1956 Maserati 250F

[richardh]

The 1956 Maserati 250F was one of the iconic cars of the 50's in my view. The nicely detailed resin body from Pendle's was used on a custom chassis. Using a flat six motor dropped a full 1mm (offset) allowed enough space for a full steering wheel. This put a bit of grunt into the power end of the project and a rotating shaft chassis with body fixed to front axle assembly and the motor side loose the chassis works quite well by my somewhat low standard of performance requirements.


Using the off-set Maserati of Moss pictured below I used this as the basis for my build.



The body has been dirtied up a bit to try to mimic the oil and grime of a 3 hour race so you will see there are parts of the car still shiny and I have tried to flatten out the underside and painted in oil-streaks where I thought needed.






















So whats with the unusual driver mount?

For a long time I have struggled with looking at these rigid slot car drivers in these iconic race cars where all the historic photos show them leaning over into the corners in a very pronounced and animated style. The youtube video of Fangio driving a 250F shows how much work was needed just to keep the car in a straight line on those old bumpy circuits.

I have long wanted to put some weight below the driver so when cornering this is thrown to the outside but the body above rotates to the inside like the driver would in the race. After many failed attempts the way I got this to work was through a long shaft extending rearwards past the gear - now the weight could go almost to the floor of the car and get a real pendulum motion. Without the motor there is more movement available but there is still enough rotation even when the motor is in the car to make the driver look like he's doing something.






The driver figure is Immense Miniatures of course and is naturally the great Stirling Moss. I was greatly saddened to hear of his passing and realized I had been detailing this figure on Easter Sunday. RIP Sir Stirling - you will always be a true hero of mine and a Champion in my mind and an example to us all.




Thank you for reading.

Richard

[Aurora]

Fantastic Richard! You've nailed the look and attitude of the car, and Moss. The chassis looks very interesting as well. More, more photos!!!
And the pendulum driver - can I steal your method please?

Matt

[Peter Seager-Thomas]

I always like a build with something a little different, and this is a perfect example. I did look into connecting the driver (via the steering wheel to the steering arrangements I have made for a few builds, this is a much better idea.

Peter.

[richardh]

Thank you Peter and Matt for your comments and encouragement.

More photos as requested - please excuse the slow response, I had not taken any pics of the chassis!



Some photos of the chassis components for this build.

The main chassis is a standard aluminum channel (3/4x3/4x1/8) or 19mm as I prefer. I use this as it is cheap and is just thick enough to tap M2 threads into which provide just enough depth to hold the M2 machine screws in place. The rest of the parts come from galvanized tin (cheap) and when you sand off the galvanizing you get a really smart high tech looking finish which is useful to distract attention away from some of the questionable workmanship.

The rear axle bearings are standard slot.it with one side ground off so they can fit into the holes. The guide holder is made from 3mm flat aluminium which gives the shaft of the guide more lateral support.


The complete car with parts separated.


Front assembly.
There is just enough space between the Flat-six motor and the front axle and guide holder to get a short length of brass tubing to hold the shaft from the front assembly without too much play.

To hold the rear assembly in place a small cut in the shaft is held in place by a small piece of tin bent down. This does not affect the rotation of the rear motor assembly.






Underside of chassis.


The support for the pendulum driver now in place - not a lot of space in these 1/32 cars !


Pendulum action of the driver - activated by the weight being thrown to the outside when cornering. I need to find a way to dampen the movement when on straight sections as the driver is still wiggling about quite a bit... any ideas welcome.




Chassis complete - ready for those awesome wheels.


Ready to go.  The cars does not perform too badly - with no tuning or extra weight it 6.7sec on my short track where a good lap is 5.7sec.  The holes in the centre of the chassis are for a weighted panel suspended below which will be loose as I have heard the word rattle pan a few times and assume that has something about a loose weight below the car.

Thanks for looking - I trust I have not overdone the photos.


Richard

[richardh]

I forgot to thank you Matt for the name you have suggested to this type of driver - "pendulum driver" is perfect!

Richard

[Aurora]

Well, that's just the neatest thing I've seen in ages! So much to see there, I'll be studying this for weeks. Thanks for sharing this work Richard.

Your aluminum channel is something I've wanted to use for a long time, but try as I might I simply can't find any. Your chassis inspires me to renew my search.

How to dampen the driver wiggles - that's a tough one. Maybe a very small strip of tape or rubber band that hangs off the tip of the steering column, positioned so that it just barely contacts the top surface of the motor when the pendulum is hanging at 180. When the driver rotates, the dampener would immediately break contact with the surface of the motor. Just enough pressure to dampen the wiggling movement of the driver when straight ahead, but not so much as to prevent the pendulum from swinging freely.

Or maybe a dab of grease on the two bearing seats where the pendulum shaft passes through the galvanized tin bracket.

Matt

[richardh]

Matt - your suggestion of rubber band has got me thinking - maybe a strand of rubber glued to the end of the steering shaft and attached to the motor might dampen things down - I will be trying that - thanks!

Richard

[dangermouse]

What a enjoyable read. Some wonderful ideas that I will also be exploring further. I need more details on your aluminium channel chassis Richard.

Looking at it I imagine there is a bit of cutting and filing involved. I am also intrigued by the pivot section at the front. I am guessing it must work well as you are running a high powered/ torque motor. I mostly run NC-1 (14K) or equivalent in my classic GP cars.

I have recently built a lot of 1/24 Grand Prix cars using the Merit (or copies of) kits. I am building a Maserati and a BRM next. I shall see if I can incorporate the leaning driver into my next builds.

I have been using a Penelope Pitlane chassis but I like the idea of making a chassis out of aluminium. Especially if this is the stuff you use (https://www.bunnings.com.au/metal-mate-20-x-20-x-1-5mm-1m-aluminium-channel_p1079323 ) cause at $14 for a 1m length I could probably make 5 or 6 chassis out of that. (Save me a few $)

If you don't want to grind down slot.it bearings you can buy single flange oilites. I get mine here in Australia for $1.50 a pair. (75p $1US)


Thanks for sharing.

cheers
David

PS hey Matt - small world - DM

[richardh]

Thanks David - useful info on the bearings - grinding them off is a pain.  I will reply properly soon but struggling with being over quota on images and would like to post a PDF but can't figure out how to do this but working on it.  I would hope that might give you a bit more informative.


Richard

[richardh]

David
The aluminium channel allows you to cut out plenty of chassis from one 1metre length - as each is only 74mm finished (as per my design).  The channel sections should be readily available in most large hardware stores and the various sizes work well with other cars (the 1/2inch fits nicely with the FF050 motors for the 1960's half tons which I used in my Lotus 25 build.


For what it is worth I am enclosing a photo of my plans for the Maserati but as it is a snapshot it won't print to scale because uploading a PDF is beyond my technical reach right now!



I like working most of it out before - starting off with a proper diagram of the outline of the car plus a light outline of the resin interior so I know the limits I can build to (guide especially).

As the work progresses I adjust some of the dimensions and detail but at least this might be of some interest to the basic outline of the build.

Richard

[Chris Wright]

Richard, is your Maserati offset? If not it should be.....Ah yes I see it is!

Here's mine.

[richardh]

Chris
Yes it is - but I realize the plan I posted for some reason the cockpit is mirrored. Nice photos of your car and the real thing - Thanks.

Richard

[pilot70]

Such a beautiful car!

And magnificient work and detail.

The idea behind the leaning Sir Stirling is a great tribute to the legendary driver and person that sadly left us last Sunday.

Congratulations for your fantastic model car.

Dan.

[predator]

Hi Richard,

Beautiful car, very beautiful car.

I think that the wheels nuts are in the wrong way (left to right).



The pendulum driver is amazing and very well done.

Thanks for sharing.

Jean

[richardh]

Hi Jean
Thank you for your kind comments and especially the note about the wheel nuts the wrong way round. I appreciate the advice you experts in this Forum offer as there is always something new to learn - I will be fixing those and probably have them wrong on several other previous builds !

Regards
Richard