A weekend Restoration

[Gascarnut]

I decided to dedicate this first weekend of COVID-19 lock-down to a restoration project.

I have had a vintage Monogram Series 2 rolling chassis lying in a project box for a few years, so decided to get it running again. Of course the first decision was what body to put on the chassis. Fortunately I had one of the very nice Professor Motor open-wheel Cooper Monaco (King Cobra) bodies to use. Google Images also came up with an unusual subject, in the form of a Chevy-powered version:


The website had a bunch of good photos, and I also had some Chevy engine parts left from a Thunderslot white kit Lola T70 that I built with a Ford engine, so here goes! First, all the plastic parts:



Eventually as you will see, I decide to go with the period style of no roll bar, so those bits were not used. Also I came up with a different solution for the exhausts (mainly because I trashed these trying to fit them!)

First I needed to make space for the engine detail. I cut away the plastic between the original engine hole and the two slots for the short exhausts used on the Ford engine:



Then I added some styrene strips to the sides of the Thunderslot engine detail, so I had some way to attach it.



A quick mock-up showed some success!



I'm going to split this into a few separate posts as I am not sure how many pictures I can load in one post, so the next episode is coming up!

[Gascarnut]

Episode 2 - the radiator exhaust cut-out. I marked the area that needed to be cut and then attacked it with a Dremel and a ceramic cutting disc, then hobby knives and files till I was happy:





The three little scoops will get filled with body putty just before painting, as they are not present on the subject car.

Next challenge was the scoop on the rear panel, presumably for air to a transmission oil cooler. After a number of failed attempts to fold a strip of styrene, I finally file a wedge out of a styrene tube and glued that in place.



The full size car used a Huffaker transaxle and in the photos it is a large feature of the rear of the car. Also, the body work was cut away a lot more than the Ford version.



I decided to leave the plastic in place so I had somewhere to attach a transmission rear cover, and to replicate just the exhaust tips. The rest of the suspension was a bit more than I wanted to tackle on this project! So I made a little transmission cover from styrene sheet. It's not great, but once painted it will be OK I hope.



In the photo, the fins are still very long and will be cut down once the glue has dried.

Episode 3 coming up!

[Gascarnut]

Episode 3 - Assembly and Painting.

With all the detail parts made, I took time to dis-assemble, clean and re-assemble chassis. No photos of that unfortunately. I cleaned up the motor and replaced the commutator brushes and springs with some NOS parts from my stash. With a few drops of oil, it sounds string an a power supply. Then I fitted new urethane tires front and rear. These came from Art at Dart Hobbies in Canada and are some of the best replica tires i have used, very concentric, beautiful sidewall detail and best of all they work well on the track.



The old Monogram cast gear looks awful, but actually works well and is nice and smooth. The Professor Motor body kit includes original Cooper-style inserts, so those will be fitted.





All looks well, nice fit, good attitude!

Paint coming up, my least favorite part of restoring slot cars! I primed the body, painted the white, masked for the stripes, sprayed blue, let that dry, remasked the blue and removed the red stripe masking, then painted that. Then it was the interior and the rear, all done by hand. No photos again, I was too anxious to get it done! I scouted the internet for a font that would provide numbers similar to the original, then printed those onto some clear self-stick vinyl. Apart from the numbers there's only the STP stickers, so those came out of my decal stash. I have no idea what the original driver used as a helmet color so this one got the orange/white I always use on my personal liveries. I gave the chrome inserts a shot of flat aluminum and blackened the gaps between the spokes with a Sharpie. The transmission had the fins trimmed down and painted flat aluminum, and the rear of the body got some flat black paint to replicate the shape of the original. The exhaust pipes were made up from brass tubing and piano wire soldered to the motor bracket and painted. I then attached all the chrome bits from the body kit, and painted and installed the windshield. Here's the completed car:







I'm happy with how it came out, and even happier with how well it runs. The motor has good punch and brakes and the tires are very nice so the whole car is smooth and predictable.

Success!

I hope you have enjoyed this project with me.

Take care and stay safe!

[dungeonracer]

Nice work Dennis, and great use of time "stuck" at home...

[War Eagle River]

Exceptional Dennis. Very clean work, and great write up.👍👍

[ZackM]

Fantastic job Dennis, I am always learning from you. I appreciate these types of posts very much!

Zack

[Bluevista]

Excellent!

That would take me a week at least, and I know it wouldn't look that good.

[Dogsbody]

Nice work, Dennis!

[Dundee Denny]

Great ingeanuity bringing all the outside parts and blending them to build such a wonderful machine!

Would have taken weeks!

Dundee Denny

[Reek455]

Awesome job

[Mitch58]

Nicely done.

[101 corvettes]

Very nice looking car great work
Glenn

[Barc 1]

Nice. Thanks for sharing

[Cgyracer]

Very nice. Your attention to detail is awesome.

Rob

[dge467]

That turned out really nice!