Scalextric Restoration part3

The last (possibly?) of these posts where I try and improve some of my old Scalextric cars using the skills and techniques I've learnt through my hobby journey. These two were quite straightforward as I really only wanted to improve the appearance of these pretty ugly vehicles and see if I could also improve the performance too. Here's the two finished cars:

A Metro and an Escort Xr3i were chosen, which originally looked like this:

And this:

I wanted to change up the colour scheme of the Escort, using yellow, quite simply because none of the other cars are yellow and because I wanted to try and improve my masking tape and aerosol technique. After a bit of work with the paints and the decals (and a couple of Lego bits for fog lights) I ended up with this:

I also put a bit of lead weight in the front end to improve it's performance (I'm very much against magnets...)

And for the Metro I ended up with this:

Where I created a spoiler out of plasticard, added exhausts, resprayed the trim and repainted the interior. But no matter what I did it still runs badly as it's way too top heavy and does not like cornering at all. I see that as a challenge to race against my sons magnetised Sierra Cosworth!

Back to some miniatures next!

Scalextric Restoration part 2

Even when I was a kid, I liked the idea of weathering models to create a more realistic and less plastic looking toy. Unfortunately I wasn't very good at it then (no online tutorials to read..) and for this poor old Scalextric Capri I used sandpaper and a scalpel to physically distress the model. It's taken me some time to restore this one. Here's how it looked when I recovered it from my parents loft:

As always I researched inspiration and looked for a classic Capri design that i could work towards and in this case went for the following due to it's strong pattern and complementing colour scheme.

I added some plasticard to the front to make new raised indicators and a space for the lights (more on that later) and glued together some of the cracks and splits:

I handpainted the wheels white as to match my image above:

I went about sanding and polishing the body to get it as smooth as possible again, removing evidence of my old approach. I then added some plasticard to create some raised indicators and found some circular red plastic bits to make the fog lights. Here you can see the first application of white primer too. It received two coats of spray primer with a fine sanding in between:

For the lights I decided I didn't want to have just flat shapes and ust by chance, when in Hobbycraft buying some tie-die for my daughters I saw these adhesive gems for a few quid. perfect:

Here you can see them applied (slightly later in the build process):

The interior of the Capri also needed some updating, so it was primed black and then the driver was hand-painted with acrylics:

And then came the lengthy process of painting the bodywork using Halfords car spray, masking tape and (eventually) some freehand..

As you can imagine it was very difficult to get exactly perfect straight lines with the masking tape as there was always some bleed of white into blue or vice versa. Eventually I just used some Tamiya clear blue and painted a straight edge along the masking tape and then did the same with the white! I think an airbrush may be needed going forward....

And then came a first for me, some soldering! I picked up a cheap solder iron from Amazon and reconnected the damaged wires to the motor. Amzaingly this worked first time and the car was functioning after 30 odd years! However the rear pinion was split and this was also changed to a new one:

One of the last bits of model-making problem solving was going about replacing the damaged windscreens. I thought about molding and then casting in thin resin, tried warping transparent plastic packaging with a hair drier and eventually plumped for the less ambitious but perfectly acceptable cutting out of acetate and vigourously gluing it into the curved shape of the windscreens:

Here's the completed bodywork with old Scalextric decals applied; the Ford logo, registration plate and the car's rally number on the side. Those stripes were fucking fiddly:

And finally ready for a few coats of satin lacquer:

And here on the race track:

The painting on the bodywork doesn't stand up to close scrutiny, but it will pass for now with the materials i had to hand. Getting perfectly straight lines on patterns is a real pain in the arse and has convinced me that an airbrush is essential. Next time I would also like to make my own decals using the appropriate inkjet paper to fully personalise our cars.. I've got two more restorations in progress, that I will share another time; a Metro and an Escort.

Scalextric Restorations

For my sons birthday this year I decided to give him my old Scalextric which I had found in my parents loft a few months ago. Thankfully most of it was in a good condition, certainly the track needed just a quick clean, the hand-controllers and power worked fine and a couple of new cars were bought so that he had some that were fully working on his birthday. It was my old cars that needed the most work and although not quite on the model-making scale of the castle he received a few years ago it has provided me with a new, yet familiar hobby task; a need to collect old bits and pieces, problem solve how to use a range of familiar and unfamiliar materials and techniques, referring back to old classics and of course a new addition; the need for them to be functional!

Here's a photo of the scrapyard and I decided to start with a the Scalextric Porsche 911 from the 80's; when I started this project it looked like this (bottom left corner). Scratched, missing lights, back axle, cogs and just in a general poor state:

To make it function as a slot-car I needed to buy some new axles (the original front one was bent), fresh tyres (the original ones were hard and cracked), some new gears/pinions (the originals had lost teeth and cracked) and some new pick-up braids. Thankfully these are all easy to source on the internet and very easy to fit. My next restoration project a Capri, will feature some soldering and electronics, which I am quite excited about as a more difficult challenge.

Once these tasks were completed and I was satisfied that the car was functional (after a quick practise) I went about the cosmetic changes. After thoroughly cleaning the inside and out with warm water and washing-up liquid, I began the painting process. A black undercoat of our friendly Halfords matt black primer that has been used multiple times on my miniatures, the car then received a nice matt black coat. I then wanted to add some racing patterns and broke out the masking tape and white aerosol to create an off-centre, white, double, racing strip:

I then found a couple of lights that fitted perfectly, left over from a previous build of Fighting Fantasy Freeway Fighter and then went about creating a roof rack for a spare tyre from some plastic mesh:

The next stage was to make some decals including racing numbers, sponsors and registration plates. I went with Rothmans Racing as some research into 80s Porsche 911 Rally cars had some examples with that as their sponsor and it just seemed to fit:

 These were printed off on an inkjet printer and attached in these positions:

You can also see a bit more detail of the tyre rack here, including the thin wire I used to recreate the straps that would hold the tyre in place. Here's my inspiration:

Several coats of matt varnish later and it was completed. Here's the car where it's supposed to be, on the track:

Sci-Fi trash bashing scenery 2

Here's my second trashbash build, a slightly more complicated build than my last effort, but also a generator of some sort. This one is made from a Gillette shaving pack that I was (fortunate enough) to get at Christmas and when I took the different parts of the gift out of the packaging I was confident that I could create something Rogue Trader / Post-Apocalyptic with the variety of shapes. Here's the completed piece of scenery with a MadBoy for scale:

Here's the original packaging from the inside, you can see a nice array of shapes and textures on the plastic:

And here's the completed build with bits of sprue, lego, textured plasticard, bottle lids etc for added detail:

And that magical moment when all the different components come together, united under the grey primer:

The painting was pretty quick and nasty on this; after the grey priming everything was given multiple washes of a variety of reddy/brown/orange washes for the rust colours. The colours of paintwork were then added with the usual dark to light technique and then further rusty colours were stippled and diluted on to create either thick rust with the former technique or washed out rust with the latter. A few green washes were added for further weathering and then it was all based with some desert dry pigment which was also added around the base of the structure to make it look as if the sand was embedded in the build; residues of a previous sandstorm maybe.

A new twist on my hobby time looms next......

Sci-Fi trashbash scenery 1

I enjoy scratchbuilding fantasy scenery, as I have done with my recent Wizards Tower, as well as making them from the Modelling Workshop articles in the old White Dwarfs. However, fantasy builds are fairly regular in terms of their shapes and details and over the years I've collected lots of trash that has I retesting shapes, partly for junk modelling with my kids and partly with the idea of making some Sci-Fi scenery. The kids are bit too old for junk modelling, so this weekend I've rummaged through my collection, gathered the most interesting shapes and started to build some Sci-Fi scenery from scratch. 

It's much more of an imaginative journey than fantasy as the shapes of modern day packaging lend themselves much easier to the forms you find on science fiction scenery, of course the most famous being the original model makers from Star Wars, which I grew up with, and how their model making prowess inspired so many, including me.

So my first proper Sci-Fi trash bash experiment is completed, some sort of generator, that again is loosely base on the one on Star Wars Hoth:

The painting was very quick and messy. Primed grey. Reddy/brown spray. A range of oranges dabbed on for rust. White painted into the "glowing" gaps and then several quick washes of blue over that. Not my best light sourcing but it will do for a 15 minute paint job!

And here is the build with the trash components visible. A selection of different bottle lids, a bit of old dishwasher tubing, plasticard and of course the chewing gum packaging for the iconic shapes!

I'm now adding the finishing touches to a more complicated design, based on some more Gilette packaging (I only ever get these at Christmas, so there's a hint of how long I hoard interesting shaped packaging!)

Part 3. The Story of the Adventures of Roi; a pleasant yet introverted, middle-aged Dwarf who is not intrepid but who has to overcome his fears to begin an unwanted life as an Adventurer.

Part 3. The Story of the Adventures of Roi; a pleasant yet introverted, middle-aged Dwarf who is not intrepid but who has to overcome his fears to begin an unwanted life as an Adventurer.

Roi needed a piss. All of the adrenalin in him ebbed away with the steam emanating from the longest piss he had ever taken. At least he hadn't shat himself. It also gave him a moment away from Kharmur, so he could compose himself and gather his thoughts on what had just happened with the Goblin ambush; would he have managed to look after himself and take those greenskins down? Will he now be in Kharmur's debt for effectively being saved? He didn't want to be and didn't think that Kharmur would hold it against him or raise the subject. As these thoughts were drifting across Roi's mind he suddenly felt the strong pressure of a leather glove across his mouth, initially thinking it was his friend telling him to remain quiet but very quickly realising their was an aggression to this hold that would not have been applied by Kharmur, regardless of whatever danger there theoretically may have been. This was hostile.

The close, warm breath on his cheek whispered that he'd better not fucking move, or else the knife which he felt against his other cheek, pricking his skin, would be pushed harder. With his back to his assailants, weapon leaning against a tree and now his hands tied behind his back there was no chance for a struggle. Now Roi wished that his friend really could rescue him from this mess; a second ambush in less than 10minutes, what the fuck? A gag was quickly put over his mouth and Roi wanted to vomit.

A coarse linen hood was put over his head and he was marched away through the grassy landscape, blind. Roi vaguely wondered where his buddy was and why he had even been taken prisoner. Then the fear kicked in and his legs went wobbly and down he went in a heap. A half-hearted kick to the rib cage made him roll into a ball and then he was pulled up, heavy-handed onto his feet and marched off again along rolling country paths. Stumble, stumble, trip.

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Kharmur wondered if he had been a bit too eager to shoot at those Goblins, perhaps he should have given Roi a chance to fight, but he hadn't fancied his friends chances, not because the Goblins were capable but more because he thought that Roi had frozen and given the initiative to his assailants. He wasn't sure though. Kharmur used to trust his instincts and never self-doubt or over analyse but perhaps these were two more traits to add to the changes of age. Or perhaps he just had too much time on his hands now, unlike when a youth when he just acted impulsively and never really thought too much beyond what he was doing later, who with and where. Battle had been instinctive though back in those days and the attack on the Goblins just then had taken him back to those heady days. He smiled to himself; they were more than decent shots with his blunderbuss; he still had it. 

As he reminisced he cleaned his weapon. He hadn't even noticed his reloading of the weapon or his cleaning of the barrel, so vivid was his nostalgia. So it was only a mild curiosity when he couldn't see Roi initially. But his mace was up against that tree over yonder... He got up, collected his belongings and waddled over, something was wrong. The waddle quickened. A series of footsteps had crushed the grass around the tree and instantly Kharmur's heckles were up. He grabbed his friends mace, took a deep breath (quickly exhaling when the smell of Roi's piss went up his nostrils) and then tracked the footprints through the long grass.

Kharmur arrived at the town of Felsburg about an hour later, confident in his tracking ability, but at the cobbled road the trail stopped. He wondered into the town, senses sharp, looking for any clue to guide him further. But after another hour he wavered in his approach and stopped and collected his thoughts. What did he know of Felsburg? There was a barracks, a tavern (the Spotted Dog?) and some rich merchants houses that he could explore. It was getting dark and he was thirsty, so the tavern seemed like a good bet, even though it was on the far side of the town, so off he set.

Walking through the merchants quarters, he heard a soft metallic clang coming from behind a couple of large buildings. Silently edging around the corner he could see a Dwarf with collecting a grappling hook from the floor, obviously having missed his target the first time. Kharmur watched as a second attempt was made at aiming for the obvious target of a sturdy wooden eave and again was missed, this time by some distance. Clatter. Kharmur laughed and the Dwarf turned towards him, angry. And obviously a bit annoyed. "What you sniggering at?" he was asked. Kharmur retorted "A very shit thief, by the look of things, I'm amazed you haven't been caught yet!" "That's because I've never done this before, you dick, and I'm learning my trade". Kharmur bit "A little late for you to start a new trade old man, I would have thought, but fair play. Want some help?" Kharmur ventured. "Yes please, I'm good with an axe, but this dexterity thing ain't for me. Besides, I'm getting assessed on this by the Thieves Guild, so they can let me in. Not going so well at the moment..." Kharmur chortled, he liked this guy' "Here pass it here, I'll get it up there for you, but that's it, you're on your own after that" and with his first attempt he latched the hook straight onto the beam. "Good luck. Names Kharmur". "Cheers", replied the thief to be, "Barri".

And then arrow shots were fired at them, Kharmur shouldered his blunderbuss and scarpered towards some barrels for cover. "Oi, fuck off interfering with his assessment", came a hidden voice, "do one, or the next one hits you in the gut". Kharmur slowly walked away.