Swindon Swapmeet

Andy and I made our annual pilgrimage to Swindon.  The swapmeet seems in good health - more traders and plenty of visitors.  Car prices generally drifting upwards but still some bargains to be had.

I bought a selection of 1:32 motorcycles and a quad bike for track decoration...

...plus a Mini Cooper to convert into a roadster to match my wife's new car, a garage two-post lift, and an old Scalextric Pacer system, which allows any car to be used as a pacer on the track.

Aston Martin DB4 Zagato

A whole year since the last blog post... although a couple of cars have been completed since then.  One was a Chevy coupe but I also have a Chevy sedan to build, so I'll blog about those when they are both finished.  The other was an Aston Martin DB4 Zagato.

I started this five years ago and sprayed it dark blue.  I then decided I wanted a different colour so experimented with isopropyl alcohol as a bath for the car to remove the original paint.

It removed most although not all of the paint but more worryingly, also started to dissolve the resin model itself.  And so I somewhat lost heart.

Last year I decided to try and rescue the car.  I smoothed down the bodywork and then re-sprayed in a metallic green.  At the end of the day, it turned out ok.

Swindon Swapmeet

After skipping it in 2018, Andy and I decided to attend this year's Swapmeet in Swindon to re-kindle our enthusiasm for slot cars.

We were pleasantly surprised to see the hall space was 50% larger than previous years with a corresponding increase in the number of trade stands.  I sold a limited edition National Scalextric Collectors Club Audi R8 that I received when I attended the NSCC/Hornby Weekend back in November 2011.  I kept most of the money in my wallet but I bagged a few bargains - some tyrewalls and a couple of Penelope Pitlane kits (a 1933 Napier Railton racing car and a 1937 Chevy Coupe hotrod - examples of completed kits below):
I also bought some new track pieces.  My Highwood Circuit layout is 10 years old this year and so I'm thinking it may be time for a change.  A re-design would be an opportunity to include some different track features.  I bought a Le Mans start set from the 1960s:

Unlike later sets, this has a break in the track that is completed by a switch being pressed - so cars can park in the starting position whilst other cars are being raced on the track.

I also bought another vintage track piece - a manually operated pit lane:

The track pieces need cleaning up but are otherwise in good condition, so I hope to incorporate them into a new design later this year.

Spring clean required

Shocked to discover the state of the rails today:

The track has been installed for eight and a half years in the attic room now but hasn't been used for a serious session for a year!  So need to find some time for some proper TLC and then get some more racing in...

60th Anniversary MGB

A special Christmas present from Kieron in the form of a yellow MGB in Scalextric's 60th Anniversary range.

Scalextric are celebrating their 60th Anniversary with the release of a special collectors' series of cars, each in special edition packaging and featuring a 60th Anniversary holographic logo on the car. Only 250 pieces of each model will be released.

This MGB is from the Thoroughbred Sports Car Series and is driven by Roy McCarthy.  Roy and his two sons, Russell and Spencer, formed McCarthy Motorsport using Roy’s knowledge and expertise with MGs.  Over the years, the family took hundreds of podiums and class wins across many historic racing championship classes.  Sadly, Roy passed away in 2010 but his sons continue to race with Russell recently winning the Thoroughbred Sportscar Championship in 2015.

I'm shocked to discover this is only my fifth blog this calendar year.  This hobby has definitely taken a back seat in the last year or two.  Here's hoping I get more time with the cars in 2018.

More of Andy's spectators

Andy has been busy painting the dozens of people I got him for Christmas.  Here's the advanced work in progress on his painting bench:

And here they are sat on Andy's home-made straw bales:

And seated in a couple of grandstands built from the MDF flatpack kits from Magnetic Racing:

Using the track again

Stuart visited today so we had a morning of slot car racing, including the first race with the Mazda 787B that I personalised for him a couple of years ago.  I had my own Mazda in a stealthy matt black but it was beaten to the podium by Stuart's car.

Unusually no major damage to report.  A couple of lights to glue back on a pair of the BMW 2002 saloon cars.  We did roll the 4x4s quite a lot though...

Must do some more racing now it's warmer in the loft!

The final camera car?

I've been hunting for this car at a good price for a long while.

It's a very limited edition Ford GT40 from Fly representing one of the camera cars used in Steve McQueen's movie "Le Mans".

The car had it's roof chopped and cameras were mounted in a variety of positions for filming the racing in the movie.

The presentation box comes with a booklet and a DVD with three features about "Le Mans".

This car was only available to those who had bought all five of the other cars in this set and collected the tokens needed.  The five sets were:

• Porsche 911S Targa Florio 1972/DVD 'The Speed Merchants' (Fly 99020)
• Porsche 908/2 Jarama 6hr 1970/DVD 'Jo Siffert Live fast die young' (Fly 99035)
• Porsche 917K Buenos Aires 1000k 1971/DVD 'Las temporadas Argentinas' (Fly 99036)
• Porsche 911RSR Targa Florio 1973/DVD '100 Anni di Targa Florio' (Fly 99037)
• Ford GT40 24Hrs Daytona 1967/DVD 'The GT40 Story' (Fly 99038)

I have the first of these as it is another car mounted with a camera, and was also the last slot car I bought, almost two years ago (I definitely prefer to make my own these days).  

I believe I now have each of the four commercially available slot cars with film cameras mounted on them.  The other two are also cars used to film "Le Mans": the Porsche 917 and Porsche 908.  The four together make a nice collection and are out on display - I don't think the cameras would last long being raced on my circuit.

Final photo features Steve McQueen and the GT40 camera car:

Swindon Swapmeet

A belated write-up of the annual swapmeet at Swindon that Andy and I visited last month.  We didn't have a table this year, given the success of selling our unwanted cars over the last few years.

The highlight was a new set of 1/32 buildings from Magnetic Racing.  Fortunately, I don't have any space left on my layout or else I could have spent quite a lot, but Andy bought a building and gave them lots of advice on what he wanted them to design next!

In the end I only spent a few quid with the bargain of the show being a box of figures and accessories for £3 which included a vintage tyre rack.

The Race

Just came across the most awesome slot car video on YouTube.  Very impressive image and sound editing.  I won't give up though!

Datsun 240Z Monte Carlo

I've just completed an Ocar kit bought off eBay a couple of years ago.  This is a classic Datsun 240Z, modelled on the one driven by R. Aaltonen and J. Todt which came 3rd in the Rallye Monte-Carlo in January 1972.  The original car, pictured below, is maintained in the Nissan Heritage Collection.

The kit comprises resin bodyshell, metal parts for bumpers, lights, decals, plastic interior and windows.  I put it with a PCS chassis, a fast Scalextric motor and some suitable wheels.

The paint and decals went on well although I'm disappointed by the finish after applying the varnish.

This has always been a favourite car since I owned a diecast version as a child.  And the slot car version runs great.

A summer of racing

I had a few racers on the track over the summer, including Kieron and Lucas back visiting the UK:

Andy and I had a competition where we pitted the MGB, Triumph TR3, and two Jaguar Mk2s against each other.  The winner was the TWR-liveried Jag.

And Stuart and I had a crazy caravan race which we decided to record for posterity:

It didn't always go smoothly:

Or in our other races:

Morgan 4/4

At last year's Slot Festival, I found a nice Morgan kit - a resin body shell with cast metal pieces for radiator, lights and bumpers.  I used a Pendle chassis with Cartrix wheels, using one of the wheels that came with the kit as the spare on the rear of the car.  The other additions were a driver and a piece of plastic for the windscreen.

After priming with grey, I painted the TR3 in white.

Triumph TR3

Summer holidays are providing some time to catch up with some scratchbuilt kits.  First one completed is a 1950s Triumph TR3, a kit from Andy.

This is the first car I've sprayed in the new spray booth, trying to match an original Triumph colour called Apple Green.  I dremelled off the front lights and petrol cap so that I could glue on scale items.