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Aston Martin DBR 1960

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wixwacing
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Aston Martin DBR 1960

Post by wixwacing »

Aston Martin DBR 250 1960



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As always on the look out for something a bit different I saw a link to a website which has some unusual GP cars. Amongst the variety on offer was the Aston Martin which is the subject of this topic. The link was to Pendleslot of which nearly all of us must be aware, but to the out of the box racer, the pages containing the resin bodies may well never be visited. So as an introduction I have included their web address below.



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Penelope Pitlane slotcar bodies


The brand name is Penelope Pitlane which I suspect might be exclusive to Pendle’s and there is a small but distinctive selection of models of which the Aston Martin was particularly attractive to me. Also on the list are the following:

1956 Bugatti 251
Formula 1 Scarab
Lotus 18
The ‘Birkin’ Bentley
1912 Rolls Royce streamliner
1955 Gordini T32
1933 Napier Railton

and the as yet unreleased 1969 Healey SR.

Being a bit of a sucker for these oldies I couldn’t resist myself and with a racing colleague about to put an order into Pendle’s for other stuff, I decided to split the postage with him and eventually the model turned up, complete with extra driver. This was going to be a simple conversion. No ‘special’ features. A straight forward brass rail chassis and a full length driver. The only bit of excitement was to be the front mounted NC1 motor with a prop shaft to the back axle, courtesy of Scalexworld and the Fly drive shaft springs they found for me.



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So, a bit more like the W196 elsewhere in this section and hopefully just as nice to drive.



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The chassis is the square brass section ‘ladder’ frame I have become comfortable with. The wheelbase was marked out on a regular piece of 3.0mm MDF and holes drilled for the axle tubes. The tubes were fitted into the holes and the Ninco Classic wheels and tyres were measured for overall diameter. Using this figure the ground line was drawn below the axle tubes and the chassis was drawn in to be as low as possible in the body without sticking out the bottom.



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The square tube was bent to shape and the two sides soldered in place. Next up, the guide support plate was made. The guide plate was soldered into position and a temporary brace was soldered across the rear of the chassis. This allowed me to get the rear axle and crownwheel mounted. This is essential so as to allow the motor and pinion to be spaced the correct distance from the crown wheel. Once done, the motor had the foil wrapper cut away from its mounting points. The motor was sanded and tinned. The chassis was tinned also and once I was happy with the position, I sweated the motor onto the rails, heating both sides several times. I used to use front and rear mounting plates but have found this to be quite unnecessary as the motor is quite happy being fixed this way.



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The propshaft was next to be made. The material for it was from a scrap SCX 4WD motor. The new pinion was fitted and a small plate with a 2.00 mm hole was made, fitted and soldered into place. The Fly spring wasn’t as tight as I would have liked but the solution was to ‘tin’ the motor and pinion shafts before assembly. I could then fit the spring to the motor shaft and fit the pre measured and cut prop shaft through the rear mount and solder the rear mount into position. At this point in the proceedings it will be worth mentioning that as more and more soldering is done to the chassis it is worth using heat sinks both sides of your work, otherwise, some extraneous heat might well cause some other soldered joint to let go. For this purpose I use a couple of small ‘alligator’ clips, the same ones I use for spraying small parts, clipped either side of the new work to take the heat away.



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Once this work is done it is time for a visit to the set up board. This is where I can make last minute adjustments to the ride height and other details, especially the guide mounting tube. The model has a Ninco sprung guide, but to get maximum efficiency from the spring I will need to ensure it is almost fully compressed at rest. Once fully happy and after a couple of ‘hot laps’ to ensure there is no further problem, I moved onto the body.



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There had already been some minor work on the inside to get a bit more clearance in places but this was minimal. The most that needed to be done was the body mounting posts. These were made up from telescoping tube (see the technical section) and once dry, were fitted to the chassis and cut to length until a comfortable fit was achieved. Nearly all the models I make are mounted front and rear and in the case of this model, there was little space either front OR rear to put mounting posts. After deliberating for some time I came to the conclusion that as the chassis was a snug fit at the front and back, I would use, rather unorthodoxly, two screws in the centre chassis, either side of the prop shaft. This I did and it has worked out well.



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Next up was the drivers seat. I sourced an old seat from the spares box (Austin Healey I think), and recreated a drivers platform. The driver was fixed on and all parts had their first coat of paint. The drivers tray was fixed temporarily to the body and the extent of the chassis mods were noted. In this case I was going to get away with just widening the driver’s outlook a bit! Simply done with a dremel and a cut off disc, I soon had the chassis and prop shaft especially, sitting snugly between the cheeks of his a***! That’ll keep him warm on a cold night!



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The driver’s tray was then finished painting over the next few evenings and the body was prepared for its first coat. Tamiya acrylic neutral grey, Blemishes were fixed up and the repaired spots blown in again with the spray gun. Next up was the first coat of colour. This time I was looking for a little darker green than the basic colour. This was achieved by test mixing some paint on a palette. The best colour was to be dark green with some very dark blue added. Not, much, but just enough to give it that deep green tone of the old fifties race cars.



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I would like to point out here, as I probably have elsewhere on more than one occasion that there is NO standard British racing green!! Shock, horror and blasphemous uttering!!?? Not really, a simple home truth! There NEVER was a standard colour for British racing green. The term came about because it became customary for various nationalities in International events to colour their cars uniformly, to give the watching masses, without binoculars, the chance to see who’s car was where even when they couldn’t see what car in particular it was. National teams and privateers alike therefore chose a colour to race under. Not a particular tint or hue! Therefore we have now come to recognise, even sometimes today, that Italians race in red, French in Blue, British in Green etc... It was purely a marketing ploy for all the paint manufacturers over the years to issue a ‘British Racing Green’, and if you go back over the years, they all had different tones and mixing charts for the same name!!??



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With a couple of good coats of thinned green on the model, I then applied the first coat of clear. The decals were applied and another coat of clear covered them and a final coat gave the model its final lustre. Once again with acrylic, several days were allowed for it to cure and minimise the risk of it picking up finger prints when handled. Eventually the model was finished and the pewter exhausts, which had already had their coats of clear, were epoxied onto the side of the model. Final touches were the flat black bits then the driver’s tray was glued into place.



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Et Voila! As they say in certain parts of Europe where the racing cars used to be Blue! The model had already been run as a bare body so I was pretty well assured of what it would do. You don’t want to be making alterations to a finished model; this can be disastrous in the finishing touches like the paintwork!!



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So how does it go?? Very well!!. The resin body has plenty of mass so extra ballast is not necessary. The brass chassis to contributes to its stability and even though it is a front motor the amount of resin left at the rear is sufficient to keep its front / rear weight distribution to a healthy level. This model was a fairly easy conversion and if you are thinking of using a pre made chassis then it should be a doddle. Painting would be the only dilemma. I notice that Pendle’s also now offer a front motor chassis from their range of spares. A wise move and helpful when installing a full length driver in a detailed cockpit.



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So pop along to Penelope Pitlane at Pendle’s and pick which one you are going to do, then send me some pictures of the finished article.
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When I'm not racing slotcars,
I'm out in the back yard, burning food!!

When I win, it's because of my talent, not my car or my controller!
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