[Tamar]

Posted 13 February 2019 - 08:53 PM

The Road to Le Mans 1/32: 8 weeks and counting
Finally have a short moment to post an update, its been a busy week and a half, spend most of my free time in the "workshop" getting the Ford ready for its first shakedown.
That clock just keeps on ticking.
Most of last weeks work was focussed on categorizing and analyzing what body and chassis modifications needed to be done to fit the chosen race set-up and then implementing them on the first Prototype chassis
For a race like the DiSCA Le Mans 24hrs that means a set-up that has been tried and tested, evolution instead of revolution, experience gained the hard way 
So it won't be much of a surprise for most of you to see the first pics of the Mark I chassis with a slot.it sidewinder pod.
I'll be building on the experience gained in the last two editions with the DiSCA Proton Porsche and the SRFH Corvette C7R.
 
Taking stock...
So the first thing I always do when I start a new project is to open a new excel sheet and take stock, I've got one for every car I've build in the last 4 years.
Each data sheet contains all the parts used for the car during the build & testing and the race(s). It list part nr, dimensions and most important their weight.
With most of the specs for the running gear pretty much at a constant, the sheet allows me to calculate what consequences a specific a set-up will have on the weight of the car.
But for each car the chassis and certainly the body can be very different.
So here I usually start with noting down the values for the Stock parts (if there is a stock base car) in the first column and set target values in the last.
During the build a new column is added for each test so I can keep track what progress (if any) has been made.
 

From left to right: Complete Stock body, rear Wing support & wing, Rear wing, Stock Windows, Interior & motor detail, Detail parts, Bare Inner body, Bare outer body

...and making plans
Taking stock also helps with making plans as it becomes pretty obvious where the biggest gains can be made. With a target weight of 16 gr (need 3gr for lights) the Ford is pretty good to begin with.
Ditching the rear wing support section for something lighter and a vacformed interior and we're a good way towards our target. 
But because the Ford has such a small and low body I won't be able to make such serious weight gains as I did with the Carrera M6. 
So like very other car I've build to DiSCA spec..every 10th of a gram will matter.

Besides making masters for Vacformed parts, modifying the body to make room for the SW configuration will also needed to be done.
In my "S- can conversion" post I mentioned that little or no body mods would het been required for Scalextric to have fitted their regular S-can.
And that even a SW configuration would have been possible...for a Stock chassis. But for a DiSCA spec car with offset pods and 1 -1,5 mm suspension travel..its a different story.
 
Suspens(ion)
One one of the reasons why the Ford became our plan B was that besides a Scalex base car I also had a ProSpeed 3DP chassis.
Although its designed to be compatible with slot.it pods it did not have any pick up points for the Evo-6 springs.
But like with the M6, Stefan was willing to incorporate any changes I would need in new chassis versions.
I would modify the first chassis to my desire and use that as a prototype to test the changes, evaluate and after Stefan added them to the design have a Mark II version printed. Within the 8 weeks window that would give us possibly 3 development cycles, way to go ProSpeed.  
So the first thing I did was add another layer of on top of the rear of the chassis, covering the general area where I thought the suspension and body adjust screws could be placed. Using 1,5 mm thick plasticard this would give me enough "depth" to countersunk the suspension screws.
I've always been a fan of side suspension when running on Ninco, and the wider I can spread my suspension points the better.
So the good news with the Ford was that (unlike most other GT's) the wide Evo spring arms do fit under the body.
The bad news was that there's no room to mount any spring on top. So I went through my spares box and dug up varies springs and suspension bits and pieces.
The shape of the body and the pod more or less dictated where I would be able to mount the springs.
 

I had some parts on order, but did not want to wait till they arrived, and I had cut off the evo 6 mounts on all the SW pods we prepped for the Porsche and C7R. The only pod left was a 0,5mm offset..for a prototype it would have to do. Besides having Side suspension I also wanted to be able to adjust the spring screws without having to open the body..so some kind of top nut retainer was needed. Turned out the Thunderslot top nuts with Scaleauto screws was the only combination with plenty of travel but still low enough to fit under the body...well almost  


 
So here are the suspension adaptors I fabricated from 1mm GRP, just thick enough to cut a thread in so I could mount them with grub-screws (lighter then normal screws cause they have no head) to the OEM slot.it mounts.
And just thin evenough to slide between the chassis and the suspension arms. Must say easier said than done.
Although officially you could call these adaptors Mark I, I must have fabricated, and oops dropped on the floor and lost for ever..half a dozen of these tiny parts. 

Inner body
A very interesting feature of the Scalex Ford GT is that they've conveniently designed their casting, separating the body in an outer and inner body shell.
Conveniently as it was very helpful to just be able to use the inner body shell dismounting it a zillion times to see if it fits, and if not..where it rubs.
An oh boy did it rub. On the workbench all looks fine with plenty of clearance, but on the track with all the body float and pod travel everything would start to foil and hinder free movement.
 

No matter what I tried, I could not get the radiators to clear the top suspension nuts, so they had to move, or more accurately they had to rotate a bit.
Below you can see how I cut them of the inner shell and remounted them at an slight upward angle. Now I had room enough for the suspension mounts with their top nuts to move freely.
 

 
Ok that's it for now, got more work planned for 2 night, got a master for the interior to finish, mould and cast.
As a preview of post to come.....see pic below..cause yes...I did manage to finish the Ford GTLM Mark 1 for last Sunday's roll out and shakedown.
The results were promissing...

to be continued
with kind regards
Tamar
 

Ford GT LM Mark 1 leaving the Pits @ Suzuka for its first Shakedown