RevMon E Type Jaguar
Revell Monogram cars are some of my favorites. The detail work is superb and they also choose some very unusual subjects to model.
Their finest car (IMHO) is the Jaguar E Type Coupe from Le Mans. Great car and if you use it on plastic track and with magnets a fair performer.
However, on wooden tracks it is another matter. The car has a front mounted motor,which normally doesn't bother me but in this case, (with the cars high centre of gravity) makes for poor balance, very poor bearings and rear axle, wheels that look great but crack their hubs very easily, floppy front wheels and a guide that doesn't sit in the slot very well. This all adds up to a very poor performing car that is an "also ran" against a field of similar era cars.
Ok..enough moans, lets see what we can do to improve matters....Warning, those that don't like radical dremel work should look away now.....
.
Their finest car (IMHO) is the Jaguar E Type Coupe from Le Mans. Great car and if you use it on plastic track and with magnets a fair performer.
However, on wooden tracks it is another matter. The car has a front mounted motor,which normally doesn't bother me but in this case, (with the cars high centre of gravity) makes for poor balance, very poor bearings and rear axle, wheels that look great but crack their hubs very easily, floppy front wheels and a guide that doesn't sit in the slot very well. This all adds up to a very poor performing car that is an "also ran" against a field of similar era cars.
Ok..enough moans, lets see what we can do to improve matters....Warning, those that don't like radical dremel work should look away now.....
.
The Chassis
The Revell Monogram chassis supplied with this car is not the best design I have ever seem, but I do like, (if possible) to use as much of the original car as I can, so I decided to move the motor location from the front to the rear to improve the cars balance.
The first thing to do is strip down the chassis of all existing components. When this is complete I used the dremel to remove two areas of the chassis. The first to accept the new motor position and the second to accommodate the enlarged crown wheel I will be using.
The photograph below shows the areas that need removing:-
You can also see in the photograph that I have added two small strips of PCB. These will form the motor support brackets. Do not remove the existing rear motor bracket as this will be reused.
The next task is to fit the new rear axle and bearings. I used a standard Scalextric black crown and bronze bearings. It is very important that their is no "slop" between the axle and the bearings to ensure the car does not hop on corners. The bearings should be fixed into position with small dabs of superglue.
Once the glue has dried we can offer up the motor to see how much shaping of the PCB support sections is required in order to achieve a good gear mesh. I will point out that I haven't reused the RevMon motor. I used instead a standard Scalextric Mabuchi.
Place the motor on the support brackets and see how much material is to be removed. You need to get the centre line of the motor shaft to align with the centre of the axle. You can shape the brackets with a sanding disc attached to a dremel and/or a minature file.
I now added the new rear wheels and tyres. I used BWA 32002 wheels and Ortman Ninco 7mm classics. The tyres will need glueing to the wheels but I will do that later once the track has been set.
You should now have something like the photograph below:-
The next stage is to fit the motor, so place it into position make sure you have a good gear mesh and secure the motor with a few drops of superglue to temporarily hold it in position. Allow to dry. To fix the motor permenantly I will use two part epoxy, (JB Weld), but that will not be until all testing is complete.
When complete it should look something like the photograph below:-
Next we need to tackle the front end of the chassis. This involves forming enlarged openings in the chassis axle shoulders and fitting a new guide.
The guide is the first item. I used a standard Ninco Spring guide and braids. Do ensure that the guide is a good fit in the existing guide holder, and you may need to open out the holder to achieve this. Easy with a craft knife.
Now enlarge the chassis axle shoulders with a dremel or file. This is the profile you need :-
Now place the car onto a Tech Plate so that the guide sits in the slot and place the front axle, complete with bearings and new front wheels and tyres into the axle shoulders.
Once you are satisfied that the chassis is square and that both front wheels are on touch the Tech Plate then add a few drops of Superglue to secure. (Once again the final fixing of the front axle bearings will be done with JB Weld).
The front of the chassis should now look like this:-
The chassis is now almost complete. All that is left to do is set the front and rear track, glue the tyres to the rim, add motor leads and eyelets, test the chassis and add lead if necessary.
The photograph below shows the completed chassis with a small amount of lead added behind the front axle. JB Weld has been used to secure the front axle bearings and the motor:-
The first thing to do is strip down the chassis of all existing components. When this is complete I used the dremel to remove two areas of the chassis. The first to accept the new motor position and the second to accommodate the enlarged crown wheel I will be using.
The photograph below shows the areas that need removing:-
You can also see in the photograph that I have added two small strips of PCB. These will form the motor support brackets. Do not remove the existing rear motor bracket as this will be reused.
The next task is to fit the new rear axle and bearings. I used a standard Scalextric black crown and bronze bearings. It is very important that their is no "slop" between the axle and the bearings to ensure the car does not hop on corners. The bearings should be fixed into position with small dabs of superglue.
Once the glue has dried we can offer up the motor to see how much shaping of the PCB support sections is required in order to achieve a good gear mesh. I will point out that I haven't reused the RevMon motor. I used instead a standard Scalextric Mabuchi.
Place the motor on the support brackets and see how much material is to be removed. You need to get the centre line of the motor shaft to align with the centre of the axle. You can shape the brackets with a sanding disc attached to a dremel and/or a minature file.
I now added the new rear wheels and tyres. I used BWA 32002 wheels and Ortman Ninco 7mm classics. The tyres will need glueing to the wheels but I will do that later once the track has been set.
You should now have something like the photograph below:-
The next stage is to fit the motor, so place it into position make sure you have a good gear mesh and secure the motor with a few drops of superglue to temporarily hold it in position. Allow to dry. To fix the motor permenantly I will use two part epoxy, (JB Weld), but that will not be until all testing is complete.
When complete it should look something like the photograph below:-
Next we need to tackle the front end of the chassis. This involves forming enlarged openings in the chassis axle shoulders and fitting a new guide.
The guide is the first item. I used a standard Ninco Spring guide and braids. Do ensure that the guide is a good fit in the existing guide holder, and you may need to open out the holder to achieve this. Easy with a craft knife.
Now enlarge the chassis axle shoulders with a dremel or file. This is the profile you need :-
Now place the car onto a Tech Plate so that the guide sits in the slot and place the front axle, complete with bearings and new front wheels and tyres into the axle shoulders.
Once you are satisfied that the chassis is square and that both front wheels are on touch the Tech Plate then add a few drops of Superglue to secure. (Once again the final fixing of the front axle bearings will be done with JB Weld).
The front of the chassis should now look like this:-
The chassis is now almost complete. All that is left to do is set the front and rear track, glue the tyres to the rim, add motor leads and eyelets, test the chassis and add lead if necessary.
The photograph below shows the completed chassis with a small amount of lead added behind the front axle. JB Weld has been used to secure the front axle bearings and the motor:-
Interior and finishing
The RevMon Jag does have a very nice interior, but unfortunatley it is not possible to fit all of it due to the relocation of the motor. I did, however try to retain as much as possible.
The standard interior:-
We need to remove the lower section of the interior and a dremel was used to slice off the section below the dashboard area as below:-
These two sections can then be glued to the bodyshell. Do take care not to get any glue on the glazing as it will "fog":-
Now we need to tackle the driver figure and I'm afraid some painfull surgery is required. We need to reduce him to this profile (Ouch!):-
Now fit the driver into the shell and glue his hands to the steering wheel. When dry attach a section of black paper between the two sections of interior and secure with tape:-
You can now fit the body to the chassis and your interior should look like this:-
The final thing to do is make the wheel trims. The original wheels looked so good I decided to try and reuse the centres and fit them to the BWA wheels. An alternative is to use the BWA Dunlop inserts.
This is a photograph of the original wheel and the shape you need to achieve in order to fit the trims to the wheels:-
When completed glue the trims to the face of the wheels, centre and allow to dry.
The car is now finished and mine performs really well. The tendancy to tip in corners has gone and it is now possible to control drifts with the throttle. It has gone from an "also ran" to a front of the pack car:-
The standard interior:-
We need to remove the lower section of the interior and a dremel was used to slice off the section below the dashboard area as below:-
These two sections can then be glued to the bodyshell. Do take care not to get any glue on the glazing as it will "fog":-
Now we need to tackle the driver figure and I'm afraid some painfull surgery is required. We need to reduce him to this profile (Ouch!):-
Now fit the driver into the shell and glue his hands to the steering wheel. When dry attach a section of black paper between the two sections of interior and secure with tape:-
You can now fit the body to the chassis and your interior should look like this:-
The final thing to do is make the wheel trims. The original wheels looked so good I decided to try and reuse the centres and fit them to the BWA wheels. An alternative is to use the BWA Dunlop inserts.
This is a photograph of the original wheel and the shape you need to achieve in order to fit the trims to the wheels:-
When completed glue the trims to the face of the wheels, centre and allow to dry.
The car is now finished and mine performs really well. The tendancy to tip in corners has gone and it is now possible to control drifts with the throttle. It has gone from an "also ran" to a front of the pack car:-
