First hollow body and fender cars

[HAB]

First shots at making them thin and light. The top car weighs in at just over 10 grams and is the first one cut using the drill press and cross slide vice. CA was used to reinforce stress areas. Learned a bunch with this one, and ready for more practice.

The bottom car was done before I hade the cross slide vice and I used forstner bits and lots of razor knife work. Thanks to Bulldogs video I made fenders too. Unfortunately I couldn't help myself and attached the fenders before I verified alignment, which of course is off. It likely will not see a track but learned (several lessons) and had fun doing it.

I have lots to learn about the proper order of steps, building, tool set up, and design but am having a blast doing it. Thanks for all the info on this forum to help out newbies like me.

 

[EvilJester]

Pretty clean lines!!! Awesome job. I too enjoy the build process and learning what will work and what should definitely not be attempted again. lol

 

[Vitamin K]

Looking good!

 

[True North Racing]

Great job! Your fenders look fantastic. You are well on your way to building some awesome cars.

 

[B_Regal Racing]

I would race it anyway. Unless you have a way of testing the car, you just never know. I have had cars that come out perfect and be slow and others where I thought I could have done better and be fast.

 

[HAB]

Very true, I don't have a way to test at home. I dismissed running it because the rears did not migrate out except when pulled backwards. I briefly considered trying to bend a couple axles slightly to get them perpendicular to the body. I will try to get another set of tires prepped quickly. My sons district race is Saturday and am helping with the race. Also planning on helping set up the track Friday. Maybe they will let me get a few test runs in at some point which would help me figure out what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong, but most importantly hoping I get a chance to tune my sons car ( not shown above) on the track before the race!

 

[Crash Enburn]

Yup. Test runs. That's how you make sure the timing lights are working. I've been "testing the lights" for years.

 

[Jimmy & his 2 Kids]

Yup. Test runs. That's how you make sure the timing lights are working. I've been "testing the lights" for years.

Love it!!! I need to somehow convince my church that they need me to periodically "test" our new tracks timing lights... you know... just to make sure they stay calibrated correctly and all. I mean... just sitting still for a week or so could probably mess things up right? Gotta keep the track in tip top shape. Someone has to do it.

 

[HAB]

Friday track set up took longer than expected, so we didn't get very many runs in. I ran the unpainted car and fully expected it to beat my son's car due to weight placement alone. That wasn't the case, his car beat mine by at least a half car length each time. After I got home I figured out there were alignment/rubbing issues with both cars and got them fixed.

District race day, my son won the wolf race and set a new Track Speed Record!!! Later in the day when we had a break between races I wanted to see how my readjusted unpainted car and fender car did against the new track record holder. The unpainted car beat my sons track record car by almost a body length. The fender car (with scabbed together axles and tires - ran out of time to prep them properly) was a car length behind my sons car. Learned a bunch on all three builds, hopefully we can attend and he will be successful at the council race so we can learn even more!

The funny quote of the day was - "Hey what is that shinny stuff under your cars? Is it speed tape?" Maybe I should start marketing and selling the thin 3M aluminum tape as speed tape..................

 

[Jimmy & his 2 Kids]

Nice cars HAB. And great job at race day! I see the 2 non-fender car bodies are notched on the NDFW... is the car with the fenders notched as well?

 

[HAB]

Thanks Jimmy.

All the cars (even the fender car) have the DFW notched. The fender car's DFW is on the left side, the other two have the DFW on the right side. I'm a lefty so sometimes I do things backwards...................