[Nonfractal]

Sorry, I couldn't attend this week's chat. 
A midnight start really stretches my day, sometimes beyond  my ability to stay awake.

Regarding DeSlots, this thread summarises the main causes and fixes. 
I notice some causes were not mentioned in the chat

https://slotracer.online/community/showt...ght=Deslot

Alan 



Alan

[MrFlippant]

(Deleted old links to avoid accidental clicking.)

[MrFlippant]

By the way Greg, for UK participants the meeting above was actually on Saturday - first thing in the day. 

Leo

Well, it's well into Saturday morning for those down under, but I wasn't going to confuse people even more by saying it's a Saturday meeting. ;-)

[Anthony B]

See ya later ;)

[BAracer]

#57

"Friday Night, Saturday Morning"

Chris started with a 'show off and tell'...his lead lined can-am car is doing rather well in the proxy it is entered into. Mike showed us how he is single handedly re-injecting quantitative easing into the slot car market as he went through a conveyor belt full of recent purchases. 

Leo got a plug in for his forthcoming round of the Brighton-JOG Rally (in association with SlotRace.Online). Lucky for him that is is being held over the bank holiday weekend as that will give him three days to run all the cars entered.

We then got into a topic that cropped up a few times in the chat about building or setting up your first track...

• Don't make the track permanent until you are totally happy with the layout. 
  

 
Mike came on and reinforced this message. He owned up to having 43 different tracks over time, which probably means he actually had 60+. So you would have thought each one would be 'right first time', but even he was creating a test track to fine tune some of the features he wants to include on number '44'. He was happy to admit that he is always willing to learn, and prompted some great answers on track voltage which picked up on the balance between car performance and lane changer performance.

Denis showed us a beautiful black kit from Sideways, and gave it top marks for ease of assembly. Chris showed us a 'work in progress' Porsche 997, which to everyone else looked finished.

Lance asked some questions regarding tuning a Scalextric car that tips over too often. We were then given a live, interactive lesson in the art of dealing with a car that has too much grip for it's centre of gravity. Following on from that, we had an interactive workshop on braid management and how to set them up for different track types. And from this came another top tip for Neil to improve his results when racing other family members with similar performing cars...

• Leave your opponents braids exactly how they came out of the box. 
  

Lots of tips for Neil about how he can go about painting his Carrera track, which left him excited about the task rather than nervous.

And then to finish, one of the worst things that can happen to any slot car enthusiast...a slot forum losing valuable information when they migrate to a new platform! So lots of url and spider and spreadsheet talk, but watch the Chat if you want to know how to download valuable information from a forum onto your local drive before it vanishes into thin 'something'.

[MrFlippant]

[BAracer]

#58

A Proper Chat

Paul started off Show & Tell with his genuinely dodgy Batmobile. He followed that with his Fly T70 that flies round his track (once you replace everything but the body with performance parts).

JohnK was back with a potential Gulf Porsche, but maybe it was more Orangina than petrol company. He then showed off his latest product line...figure to go on things that need figures on them. So he was prompted by the  need for a rider to sit on one of his prop motorcycles, and he was soon taking orders on for go-kart drivers.

Alan Nonfractal showed off his refurbished TR7, and was praised for the paintwork to the body. He didn't quite get the same response for his choice of motor, which seemed to be more suited to a drag strip than a rally circuit. But Alan explained that it was inline with his tuning mantra "Start with too much power, and then find some more!". Leo Turini then showed us Alan's proxy Capri that has reached Scotland in the Brighton/JOG Proxy. The driver still had the cigarette in his mouth, and the furry dice were still hanging round the rear view mirror. Nice...

Dennis has gone all HO with his latest build, but still with a brass chassis. That brought out all the secret HO geeks in the Chat, which then introduced a whole new slot car dialect to the Chat. Couldn't understand most of it, but it seems the cars are way faster than 1/32, mainly because their drivers have no problem with keeping the magnets in them!

Antony AB showed of some vintage glass fibre bodied sports cars which go everyone nostalgic about front engined racers. Greg showed off all his TV/film cars, JohnK spotted an opportunity to add Robin to his figurine list, and Brian showed us what happens when you take money to a slot car swap meet. And to finish off, we had some great examples of scenery made out of empty Ferrero Roche boxes. That's a win/win build process in my mind.

And then we had a chat, a long, flowing, chat about everything and nothing. It started off with a discussion on magnet tuning and drifted off into the dusty corners of our hobby. Different track characteristics, car set up choices, tyre tips, and lots of other topics too interesting to note down.

And as Greg trying to run down the clock to the end of the video, he got called out to show us his latest attempt at decorating a car body in an 'art car' manner. By his own admission, he didn't enjoy it and it didn't go as planned...but regardless, everyone thought it was Jackson Pollocks.

[MrFlippant]

(Deleted old links to avoid accidental clicking.)

[MrFlippant]

[OXO cube]

greg 
for your topic bin 
as a noob to brass chassis building 
what would the guys recommend as a starter materials stock list 

i already have the iron , solder ,  flux ,  pins , jewelers block etc ( youtube vids etc )

would like to know which brass materials stock  to buy initially , sizes , shapes etc 
and what not to buy 

in millimeters please