1) The wider gap was on the Dog car. Again, it was the sibling car, so I just used the last scraps I had for that one. I am considering opening the balsa cut out on all of them to be more of a diamond opening in the middle, meaning I still have good corner support but remove some material. I don't think there was any difference in stiffness. And the difference in weight is very small.
2) I did lose the saw blade width when I moved the rear to the front. But, when I wrapped the design around the front, I tried to make up for the difference. I thought about putting a toothpick at the nose and wrap around that but it ended up being a bit to thick and I didn't feel like sanding and filing a toothpick
. But great question.
3) I bought some of what I thought was the Sally Hansen Teflon nail polish. I tried it on some scrap wood and honestly, it felt sticky to me. So, I either got the wrong stuff or didn't let it dry or other. Anyway, I abandoned that approach. What I used is some Teflon tape. I think that is what you are seeing. It is a light brown tape. Our rules do not allow washers or I would have used the Delrin washers form DD4H. Teflon tape seemed to be within the rules. I am not sure if it is any better than compressing wood and burnishing with graphite but I gave it a shot. This is one area where I still need to investigate. I plan to remove all the wheels and inspect the wear on the tape to see if I need to replace or use alternate approach for districts.
Thanks of the great feedback!!!
