Freshly Cut Pine, Speedster or Kindling?

[CivilWarTalk]

Over the weekend, I spent some time at the drill press, band saw, and belt sander, and this came out on my first attempt:

I got a little happy with my mill bit hogging out all that wood, I hope I didn't hurt the spars too much. My boy was helping and we had a bunch of fun!

Already drilled it with my Silver Bullet, although I messed that up by not bringing the included pin, but I took a guess and used a drill bit instead, I checked my chart later, I guess I'm running 4 degree rears.

Just did some rough sanding and weighed it at 5.9 grams, before I strengthen it with CA and 1/64 plywood.

This is about 45 minutes work, but will it race??? Maybe in the fire series?

If I complete this car, it will be called Molasses.

 

[BulldogRacing]

Build it, build a second race them both and retire the slower one and build a faster one again, do it again and again and again and after many many you'll be a dang good fast and seasoned builder! Just get them on the track and you learning begins! JMO. Looks good man!

 

[BlewBYu]

Build it, build a second race them both and retire the slower one and build a faster one again, do it again and again and again and after many many you'll be a dang good fast and seasoned builder!   Just get them on the track and you learning begins! JMO.  Looks good man!

I agree with Bulldog. Race it and find out. Then build a faster one, and so on.

 

[Vitamin K]

Presuming that you get good rigidity from the 1/64th plywood and CA glue, I think you've got the basis for a good performer. Also presuming that your drill job is spot on, of course, and that there's no warp-age between now and final assembly. Be sure and check your alignment!

 

[CivilWarTalk]

Presuming that you get good rigidity from the 1/64th plywood and CA glue, I think you've got the basis for a good performer. Also presuming that your drill job is spot on, of course, and that there's no warp-age between now and final assembly. Be sure and check your alignment!

Tested the drill job earlier, rears migrated out in a slow roll forwards and reverse, happy with that.

Been storing it in my gun cabinet, body slotted into the silver bullet to keep everything straight, checked on it this morning, no detectable warping so far. I assume a coat of CA will help keep the moisture out?

Waiting on my tungsten cubes to arrive to begin body assembly.

I'm excited about my build!

 

[CivilWarTalk]

Well, that was a fun race! I watched the replay last night and noticed a few things.

Yay, I managed to run faster than 3 seconds. That was my main goal for this race, and both of my cars broke this pace easily.

Okay, so Molasses ran 36th of 47 cars in BASX, I was hoping for a little closer to the middle of the pack, but it's my first attempt at running oil, and I think my prep may have been off a bit. More on that in a moment.

I noticed that on the runs with this car that it tended to wiggle once and look unstable for a moment as it exited the transition, but it quickly straightened out and ran smoothly down the straight. I'm wondering if this is because of some flex in the body. I'm not yet running wheel weights, so all my weight is in the body. Will adding wheel weights relieve some of the possible body flex?

I was running the DFW turning about 3" in 4 feet, which I'm thinking now, was probably way too aggressive.

In my prep I think I messed up the first polishing step on the wheels. Using one of the q-tips and wax #1 from the wheel polishing kit, I think I ran the drill either too fast, too long, or with not enough polish. I did get the squeaking that I've read you should get, but after I blew out the wheel bore I could see numerous dark spots in the bore, they didn't blow out, and although the second polish did make them disappear, I'm fairly concerned that I damaged the bores.

I'm planning to practice on some spare stock wheels I have saved on the side, probably use Novus2, even though it's not as good as DD4H's stuff, it's cheaper and I think it will give me a better idea of how slow to turn and how to plunge into the bore, how to cut the tip of the q-tip, and what to expect. Am I on the right track here?

So: speedster, no, not exactly, not just yet anyway. I'll make some adjustments and try again, maybe next month!

Damn Gravity!

 

[Mojo Racing]

Well, that was a fun race! I watched the replay last night and noticed a few things.

Yay, I managed to run faster than 3 seconds. That was my main goal for this race, and both of my cars broke this pace easily.

Okay, so Molasses ran 36th of 47 cars in BASX, I was hoping for a little closer to the middle of the pack, but it's my first attempt at running oil, and I think my prep may have been off a bit. More on that in a moment.

I noticed that on the runs with this car that it tended to wiggle once and look unstable for a moment as it exited the transition, but it quickly straightened out and ran smoothly down the straight. I'm wondering if this is because of some flex in the body. I'm not yet running wheel weights, so all my weight is in the body. Will adding wheel weights relieve some of the possible body flex?

I was running the DFW turning about 3" in 4 feet, which I'm thinking now, was probably way too aggressive.

In my prep I think I messed up the first polishing step on the wheels. Using one of the q-tips and wax #1 from the wheel polishing kit, I think I ran the drill either too fast, too long, or with not enough polish. I did get the squeaking that I've read you should get, but after I blew out the wheel bore I could see numerous dark spots in the bore, they didn't blow out, and although the second polish did make them disappear, I'm fairly concerned that I damaged the bores.

I'm planning to practice on some spare stock wheels I have saved on the side, probably use Novus2, even though it's not as good as DD4H's stuff, it's cheaper and I think it will give me a better idea of how slow to turn and how to plunge into the bore, how to cut the tip of the q-tip, and what to expect. Am I on the right track here?

So: speedster, no, not exactly, not just yet anyway. I'll make some adjustments and try again, maybe next month!

Damn Gravity!

Way to go on the sub 3, CWT !

Okay, steer, 4" over 48" might have kept the car on the rail instead of the slight drift after the transition. (probably wasn't that much flex in the body)

Bore prep, on the Q-tip, slow, slow, slow... not crawling, but you should be able to count the revs on the drill. I do on mine anyhow. If I can't count them, I slow down.

Good running with you. Now you have a direction to go !

 

[TRE]

you might need hair more steer..3.5 or 4 inches

 

[CivilWarTalk]

you might need hair more steer..3.5 or 4 inches

It's only in 4 feet, my board isn't 6 feet long. Isn't the standard tuning board 6 feet?

 

[TRE]

mine is 4 feet and i rarely find a car that runs on 3 inches in traffic..look at my basx yesterday it had 3 and had 2 bad runs in the finals

 

[bracketracer]

you might need hair more steer..3.5 or 4 inches

It's only in 4 feet, my board isn't 6 feet long. Isn't the standard tuning board 6 feet?

Some guys use a six foot long tuning board with a two foot guide rail so the car has a chance to set it's wheels before it roams across the table. Works good, very consistent read on the drift.

 

[CivilWarTalk]

you might need hair more steer..3.5 or 4 inches

It's only in 4 feet, my board isn't 6 feet long. Isn't the standard tuning board 6 feet?

Some guys use a six foot long tuning board with a two foot guide rail so the car has a chance to set it's wheels before it roams across the table. Works good, very consistent read on the drift.

Ah, yes, I read about that, I'll have to try that in the future!

 

[Rocket car]

you might need hair more steer..3.5 or 4 inches

It's only in 4 feet, my board isn't 6 feet long. Isn't the standard tuning board 6 feet?

Some guys use a six foot long tuning board with a two foot guide rail so the car has a chance to set it's wheels before it roams across the table. Works good, very consistent read on the drift.

Ah, yes, I read about that, I'll have to try that in the future!

Whoever thought of that was a GENIUS!!!

 

[Quicktimederby]

Congrats on your results. I finished 2nd to last at my first race, so your already light years ahead of where I started. Keep up the good work.

 

[bracketracer]

you might need hair more steer..3.5 or 4 inches

It's only in 4 feet, my board isn't 6 feet long. Isn't the standard tuning board 6 feet?

Some guys use a six foot long tuning board with a two foot guide rail so the car has a chance to set it's wheels before it roams across the table. Works good, very consistent read on the drift.

Ah, yes, I read about that, I'll have to try that in the future!

Whoever thought of that was a GENIUS!!!

Yes you are! Lol