2014 Cars
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- Master Pine Head
- Posts: 249
- Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:29 am
- Location: Huntsville, AL
2014 Cars
So me and my son are building 4 cars this year.
1. His scout car
2. An outla... oops I mean open division car
3. A test car
4. A "pro" car for proxy racing
All 4 have been cut out. 1-3 are pretty much done. I will take pictures of all of them, but here are a few of the scout car. A H frame was cut out and berch plywood was used as a veneer. The front bar was intended to be left, but broke during the cutting process. I was going to leave it, but the veneer was a little raised on the nose since it had nothing to hold on to. We cut a small bar and CA glued it to the front then sanded it flush with the bottom of the car. The fenders are balsa. There is a decent amount of flex in the car. I really question if it matters are not, but I am considering adding balsa in the middle to strengthen the car. Anyway, here are the pics and there will be more to come.
Rough cut and sanded fenders:
Underside of car:
Top of car:
Car with test wheels:
The initial intent was to use monokote to cover entire car as seen above. After one try it was apparent that wouldn't be possible (at least not with my monokote skills). We ended up removing the fenders and using monokote on the body, and my son spray painted the fenders. We used a sealer, a primer, and cheap paint. The monokote didn't go on as easy as last year. We tried a couple of times, but just ended up being ok with a few wrinkles.
1. His scout car
2. An outla... oops I mean open division car
3. A test car
4. A "pro" car for proxy racing
All 4 have been cut out. 1-3 are pretty much done. I will take pictures of all of them, but here are a few of the scout car. A H frame was cut out and berch plywood was used as a veneer. The front bar was intended to be left, but broke during the cutting process. I was going to leave it, but the veneer was a little raised on the nose since it had nothing to hold on to. We cut a small bar and CA glued it to the front then sanded it flush with the bottom of the car. The fenders are balsa. There is a decent amount of flex in the car. I really question if it matters are not, but I am considering adding balsa in the middle to strengthen the car. Anyway, here are the pics and there will be more to come.
Rough cut and sanded fenders:
Underside of car:
Top of car:
Car with test wheels:
The initial intent was to use monokote to cover entire car as seen above. After one try it was apparent that wouldn't be possible (at least not with my monokote skills). We ended up removing the fenders and using monokote on the body, and my son spray painted the fenders. We used a sealer, a primer, and cheap paint. The monokote didn't go on as easy as last year. We tried a couple of times, but just ended up being ok with a few wrinkles.
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- Master Pine Head
- Posts: 183
- Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2012 12:10 am
- Location: Kirkland, Washington
Re: 2014 Cars
Awesome looking pro-style car. Are you worried about the stop section? Looks like this design could be a bit fragile.
Most of the time it seems like people put a little bit of balsa cross bracing in the open cavity to reinforce and stiffen the body. I'm guessing your car doesn't weight more than 0.4 oz as it sits in the photos.
Most of the time it seems like people put a little bit of balsa cross bracing in the open cavity to reinforce and stiffen the body. I'm guessing your car doesn't weight more than 0.4 oz as it sits in the photos.
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- Master Pine Head
- Posts: 249
- Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:29 am
- Location: Huntsville, AL
Re: 2014 Cars
The body with no fenders or wheels weighted 9 grams. I am not sure if I am going to fill the body. It is somewhat flexible with enough force, but I am not sure that I am convinced that this matters.
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- Master Pine Head
- Posts: 249
- Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:29 am
- Location: Huntsville, AL
Re: 2014 Cars
Just when you think you know what you are doing you learn more. I guess me and my son will be working on the back fenders more. Going to make them smaller and make it so they don't go over the back wheels.
Re: 2014 Cars
Looking good. Your rear fenders look bigger than mine. I see you tapered the underside of one rear fender only is that right? I assume on the DFW side? I notched out a chuck on the inside of all 4 just in case even though I see the rear wheel on the DFW side is at the greatest risk.
Show us more pics!!
Noskills
Show us more pics!!
Noskills
"Nunchuk skills... bowhunting skills... pinewood derby skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills!"
Napoleon Dynamite
Napoleon Dynamite
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- Master Pine Head
- Posts: 249
- Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:29 am
- Location: Huntsville, AL
Re: 2014 Cars
It may be hard to see in the pic, but I tapered the underside of all 4. I just held them up to the car and drew a line on the fender where it touched the bottom of the car. I then tapered up to that point.
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- Master Pine Head
- Posts: 249
- Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:29 am
- Location: Huntsville, AL
Re: 2014 Cars
Here are a few more pics. This first one is the car above with the fenders removed. The monokote does not look nearly as good as last year. I don't think I did a good job of keeping it tight. It doesn't look as bad as this picture. Not sure if we are going to redo.
This is what I am calling the test car. Nothing fancy going in this car just to see how it compares to the others.
This is an open car which has razor wheels and needle axles. My idea was to do a see through/invisible car. This is monokote as well.
This is what I am calling the test car. Nothing fancy going in this car just to see how it compares to the others.
This is an open car which has razor wheels and needle axles. My idea was to do a see through/invisible car. This is monokote as well.
Re: 2014 Cars
Resullivan,
Whats the COM on that open car? Thats a ton of tungsten and with razor wheels will you be popping wheelies?
Noslills
Whats the COM on that open car? Thats a ton of tungsten and with razor wheels will you be popping wheelies?
Noslills
"Nunchuk skills... bowhunting skills... pinewood derby skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills!"
Napoleon Dynamite
Napoleon Dynamite
Re: 2014 Cars
Is that lead you're using for weight in the test car? Did you pour it to shape?
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- Master Pine Head
- Posts: 249
- Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:29 am
- Location: Huntsville, AL
Re: 2014 Cars
I haven't checked the COM, but it is probably 1/2 to 3/4 of inch. Yes that is lead, and yes we poured it directly into the car. You can see the sourch marks where I had to remove some lead because we added to much.
Re: 2014 Cars
Surprised that you can pour molten lead into such a thin car without burning up. Did you use tape or something to fence it to shape?
resullivan wrote:I haven't checked the COM, but it is probably 1/2 to 3/4 of inch. Yes that is lead, and yes we poured it directly into the car. You can see the sourch marks where I had to remove some lead because we added to much.
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- Master Pine Head
- Posts: 249
- Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:29 am
- Location: Huntsville, AL
Re: 2014 Cars
On the back side of the car we clamped a block to the bench. We put a weight in the front of the car to keep it from moving. On the inner part of the car I used a piece of balsa.