Minic Motorway

[douglee]

Hi Jon,
It is amazing what can be found in boxes.



Good luck
Doug

[jbilton]

Hi

Well a bit more work has been carried out ..... and a few more models collected

The A40 is a hard model to get .... so I got this shell and fitted a new roof.



Added some Hornby Traffic lights




Finally got a Bus Stop



Made a crossing








Was given a couple of Rail/ Road tracks..... so managed to bodge them in



Obtained a rather battered Blue Coach

A rare tank

A steam lorry.... with smoke unit

Made up a mechanical horse.... that now needs re-painting


A birthday treat .... a working car transporter



The Bus depot



Cheers
Jon

[buckbeak]

That looks really good! Wish I could try and do something like that, I love the old scalextric cars
Danny

[jbilton]

Hi
Thanks Danny.
The old Scalextric cars are very collectable .... so you can pck them up off Ebay.
Obviously the space needed is a little bigger .... but great fun.
Cheers
Jon

[mijemcc]

Back in 1972 when I started working for Vauxhall`s at Ellesmere Port, there was a slot car racing club in the works canteen. From memory it was a home made track about 30 feet long and four possibly six lanes. It lasted a few years. It was constructed of wood and copper strip. The men there bought plastic/Acrylic(?) body shells that required painting to fit on Scalextric Chassis. Rewound motors and altered gearing was talked about in hushed tones. Talk in the canteen was that the racing was very fiercely contested. I did not see it in action, shame really. I often wonder what became of it. Regards, Michael

[Tonysmedley]

http://search.visitbritain.com/en-GB/De ... tID=624994

[jbilton]

Back in 1972 when I started working for Vauxhall`s at Ellesmere Port, there was a slot car racing club in the works canteen. From memory it was a home made track about 30 feet long and four possibly six lanes. It lasted a few years. It was constructed of wood and copper strip. The men there bought plastic/Acrylic(?) body shells that required painting to fit on Scalextric Chassis. Rewound motors and altered gearing was talked about in hushed tones. Talk in the canteen was that the racing was very fiercely contested. I did not see it in action, shame really. I often wonder what became of it. Regards, Michael

Hi Michael
I'm guessing it was something along this American system



http://shop.ebay.co.uk/john2242b/m.html ... 4340.l2562

Cheers
Jon

[jbilton]

Hi

A few shots of the buses I've been working on















I think this is an AEC RCL routemaster ( I was hoping for a Renown) ..... unfortunately its wheelbase is a little long for a Minic chassis.









Cheers
Jon

[douglee]

Hi Jon,
Hey! Great conversions. They look just right. One advantage of the Minic chassis being almost to scale RM Wheelbase of 16ft 10in.

To be picky. The last one is an RML a 1:72 KielKraft Kit I believe(the RCL would have had double headlights and rear doors. As would the 'MINIC Green Line ' which should be an RMC , but that is an original Minic and is "OK")
The RML, RCL wheelbase is 19ft 1.75in.

Good luck
Doug

[jbilton]

Hi Jon,
Hey! Great conversions. They look just right. One advantage of the Minic chassis being almost to scale RM Wheelbase of 16ft 10in.

To be picky. The last one is an RML a 1:72 KielKraft Kit I believe(the RCL would have had double headlights and rear doors. As would the 'MINIC Green Line ' which should be an RMC , but that is an original Minic and is "OK")
The RML, RCL wheelbase is 19ft 1.75in.

Good luck
Doug

Hi
Thanks Doug .... thats great information. .... I wasn't sure.
I wanted an AEC Renown.... as I really want to model the Lincoln City Buses from my youth.

These are some shots of the 'underside'

The Atlantian is on a lorry chassis ... with the wheels carefully placed , so it will go round the sharpe bends



Leyland PD3 ? on a 'straight' chassis



RF on a brass chassis



This is the one I want to try to turn into a 'National MK1 '



On a home made chassis.... MK1 pickup with Hornby Micro-scalextric motor.
Unfortunately it goes a bit too fast, as the gearing is a little high.



I've just been given an EFE Lincolnshire Lodekka .... again the wheelbase is a little too long for a standard chassis.... so having a think about that.

Cheers
Jon

[douglee]

Hi Jon,
It's basic stuff re the dimensions.

On a home made chassis.... MK1 pickup with Hornby Micro-scalextric motor.
Unfortunately it goes a bit too fast, as the gearing is a little high.

Slow the Motor down with a suitable voltage resistor after the pick ups???

Leyland PD3 ? on a 'straight' chassis

That is an interesting bodge scratch build looks like there is a Dinky Alantean in there somewhere!

The Dual Door Atlantean is a good effort on the Dinky

This is the one I want to try to turn into a 'National MK1 '

Do not forget the Class 142 Pacers and Skippers (Modelled by Hornby ) were in fact Bus Bodies. Would make a good starting point especially for the window roof profile.

Bristol Lodekka ECW Lowestoft built busses 70 seat 30ft 0in and 78 seat 31ft 0.75in both had the standard 9ft 2.25in wheel base.

If the Chasiss of the Leyland is the half cab in one of the pohtos I'm afraid that radiator is an AEC or at a stretch a Bristol.
Pick, picky or what.
Good luck
Doug

[jbilton]

Hi Doug

Thanks .... yes I had thought about a resistor .... but to be honest that would only be like the hand throttle aready used.

The Leyland Half cab came already built ..... but it should be like



I see what you mean about the radiator .... should be able to change it easy enough



Lincoln had 5 of these in the late sixties.

This is like the EFE Lodekka I've been given

http://classicbristolbuses.thornet.co.u ... 9d-flf.jpg

The Atlantean was already converted to dual door .... I want to turn it back to a single door.
Its based on a plastic friction model, made in Hong Kong, but I guess based on the Dinky original.
I did get another one.... but when it came its 9" long....

Good idea about the Pacer ... I'll have to see if there's any cheap ones about .... ( all these are costing me less than £5 each)... modelling on a budget.

Eventually I would also like to do

Leyland Panther ( but looks like a Leopard)
Leyland Tiger Cub
AEC Renown
Bristol RE ( but with Alexander body)
Leyland with Roe body.
Bristol VR

Most are available ... its just a matter of finding them cheap enough.

There was a great site of Lincoln City Corporation buses ( B/W photos).... unfortunately I can't find it now.

Cheers
Jon

[douglee]

Hi Jon,
Correct about the hand throttle but with a voltage regulator on the chassis less direct power would go to the motor.
One thing to keep in mind is half throttle would be less that half power at the motor due to additional resistance in the circuit. The exact value would need working out.
I think full throttle with a 6volt resistor on the chassis would probably only give about 4 volts equivalent power. That is only guess work but you see what I mean.

Lincoln had 5 of these in the late sixties.

Left to right RTW Leyland PD2/3 8ft Leyland Body to L.T. specs Ex. London Transport
Three RTs AEC Regent 3s 7ft 6in Park Royal Bodies Ex. London Transport

This is like the EFE Lodekka I've been given

That is one of the 30ft versions.

For Spare radiators:-
http://www.modelbuszone.co.uk/busstopmo ... spares.htm


Good luck
Doug

[jbilton]

Hi

Thanks Doug .... I'll have to look into resistors .... I think if you wire a high resistance one in parallel ...it draws more of the voltage.

A few shots of the things I've been working on

FX4 Taxi ( Matchbox a bit over scale )






Had to file out the wheel arches a little and the chassis is a bit too short.




Transit for the Fire Brigade ( Unknown Chinese manufacture).




Lodekka ( EFE )



Unfortunately I only had a Brass worm and Nylon gear spare .... and the Brass has 'Eaten' the nylon.
(Still it is a successful experiment in getting round the 'longer' chassis problem).
Because the original Minic are shorter, the requirement for a 'Diff' isn't a problem..... but with the longer it seems to put more of a strain.




This one is my next project .... its a Lone Star Impy.
I wanted a Merryweather, but Dinky is too big and I think the Matchbox one is too.



I was going to cut and shut a Minic (cab) and the Impy .... but it seems nearly mint.... so still thinking.

Cheers
Jon

[douglee]

Hi Jon,
You may be right about the Resistor.

The FX4 is not very far out of scale (they are large vehicles) it loks fine against the RF. The unavoidable part that makes it look too big is the standard Minic wheels.

The Transit again looks OK as they are as wide as the FX4. In fact there is a lot of Transit in the TX1 the latest London Taxi, the FX4 lookalike.

The length of the Fire appliance is type relative so you could get away with that. The yard stick is the cab width which is 8ft 2.5 for the AEC and all lorry based appliances.

Good work.

Good luck
Doug