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    • #7611

      Many consider Ireneu Correa as the ‘grandfather’ of Brazilian motor racing since he was the first Brazilian to win an international race – the 1934 Rio Grand Prix – which was raced on the lengthy Gavea course. A little history on the Rio Grand Prix can be found here.

      South American racers who competed in early motor sport events throughout the Americas favoured and raced North American models right up to the outbreak of the second world war and this was particularly true for Correa until his death in 1935. These models were not elegant – they were in fact very hard to look at – but in the 1930’s they achieved successes in part because their competition was focused on motor sporting events back on the European continent. But by the mid to late 30’s European entries would begin to dominate major south American events such as the Rio Grand Prix.

      Correa trained in the United States as a mechanic in order to modify and prepare his own race cars. The entry which he prepared for his return as Champion of the Rio Grand Prix in 1935 was yet another Ford – a V8 Special – entered as #32. Unfortunately on the first lap while chasing the race leader Correa would skid out of control and hit a tree launching his car into the canal – an accident that he would not survive. Believe it or not his car would return to race again but became known as ‘the cursed car’ after killing another pilot.

      And so with that historical perspective in mind I decided to kitbash a Lindberg Ford kit into something unusual to compete against a deluge of European models for a new ‘pre-war’ class – an early to mid ’30’s Ford V8 Special, as prepared and raced by Correa in the 1935 Rio Grand Prix. I’m not a rivet counter or a scale fanatic nor do I believe that a slot car must be as detailed as a static model so I kept an open mind when planning the chassis, but first I would have to bash a body. My priority was for this car to look right when circling the track. That being said I still wanted the model to be as close to scale and as detailed as possible. It was also imperative that the guide be hidden as much as possible and not be visible at all when viewed from above.

      I shortened, lowered and narrowed the back of the kit body and then fabricated the rear end using styrene sheet and tubing to make the extra fuel tank and crown gear cover (to which the spare tire would be fixed) and wrapped it with a thin piece of L shaped styrene stock. The interior floor was raised in the centre to accommodate the FF050 motor and two DArt racing seats were modified to fit side by side. At the front I added a few styrene plates to cover the gaps left underneath the motor covers along with a few body flaps where the windscreen used to be.

      I used as much of the frame that came with the kit as I could – and left the fender seam and the trim underneath the front grill. The rear of the frame together with the bottom of the fuel tank (I think that is what it is) was cut off and added underneath the new rear end. The rest of the kit would be tossed except for the steering wheel, shifter, brake and dashboard.  A complete DArt ‘Nouvolari’ driver figure would lose its head in favour of another DArt replacement. and that would come later.

      When I was finished I was left with two pieces – the complete body, floor and rear end and the separate frame which could be glued to the body after paint.

      I turned 5 wheels to 16.5 x 5.3mm which would accommodate a set of DA0210 urethane tires and DArt spoked inserts. I know these inserts have too many spokes but I liked their overall look and how they extended well beyond the wheel flange. I also cut off the ears leaving just a small round cap at the centre instead of the original two eared knock off. In order to ensure that the installation of each insert (after paint) would go without a hitch I drilled out material from the backside in the centre of each insert to accommodate any small extension of the axle and the washer for independent fronts. The overall diameter of these wheels with tires mounted and trued was 23mm.

      With dimensions of the body and wheels now in hand it was time to plan the chassis. I fabricated a small motor bracket for the BWMS050 motor and would use two sizes of piano wire and brass tubing to join everything together. I went with very small Slot.It bushings at the rear in order to give me flexibility in mounting the rear of the body. Due to the ride height of the chassis and with several parts needing to be attached at different levels this chassis took a little more planning to make sure it would turn out right – measure twice, cut once. The motor would sit 3mm below the chassis and the guide sleeve 5mm below.

      The chassis didn’t need to be too strong since it was for a low power motor and a lightweight body – and was never travelling to a proxy race. I decided to mount the body using some styrene tube into which the chassis would ‘snap’ at the rear and a #226 styrene post up front into which the ‘V’ shaped wire brace would be secured with a single screw. Material was removed from these three contact points until the ride height was where I wanted it and there was enough body float. Urethane DArt washers would allow sufficient body float and prevent the screw from ever backing out of the brass insert.

      My own research didn’t turn up much to assist with this project so I needed to improvise and make educated guesses where appropriate. With a Brazilian owner/pilot it was more than likely that this model would have raced with a pale yellow body on top of a green frame/chassis with black numbers. I sprayed the wheels a lighter shade of green and weathered them with several washes of dirt. The body was sprayed yellow and then the paint was sanded using 1200 wet paper to give the finish a dull, worn and weathered look. Since I used grey primer underneath the colour changes slightly depending on how much paint was removed. Everything else was hand painted. Number decals were printed on my inkjet printer and sealed using Crystal Clear – and then applied. Nothing was used to seal or coat the decals after they were applied but I still might apply some Micro Set decal sealer by hand…

      I made a small cover from large styrene tubing which I painted flat black and glued to the front of the guide to hide the clips when viewed from the front. Other details included the textured belt and buckle and a spare with a small aluminium rod that was bent and fixed to the centre of the hub which secured the wheel on the real car. I planned to add a second tire underneath the spare but have not done so (yet). 

      The chassis components for this model:

      • BWMS050 w10t brass pinion x 28t Slot.It crown (for now – gearing will be changed though);
      • DArt 16.5mm x 5.3mm wheels with DArt inserts;
      • DArt DA0210 urethane tires;
      • Slot.It rear bushings and PM axles;
      • Scalextric Round Guide with Slot.It braid and generic silicone lead wire;

      The basic specs (at present):

      • 60.3g overall weight;
      • Track: front = 53mm / rear=52mm (excluding inserts);
      • Wheelbase: 80mm (83mm from guide);
      • Chassis Clearance: 8mm / Min. Clearance: 5mm (at motor/bracket);

      The driver still needs a pair of goggles and a co-pilot is in the works too but there is no rush now that the model is ready for action.

      For more pictures of this eyesore visit our model gallery here.

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      The Happy Canadian Scale Modeler!

    • #7625
      Avatar photoMiA

        Hardly an eyesore, rather a marvelous tribute to a little reviewed area of automotive history. Beautiful. :yahoo:

      • #7628

        Great build! I wonder if adding the second spare will make handling better or worse?

      • #7941

        Cheers! The extra spare will be just a tire underneath the existing spare to better hide the crown gear cover – so no performance biggie I’m guessing. Like MiA I’m surprised at how well a car with 5mm clearance handles… gearing is my focus now – either to help determine a fixed preference for the class or what simply works best…

        The Happy Canadian Scale Modeler!

      • #7953

        I finally got round to changing out the motor on the Bugatti also altered the pinion from 10 to 9 so we’ll see if there is much performance difference.

        Can’t wait to test it out again

      • #20756

        For more pictures of this model visit our scratch32 model gallery or CLICK HERE.

        The Happy Canadian Scale Modeler!

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