[woodcote]

Sure, there are people scratch-building and kit-bashing to race to specific rules, but I'd hazard a guess that most people building cars aren't building them for organised racing. Like with most collectors, home-racers, scenic track builders etc, I suspect we never see 95% of what happens in our hobby because it's not shared on the few slot car forums or on social media - or certainly not where we're looking.

Perhaps a broad stroke - outlining all the various flavours and extremes of scratch-building and kit-bashing - works best, perhaps linking to some of the great examples here on SlotRacer. A concise introduction might be something like...

• To scratch-build or kit-bash a slot car, there needs to be a body, a chassis and the necessary running gear. That's the case for any scale of slot car and whether the aim is to race the car competitively or not.
  
• The body can be crafted from scratch in many different ways - or it can be adapted from a plastic kit or bought off-the-shelf as a resin, fibreglass or lexan shell. A body usually requires painting and detailing to produce a slot car model that is unique and personal to the builder. Decals for thousands of cars are available to buy or can be designed and printed at home.
  
• Sometimes a chassis is supplied with a kit (eg George Turner's kits), but there are also many adjustable 'universal' chassis that can be used (eg Pendle's PCS32, Penelope Pitlane, Slot.it HRS2, MRRC Sebring, numerous metal racing chassis etc etc). Some builders will find a chassis from another slot car model that will fit or can be adapted. And there is always the option to make your own chassis from scratch - using metal, fibreglass board, plastic sheet or 3D printing.
  
• There's an enormous variety of running gear available to scratch builders and kit-bashers, although most of the adjustable chassis can be bought with all the necessary components included.
  

Any good?

A few related links I use often are...

• Classic Slot Car Association www.cscra.co.uk
  
• Pendle Slot Racing www.pendleslotracing.co.uk
  
• George Turner Models www.georgeturnermodels.com
  
• Pattos Place Decals www.pattosplace.com
  
• IndyCals www.indycals.net
  
• Shapeways www.shapeways.com