Stutz Blackhawk - Part 1: Introduction

Andy bought me a slot car kit for Christmas.  Kieron thinks I've crossed a line by moving into building my own cars but I just see this as like building Airfix kits, but with the bonus of having something to play with rather than just display at the end of it.

There are a surprisingly number of small companies who sell resin bodies to make slot cars from, and many provide chassis and wheels and other bits to make it a running car.

Andy chose me a Stutz Blackhawk, an American car from the 1920s similar to a British Bentley.  Here's a  real version that still takes part in historic races:

Here's what the finished kit could look like:

And here's what it looked like when it arrived:

Clockwise from top left - the body, wheel inserts, motor and chassis, wheels, tyres, transfers, chrome bits like windshield and radiator.

A Stutz Blackhawk Special was also driven by Frank Lockhart, who is a bit of a legend in American racing, in a bid for the land speed record in 1928.

Sadly, in his second run back up Daytona Beach a tyre was cut, probably on seashell, causing a fatal crash.  A replica of the car has been built in the US:

I've started the build on this car and acquired a Bentley kit too so I'll be blogging on how it goes.

Andy has also bought himself a Stutz kit, but this one based on the Jones Special which raced at Indianopolis in 1930: