed by him already. Matt comes from a T-Jet background, as did Jim, which brought us full circle.

Dennis had a Show + Tell featuring three cars where the owner had asked him to build some brass chassis. Hardly a challenge for Dennis, who agreed to base the driver of the Jensen Healey on the owner himself, along with the correct licence plates. Jeremy C was worried about following that, but then slam dunked a 3D printed billboard model that can hold a smartphone into the Chat. Everyone's eyes lit up at the prospect of having rolling ads around the circuit, or live feeds from cameras, or race position stats...they all wanted one. John gave an update on Gregs Christmas 'Cut and Shut' Porsche 935. It's taking shape and looking really good. However, the car made out of all the leftover bits is not looking so good. I hope JK doesn't get them mixed up. There was some talk about the spec, Greg's happy to go with a car that does wheelies as he powers down his main straight. Brian showed off his new track table. Forget scenery, he's put all his effort into choosing a nice carpet to lay on the table under the track. Now it's onto the curtains to hide the legs. Frank showed off a new type of body casting. It's made of boring old plastic, but was cast using a 3D printed mold, so looks like a 3D printed shell with all the layer lines that you need to rub off...brilliant! Greg showed us his 3D printed tyre razor assistant that moves the sliding pads back and forward all day until you remember to switch it off. And then showed us his blue/yellow Marlboro Porsche that he is having to put together himself due to Marlboro refusing to change their red/white branding. Mike showed off a couple of recent purchases he was able to make due to a nice windfall...his wife's paycheck. They were a Sideways Ford GT and a Ferrari. Bit of a discussion ensued as to whether the large rear wings offer a bigger advantage due to aerodynamic benefits or just due to their weight.

There was a bit of a tech chat about the performance benefits of oiling tyres. Henri doesn't oil, he just spend hours making them smooth with rounded edges. Wayne is on a mission to work out the optimum oil treatment to get his air hubs and tyres working in perfect harmony...it's still a work in progress, although suggestions did come in from Alan and a few others as to why he doesn't need to bother anymore. 

There was also a good summary of the options for painting timber tracks. Graham was looking to fill his Shed with a wooden track and had trawled all the slot forums for advice and, surprise surprise, no clear answer jumped out. Two minutes of chat with 'those who know' and he was sorted. Almost. He just has to fly over to America to go to the paint stores that were highly recommended.

Club Corner highlighted some digital Raid racing run by Henri in NL. Videos available on video streaming sites. Henri thought there were too many participants and the racing was a bit chaotic. Coming from a dutchman, that means it must have been VERY chaotic. Mike's home club is doing just fine. Three members but difficult to split them on the track, so lots of competitive racing, which is all you want at the end of the day. Jeremy has a Barracuda that's almost good enough to win, but the rules limit what he can do to find that final marginal gain he is looking for. A bit late for Jeremy, but Alan pointed out that Scalextric are looking to visit UK slot clubs to see how their cars are raced, or why they are not, and what they could offer to improve the uptake of their cars in the racing scene. Manufacturer and racers in perfect harmony...