1

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

I consider my tumbler one of my best tools for slot car work. It does an awesome job of cleaning up newly constructed chassis, as well as crusty old used chassis! Repairing or rebuilding old chassis is much easier if they are all cleaned up before starting to work on them! Especially when it comes to soldering work!

This is my tumbler and parts broken down for cleaning. It had been running pretty much non-stop for the last week or so.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tumbler1.jpg

These are the small stainless steel pins used as media for the tumbler. There are other types of media you can use but these little pieces of rod work really well! Plus they can be used over and over!
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tumbler2.jpg

This is the motorized part/base of the tumbler. It has a built in timer that can be set for up to three hours. I typically just reset the timer over and over to keep it running almost non-stop.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/tumbler3.jpg

2

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

This joint where the cross bar solders to the side pan hinge seems to be a weak point. It's a small piece of square tubing to solder the wire to.

Two chassis had the joint break and the side pans fall off from the tumbling process. The small piece of square tubing was missing when the chassis was pulled out of the tumbler.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/STR158c.jpg

This is what it looked like after the piece of square tubing was re-installed and re-soldered. This small piece of square tubing not only serves as part of the side pan hinge, it also provides a place to secure the cross bar that is part of the up stop for both side pans, and front to rear movement stop for both side pans. It also keeps the side pan from coming off. Bottom line is, it is an important part!
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/STR158d.jpg

3

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

I completed the repairs to STR 103 this morning. This chassis looks a little rough but it functions fine with very good, smooth movement of the parts that are meant to move!

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/STR103e.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/STR103e.jpg

I guess I just want to vent a bit here....I surf Ebay daily looking for bargains and just plain cool slot car stuff. One of my pet peeves is people calling their cars "scratchbuilt" when in fact they are assembled from chassis kits, or just production slot cars with a body swap. In my opinion, a "scratchbuilt" slot car is one where the majority of the chassis has been built out of pieces of material that did not start out as slot car parts (i.e. brass tubing, steel rod, brass strip). The one exception to acceptable production car parts would be a motor mount, although there was a time when even motor mounts were "scratchbuilt". If you have a slot car you "built" using a production chassis (i.e. Slot.it, NSR) or chassis kit (i.e. 2NASTE), in my mind what you have at best is a modified production car, or a custom built slot car............OK, I feel somewhat better now..........

Inslot's Checkered Flag raceway will again be open on this coming Tuesday evening (July 22nd).

I have received another request for "track time".

Doors will open at 5:00 PM and stay open until the last person leaves.

6

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

STR 233 is SOLD!

7

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

STR 233 came out of the tumbler this morning. This one is really nice! It cleaned up well and all the joints move freely. Absolutely no repairs needed.

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/STR233c.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/STR233d.jpg

Chassis STR158 which is a Sports Car chassis took STR233's place in the tumbler. Power on, tumble away!

8

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

STR 103 came out of the tumbler this morning. One plus of putting a chassis through the tumbling process is; the process will reveal any weak solder joints or poor construction. Looks like I will be making a repair to this NASCAR chassis.

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/STR103c.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/STR103d.jpg

The previous owner made some small modifications to the front of the side pans, probably to make the chassis fit a specific body. The pans were also drilled for body mounting. It looks as though this chassis was raced a lot (must have been a good one!). There is evidence of quite a few repairs completed in the past!

9

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

STR 129 and STR 258 have been sold.

10

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

After its second trip through, chassis STR 258 came out of the tumbler today. It looks much better, and the chassis side pans and center section move freely! It was time to assemble it for testing. The test motor was an old Parma 16D, a little bit of a soft motor but, enough good for the initial testing.

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/STR258a.jpg
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/STR258b.jpg

The chassis performed well, even without any tuning or lead ballast added. The complete chassis with motor weighs in at 6.9 oz/196 grams. The front tires/wheels are .875" dia. X .500" wide (for those that don't like "O" rings). It is currently set up for 1/8" rear axle with bushings. The wheelbase is 4.55" and the chassis width is 2.65". This will be a good chassis for NASCAR (narrower bodies i.e. Thunderbird) or for an OSCAR legal Super Stock body. This one will be sold without a motor or rear tires (the new owner will probably want fresh parts anyway).

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/STR258c.jpg
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/STR258d.jpg

Inslot's Checkered Flag Raceway will be open Tuesday evening July 15th. For anyone interested in practice, tuning, or testing, the doors will open at 5:00pm.

12

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

The Hanna Econo/Sportsman chassis (STR 129) came out of the tumbler this morning and STR 258 went back in for a final polishing up. I have to say STR 129 came out looking pretty dang good in a Frankenstein kind of way! The bare chassis weighs in at 4.8 oz/138 grams.

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/HannaSTR129a.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/HannaSTR129b.jpg

I assembled the chassis with a stock 16D motor, threw on a body, and made a few test laps. Even without any chassis tuning or adding lead ballast it ran good! The complete car (with the '56 Chev body) weighs 8.5 oz/242 grams.

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/HannaSTR129c.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/HannaSTR129e.jpg

I wish I knew the history on this chassis. The side pans were widened with narrow strips of .092" brass, butt soldered to the pans. From the looks of it I'd say it was done when the chassis was originally built. It looks like the center joint that connects the two side pans was changed from rectangular tubing to round, limiting up and down movement of the side pans. Holes were drilled in the pans for body mounting with recessed screws. A rectangular hole was cut in the center section for lead ballast. Lead placement for ballast and tuning will be up to the next owner........

I have to say the tumbler sure makes chassis look good! They say; "you can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit" but, after you pull it out of the tumbler it may not be chicken salad, but it looks like really shiney chicken shit!

13

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

While I was working on chassis 258, I threw a Hanna Econo style chassis (STR 129) into the tumbler. Once I set up the tumbler for use I like to keep it going and get as much done with it as I can. The clean up after using it takes me awhile to complete! I spent some time disassembling chassis and getting them ready to tumble. Left to right: this is the nicest, cleanest, original Hanna NASCAR chassis I have seen in a long time! Never modified or repaired, hasn't even had weight ballast attached! The middle one looks rough but functionally it seems good. Everything works as it should. I did put the Dremel to it to try and clean it up a little. We'll see how it looks after 18 or so hours in the tumbler. The one on the far right is pretty good. The side pan noses were trimmed, probably to fit a specific body.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025h.jpg

These two will be the next up. The left chassis is a Hanna Sports Car chassis that looks pretty good. The one on the right is a really small .092" rattle chassis for the Clubman Class. It ran kind of OK when I tested it. I'm going to try a complete rebuild of this one. It looks like it has been unloved and neglected for a number of years!
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025i.jpg

And there you have it, that's what has been going on around here for the last few weeks. I will post some updated photos as I complete these chassis......

14

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

Well, we'll see Doc. At least I'll have something that goes around the track! You know me, I don't like borrowing cars!

15

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

After completing the track work I shifted my attention to my ongoing projects....While I was in Georgia I got a call from Mike Naber about some used slot cars for sale. A friend of his that used to race at Pelican Park wanted to sell all his cars and stuff. Mike set up and brokered the deal. After I was back home Mike shipped the cars up to me.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025e.jpg

The intent of this purchase was to make some cars available to newer racers. A few days ago I started taking a closer look at my purchase. I picked out the chassis that looked the worst. This one has been run hard, and repaired more than once. After doing some extensive Dremel grinding to remove excess solder and what looks like bird poop, I gave it a closer inspection. One of the hinged side pans was totally locked up. Hoping it was just corrosion or crud, I fired up my tumbler and threw the chassis in. After a good 18 hours of tumbling the chassis was all nice and shiney but, the side pan was still locked up. So over to the work bench it went....
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025c.jpg

I don't sell anything to racers I don't feel good about. This Hanna NASCAR chassis (STR 258) is rough. Multiple repairs with poor soldering. I am not great when it comes to soldering, but these were worse than mine! I used a cut off wheel in a Dremel to cut open one side of the square tubing that makes up the hinge for the side pan. Then I used a small hammer and screw driver to open up the tubing so I could slide the pan off the steel rod of the hinge. Turns out solder had wicked up into the tubing (probably during a repair) which had locked up the pan. After I got it apart, I cut off the old square tubing (which I had totally mangled getting the thing apart). The edge of the pan was then filed flat and smooth again. I cut new pieces of square tubing, reassembled everything using light oil on the steel rod inside the square tubing. The light oil is to keep the solder from wicking into the hinge joint again. After all the parts were assembled and squared up on my jig, I soldered up the side pan. After soldering I cleaned everything up with soap and water. Success, both hinges now move freely! Tomorrow STR 258 will go back into the tumbler for the final cleaning.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025g.jpg

16

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

Today I decided to start the day off by getting some track maintenence completed. I had started work on a section of the track where there was a bump in the joint due to settling. A few extra screws, some filing, and a little Bondo levelled the joint nicely. This morning I completed the sanding and then put down some paint. That one's done....
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025a.jpg

There was also a spot where the edge of the braid was loosening up in the right hander going into the chicane. I used a toothpick to apply some adhesive to the underside of the braid, let it set up for a few minutes, and then rolled it down. That one's done....
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025b.jpg

17

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

A couple weeks ago my workbench started getting cluttered with current projects to get finished before the next racing season. I work on this stuff in between Ebay stuff and "other" things...

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025o.jpg

Left to right: #5 Modified - broke the front nerf bar off in the last race. Need to resolder. #5 Chevell Sportsman - need to finish up the body and mount it. #7 JK Lexus - front wheels are seixed up and the axle is bent. Need to replace front end.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025p.jpg

Left to right: #7 McLaren 1/32 on a Plafit chassis being set up for Monday Night races at Rob's track. #20 Porsche 962 on a 1/32 Sloting Plus chassis also being set up for Rob's. Revoslot Toyota being worked over for Rob's, as well as the NSR Ford GT40 MKIV.
#6 1/24 Ferrari - rebuild motor after last OSCAR Sports Car race where motor brushes went away.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025q.jpg

18

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

Once the track was clear of "Dad's stuff" I started going through some boxes under the track. This lead me to thinking it was time to start selling more stuff on Ebay. So I started taking pictures and listing stuff. Mostly 1/32 slot car stuff (again) and some 1/24 clear Leaxan type bodies as well as some old vintage ones. Now three weeks into it I am back into the routine and things are going pretty smoothly. An additional benefit to the little bit of money I get that helps support my hobby (addiction) I am freeing up a little more space!

Ebays items pending sales...
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025m.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025n.jpg

19

(239 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

Thought maybe I'd give you guys that are interested an update as to what's been going on around here. As most of you know Diane and I made a trip back to Marietta Georgia to visit my Mom. Da passed away last November and there was a lot of stuff she wanted me to take home. Actually there was way more than I was able to load into Diane's Bronco Sport!

We decided to take Scooter with us on this trip. Scooter is the little ornery one with three feet. We had to have our bigger dog (the bigger brown, nice one) put to sleep due to cancer. We spent six days on the drive to Marietta. Scooter actually did really well, even staying in the motels. He seemed to like the road! Nothing really exciting happened on the drive there, just the usual stupid drivers here and there. I guess most all the states have their own.

While we were at Mom's I went through Dad's stuff. He had a lot of stuff (must be where I get it), though most of it was not stuff I am really interested in. Lots of HAM radio stuff and diecast cars of all sorts. We spent almost two weeks with Mom. As usual I ate some of the best food I have ever had! If I lived in Georgia I would weight about 400 pounds!

After the Bronco was loaded we headed out for home. When I say l "loaded", I mean LOADED! I had to stop loading because I could not fit ANYTHING else into the car! I mean I left some coats behind because I could not wad them up into any spot in the car. From Mom's we drove up to Pennsylvania to see my son John, his wife Chrissi, my grandson Grayson, and my granddaughter Lilly. The drive back home was a pain in the ass! We came across through the northern states, which I will NEVER do again! Toll road after toll road, and all kinds of construction! But we did see a lot of country we hadn't seen before.

Once we got home the Bronco got unloaded and the track got covered......A big thanks to Kirk Smith for helping me unload, and then taking all the HAM radio stuff to a swap meet and selling it for me. My next task was finding a place for 1/24 diecast cars....lucky for me I talked Bob Nakamura into buying all the 1/24 NASCAR diecast! Sometimes you just gotta make 'em a deal they can't refuse! There were about 30 of them in total! I kept the 40 or so Danbury Mint 1/24 diecast, which meant I had to reorganize my displace cases.....again! I added four more shelves to my tall case and then moved slot cars around to make room.

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025l.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025k.jpg

The entire bottom of this case is now Danbury Mint diescast cars. If anybody is interested I would probably be willing to sell some.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/shop_july11_2025j.jpg

20

(2 replies, posted in Rapid Raceway)

It's always a good time at Rapid Raceway!!!

21

(22 replies, posted in PASER)

June 27, 2025

Rules Updated - non-applicable rules moved to new CRSCR santioning body.

CRSCR Rules Listed Below.

23

(8 replies, posted in PASER)

Update from one year ago:

Of the eleven people in anchor positions for the reorganization of the PASER Club, roughly half are still involved. It makes me wonder where PASER fits in. Most every racer in our area races at Rapid Raceway (me included) in the Northwest True Scale classes. There are new classes that have been developed for the 2NASTE style chassis, as well as entry level RTR classes such as Womps and Flexi type cars. Aside from the Hanna style "rattle" chassis used in the Sportsman class, and the Modified style chassis, scratchbuilt inline motor configuration chassis are being abandoned.

PASER's primary focus has always been the development and racing of scratchbuilt inline motored chassis. In the early days there were two main classes; RTR (which were the Womps), and NASCAR (which were scratchbuilt inline motor hardbody cars). Other classes came and went during racing seasons but the RTR (for new racers) and the NASCAR classes were the main ones.

OSCAR is the statewide evolution of PASER. OSCAR was formed to provide rules for inter-club races throughout Oregon. Portland, Bend, Eugene, Cottage Grove, and Roseburg were all involved in the process and racing. Currently only Portland and Bend are still actively involved in OSCAR. However Bob Hanna in Roseburg is planning to bring back his OSCAR race this September 2025. Personally, I am really looking forward to Hanna's race, and I hope we can get a bunch of Portland area racers convoying down to Roseburg!

So, am I wasting my time trying to promote and keep PASER alive? Should I just let it fade away?

This brings me to my other quandary; this NASTE website. My feeling is almost nobody looks at or reads anything here. I think the Calendar probably has some value, but that could probably be replaced by email. Although Monte has been awesome about providing the website for FREE, I do pay a fee for the NASTE.org domain. It is not a substantial amount, but it is a little bit of a pain to keep up on. I don't mind as long as people are using and enjoying this site. If they are not I'd just as soon let it die.

=======Bill

Here are some examples of the newer style cars they are racing at Pelican Park.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/pelicanpark_2025june_v.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/pelicanpark_2025june_w.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/pelicanpark_2025june_x.jpg

Doug Haynes was a great race promoter and organizer!
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/pelicanpark_2025june_r.jpg

Pelican Park Speedway. Where else would you see Dale Earnhart Jr., John Wayne, Danny Sullivan, and Marilyn Monroe all in one place?
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/pelicanpark_2025june_s.jpg

Doug Haynes was also a master modeller. There are many of builds on display at the track.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/pelicanpark_2025june_t.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/pelicanpark_2025june_u.jpg