Rookie Race - Official Thread
I shipped my cars today, before and after pictures above. These are my first two modded cars period so I guess they could be worse. Here are my experiences cause i want to shave and i can't think of anyone outside this forum who'd care :)
The white one, which I’m calling “White Zombie” because the original car looked to me how White Zombie / Rob Zombie’s music sounds and…well, I made it white…the original was trying too hard to look bad ass so i thought what if I went the other direction. That car become more challenging than I was expecting.
I opted to install larger wheels in back, I knew I would have to enlarge the wheel wells but it turns out I also had to lower where the axle sits in the body. Used a Dremel metal cutting wheel to enlarge the wheel wells and a hacksaw to lower the rear axle slot. Used a wire brush in the Dremel to smooth the metal where I cut and where wheels rub and in general all over after I stripped the paint. Followed with Dremel’s metal polishing compound where the wheels rub.
And then the front wheels…I also wanted to make them bigger, easy enough in theory. But in practice it turned out the front had an unusually wide axle so any donor wheels I could find would have to be cut and spaced out with a metal tube in the axle. I got copper tubes. Trying to super glue the axles in was a nerve racking nightmare because one false move and you have super glue in your wheel bore. Also, couldn’t get it to stick. Eventually it occurred to be that since I had a copper tube joining the two halves to just crimp the tube. Which seemed to work well, I was a little concerned about keeping it straight but that doesn’t seem to have been an issue. And then, after I finally got wheels built and in the car I discovered that the wheels I had chosen were now, having been spaced out, too wide for the track…so I had to find some last minute wheels that were narrower and could take the spacing and do that all over again.
Stripping the old paint (a less scary orange/citrus based stripper – worked fine despite the experience of others, just let it sit for awhile) painting, adding the waterslide decal and clear coating were easy.
Then putting it together I discovered I was a little optimistic about the amount of space in the body cavity for adding weight especially since, for various reasons I wasn’t using lead or paying for tungsten. But I did manage to get into the low 50s.
The Orange one, which I’m calling “Dirty Orange Julius” was intended to be much easier. Not stripping paint, just removing tampos, using same size wheels, and adding weight in a wagon with lots of room for it. And it was mostly easy except……
Getting all the tampos off was a real pain. Much more work that simply stripping the paint. Used acetone/fingernail polish remover.
It's dirty on top...not supposed to be, but wouldn't come clean. What happened was I had come up with the orange julius theme after finding these wheels to pair with the wagon (which seemed like it would be really easy to add weight in back). And for some reason i opted to not use a clear coat after painting...wanted the white duller than the orange...great except the paint on top(a spray for plastic) really holds on to any stray graphite. And the harder you rub to remove that graphite...well the more secure it sticks...the paint comes off though. Anyway, lesson, always clear coat.
Also, and this is a big uh oh. I discovered that one of the wheels was noticeably uneven when I was polishing the axles. Didn't notice when they were on the donor car. I didn’t have the time or inclination to chase down some matching donor wheels so I figured, i'll just shape it. Used a felt tip on a dremel to spin the wheel and a utility knife to try and shape the wheel. The result is that one wheel is smaller than the others and probably more lopsided than when i started.
That was Sunday night and I just decided i was out of time (and patience) and just to live with the imperfections. Which is alot easier when you can mail away the imperfect object and not have to look at it for a month :)
Oh, one other thing with the orange one...i forgot to clean the plastic base to remove the "mold release". However since i couldn't remove the wheels once attached to fix that oversight, i guess it's gonna be ok?
All in all, the cars are not the fastest i've ever touched, but faster than any of the cars contributing parts were...so i guess that's a start. I probably would have noodled some more but I felt like i was running out of time to finish so...
Any thoughts or observations on my first builds are welcome (especially later from anyone who can touch and watch them in action).
- Great start! Lessons learned, keep on truckin — Traction-Event
- good comment, lets other racers know we all run into the same hang-ups... check out the older topics. — model40fan
- if you're making an omlet....you gotta break some eggs... dig in and see whats ... what! — Traction-Event
Looking good, Mo! Yeah, the first thing that you have to do is get in there and start Modding...everyone has made a cool looking, SLOW car! The fast ones just kinda 'happen'...you never know when a combination is just going to work...that's why you have to try new things and play with combinations!
I'll keep an eye out for your cars! I hope that there are other heading to NJ as well!
- what they said^^^^^^^^ my problem is, WAAAYYYYY too many ideas, too little time, and not enough patience once I get started. lol — CrzyTrkrDude
- I swear ( promise) one day.... i'll get something done, and sent out!!!i — CrzyTrkrDude
So only one car from me. No custom paint job (no time) but it's packed full of lead coming in at 56 grams and has the right wheels, so I'm calling it a win. ;)
I'll get it in the mail tomorrow. Hope it's fast...the car and the shipping.
- Cool! I'll keep an eye out for it! — 72_Chevy_C10
- Good ol' Dieselboy, if he's loaded it should be a contender — redlinederby
My rookies are almost ready. JB Weld the rivets tonight and they go out tomorrow! I hope nobody minds I elected to go topless.
The red guys on the truck were supposed to be going to the Middleweight challenge but alas will not be ready in time.
I got cars from Cortez racing today...so, the numbers are growing!
Looking good, Happy!
Hey Guys,
Here is the current role call, with a week still remaining...
MattCat
Keef912
CrzyTrkrDude (and TrkrWife)
MoHasFastCars
Cortez Racing
And cars are on their way from...
CCRIDER
Happy camper
Here's a shot of the current cars...
The snow still hasn't melted off that one car from Montana! :) All the cars appear to be in fine shape.
I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the entrys! Get in the shop and finish up those cars, Guys! :)
Tidbit from my first modding project.
No matter what I did I just couldn't get the weight over 1.6 on either car. Clay or lead weights, nothing helped. I told my wife you guys were wizards. There was no way in he'll I could even get close to 57. Then my wife looked at the scale, rolled her eyes, and hit the button to switch it from ounces to grams.
I meant to post that some Orange cars showed up the other day...one from Utah, and 2 from Florida! I'm glad to see more cars coming in!
Team pics will start later in the week...and the bracket will be up Friday night, so you will see who you are facing in the first round!
And After