Scratch Built Slot Car Land Rover II - Page 1

The parts in the original kit. The metal axles were missing, but this was not important

Body and chassis from donor slot car (Scalextric car C699 AMG Mercedes C-Class "ProMarkt").

Land Rover body from plastic kit next to donor slot car chassis. This chassis was chosen as it has the correct wheelbase for the Land Rover.

Component parts placed together, without glue, to work out which areas of plastic should be removed.

Tools used including wooden block to work on, different needle files, metal ruler, precision screwdriver (to remove/attach screws from donor chassis), tweezers, scalpel, sandpaper, Blu-Tack, paintbrush, razor saw, hand drill and various round cylinders to wrap sand paper around.

When trial fitting parts, they can be held together with Blu-Tack.

Pick up bed removed to enable the body to mounted as low as possible (without touching the motor). I tried to remove excess weight, especially if it was high up in the Land Rover to increase its stability. I may add weight later as low down as possible on the chassis to improve stability and traction.

I wanted to make the bonnet correct. Land Rover bonnets can have a depression to allow for the mounting of a spare wheel. I did not think I could make the bonnet in the kit look correct, so I covered it with the spare wheel, even though this added to the weight. Also a real racing Land Rover would have the spare wheel securely mounted low down in the pick up bed.

Removing extra (high up) weight from the bonnet. I also removed excess material from the spare wheel.

Material removed from interior to make space for the motor.

Scratch built cubby box (popular with full size Landrover owners) to cover hole in front seats. The front of the interior has been removed to save weight and so the it can be placed higher up than it was in the original plastic kit to make space for the motor.

New scratch built front apron to accept the chassis mounting screw. The picture also shows the bonnet with all the excess plastic removed.

Rear body mounting point made from two pieces of sheet styrene (the second has not been glued on yet). Then a small hole was drilled to accept the chassis mounting screw.

New cover for pick up bed. The holes have been cut out to allow the roll cage to be glued in.

With the original plastic kit the interior of the Land Rover was attached to the chassis. I added sheet styrene packing pieces to the sides of the interior so that it could be glued to the body instead.

Painting the parts, with the aid of Blu-Tack and pencils to hold the small parts or parts that are hard to hold.

Click on the picture on the right to see the final results.