MRSLOTCAR "Patriot Evolution"

[Courtney s]

I have been looking at these and they look interesting has anybody tried , or built one?

Is it better than the plastic chassis?

I race wood tracks so if you tested one please share.

Harry maybe during the Quarantine you could do a video review and maybe a head to head test " Stock Slot-it VS Patriot Evolution"

[chrisguyw]

Hi Courtneys,.......I have played with several of these chassis over the last 6/8 most. and did a review for Ernie (MRSlotcar) that was posted on the old forum in Oct. 2019.

The chassis has some very well thought out elements, and the production quality is excellent, that said, so far it has proved no quicker than a plastic chassis (a few others have found this to be the case).
The lack of an adjustable front axle ride height, and basically zero torsional flex, are holding it back.

The following is a copy of my original review,.........

Cheers
Chris Walker

Hi Folks, While I have seen/played with a few of the pre production chassis, last week Ernie Mossetti (MRSLOTCAR) gave me a production version of the "Patriot Evolution" chassis to mess with/review.

It was designed to fit ALL Slot-it Group C cars, by offering an adjustable wheel base, coupled with a unique method of attaching to the existing body posts......so,...while you can basically bolt on any Slot-it Group C car body , it will also fit a wide range of other bodies without any modifications, and for those bodies that just won't fit, you can always move the body posts a touch.

A few chassis specs......

The chassis accepts motor pods from Slot-it, Racer Sideways, and Scaleauto in any motor orientation, without any modifications.

The wheelbase is adjustable from 82 to 87mm...this allows it to be used with any Slot-it Group C body,......and a ton of other bodies from different manufacturers.

It is cut from Spring steel,...so, it is very strong and virtually immune to any permanent bending that may be caused by a bad crash.

Depending on the wheels and motor you use, the rolling chassis should weigh in the 62/75 gm. range. (An average stock Slot-it group C, with "S" can motor is in the 51/53 gm range.

The guide tongue has a 2mm fore/aft adjustment.......a longer guide tongue is available.

The stock guide post holder accepts either MRSLOTCAR, or, Slot-it guides......a separate guide post holder is available for Scaleauto etc. guides. The tongue does allow almost 90 degrees of guide rotation, so, "tank slappers" and broken guide blades are a non issue. (unlike most plastic car chassis)

****One of the issues I have at present, is that (at this time),..the front axle does not have any vertical adjustment,...so guide spacers or precise front tire sizing is required.
( A retro fit piece for this purpose is being investigated)

The chassis kit will come with all nuts (Nylok), screws, body mount bits, etc, to build a complete chassis....guide, axles, wheels/tires, pod , motor, etc. are not included.

A few pics,.....and a couple of comments on each..

An inline Slot-it pod installed for demo purposes,...the chassis will take Slot-it/Racer/Scaleauto pods, in any configuration.
**** Note the long length slot at the back of the chassis...this will accept varying body post locations

Image resized to 84% of its original size [1069 x 800]


The wheelbase adjustment plate has "steps" (circles actually) cut into it so that once adjusted, it will not be able to "slide" out of adjustment.
Also note the "Hex" hole on the guide tongue, just behind the guide......more on this in a minute !!

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While each individual tongue has 2mm of adjustment, there are longer tongues available....the kit comes with the shorter tongue.
The guide post holder is secured to the tongue with a "C" clip. and the close tolerances result in imperceptible movement.
The kit comes with a guide post holder for MRSLOTCAR/Slot-it guides....a post holder for Scaleauto etc. is available.
One cool thing here is that the post holder rotates in the guide tongue (with almost no play)....so, the guide can be securely screwed into position, without any filing/sanding needed to achieve a very consistent/free rotation.
The "Hex" hole at the rear end of the guide tongue is the positioning point for the raised "hex" machined into the body post insert.

Image resized to 84% of its original size [1069 x 800]


These are the anodized aluminum spacer tubes that allow for chassis/body mounting..they come in 4 lengths (in the kit), so that the chassis/body clearance can be adjusted.
You will also notice the black anodized aluminum bits that thread into these spacers....it is a bit difficult to see, but, these black anodized bits are machined with a raised "hex" nut shape on one side....these "hex" nut shapes fit into the hex shape cutouts on the chassis to 1/position the body, and 2/ to ensure the inserts to do twist/move in the spacer tubes when the body mount screws are attached /removed.
The supplied body mount machine screws (included) hav been treated on the ends with "blue" locktite , so that the screws will not vibrate out. (This locktite coating will not obviously last forever, so at some point these screws will need to be re coated,...either with locktite or a drop of ShoeGoo etc/)

Image resized to 84% of its original size [1069 x 800]


Just for demo. purposes, I have attached a spacer tube (it just screws on) ) to an existing body post...then the little black "Hex" piece is threaded into this tube and .....the body screwed to the chassis. (Final body mount screws are also included with the kit. The black anodized aluminum "Hex" inserts allow for very fine adjustments in body ride height,

Image resized to 84% of its original size [1069 x 800]


So,.... my thoughts,....some parts are very well thought out, and with a precision not seen in the plastic car market, so, from a "tech" perspective it will certainly attract buyers,....particularly those that currently are buying 3D chassis , or those that are in the "scratchbuilt" (but without the skills) group.
And while it does perform very well indeed, for the elite racer, I think the chassis still needs some fine tuning,..an adjustable front axle system, and some method of adjusting torsional chassis stiffness ......(both are in the works, and will be sold as add on pieces).

The kits should appear quite soon (announcement coming), and while I have been given a fairly good indication of pricing ,....I am not a liberty to let you know.....sorry.

Any further questions,..please let me know, and I will pass them on.

Cheers
Chris Walker
Last edited by chrisguyw on Thu Oct 17, 2019 9:07 am, edited 7 times in total.

[War Eagle River]

I too have some experience with these chassis. Can echo almost everything that Chris has stated. Did something a bit different with mine though. Installed a new front body post in a Slot.it Opel Calibri DTM, and used the Patriot chassis in it. Have to say it handles better than the plastic chassis, times are a couple of hundredths faster. I did use Mr. Slotcar’s silicone washers, .5’s on the pod, and 1mm on the body posts. Getting ready to install one of the Patriots under a 962, the fit seems perfect, but the interior will have to be modified just a bit.

[Courtney s]

Chris
I did read your article on the euro form but did not put it all together, its a good read. When I did a search thats what I found.

So I'm curious if the chassis handles better / faster why have I not seen one in a proxy?

Would anybody out there try one? Or is there any video?

[ALS]

I have one on order hope it gets here soon😊

[War Eagle River]

Chris
I did read your article on the euro form but did not put it all together, its a good read. When I did a search thats what I found.

So I'm curious if the chassis handles better / faster why have I not seen one in a proxy?

Would anybody out there try one? Or is there any video?

There will be one in a proxy shortly! My SI DTM is heading to the Quick Slicks slip on proxy.

[Courtney s]

Scott would you be willing to post a video or some more close ups, maybe some specs?

[chrisguyw]

What specs. are you after ??

[Courtney s]

I was thinking about Cam am with a slot it Mclaren, or 2021 GT3 , or Trans Am I just dont know.

[ZackM]

I have been wanting to try one. But the stock chassis for that particular car is already so fast....

I may do one just to see!

Zack

[Gascarnut]

I built one a few weeks back. I took a Toyota GP C car and ran it in its regular state of tune for my track, which is basically stock except for 1171N22 rear tires and the normal gluing and truing of front and rear, coating of the front tires, etc.

Then I transferred all the running gear from the plastic chassis to the Evolution, built up according to the instructions. It went together pretty well, although I had an issue with one of the little black body post inserts. It was not threaded internally. Fortunately, I have an M2 tap so I fixed that problem quite easily.

On the track, the car gave an immediate impression of smoothness and predictability, but the clock showed that it had lost just under two tenths of a second in lap times to the plastic version. I think that all came from the increased weight, I doubt any of the other features had much influence. I think if the car was being used with foam tires it would be significantly better than the stock version.

I have a second kit, so I am going to do the same thing with a Sauber, which currently runs on silicone tires. Perhaps there I will see some positive differences.

[Courtney s]

Dennis that is great insight and I especially like the back to back comparison that’s exactly what I was looking for thanks for sharing.

[Gascarnut]

You're welcome! I have three actual lap times somewhere, I'll see if I can find them tomorrow.