Additions to our 2013 line-up

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Noskills
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Additions to our 2013 line-up

Post by Noskills »

Here are our 2013 pack race cars:
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My daughters pink car was beaten by my sons Zombie car (by 0.03 sec) so she wanted a faster car for regionals. And as I mailed my little black car to the mid American, daddy needed a new car too. Decided to try some fenders.
Here is my daughter's car:
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And my car (going for that 1940's Buck Rogers look):
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Our first fender cars. Decided to try to different styles. We shall see how we do. If either of these beats the green Zombie car which ran a 2.96 on a 42 ft best track at our pack I might just switch to fenders on all future cars. Either way they have the cool factor going. :thumbup:

Seth (Noskills)
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Vitamin K
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Re: Additions to our 2013 line-up

Post by Vitamin K »

Those are some sweet cars. I especially like the fender-work on the blue one. Are they balsa? How'd you get the body and the fender to 'blend' together like that?
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Noskills
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Re: Additions to our 2013 line-up

Post by Noskills »

Vit K,
Those are balsa from Derby Evolution. Same ones as on the silver car just cut them down more. Did the blending by first cutting them to the shape of the body with an exacto knife. Then glued them in and filled in the gap with wood putty and sanded, sanded and sanded. Lots of primer and lots of thin coats of wood putty under it.
Seth
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Re: Additions to our 2013 line-up

Post by whodathunkit »

Seth,

I'm likeing all the cars in your 2013 line-up!
But most of all the fenders & the silver flames painted on the blue car.
I have to ask..What's up with the one red flame on the car though ?

That 1940's Buck Rogers look.. Give's me an :idea: idea..
You need a balsa wood tail fin there Rocket Man.
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Good looking cars there Seth!

Mark
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Re: Additions to our 2013 line-up

Post by Ickabod »

Very nice looking cars Seth!
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Noskills
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Re: Additions to our 2013 line-up

Post by Noskills »

Mark,

Ah yes the red flame lick. A conversation starter! One silver flame lick peeled off with the stencil. The only brush model paint I had was red. So I asked my daughter, what about one red flame...it's sure to generate lots of questions. She said go for it. So we made a one flame stencil with painters tape and put the red flame lick back in. I was hoping someone would ask. :D

Seth
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Re: Additions to our 2013 line-up

Post by Speedster »

Great looking cars, Seth. Beautiful color combinations.
I actually thought one of the cylinders failed on the Blown Hemi and belched out the red fire. Good to know it was not quite that serious.
Cheers
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Scrollsawer
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Re: Additions to our 2013 line-up

Post by Scrollsawer »

Seth, I really like the fender work. Looks like you got it figured out right out of the starting gate. I'm very curious to know how they perform. Please keep us updated.

Yes, the red flame is definitely a conversation starter.

Regards,

Scott
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Noskills
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Re: Additions to our 2013 line-up

Post by Noskills »

Thanks for all the comments guys. I will let you know how they do on Sat and add some more anecdotal data to the ongoing fender debate.
Seth
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Re: Additions to our 2013 line-up: results

Post by Noskills »

Well here are our results from the regional race:
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My son got second place in the under 18 division (with the green Zombie car) and I won first place with the silver car. My daughter was in fourth. Overall we are pretty pleased but I will say there was a ton a variability in the race results. The fastest single run by any of our cars was mine at 2.974 followed by my daughter at 2.989. (42 ft Best track) Yet my son was consistent at 2.99 while my daughter and I faded to 3.03s. His car had light wheels and a drift of 4 in over 4 feet while we had 2.5 gm wheels with a (purposefully lowered) drift of 2 in over 4 ft. Perhaps the greater drift was the factor in the consistency of runs? No obvious death rattle or any wobble in any car on any run.

By the way my son was beat out by the son of fellow DT'er Topspin. :D It was great to meet a fellow enthusiast in person. :thumbup:

Now what to do?? tinker, tinker, tinker

Noskills (Seth)
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Re: Additions to our 2013 line-up

Post by whodathunkit »

Seth and kids,
Congrats on the regional race.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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Re: Additions to our 2013 line-up

Post by 4wheeldrift »

Seth,

Why did you dial in more drift on Jr.'s car? Was the COM the same for all 3 cars? We've typically dialed in 2-2.5" of drift, but I was reading where some posts said that as the COM became more agressive you should dial in more drift (?). It seems to make sense but I don't have a track to test out on. I also wonder sometimes with more agressive drift at what point is it a diminishing return with more rolling resistance against the center rail?
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Re: Additions to our 2013 line-up

Post by Speedster »

CONGRATULATIONS TO Team Toback !!!!!! The Team collected some mighty fine looking hardware. The time of 2.974 is awesome running on those heavy wheels.
Were there any other fender cars competing?
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Re: Additions to our 2013 line-up

Post by sporty »

rock on !
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Noskills
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Re: Additions to our 2013 line-up

Post by Noskills »

At
Thanks all. The winning cub car was "by the book Sporty spoon" and had a best run of 0.002 faster than mine.

To answer 4wheel drift, all the cars in the first photo had drifts of 4 in over 4 feet. The green car had the most aggressive COM at 5/8th. The other two with heavier bodies and wheels I could only get to 7/8. (They both had 22 cubes while the green had 24). As they all ran so smoothly I decided to dial back the the drift on the new fender cars but was too lazy to retune the green. The new fender cars had slight more agressive COMs of 6/8th each. I assume the idea behind drift is the least amount to keep the car on the rail. Don't know if the dialed back drift helped or not. I assume suboptimal drift would result in visible wobble? Not having a track either I don't know. Don't have the luxury to adjust drift to actual performance.
Seth
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