I have a chassis pondering.
A "why not?" as it were...
Why does there have to be a standard length chassis with a set wheel base?
I know the standard answer that is tossed out...
Cost.
That doesn't keep 1/32 cars from having different chassis and motor layouts.
Of course I am comparing a $50 (or more) car to a $14.99 (or more) car.
Note, I am not talking about BSRT, Slotech or Wizzard race chassis.
I am talking about regular Tjet and their clones, magna tractions and their clones, Tomy Turbos and future chassis aimed at the collector market.
Why can't HO have different length chassis for different wheelbases of cars?
(Why does a Chevelle and a VW Bug have the same wheelbase? :lol: )
Think about it and let me know...

Scott

I've always thought that an HO chassis with a truely adjustable wheelbase would be a big hit, espeically with custom body builders. I bet you could modify a riggen or tyco pro chassis fairly easily

Agreed guys! A long over due concept. Cost/return is probably the main issue. Secondly pick up and guide pin/flag problems arise when you start shovin' wheel base and axle heights around.

No problemo for the hardcore enthusiasts that habitate HT, but probably not suitable for the masses with the get a bigger hammer mentality.

Thanks alot Scott, now I got this stuck in my head! :p

It's a do-able idea. Gonna dump out my brass leavin's tonight and see if something rises from the ashes.

I have wondered about this myself - why not wheels on a slide or slides, guide pin and brushes fixed. I am not at all familiar with many slot car chassis available, but have looked at the stuff I have. If a solid front axle could interfere with mounting posts, guide pins, whatever, why not a stub axle set up like my one SpeedShifter chassis has? (Better quality though!) Then you could actually adjust wheelbase and track width....

you could use a riggen or tyco pro pick up system that slides on a plate with the front wheel base

man, you guys should pray I win the lottery, If I had Tom Lowe's cash.. I'd be inventing new products, not just recycling old ideas... and giving out lots of test samples along the way to the fine slotheads here.

I have a notebook with dozens of cool slot car ideas, but no money to see any of them through, well, not THAT kinda of moeny anyway. I came up with a great chassis, with adjustable wheel base and swapable bodyclips... so it could be used with all the bodies.

Don't get me wrong, I like AW's stuff, alot... but is anyone ever going to come up with NEW product ideas and not just rehash old ones?

How about wheels with swapable rim plates, like Zip Zap used have?
Some spinners baby, yeah!

Or a digital racetrack that you can hook up to the web and race other drivers in real time?

or an electronic dragstrip?

Wireless controllers?

wireless track control functions... like turn offs?

so many ideas.... so little money

I have wondered about this myself - why not wheels on a slide or slides, guide pin and brushes fixed. I am not at all familiar with many slot car chassis available, but have looked at the stuff I have. If a solid front axle could interfere with mounting posts, guide pins, whatever, why not a stub axle set up like my one SpeedShifter chassis has? (Better quality though!) Then you could actually adjust wheelbase and track width....

Look at an old Eldon 1/32 chassis sometime... what you described first is almost exactly what they have. The chassis is in two halves, with the front axle, guide flag, and front chassis mounting hole on the front half. It all slides back and forth to fit whatever body you have. The problem with Tjets would be the pickups... the 1/32's guide flag/brushes connect to the motor with wires, so there's some play there. You'd have to have the pickups attached somehow to the rear of the chassis/motor, and have the front axle and the screw mounting boss on a sliding "subframe". then when you created a new body, you'd have to get the relationships right between the rear screwpost and rear wheelwells and the front screwpost and front wheelwells... but the distance between them could be anything in the range of the adjustment of the chassis... (did that make sense?)

just so happens I've been playing with Eldon 1/32 stuff this week... :D

--rick

Rick, I was actually thinking that the front wheels could be on a "clip" (same conceptas the t jet clamp that holds the top plate down) for relatively short adjustments to make a better to scale wheelbase. Screw post stays intact, maybe a '"U" clamp/slide arrangement offset to clear it, or screw post moves with the clamp. Your idea would work fine, probably better, as the pickups are not fixed to their contacts anyway, they're on a hinge with a spring. That hinge could slide easily on a contact strip, maybe some fixing/tightening/tensioning mechanism....

I saw some Eldon stuff come up in the swap section once, I was interested as I'd never seen any in person and it looked like a nice lot to fool with, but somebody beat me to them lol!

I'd just like to see someone bring the pancake chassis cars even into the 1990's and make it so you can pop in a new real wheel/axle combo without having to break out the tool box to do it.....

I'd just like to see someone bring the pancake chassis cars even into the 1990's and make it so you can pop in a new real wheel/axle combo without having to break out the tool box to do it.....

Amen to that.

'doba

But an adjustable chassis is not what I had in mind.
I was thinking more along the lines of what goes on in the modern 1/32 world.
It seems each different body style has it's own chassis.
Now that might be a bit extreme for HO.
Or is it?

Scott

As Bill stated earlier, cost -vs- return. It will get you everytime. :freak: rr

Maybe an extender that would screw in to place with extra holes for the front wheels. Aurora made a dragster extension that I have used to extend the the wheel base on some of my creations.

As Bill stated earlier, cost -vs- return. It will get you everytime. :freak: rr

But in these days of fast prototyping and cheap labor (Over there...) and so on I am not sure I still believe it...

And I am not saying that every body style would have a new length chassis.
As an example a chassis is designed for a HO Chevelle (first thing that came to mind.) Next run could be something with the same wheelbase. Skylark, Cutlass or LeMans. (I am assuming that these cars have a close enough wheelbase to share the same chassis...)
Of course this example does not work if you do something out of the ordinary, like a Sedan De Ville. Unless it is close enough in wheelbase to also do a New Yorker or a Town Car.....
Maybe something to think about instead of copying the past....
Scott

When you think about the differences between a VW Bug and Chevelle there is a big size difference. The chassis would have to be smaller for the VW. Shorter and narrower. An adjustable wheelbase is good, but if you're making a true replica of the real thing then it would have to be the exact scale of whatever scale you're making.

The existing Aurora Thunderjet VW Beetle is actually a bigger scale than the Dodge Charger Thunderjet. If the bodies were the same scale then the chassis would have to fit inside the VW. Randy.