Fragile... but so NICE!!

[SuperSlab]

Ran my gold coloured Flyslot Williams this past Friday at our weekly races. Yes, I know the idler gear setup is fragile and finicky. But the car looks so good and, when you have the gears set up properly, it runs just beautifully.

And speaking of fragile: as I ran it the bigger spur started slipping on the idler shaft: it moved on the shaft and stopped engaging the splined section correctly. I fixed it up again today but I have ordered a spare just in case.

The design of the idler gear system is just nowhere near as robust as the Poli one. But, warts and all, I still love the car. I can just not even consider carving it up to put in better, more conventional gearing. So I will keep it as-is and just continue to pamper it and get great enjoyment when I run it. Am I the only one that likes this car? What has your experience been with it?

Alwyn

[Dogsbody]

I've a couple (Alan Jones Williams and Ronnie Petersen Lotus) and getting a good one is luck of the draw. The other US Slot board has a nice write up with pictures by Giddyup. Only thing I did different is I opened up the hole on the main driveshaft brace so I could lube it and I fixed the steering so it doesn't move. And I agree, Policar's is a better setup but a nod to Flyslot for their effort - they did it first.

[HomeRacingWorld]

[SuperSlab]

Thanks for the review reminder Harry. I went and took a quick look at it: the review was of the FW08 while I have the gold Keegan FW07. Just looking at it, the FW07 is way, way better executed as a scale model. It looks in proportion, the front wheels are appropriately sized and overall it is just a beauty. I know some of it is personal taste but the FW08 doesn't look anywhere near as good to my eyes.

On top of that my car did not have the clearance/interference issues that the FW08 has. I just fettled the gearing fit a little and that was it. The front wheel alignment is also by far the best (least bad?) of all my Fly F1 cars (I have one March and two Lotus 78's in addition to the Williams).

Also, while yours was a mediocre runner, mine flies (a Fly that flies: how apt!). To give you an idea: several of you saw or at least read about the recent Ford/Ferrari proxy so you would know that there are some very quick cars in the pack. On Friday I turned a best lap that would have put the Williams in second spot in qualifying for the proxy leg at Luf's Targa. The fast lap was also better than the third best race lap of all the cars! And I know this is not a fair comparison as I ran the car quite a number of laps and I could afford to push it harder than I would normally do in running a proxy. But still: it is quick.

Cheers

Alwyn

[HomeRacingWorld]

Good to know information, thanks.

I center and glue the steering on all of mine. Just made them look and function a little better to me.

Had no idea any spares were available for the system. I had tried to contact Flyslot several times about part number information and never a single reply. That is good news.

[chappy]

I took the gear box out, and the gear mechanism from the box.
I drilled 3 x small holes from 12 oclock to 6 oclock, and 2 oclock to 7 oclock and 5oclock to 9 oclock.. on the gear box. Then clean out any burring on the inside of the gear box.
What this did is 2 things reduced the friction surface inside the gear box, and allowed for easy lubrication of the gear box.
I also did the rear brake coolers which formed part of the rear bushings on mine.
It certainly improves the running of the car and is a pretty quick and simple fix.
Bob