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Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 10:30 pm
by Noskills
Wd13,
Try getting a wooden yard stick and gluing it to a 4 foot shelf board to test your rail riding. It's what I do. Also are you going thinner than last year? 0.5 oz of wood 0.5 oz wheels and axels and 4 oz of tungston? I like the 5/8th CoM. Good luck.
Noskills

Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 5:29 am
by Speedster
Sporty has said "the front tuning for rail rider is a bit tricky at first". That is the understatement of the year.
This was my first attempt at doing this since I happened to get involved with a scout that has the 4 on the ground, wheels flat etc. We planned on building a 3 wheel rail rider, which we did, and then simply install the 4th wheel and adjust it. We got the time on the 3 wheeler that we wanted. Then the nightmare began. The NDFW raised the DFW off the ground. We did not leave enough wood over the front axle slot to simply raise the axle and then adjust the wheel down for Negative camber and toe out. That was my fault. I finally got that problem solved, sort of, but we are consistently .02 seconds behind the car when it was running as a 3 wheeler. To make matters worse, we are .01 seconds behind his last years straight runner. He had won his Pack and placed 4th in district. Our DFW does not sit flat so I don't know if it will pass his inspectors. I was well aware of Sporty's advice before we started the car and I tried to stick to the rules. I don't know how anyone could be successful doing this without a quality track and timer.
I wish everyone the Very Best when dealing with 4 on the ground. I'm happy our District no longer has that rule.

What if very influential people, many who are on Derbytalk, contacted the BSA at the Highest Level and told them the 4 on the ground rule should be Outlawed. It could be under the Heading, "Abuse of Minors, Grandmothers and the Elderly". That would get the Nations sympathy.

Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 8:31 am
by wd13
Noskills wrote:Wd13,
Try getting a wooden yard stick and gluing it to a 4 foot shelf board to test your rail riding. It's what I do. Also are you going thinner than last year? 0.5 oz of wood 0.5 oz wheels and axels and 4 oz of tungston? I like the 5/8th CoM. Good luck.
Noskills
Yes, we are planning to thin the car down some this year. How much is yet to be determined as I leave the car design up to my son. Count on me making a suggestion here and alteration there but generally, its his deal. Last year the car was actually lighter than I expected it to be (I'll have to weigh it as I'm curious what it was now). Used all the weight I had to get to 5oz. I'll have to come up with some more this year. We used the cylinder weight last year instead of the cubes as I didn't have a router. Not sure how we'll do it this year, but I do know we'll be keeping the weight lower in the car this time. Great idea on the yard stick btw.

Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 11:21 am
by sporty
Still awaiting a reply in pm from wd.

Sporty

Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 12:44 pm
by wd13
sporty wrote:Still awaiting a reply in pm from wd.

Sporty
From me?

Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 12:47 pm
by sporty
wd13 wrote:
sporty wrote:Still awaiting a reply in pm from wd.

Sporty
From me.

Yes. If u want some help. I'm happy to talK on the phone w u. Go thru the 4 on the floor.

Didn't u get a pm from me ?

Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 12:53 pm
by wd13
sporty wrote:
wd13 wrote:
From me.

Yes. If u want some help. I'm happy to talK on the phone w u. Go thru the 4 on the floor.

Didn't u get a pm from me ?
No sir, I don't have any messages. That's why I was a bit confused. I really would like to discuss it with you though.

Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 2:12 pm
by Speedster
Sporty and wd13, the last message I got through Derby Talk did not show up in my email like it used too. When I clicked on Derby Talk, it did show up as "1 New Message". Since wd13 is new to Derby Talk, he might have missed seeing the notice that he had a message.

Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 2:27 pm
by wd13
Speedster wrote:Sporty and wd13, the last message I got through Derby Talk did not show up in my email like it used too. When I clicked on Derby Talk, it did show up as "1 New Message". Since wd13 is new to Derby Talk, he might have missed seeing the notice that he had a message.
I checked that after he mentioned sending me a message thinking the same. It showed "0 new messages". No worries though, we were able to get it done. :thumbup:

Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 1:04 pm
by wd13
Wanted to come here and update this. We were able to get the car cut out, axles and wheels ready etc. Car weight is a little heavier than I was hoping, comes in at 1.2oz with axles and wheels. However, its the design my son came up with and wanted so I wasn't about to tell him no. Thanks to your help and especially Sporty's, we were also able to align it for the 4 flat rail riding. Right now we have the car drifting 3 inches in 4'. I'm hoping that will be good. Still have to take it apart for paint but that's where it stands as of now. The 4 flat process was a little tricky but came together well. And, it only took me 2 blocks. haha! We race on the 21st of this month and I'll be sure to update with our results and my thoughts of the rail rider setup.

Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 3:07 pm
by sporty
wd13 wrote:Wanted to come here and update this. We were able to get the car cut out, axles and wheels ready etc. Car weight is a little heavier than I was hoping, comes in at 1.2oz with axles and wheels. However, its the design my son came up with and wanted so I wasn't about to tell him no. Thanks to your help and especially Sporty's, we were also able to align it for the 4 flat rail riding. Right now we have the car drifting 3 inches in 4'. I'm hoping that will be good. Still have to take it apart for paint but that's where it stands as of now. The 4 flat process was a little tricky but came together well. And, it only took me 2 blocks. haha! We race on the 21st of this month and I'll be sure to update with our results and my thoughts of the rail rider setup.
Nice to get the update. We hope the race goes well 4 you.

Sporty

Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 8:55 am
by wd13
Races ran Saturday. My sons car took 1st place for all of the Wolf pack. It then took 2nd place overall in the District race. We were very happy with that. We're still going to look for some more speed next year to see if we can win the whole thing. There are a couple areas I know we can improve upon. We're learning but having a great time doing it.

Image
Image

Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 8:58 am
by Vitamin K
Congrats, team wd13!

I love that marble block look on the body. Is that a vinyl wrap, or is it paint?

Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:41 am
by wd13
Vitamin K wrote:Congrats, team wd13!

I love that marble block look on the body. Is that a vinyl wrap, or is it paint?
Thank you!

We hydro dipped the car. Basically we spray a base color (automotive paint), the dip the car into pattern of choice, then clear it. It was the easiest way I knew to get a cool looking finish on the car. My son has had me do this for him on each of his two cars. He picks the design and color, I paint/dip them up.

Re: Rail rider question

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 10:00 am
by ngyoung
That skull image is from the hydro dip? Or did you add that afterwards?