Racer68 says he’s also building a Ferrari. But his will be a fantasy red, white, and blue livery. I’m the only all-red Ferrari so far. Please buy your car and just choose another number, or colour. I look forward to the seeing the same car/build from others. I used to worry about racing matching cars or colours as a newbie. Not anymore. There’s no such thing as two S32 cars exactly alike. I’m using Italian red. If you use bright red for example? They don’t look the same even if they are the same livery.

Please buy your Ferrari. That way I won’t feel so bad showing up with a Watson in another colour. :good:

I have a 1/16th inch carbon fiber rod that can help reinforce your body. I have this stuff still laying around from my old RC airplane days. One of these rods epoxied inside the entire length of the body won’t add much weight for the strength it will provide.

The quest for an accurate wheelbase continues. As I hunt through Google Images. I found some detailed photo’s to help figure out the how this car was put together. The wheelbase appears to be close to 3.187″ of an inch based on the photo’s. The extra 3/16″ allows for just enough room to fit a driveshaft from something like a Scalextric 250F.

It’s amazing that the Offy engine out-performed the Ferrari for this class.

The chassis is finished and needs to be assembled.

I had a Mr Slotcar 8-tooth pinion that was meant to adapt a 1.5mm motor shaft to a 2mm pinion. I removed the pinion and used the sleeve to create a 2mm diameter motor shaft on a BWMS050. It’s soldered in place.

The spring for the Scalextric 250F requires a knurled shaft on both the motor and driveshaft. So I had to ditch the assembly with the exception of the nylon bushing.

I had another longer driveshaft from a Carrera front motor car. It had a smaller spring that didn’t require a knurled shaft. I cut the shaft to length, then cut up the 250F chassis to create a bushing mount. I sanded the bottom of the blue plastic bushing mount until the pinion lined up with the axle/crown gear. The parts are ready to go together. The motor and bushing mount will be epoxied in place once the spring is installed between the motor and drive shafts.

I used cardboard to prevent the drill chuck from marking the pinion. Took a pair of needle-nose pliers to grab a small section of the motor shaft right at the sleeve. Slowly turned the drill until the spring went on a 3rd of the way on both sides. The spring is self-adjusting to go on equally on both sides as resistance builds. That was a no-brainer. Luck.

Thank you for your kind words Steve. I also look forward to seeing yours and other builds in how they might differ. No one has a monopoly on good ideas.

The chassis runs. Everything turns smoothly. Those are very short lead wires.

The body is sitting on the axles and still needs to be raised up a bit. I suspect the body is low enough that the car doesn’t need to be slammed to perform well.

I was able to remove 3-grams of excess material from the inside of the body for an overall weight of 20-grams. Now the body needs some serious pin-hole filling work. The final finish on the body is far from being ready for paint. That’s next, after mounting the body posts.

Track width is 54mm rear and 50.8mm front. Looks spot-on based on measuring dozens of photos on Google Images.

The body is mounted and has full body float. I had to recalculate and shorten the track width several times before it looked right. Final track width front = 48.3mm. Rear track width =51.3mm. It’s time to prep the body for paint. It will likely be the hardest part of this build. :wacko:

After finishing the car. I keep wondering why it looks so different from the real Ferrari Bardahl Special? You need to lay one picture over the other to really spot the differences. And they are major differences.

1) The kit has more of a taper from the cockpit to the nose. The real car had more of a straight hood towards the nose before dipping down.

2) The rear end of the kit is much shorter from the head rest to the back of the car compared to the real car. That makes the wheelbase longer than the real car.

3) The middle of the body is longer on the kit than the real car. Making the wheelbase even longer again.

4) From the front view. The kit has squared edges at the top of the body. The real car is more rounded.

So if you want a tapered nose, shortened rear, long body, squared edged Ferrari Bardahl Special? Then this is the car for you! :yahoo:

The louvers on the right side of the body also don’t match the real car.

I’m fine with it because it’s a start towards the Indy-500. And it looks good as a slot car. If someone doesn’t like the way it looks? You need to talk directly to Geodies. I’m just a humble builder. You sure can’t argue with the price of approximately $30 including shipping.

There’s no question that resin bodies can be like a bar of soap. Very soft. Sand a little too much and you end up with a pile of dust. I used Tamiya putty on some of the pin-holes which were more like pot-holes in some places. I sanded most of the deep/rough sanding marks out as best as I could. Some scratches from the manufacturer were very deep. Clearly need more practice with the Tamiya putty. At a certain point you need to remind yourself that a perfect shine might not be possible with some bodies. Probably why flat paint was invented.

Now that the body is painted. It can sit for a week and harden. The best way I can think of to cover up the defects in the body is to load it up with decals. My story is… the car was in a wreck before I bought it and they used a hammer for the body-work. Not bad for a hammer eh? :good:

Sorry for the bad hand writing. I didn’t expect to post this. It will only help someone with a Ferrari Bardahl Special. The wheelbase can be shortened slightly.

It still needs a driver, steering wheel, exhaust system, and decals. But it’s taking shape.

Thank you very kindly Jim. I hope it runs smoothly.

The car ran for the first time today. It runs about the same as any other slow class car. Silent and smooth.

The tires look a bit short. The new 7.5 rear tire available from D’Art should make the next car look a bit closer to the real thing. This car was the experimental version.