Slot car galore

[charleselan]

Apr 7, 2020 16:23:54 GMT robmarsh said:

Apr 7, 2020 9:20:06 GMT charleselan said:

Just for starters Rob, and thanks to Carl for reminding me of having placed this in the General Discussion some time back.

Thanks Charles.  Is that Uncle Dennis on the motorbike. Lovely pic.  Even in the black and white pic one can see the tonal variations in the paint.  Something I try to achieve with my models.

That is indeed Dennis on the motorcycle Rob. He and my dad were into their bikes at that time mainly due to them being the most affordable form of transport in those days. None of your MG sports cars for Dennis, as opposed to the rich boys who had them in all of the Battle of Britain movies. When I say at that time I really mean after WW2 as my father was taken prisoner at Dunkirk fighting a rear guard action to enable those on the beaches to evacuate. He was a prisoner from then on and spent most of the time in a gulag in Poland, followed by the horrendous 100 Day March as the Germans fled the Russian invasion. After demob dad bought the only brand new vehicle he ever owned an Ariel 350 Red Hunter.

Sorry I must stop as I am becoming far too anecdotal by far.

[Carl]

Apr 7, 2020 18:14:18 GMT charleselan said:

Apr 7, 2020 16:23:54 GMT robmarsh said:

Thanks Charles.  Is that Uncle Dennis on the motorbike. Lovely pic.  Even in the black and white pic one can see the tonal variations in the paint.  Something I try to achieve with my models.

That is indeed Dennis on the motorcycle Rob. He and my dad were into their bikes at that time mainly due to them being the most affordable form of transport in those days. None of your MG sports cars for Dennis, as opposed to the rich boys who had them in all of the Battle of Britain movies. When I say at that time I really mean after WW2 as my father was taken prisoner at Dunkirk fighting a rear guard action to enable those on the beaches to evacuate. He was a prisoner from then on and spent most of the time in a gulag in Poland, followed by the horrendous 100 Day March as the Germans fled the Russian invasion. After demob dad bought the only brand new vehicle he ever owned an Ariel 350 Red Hunter.

Sorry I must stop as I am becoming far too anecdotal by far.

Personal anecdotes are what define history. Special medals should have been awarded those who stayed to fight at Dunkirk during the evacuation, a burden impossible to imagine.  Like many veterans of combat, did your father choose against reminiscence afterward?  He and your uncle were both heroes.

                                                                        

[chrisb]

JC, what a magnificent photo, one of the greatest airplanes ever built, love it

personally I love hearing stories like this John, it just helps make sense of the world to me, having just re-read a book on my favourite Army commander - Field Marshal Alan Brooke, who was at Dunkirk, and although not widely known had a major hand in persuading a new PM that retreat was the best option, he always regretted those he left behind - tragically your Father, was wondering which regiment your Father was with JC, incidentally have just re-reading a book on my other military hero Uncle Bill Slim, a genius if there ever was one 

My two Grandfathers were both military heroes to me, sadly i don't have sufficient information on my maternal one but will one day collate the information and write a book on the paternal one, who by all accounts was a first class soldier but little else, serving in both WW's and medals abounded - one short of the VC apparently, but both ended up as Lieutenant Colonels which can't be bad 

[robmarsh]

Apr 7, 2020 20:56:05 GMT Carl said:

Apr 7, 2020 18:14:18 GMT charleselan said:

That is indeed Dennis on the motorcycle Rob. He and my dad were into their bikes at that time mainly due to them being the most affordable form of transport in those days. None of your MG sports cars for Dennis, as opposed to the rich boys who had them in all of the Battle of Britain movies. When I say at that time I really mean after WW2 as my father was taken prisoner at Dunkirk fighting a rear guard action to enable those on the beaches to evacuate. He was a prisoner from then on and spent most of the time in a gulag in Poland, followed by the horrendous 100 Day March as the Germans fled the Russian invasion. After demob dad bought the only brand new vehicle he ever owned an Ariel 350 Red Hunter.

Sorry I must stop as I am becoming far too anecdotal by far.

Personal anecdotes are what define history. Special medals should have been awarded those who stayed to fight at Dunkirk during the evacuation, a burden impossible to imagine.  Like many veterans of combat, did your father choose against reminiscence afterward?  He and your uncle were both heroes.

                                                                        

Totally agree Carl.

[robmarsh]

Apr 8, 2020 6:03:44 GMT chrisb said:

JC, what a magnificent photo, one of the greatest airplanes ever built, love it

personally I love hearing stories like this John, it just helps make sense of the world to me, having just re-read a book on my favourite Army commander - Field Marshal Alan Brooke, who was at Dunkirk, and although not widely known had a major hand in persuading a new PM that retreat was the best option, he always regretted those he left behind - tragically your Father, was wondering which regiment your Father was with JC, incidentally have just re-reading a book on my other military hero Uncle Bill Slim, a genius if there ever was one 

My two Grandfathers were both military heroes to me, sadly i don't have sufficient information on my maternal one but will one day collate the information and write a book on the paternal one, who by all accounts was a first class soldier but little else, serving in both WW's and medals abounded - one short of the VC apparently, but both ended up as Lieutenant Colonels which can't be bad 

I agree Chris, these stories make good reading and if we, the next generation don't record them, then they will die.  I also read a lot of military books.  I am currently reading one on the Spitfire by John Nichol, who was shot down in the Gulf War and also wrote a book called Tornado Down.  The modern style of writing seems to be a collection of anecdotes held together by a common thread that sets the scene eg Battle of Britain.  I like it actually. 

[René]

Apr 7, 2020 16:14:19 GMT Carl said:

Rene,

          Your careful planning, creative problem solving and execution have inevitably led you to a wonderful result! It's fascinating to see how you started and progressed, so naturally I have an irrelevant question about the brick wall which appears to be quite old. When was your now renovated house first built?

Cheers, Carl

Thanks Carl.

Nothing is irrelevant in this strange world!

It's indeed an old wall as the house (a farmhouse) was build in 1899. We left some old walls visible as they look great and make a nice contrast with a plastered wall. We have brick, clay and marl walls in the house.

[René]

Apr 7, 2020 16:22:46 GMT robmarsh said:

Lovely Rene. I like your racing line decision. Makes it much more realistic, something I always wished with the normal off the shelf track. I never realised that you used copper tape either. Looking forward to part 2.

Thanks Rob,

The copper tape is self adhesive and thin and flexible enough to make curves without tearing. You need to be careful and take your time when applying the tape but it's not difficult.

Copper has very high conductivity as you know and for most tracks you can lay one track in one piece so there's no loss of power where with plastic track you have numerous connection points that even with the best systems always have power loss.

[charleselan]

Apr 8, 2020 11:55:55 GMT René said:

Apr 7, 2020 16:22:46 GMT robmarsh said:

Lovely Rene. I like your racing line decision. Makes it much more realistic, something I always wished with the normal off the shelf track. I never realised that you used copper tape either. Looking forward to part 2.

Thanks Rob,

The copper tape is self adhesive and thin and flexible enough to make curves without tearing. You need to be careful and take your time when applying the tape but it's not difficult.

Copper has very high conductivity as you know and for most tracks you can lay one track in one piece so there's no loss of power where with plastic track you have numerous connection points that even with the best systems always have power loss.

Brilliant work René, thank you for sharing the build experience, makes me want to dig out the router myself .

[charleselan]

Many thanks Carl; Chris & Rob for your kind words. It is actually great to share these tales, and as you say Rob who else will do it after us if the stories are not out there.

I am a little careful with this anecdotal stuff as it can become tedious and downright boring when people go on & on about themselves etc. I have had my fill of English immigrants (hate the term ex-pat) that I meet over here who when you engage with them they talk for ages about themselves and appear oblivious to anyone else and what they may have done in their lives.

So therefore I do not wish to be tarred with the same brush, I am therefore careful about spouting off too much.

In answer to your question about my father Chris, he was in the Gloucester Regiment and it was their task to hold the German offensive at Dunkirk. For much of his life he did not talk about his experiences in the war years, only much later in his life when he began digging up matters about those times and re-finding old comrades. I do know that he was holding a position in a place called Cassel; a farm from what I understand and they fought until they ran out of munitions against overwhelming force. It was bad from what i have read afterwards, absolute carnage. Dad joined up underage, as many lads did which probably seemed a good idea considering he along with his elder brother and sister had been orphaned at 2 years of age. He left school at 14 and had been living in a barn above the animals he cared for on a farm about 5 miles from where i was brought up.

The 100 Day March is worth reading up on as well as it was brutally hard and done in the height of winter. He wrote a small diary during his passage on the march but dad wasn't a man of written words so it is brief and he appeared to run out of steam as it wore on, no surprise considering.

The photo of the Ariel Red Hunter is glorious Carl, and probably very like my dad's, although i understand that his had an exhaust that swept along half way up the frame height. This I know as my mother told me of the painful experience she had as a pillion when it burnt her leg during a long ride from Gloucestershire to Cornwall for their honeymoon.

[chrisb]

John, people talking of themslves ad nauseum and without thought of the listener is something not confined to English immigrants, one of the marvellous things about this little band is that no one appears narcissistic - gosh in saying that i hope i don't!! - but tales of yore involving our family history is anything but and something I find fascinating so always personally welcome and encourage such tales, so I hope you don't mind a little comment or two below 

the Glorious Glosters were indeed the famous regiment that bore the brunt of the evacuation especially the 2nd battalion, who joined with the 5th battalion, who then tried to evacuate from Cassel but along with another 483 were captured

I am going to try and research my paternal Grandfather's military history a bit more but he was ex-Sandhurt and commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in 1914 and served with breaks until 1945 - the breaks occured when he toured the world from 1920 to 1930 when the money ran out thanks to the worlds financial disasters, had they not the odds would be i too would have ended up at Eton and Sandhurst, don't know whether or not to be grateful or not

my maternal Grandfather who was a most marvellous man, his parents were German immigrants and fighting for  the British [he anglicised his name] would have been interesting another commissioned officer he was a balloon spotter, no wonder people weren't frightened of day to day living - my great uncle had been captured and was abused by the Germans who saw him as a traitor and by the British as they saw him as a German, he was traumatised 

[charleselan]

Thanks Chris that is a wonderful comment, and you obviously have great regard for both your grand fathers.

I doubt that your life would have been any more enriched having gone to Eton and Sandhurst, in fact to quote Arthur Daley the rich tapestry of life that you have had probably exceeds that anyway, and you are a far more rounded individual.

I have an unread book on my shelf that was bought for me by my other half's daughter a few years ago entitled "Dunkirk - Fight To The last Man" by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, there is a section in it that has first hand experiences of the "Three Day Stand at Cassel". I must read it, although I have read other accounts in other publications.

[chrisb]

John, you are probably quite right, although a seat in the House of Lords would have been a hoot, my word would i have had fun there

that sounds interesting John, what an episode in history that really was, 

I am just catching up on my research for another project on the Burma campaign of 1944/5 and it is astonishing how ego nearly sabotaged so much, bless the modest man [and woman] no wonder my 'heroes' tend to be self-effacing, Jimmy, Coop, Alan Brooke and Slim amongst them, King Kenny [who i wish a speedy recovery too] etc

[René]

Apr 8, 2020 12:16:20 GMT charleselan said:

Apr 8, 2020 11:55:55 GMT René said:

Thanks Rob,

The copper tape is self adhesive and thin and flexible enough to make curves without tearing. You need to be careful and take your time when applying the tape but it's not difficult.

Copper has very high conductivity as you know and for most tracks you can lay one track in one piece so there's no loss of power where with plastic track you have numerous connection points that even with the best systems always have power loss.

Brilliant work René, thank you for sharing the build experience, makes me want to dig out the router myself .

You should JC, you should. Even a small test or single lane rally track can be great fun and doesn't need to take up a lot of space.

[René]

On a lighter note here's some more on my track build, this time the wiring.

To run, the cars need electricity so the transformer and controllers need to be connected to the track. As mentioned in a previous post, the coppertape has no interruptions for good conductivity except for the spot where everything is connected. There's a hole in the track where the tape goes to the underside and the wires are fastened with little screws.

My track is a simple analogue setup (so not digital where you can change lanes) but it still needs quite a few wires to get everything connected because of the brakes and the Pacer system.

First, I wanted to be able to switch the dynamic braking on and off. When I run 1950s or 60s cars I switch it off so their braking (or lack off) is more realistic.

I also connected the Scalextric Pacer system. With this system you can program a car so it runs by itself. It works so-so but still nice to have it in.

The 'empty' switch is now in use for the lights in the tunnel and pitboxes.

Second part of the wiring, the HEUER timing system. Of course not a real Heuer timing system but I gave my DS timer a facelift to look more like the cool 1970s Heuer timers.

Here's how I did the tranformation. Simply making a box that covers the original timer. Than spraying it red an applying some Heuer logos. Simple but effective.

And the sensor bridge also received a small transformation.

... to be continued.

[Carl]

Rene,
          A closer look at the pit lane filled with beautiful 312 prototypes reveals an unusual level of confusion at Ferrari. The team manager sitting on the pit wall is curious, but not yet worried by what has stunned the mechanic, a team car approaching at five times the pit speed limit, its co-driver advising how to approach with a gentle right hand maneuver before grabbing the mechanic and diving into the pit box for protection. 

          In the role of devil's advocate I submit a question, sacrilegious in Maranello even though hypothetical: for occasional heightened drama, does the Ferrari prototype team in your attic have a crazy driver?  

       - anonymous