BARC Rally car

[Barc 1]

Spent some time back in my 143 scale roots and rebuilt a few chassis using brass and lego.

First up is my Volvo 122 Rally car for the Little Monte Carlo



Then with an eye towards next year Pronomag



All Cars are built using the same type of chassis



The new Mineabea motor is turning about 23 K, which is perfect for these cars.

I suppose much time will be spent in the workshop over the next while. I am sure glad I have a hobby.

[ZackM]

Cool looking stuff Dan!

Zack

[Barc 1]

Thanks Zack. 1;43 scale is my chosen scale, but is a really tough sell in North America. These cars are magnet free and run just like their bigger brothers

[slothead]

How did you get started with 1:43 or why did you choose it? I've raced 1:32 scale slot cars since getting tracks for Christmas as a kid. Raced 1:24 at a commercial track decades ago and tried 1:43 after buying some cars on HRW years ago (actually thought they were 1:32 when I bought them), but never really got into anything except 1:32.

[pfuetze]

great build, Dan!
I like the chassis design!

23k on the motor? at how many volts?

I like the Volvo! Can´t wait for the Little Monte Proxy!
Lloyd will have to put all incoming cars in 11 hour quarantaine box before opening LOL

The GT40 and the Ferrari look great!
Looking forward to run them.

[CJR RACING]

Great stuff Dan!

[Barc 1]

I used to have a wooden track and ran 1/24 and 1/32nd scale. I then left the hobby for some time. Getting back in I thought I would look at 1/43 as it required less space. My goal has always been scratchbuilt non magnet cars. I was not interested in the high mag commercial stuff.. Being older I enjoy the cars of another era. So 1/43 offered some great modelling opportunities, and is definitely a builders scale if you want to be serious about it. Resin casting and casting my own urethane tires became a necessity

I went crazy at the start. Came up with the gift car chassis and literally built every car I ever wanted in this scale by casting resin bodies from 1/43 scale diecast.

I now focus on brass plate chassis, but still use lego for the rear nearing blocks. These cars have bearings and with the new 23 k @10 volt motors can really get along.

I thought about sending a car along in my 1/32 proxy entries just to expose people to what can be done in this scale. These cars run fine on any 1/32 scale track, and look good doing it as the extra width of the track presents a better scale appearance.

I built a 4X12 layout using Carrera 132 scale track down the front straight and carrera go for the remaining track. Had to build some transition pieces as well, as adding borders to all the go track. I run 132 cars as well now on it.

I have an empty bay in the garage now and my goal is to build a wooden track again, but the project isn’t coming together as quick as I thought it would. Partly because the current track works fine for the 1/43 cars it was designed for. My proxy entries in 1/32 are always at the back of the pack, amd I was thinking a bigger track with longer straights would allow me to shake out my 1/32 scale cars better. However just building and competing seems to be enough regardless of where I finish so this new tracks is still on paper.

[slothead]

Thanks for sharing your slot car story. For a short while a few decades ago I built an HO track due to space considerations. A 4 lane oval fit on a 4x8 foot sheet of plywood and worked great for building and racing replicas of cars that ran at the local dirt track. At the time I didn't know 1:43 scale stuff existed.

You build very creative stuff and I enjoy reading about what you do. If a hobby keeps a person engaged with fun projects to look forward to, it's a positive addition to life.