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
