Dragons be here.... (BASX Car Build)

[CivilWarTalk]

So, I decided on Saturday, it's time to retire Gen. Beauregard and start up with two new BASX cars.

So I prepped some blanks...

And got on my scroll saw, and my first body I make a mistake. I made a single cut on the rear of the car to make space for the rear tungsten cubes. No big deal, I just moved the blade into the center hole and cut out the interior wood for the body. When I made the cut that would be adjacent to the mistake cut, the rear axle spar cracked....

I didn't panic, I did finish cutting out the body....

Here is what I was left with:

Another view:

So I decided that, I went this far, let's see what some CA can do. So I got my handy Silver Bullet out, applied some thin CA into the broken spar, and clamped it in with a spare block of wood...

So, I don't know if I'm wasting my time, but that's where I am.

This morning I was able to remove the body, everything looks good, nothing got stuck that wasn't supposed to!

I may run into issues when I drill this body, I know that I need to be careful drilling through this CA glue barrier, I will report back later once I've taken the next few steps....

(P.S. The second body was cut without all the drama, and is ready for drilling and sanding....)

 

[3171scott]

good luck, keep the pics coming.

 

[CivilWarTalk]

It will be a few days before the next update. I am trying to carefully plan this build and I want to get my order of operations right before I commit to the next steps. I do have a plan though, so I expect major progress to be made by the end of the week.

 

[CivilWarTalk]

Ok, here is the next update!

When we left off I had just finished gluing the broken strut for the rear axle on the body. For me the next step was drilling the axle holes....

Before I did anything else, I used the old Silver Bullet with the nose of the mended chassis squared flush into the jig, and used this to double check the squareness of the rear axle slot, everything was spot on.

While I was square I elected to glue on a piece of 1/64" balsa to the top of the chassis, this would help to hold the body square. This sat clamped for 30 minutes to dry.

While I waited I for that to harden up, I began cutting some 1/4" by 1/4" balsa spars to help strengthen the body.

Next step for me was to drill my axle holes with the Silver Bullet Pro, Rears canted at 3 degrees, and fronts are straight. I like using a spare block to clamp the chassis in square.

I glued in 2 balsa spars, one at the end of the weight box, and another at the midpoint between spars. At this point this chassis is ready for some test wheels and axles....

At this point I spent two days thinking about all the work I did, I weighed everything I liked about the builds, and what changes I wanted to attempt next. I came up with some design changes... and got the scroll saw out again....

Here is the new design:

Basically I wanted to reinforce the front end with some chunkier corners, but also a larger cutout. The nose of the car will be sanded on the top and bottom to form a thin edge, I'm hoping the rigidity of the corners helps the body stay square.

I also wanted to revert back to using 1/4" Basswood, a good medium to practice with. Here is the new chassis after being cut out...

And here are the two different body styles side by side...

My next goal is to get all three bodies ready to test on my tuning board, and followed by sanding the nose, weighting with Tungsten, and skinning the body, we will get to that over the next few days....

 

[Skywalker Racing]

Looking good! I love build threads, but I'm too lazy to do them myself.

 

[B_Regal Racing]

Ditto.

 

[CivilWarTalk]

I made a bit more progress. I did some quick testing on my tuning table and all three cars roll well. Good migration on the rears. Didn't get any photos of that.

I did a couple of weight checks before and after sanding. I used my bench mounted belt sander to smooth the plywood on the leading edge and get the nose of the car thinned out. I also used a 1/4" forstner bit on my drill press to prepare the axle holes for the delrin washers. I find that they glue in much easier this way.

The weight checks are as follows:

• G17 - First Chassis with Cracked/Repaired rear spar
  • Unsanded 10.0g
  • Sanded and Shaped 7.8g
• H17 - Copy of G17
  • Unsanded 10.3g
  • Sanded 8.0g
• I17 - Alternate Design
  • Unsanded 7.4
  • Sanded 6.3

I've started labeling my chassis with production numbers, yeah, you probably think I'm a bit crazy. G H and I denote the 7th, 8th and 9th cars I've built this year. the 17 is for 2017

Next I got some 1/4" tungsten cubes that I used CA glue to form into 6 by 2 blocks measuring 1.5" by 0.5" and this makes assembly much easier. I also try to keep my purchased batches of tungsten together, this is my "green" batch which is a good dense set. The CA glue has discolored some of the sharpie marks, so this batch actually looks like a camo color!

I will use some individual silver cubes that are less dense (or just cheap) for doing final weighting later on...

 

[B_Regal Racing]

I'm personally not a fan of 4 rows of 6 cubes. I think you will find without another cube or two for weight, the FDW is going to be real light. I'm also not a fan of gluing cubes together; I much prefer some thin double stick tape on the body allowing the cubes to be adjusted if need be. BUT, I'm just being nit-picky.

Your bodies look top notch - like you're a wood-worker. Overall, your builds look better than mine. You have some skillz.

 

[CivilWarTalk]

I'm personally not a fan of 4 rows of 6 cubes. I think you will find without another cube or two for weight, the FDW is going to be real light. I'm also not a fan of gluing cubes together; I much prefer some thin double stick tape on the body allowing the cubes to be adjusted if need be. BUT, I'm just being nit-picky.

None of these bodies are at full weight yet, I'm usually run 1 to 2 extra cubes on my BASX builds, and they are a bit further forward for balance based on my DFW weight.

I know that Gen. Beauregard is running an additional cube, and I also use a few tricks to keep the weight forward and my COM aggressive. I'm still playing with weighting, I don't always have a track to test on, so I haven't done much weight movement testing.

I have never bothered with double stick tape, just the adhesive of the HVAC tape. I'll probably do the weight testing next, so I'll show some of that as well...

Your bodies look top notch - like you're a wood-worker. Overall, your builds look better than mine. You have some skillz.

Well thanks! That's a nice complement! I'm a computer geek by trade, but I really enjoy working with the wood.

My dad taught me how to cut 2X4's when I was a kid, but I've never done fine woodworking like this before. My first pinewood cars were real hack jobs.

 

[B_Regal Racing]

I'm a computer geek by trade, but I really enjoy working with the wood.

Hahahaaaaa. I'm a geek too! But you have some web skills as well as doing some fine wood work. My roots are straight ANSI C though.

 

[Reecedad]

I like seeing the updates

 

[3171scott]

Wow your bodies look great! ....... Keep the progress going! Thanks for sharing.

 

[derbydentist]

I also used a 1/4" forstner bit on my drill press to prepare the axle holes for the delrin washers. I find that they glue in much easier this way.

I've never used the Delrin washers but I plan on it- however I was expecting them to be tight on the axle so you don't have to glue them in. I guess it depends On the axle sizes. Thanks for sharing I am hoping to build a ladder car here soon so this is good for me to watch.

 

[CivilWarTalk]

Wow your bodies look great! ....... Keep the progress going! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! I've gotten a little bogged down with the holiday and doing wheel polishing. I'm sure I'll have another update soon!

I've never used the Delrin washers but I plan on it- however I was expecting them to be tight on the axle so you don't have to glue them in. I guess it depends On the axle sizes. Thanks for sharing I am hoping to build a ladder car here soon so this is good for me to watch.

In my experience they aren't that tight, I've tried running unglued washers and I'm not sure if it is from some stickiness of the oil, but it seemed like the washers would migrate away from the body with the rear wheels, so my logic was to minimize contact friction time and glue the washers in. I also found that gluing the washers to a flat side of the body was a pain in the neck, so drilling the relief helps a lot with keeping them centered while the glue is still wet.

 

[derbydentist]

Thanks! I've gotten a little bogged down with the holiday and doing wheel polishing. I'm sure I'll have another update soon!



In my experience they aren't that tight, I've tried running unglued washers and I'm not sure if it is from some stickiness of the oil, but it seemed like the washers would migrate away from the body with the rear wheels, so my logic was to minimize contact friction time and glue the washers in. I also found that gluing the washers to a flat side of the body was a pain in the neck, so drilling the relief helps a lot with keeping them centered while the glue is still wet.

That is really good to know - thanks for the helpful tips- one day I will give it a try

 

[Jimmy & his 2 Kids]

Great stuff here. Ditto the others in saying thank you for sharing your build. But I do have a question. Considering the Delrin washers for smoothing out wheel to block friction(unless they serve a different purpose?) would they only be needed on the DFW? Since the rears migrate away from the body?

 

[CivilWarTalk]

I made a bit of progress this morning on the cars. I was sitting there dreading this step. I've wanted to try making access holes in the axle spars to make removing axles easier.

I don't have an easy way to accomplish this, or I didn't until I found this Dremel ball cutting bit. I don't know offhand what size it is, but the ball is only a hair larger than the axles, so perfect!

I needed a very steady hand to do this, and again, was very nervous to attempt this.... I started with the car that had the broken spar.....

And my first two axle access holes were a bit of a mess, but successful!

I went on and did all three chassis...

I did some experimenting on the spacing of the slots, I'm still not sure I've got them exactly where I want them....

Hopefully more progress soon!

 

[jatofau1]

Thanks for sharing. The bodies look great.

 

[Reecedad]

Great stuff here. Ditto the others in saying thank you for sharing your build. But I do have a question. Considering the Delrin washers for smoothing out wheel to block friction(unless they serve a different purpose?) would they only be needed on the DFW? Since the rears migrate away from the body?

Although I've only been doing this since March and I'm sure my opinion is wrong I'd like to share with you my thoughts.
Although my rear wheels migrate out perfectly on my tuning board, I still see marks on my washers on my rear axles. I think rear axle washers can help.

 

[CivilWarTalk]

I was hoping to get these ready to run for the RMD race this weekend, but I still haven't finished prepping axles and wheels, so I'm a bit behind.

I did manage to get the foil tape and tungsten weighting complete for all three cars the other night. No new photos to show...

Tomorrow I may have time to get an update out, my plan is to try and get at least 2 cars ready to race, so I need to skin the cars, do some final prep work, and finish assembly.

If things go really well, I may start a new thread with a tour of my PWD toolbox and gear.... Click "Like" on this post if you want to see that!