Uther ways to skin the kitty
The Tyco Pro will always be my favorite. Truly innovative at the time. While everyone else was building more complicated mouse traps. Tyco took it to a whole other level with a low slung ride height and integrated handling pan, quick change motor capability, snap in rear axle set ups with silicone tires, and a fully functional pivoting drop arm. Arguably an elegant minimalistic design. Pretty bad ass at the time, and they could be had for lunch money. I'll never forget lighting off my Ford modified for the first time! It combined all the big boy ideas in the small scale cars I love. Coming from the age of, rattling brass monkey motion, riding on ugly lil yellow wheels, shod with petrified washer slicks or dried up spongeez; their was no doubt that the Tyco- Pros were the bomb.
Other days, I love to hatem'. My observation is that no amount of adjustment, diddling, or prayer can repair the Tyco Pro guide flag's one inherent limitation; which is compromised lateral guide flag geometry. To my eye trimming voltage is merely settling, and undercuts the qwirk before it really rears it's ugly head. I need more power, better control of that power, and handling that will accommodate or compliment these features. I dont need a governor at the limit! I wanna be able to get loose predictably and power out on command with a flick of the finger.
The flag's ability to pivot is inadequate at the handing limit. This travel limitation locks the angular chassis momentum at a fixed point that falls well short of of what an experienced driver can ordinarily drive through. The end result is that the guide travel runs out before the chassis swing/slide settles. Essentially the chassis cant swing beyond 60/70 degrees when ya actually need 80 or more. (Ball parking....I never actually used a protractor)
Think of a lever action catapult. Now lay it on its side and you have the Tyco Pro guide flag regardless of subsequent retrofits. At speed, when the bind point is achieved; the flag is forcefully canted in the slot like a slotted screwdriver, and the angular momentum is violently reversed. The subsequent recoil of angular momentum following the "travel bind" creates the whiplash effect that makes Tyco-Pros all but impossible to drive at or beyond the ragged edge.
Yer sliding along fine and then ....Schle-boing! The laws of physics say yer done because you've run out of necessary guide flag travel. On the juice, deep in the turn, with our tail heading perpendicular to the slot; we need over steer to allow us to get things sorted out. The last thing you want is a spring loaded chassis ejector that automatically tosses you out when your attempting to razor the edge.
The controlling factor for all of the Tyco Pro handling nonsense is the proportional relationship between the contact rail spacing and the width of the chassis/car/front axle. A complex drop arm assembly with a pivoting guide flag is lost under a 1/32 - 1/24 chassis designs. Making it happen in 1/64 is quite another matter and required some serious compromise given the standard rail spacing. Things are just too tight for barn door accuracy so they arent easy to set up and keep in tune. If the Matchbox rail spacing was the standard, a flag designed to those dimensions could pivot and function properly.
As Dan points out, it's a detail oriented, tinkerers platform. I prefer the drop arm versions, IMHO Tyco's first idea was the best idea. The later fixed guide design and weight slug only serve to exacerbate the jittering, stuttering, and generally spastic behavior. Eliminating the drop arm and pre-loading the electrical contacts negates the arm's isolating property that dampened vibration. Adding weight after the fact is a nono in my build book. Properly laid out and adjusted, a drop arm should lay down and plant itself as chassis speed increases.
Tyco-Pro's are already low enough! Again as Dan intimated, every body under sizes the front tires. Excessive lowering puts the front chassis rails in proximity of clobbering the flag as it pivots, further decreasing the lock out angle. Arbitrarily applying the "lower is better mentality" usually kills any hope of ever getting the drop arm to actually "DROP". Dropping the chassis nose essentially wipes out the "up" portion of the arm's TOTAL travel range. Notably the arm will be pinned against the "arm stop" located on the drop arm retainer clip. This raises the flag above the arm's pivot point and causes the assembly to kite. A drop arm should always hang under center. Plowing enforces the necessary electrical contact.
Wires are a legitimate concern. They should be long enough and flexible enough to do the job. Clodded up leads that are too stiff and too short only add insult to injury; by slowing the guide's pivot response, or limiting it's travel ability outright. The guide needs to rotate AND move up and down. Ancient wire insulation suffering from rigor mortis need not apply. Cough up a few nickels and get some new wire. I tin my wires and pin the motor side with the brush tubes on the armature side, thus dispensing with the annoying "diddle tab contact doohickey" once and for all. Tossing them in the trash gives me great pleasure. The drop arm retainer clip still keeps the wires in place nicely, and you've eliminated several electro/mechanical failure points.
As a scratch builder, and veteran of the golden age; I'm used to working with braid and make them up as I go along. The disclaimer is that my rail joints are dressed to allow the running of braid. I tin the braid's end and drill out the index hole for the keeper tang. Then I file off any irregularities on the tinned portion so it pre-fits the braid holding slots correctly. Tin the wires and attach them. Assemble the guide flag and install.
I prefer to pre-break my braids. Once installed, I comb them aggressively until they settle in. Beyond that it's slot car 101, there's no magic factory foil adjustment tool or pogo-voodoo. Just fold them around flat against the holder and comb them out. Naturally, like any old school rig ya gotta check them after horrendous crashes.
I wish I had some photo's of it, but I don't. I wish I still had the cars, but I don't. All I have is the memories. And I remember guys coming to race, with fixed pans. I remember seeing their cars going down the straights hopping like kangaroo's, the tracks were not what you would call smooth, like a lot of them are today. I can remember going to the surplus electronics store in town and buying old circuit boards to make pick up shoe systems out of. You couldn't use an old pop or soda bottle, they came in glass bottles. Blister pack, what the heck is that?? Water Bottle?? that's that hot water thingy that grandpa put under the blanket to help with his arthritis. Now that you know I am older than dirt, ya know that I can have a senior moment at any time. What the heck was the question??? Time for bed, the heck with it……………some will never learn …….. Good night David…or is it Alice?? :wave:
