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Well, some of the pieces of this build are starting to come together and since this is going to be a loooooong process, I thought I'd get some of the initial thinking out into a thread for comments.

It's a very narrow body car, which means that the slimcan motor will have to be mounted vertically in the front part of the car, with a driveshaft taking the power to the rear axle through a flexible connection to the motor armature. So, outside of the rails, there are, as I'm looking at it now, three subassembly pieces that need to work tighter; 1. the front axle carrier/guide holder, 2. the midships motor mount, and 3. the rear axle assembly.

Dennis (gascarnut) has sent me some very helpful components; now I need to figure out how best to assemble them to make a sturdy and mechanically smooth chassis for the car.

Here are some pics of the component subassemblies, some of which will need to be modified fairly extensively, in order to make everything fit together:















I think I can make the front assembly and the rear assembly work pretty well with a single U-shaped main frame made from 0.055' piano wire. The challenge will be working with the 90 degree-shifted motor mount (actually another rear axle holder, but used for mounting the motor only in the midships position).

And, the chassis will be upside down; with the component subassemblies hanging down, instead of facing up. The ground clearance of the original 1:1 car makes this feasible and with the motor hanging down, the extra clearance gained from the inverted frame will be beneficial.

The original Wasp had rear drum brakes that extended inwards back towards the frame from the wheels, making the use of 17x8mm wheels feasible with cut-down width tires, since the inside of the wheel can be painted to make it look like the drum. I may need a little builder's license in terms of the front wheels.........where the original Wasp did not have "front brakes", this model probably will.......

I'll need to sleeve the motor armature with a 2mm tube, so that I can use Tygon tubing to join the armature to the drivewhaft.

More in a couple of weeks, but at least the building has started.................a Wasp building a Wasp!

Allan

What an awesome project...

Looking forward to this build...

When I decided to do the Belanger Special in 1/24, I had a scale resin body and faced the same issues you have. I actually wanted a competitive car and decided against mounting the motor 180 degrees off. I figured the center of gravity would be too high for it to handle as good as the other cars. I ended up butchering 2 Monogram 1/18 scale midget models to make a suitable body. I got the outline of the body correct but it was 3/16 wider which was just enough to fit the motor bracket and motor. I used a Strombecker Skuttler front chassis section which is just narrow enough to fit in. The front axle bracket you have looks good ( is their retail source). I ended up with a nice runing car, but the width is just a bit over the true scale dimensions. Is it possible for you to use hot water to soften your body, then spread it to fit the motor and bracket? That works on some narrow resin bodies. The narrowest frame I have found is the brass Buzco 1209 for 13D motors.

Why not try a "box" motor? Like the Tomy Tiger. Very speedy little motor, very compact, and it looks like it will mount with the shaft vertical, which will let you use a smooth worm gear against a normal spur. It really looks like it will work.

looks like a Geodies body from Jerome in France?

I wonder if some of his bodies are slightly underscale.

My main worry with these early cars was what wheels to use to achieve the correct look.

Great to see a build that you want to do rather than for a race or proxy or some such.

Wow, I like small cars but that one's puny!

What wheels will be used?

Dan

And I thought that goofy Scalex MB 300 SLR was tough...pffff.

Looks challenging, but you seem to excel at such things.

Mc

VERY COOL!

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Dan, I'm going to use 17x8 CBDesign insert wheels with constructed flat outer discs. I'll try both a 22mm diameter tire and a 24mm diameter tire to see what I have to work with. Normally, I would shy away from these wheels for this build, but the Wasp had drum brakes in the rear that looked like inner extensions of the hub, so I think I can make it work with a tire sliced down to about 5mm. I'll need to do the same on the front, and since the Wasp didn't have front brakes, it will be a builders license.



John, yes the body is from Jerome in France. And, yes, it is definitely over-scaled. Here's a pic comparing it to another relatively narrow car, the Porsche 911:



And................it's not quite a pure modeling effort.............it is going into shotgundave's 100 Year of Indy proxy....................... :mrgreen:

Waay, thanks for the idea on the box motor, but I'm committed to trying to make the 90 degree flipped FF-050 motor work.

Allan

I think that is going to make for a VERY cool build!
Looking forward to seeing this one come together!

Back to your chassis components? The front axle carrier you were given, is it available retail somewhere or is it a custom made piece?

double post

Cheers

Dan