Building a slotcar from the ground up

[Modlerbob]

Recently I obtained a R/M Greenwood Corvette body kit with just a bare chassis. I intended to paint the kit with a different livery and swap it for the Spirit of Sebring body on my existing slotcar. Yesterday, out of curiosity, I priced all the necessary parts to build it using the R/M chassis. I went to Slot Car Corner to find all the items needed and the list came to over $85 and that was using an 18K hawk motor. So I guess the prices we pay for most of our slot cars turn out to be very reasonable. Now I'm either looking for a used R/M Greenwood Corvette or maybe I'll just go back to my original plan.

[RazorJon]

I have been building some very cool brass chassis this year
using K&S brass, SCC steelies and PG tires, guides and motors from Gene it costs about 30.00, and its a lot of fun

[Modlerbob]

The price I quoted included only, one motor, four bushings, two axles, two rear CB designs rear hubs, two CB designs front hubs, one pinion, one crown gear, one guide flag, two yellow dog rear tires and two yellow dog front tires and nothing else. Granted, I could probably scrounge through my spares and find some of the parts but the exercise was to see how much all the various parts cost individually. I don't see how you could fill that parts list for only $30. I would have been using a R/M plastic chassis as I am not good with soldering brass and piano wire and I doubt that the persons I know who have the skill would build me a chassis without all the other parts for $30.

[DixonJohn]

80.00 dollars does seem like alot, but really when you take in to account the quality of the parts its not that bad. When I rebuilt the couple R/M NASCARs i think i was close to $40.00 in parts. And that was only a couple of wheels,tires bushings and gears plus the cost of the car. SO no $80.00 isnt bad at all

[dreinecke]

Bob - I empathize with you - it can get "expensive" to build a car. That is both very good and very bad:

Bad: Quality parts do cost money. The ones you listed are all quality that will last for years and give you happiness driving a super-smooth car. Not necessarily cheap to do though. I find instead of buying every car of a type like I used to, I have sold alot of my cars I once thought I had to have and have invested in parts. You can also get a price break sometimes on quantity as well as shipping. I try to buy parts at one time that will do five cars - rear tires, wheels, axles, gears, M/T motors if that is the class, etc. I actually keep the stock guide blades most time and will rewire with the SCC silicone wire if needed. So, I just re-prioritize my buying of things.

Good: The hobby has NEVER had it so good! 11 years ago there was no where near the selection or the quality of the parts. There was only one wheel manufacturer around that was extremely slow to get product from, a few tire makers, motors were only available from the big slot car companies, etc. Today I can stop at SCC online and build a car with some of the best parts and service available.

Love to see the Greenwood if you get it done.

[FootScoot]

I agree. Building a car with quality parts is both fun and will last a good long while. Plus I get the pleasure of setting said car up the way I want it. Whether the set up works or not is determined by the actual running of the car. Sometimes it works and some times it doesn't, but either way I have never regretted buying good quality parts regardless of cost. Me I like metal wheels as they offer such a wide variety of them, and they are always round, so that's one less thing to fuss with so I can concentrate on other things. :)

[Padirt]

I keep it pretty cheap by making my chassis out of brass and steel axles out of 1/8" steel rod. I buy magnesium wheels and foam donuts from Alpha and mount, cut and true them and coat them with silicone. I've been using the Colgate toothbrush motors. They are pretty cheap and have a good power curve for my track.

[Ember]

I'm with Bob. At RRP the gubbins that make the machine go are expensive. If you can't scrounge from a bits box, even repairs are pricey. You lads over there seem to have it a little better than we do.

On average slot-pusher prices in Australia:

Branded motor: A$20 -30 each
Alloy wheels: A$14 pair
Tyres: A$14 set of 4 (x2 if you want a different size or compound front and rear)
Pinion: A$6 for 2
Contrate/Spur gear: $12 each

That's without even looking at axles, bearings, guide or braid.

[munter]

I find the same expenses but one advantage scratch building has is that when the particular car build has lost its appeal for whatever reason all those parts can be used again in something else.
I have done this with a few builds now.

Here is a Ferrari 375 on a chassis I built for the 2011 Last Open Road proxy. The track is Luf's targa. The picture was taken earlier this month.

Regards

[HomeRacingWorld]

Yes, the dollar cost can get up there.

Yet for me, building a chassis is very satisfying. Seeing something I designed and put together myself running around the track is something you cannot put a price on.

I don't make them all the time. Just on some occasions for unique models.

The cost of the parts really means little to me. When I do build it is a special project, something worth using the right parts I know are quality.

[SuperSlab]

I was quite happy without hard data. But it certainly is scary stuff when you see it written down like that! I did a quick sanity check and yes indeed: before you know it you are up at $70-80 for decent aftermarket parts such as Bob listed.

In a case like this, a complete running Slot.it HRS2 chassis kit starts looking like pretty good value! You get all of what Bob listed plus more (like a whole chassis and pod plus axles and inserts) for quite a bit less money.

[Ember]

Sorry for the rude awakening tally. I'd not actually put it together quite as such a list before. Remind me not to do it again. I usually by spares in dribs and drabs when I can unless there is a special project in mind.

But yes. The HRS chassis does seem very good value against that at A$50 for a complete runner. I must try one.

[Nor Cal Mike]

I cut my cost buy buying Slot.it Axle kits. For $20 you can get axle, gear, bushings and wheels. Sometimes I buy the axle kits with plastic 15X8 wheels for considerably less. I save the plastic 15 X 8's for use on the front of my projects and install the aluminum wheels out back. I don't buy too many motors unless I need one for a specific purpose. Tires from Paul Gage typically come in sets of four. This leaves me spare tires to use in other projects. I recycle parts too.

[jmsh54]

Greetings, I have to agree building a slot car from the ground up is not a cheap thing to do. Even when you build your own chassis by the time you add in the price of the other parts you can be pushing the $40 to $80 range and that does not always include the body. If you shop around for motors and such you can keep the price down some. But for me the big expense seems to be the body followed by the wheels and inserts. But since I don't often purchase a RTR slot car, unless I find one on sale and am going to turn it into a parts car, I figure I'm still ahead a dollar or two maybe. :lol: Regards, John

[racer6583]

Yeah that is right,
I built a DBR9 with a Sidewinder chassie, motor ff 030, axles, wheel bushings, wheels inserts, KD tires, rims, driver figure in other words a complete Aston Martin DBR9 kit from Ranch design's before liberty decided to stop his resin casting.

That was a yr ago I think,
grand total $55.00 and that is for a 143 scale, I'm still tweaking the Monster but the Quality is bar none the sidewinder chassie is first rate I like it very much, the body is a good casting, the driver is A1, so I figured it's money well spent and for most it dose kind of give you sticker shock but end the end you wind up with a slot car the way you want it to be.