Airfix Porsche Gulf
Because this was going to
be a serious racing car I chose the Airfix body for its lightness and the fact
that the gulf porsche is one of the all time classic cars. The body was reinforced
under the front wheel arches by applying a coat of epoxy to stiffen it. Other
than that it was assembled in the normal way.
The track and wheel base were marked out on a peice of mdf and the square tube brass chassis was assembled over these dimensions. The chassis consists of two brass square tubes running the length of the car, running under either side of the motor and turning up and back on itself and attaches to the top of the rear motor mount. The rear axle is a 1/8 drill blank mounted in two short 1/8 id brass tubes soldered inside the rear chassis. The rear wheels/tyres are Pro track dense foam. The motor and front axle assembly are mounted to the rails with custom made mounts soldered into place. There is a scalex pick up guide mounted in a drop down frame that carries a neodymium magnet mounted on the rear of the frame. This magnet keeps the guide firmly on the track and allows phenomenal corner entry speed and is far enough back to give the rear tyres plenty of extra grip. The motor is of course a ninco NC2 which currently seems to be the best of the volume motors on the market. This car is outstanding on medium length scalex type tracks (25/30 metres) and because of the low slung chassis and pro track tyres is amazingly quick and stable on board tracks, an attribute not found in many "off the shelf" cars. Lets face it, a fly car might as well be an NC1 on a board track!! This sort of construction takes about 20 hours and is not recomended for the faint hearted but the end result is awesome!
Phil Wicks
