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Matchbox Surtees TS 16

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wixwacing
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Matchbox Surtees TS 16

Post by wixwacing »

Matchbox Surtees TS16


By Phil Wicks



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The Matchbox Surtees TS 16 has bee around for some time now and every time I looked at it to see what I could do I was put off by the prospect of having to compromise scale detail just to fit a suitable power plant. But as it was unlikely to be a competition model I went for an unusual solution for 1/32 models.

The little square HO motors have been around for a while now in 1/32 scale modelling. The earliest I can recall are the Scalextric trucks and the first XR2 fiestas. In the trucks they are geared down to impart a little realism no doubt to the cumbersome models and their trailers. With the XR2 it was a case of not having a model that would drive quickly anyway, these being one of the many Scalextric notorious ‘won’t go round corners’ models.

Regardless of what the models did the motors behaved impeccably and revved their little hearts out in the course of duty. Later on the motor would crop up again in the more recent Ninco ‘Go Karts’ As anyone who owns one knows, on plastic the gokarts are great fun. They have traction magnets but really drive quite well without them. The little motor once again revs itself blue and in the gokart, creates a reall illusion of speed. The gokarts do indeed run well. Anyone who has gone head to head with these will know what I mean.

Well it was quite by chance that I was given a Scaley XR2i some while back by a disgruntled owner, mumbling something about not being able to get enough lead in it or something? After running the little beggar on the board track I decided that there must be a use for its mechanical parts as they were obviously good but not suitable for the car they came in! I had an early Airfix BRM GP car in the body box. It was a very slim car and again it was sitting waiting for the day when it would be pulled out and set too.

As it happened, I made a neat brass rail chassis and got the motor working once again. The Ninco version is rated at 28,000 rpm!! And I have to say that these little beggars are not far off that figure! So I set about getting another motor for the Surtees. This was going to have to be in the form of another donor XR2i. It comes with a compatible pinion whereas HO motors are different altogether in the final drive department! A few days on ebay revealed a particular model minus lights and bits going for a song. I secured this with a low bid and on its arrival I started to plan a chassis.


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First job was to build the basic body to see what space I had to play with. As luck would have it there was enough room to squeeze the motor in the tub and with only minor work to the underside of the driver I was able to conceal it in the rear body under the top part of the motor! The chassis size was estimated and cut and the motor and final drive mounted as rearward as possible, this allowed me room to play about at the front.

The rear axle was made up using piano wire and a new Scaley contrate, The axle tubes were then made up and loose fitted to the back of the model. The motor was soldered into place and the front end length marked off and cut. The guide was mounted in brass tube soldered into a purpose drilled hole at the front. Here I parted with tradition a little. As there was not enough room for the guide in its standard form to fit under the front bodywork, I decided to chop off the top! With it going the bits that held it in!! The solution was to run the conductor circuit to the front by scoring the circuit board and creating two rails. The motor terminals were soldered to these and at the front, two short wires were soldered to the front rails and fitted to the Scalextric guide with conventional eyelets. The wires are long enough to allow the guide to turn but not long enough to allow the guide to drop out! Problem solved!!


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As the model came with some very nice chromed wheels it seemed a shame not tot be able to use them so I set about reinforcing the hub centre and adapting them to fit a standard 1/32 axle. The hub was turned up on a dummy shaft and the rim profile was sanded down flat. I then cut some thin strips of plastic card and formed a ridge to hold Scalextric tyres on. This proved successful and both front and rear wheels look fine.


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With the rolling chassis complete it was time to do the body detail. The wing had to be mounted and this was achieved by making a small bracket from square brass tube and soldering it to the rear axle mounts. The bracket was then drilled to allow a small screw to be set into the wing upright. The motor comes with good motor detail but from the onset it was destined to be just the top bits. These were glued to some plastic card and the whole was trimmed to fit the recess in the rear bodywork.


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The air intake is normally glued to the top of the intake stacks. This was obviously not going to last long so an unobtrusive alternative had to be found. The solution came in the form of a length of 4m.m. O.D. plastic tubing. A hole was bored through the motor in the centre top. A flat piece of plastic was glued to the bottom of the air intake and after a couple of days drying it too had a 4 mm hole bored in it. The top of the tube was ‘V’d to allow it to fit inside the air intake top. After gluing it in, the exposed part of tube was painted satin black and when it was dry, it was passed through the hole in the top of the motor which by now had had the ram tubes glued in place and painted. Glue was applied to the top of the tubes and to the bottom of the intake and then it was slid into place. Once dried the tube was cut off flush inside the motor.



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Other bits were assembled as normal. The driver was painted and fitted, with his seat, in the tub. The tub and driver where cut away underneath to give the front end of the motor some clearance. The drivers helmet doesn’t come with a visor so to supplement this I mixed some clear epoxy and put a small amount on the drivers face. This evened out and set and looks far better than the unfinished helmet. One thing I didn’t do was to reposition the drivers head as he looks a bit stiff necked. I would have normally made a fine cut under the chin and tilted the head forward into a more lifelike pose.


All that was left was to paint and decal. Paint was Tamiya acrylic lacquer. A coat of clear was applied to which the decals were later fixed. The whole then had another coat of clear to finish. Before I get my ears ripped off by scale aficionados I DO realise the colour scheme is not correct! The model had been sitting around for some considerable time and with a new track to be built I decided to finish it off asap! I wasn’t looking to mask up some awkward places to get the other colours in. No big deal, there is always next year and the main exercise was to overcome the motorising difficulties presented by size.



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The finished model looks a million bucks amongst the Scalextric models of this era. Tyrells and Ferraris and the like. It drives very well too! At 53 grams the motor has no problem pushing it along and the Scalextric microfoam tyres have no problem holding it on the track. There are a couple of things I would change but that can be done next time. It should have a pair of exhausts too but they can also wait. As it is, it is fine. On my local board track it laps in the same times as the small Johnson 111 powered cars of this era and that suits me.

People may say that it could have had one of the latest ‘F’ can Mabuchis. Really no point as we already run these motors on a lower voltage to make them more user friendly! The success of this conversion opens up access to a whole string of available models from the early GP years which can be scratchbuilt. I’m looking forward to them!
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When I'm not racing slotcars,
I'm out in the back yard, burning food!!

When I win, it's because of my talent, not my car or my controller!
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