Ed "Big Daddy" Roth Surfite conversion

[vtecfour]

While waiting for the Easy Off to work its way into the old paint on my 63 Stingray project, thought I'd jump into the next build.

Ed "Big Daddy" Roth kits were some of my favorite models as a kid. Tweedy Pie is my all-time favorite and Surfite wasn't far behind. When Surfite was re-issued in 2014, I didn't hesitate and picked up a couple. One would be a static build and the other a slot car conversion. That day has come.



Put together the basic body and gathered some conversion parts, a 3D printed slimline motor pod and wheels and tires. I previously hesitated because of the latter, but the solution just came recently.



The fronts are Ranch Design 1/43 flanged rims that accept the kit's front tires perfectly. RS Slot Racing RS002 rims with urethane copies of Carrera 57 Chevy tires match the kit's wheel/tire diameter spot on for the back.

Now to build a ladder-type chassis with a pretty short wheel base.

Dan

[Beast Lee]

Ed "Big Daddy" Roth was an absolute legend, and influenced an entire generation...

I was fortunate enough to meet him and converse with him as he airbrushed a t-shirt for me...

So looking forward to this build Dan...!!!

[vtecfour]

Chassis pieces cut and prepped.

guide tongue and rear cross member - .064" x 3/4" brass strip
guide post - 5/32" brass tube to be bored out to 9/64" to accept Sloting Plus guide
main rails - 3/32" brass square
front axle tube and rear axle spacers - 1/8" brass tube
front and rear axles - 3/32" piano wire

Parts

Sloting Plus Universal guide, 7mm deep
Slick 7 bronze bushings



Will be interesting to see how it runs with a very short wheel base and wide front and rear tracks.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Dan

[dungeonracer]

Well...this is different

[vtecfour]

Chassis's assembled and rolling. Wheelbase is 50mm with a whopping 73mm wide track, front and rear.



Added sidepans for body mounting.



Yeah, it is upside down so the pans are more flush with the body sills. Motor becomes lower too so maybe there's another benefit.

Body's mounted.









Looks a little high so I'll play around with lowering it. Should have checked with some reference pics online as the kit illustrations and instructions don't show a side profile.

Onto powering up and doing some modelling detail.

Dan

[vtecfour]

Build's powered and driveable (barely!). Left the ride height alone and slightly extended the wheel base as this was the shortest I could do with the chassis configuration. The front and rear tracks are longer than the original too.









Only slimline motor in the parts bin was a standard Scalextric FF050 and it's too much. Gearing ratio's 3:1 with a Fly 9t pinion and Slot It 27t crown and I can pop wheelies on hard acceleration every time. Got a lower rpm BWA from a fellow racer coming to tonight's racing so that should help. Ended up with a TSRF guide and that'll be spaced to be deeper in the slot too. Cosmetically, the kit's wheels turned down nicely to fit the aluminum rims and the interior tray was trimmed to clear the body posts.

Had an idea to convert the kit's pre-painted standing Big Daddy into a driving figure in the car but got to think about that more.



Dan

[slothead]

My vote is for keeping the Big Daddy figure as is, it's a very cool part of the kit.

This body could be used to make a very unique front engine powered rail dragster. Something to compete with Grandpa Munster's coffin dragster.

[vtecfour]

Tamiya TS-16 Yellow and TS-47 Chrome Yellow went on fine. Prepped interior tray and parts for assembly. Going to try to work in a Fujimi girl driving figure.



Will be an entry for our club's novelty class. Is in the slow end of the spectrum but might have chance to place well in our bracket/handicap racing format.

Am enjoying the build very much.

Dan

[KK Racing]

I can't say I remember ever seeing anything quite like this. This is an extremely cool build. Good luck the rest of the way Dan.
It will be interesting to hear how it performs. I'm thinking its going to be sort of a point and shoot type deal given the short/wide wheel base but its very low powered so who knows, it may gluide around quite nicely. I'm thinking independant front wheels will help given the huge difference in travel distance for those front wheels/tires on the tight turns.

Cheers

[vtecfour]

@ KK Racing - powered down to the BWA 16K slimline motor with a 2.4:1 gear ratio (10t pinion, 24t crown) and that helped tame the car making it much more driveable on my short test track.

All the fiddly modeling details finished so we're done!













Turned out well.

Onto finishing the Vette.

Dan

[TuscoTodd]

VERY cool!

[KK Racing]

That is certainly a one of kind, great job Dan.