Here's something for y'all to consider; Rob is considering these for a Monday Racing class at Redline Raceway. The kits are sold by Mid America Products. The kits contain all the parts needed to fully assemble a running car. The motors in the kit are Mid America's FK motor rated at 25K. The kits are very nice! The body and driver figure are very nicely molded. The kit includes all the chrome detail parts the original 1960s kit came with.

My curiosity got the better of me, so I completed a quick assembly of one of the kit cars for a short test session. To be honest I was not expecting much. The chassis went together easily, the only "tweaking" mine required was a little grinding on the grub screw for the crown gear (it hit the motor's pinion gear). Pretty minor stuff, and it may of just been my kit (the pinion could have been pressed further onto the motor).

After assembling the chassis, I taped the incomplete body onto the completed chassis and headed over to the track. I hit the throttle and off it went, backwards. I have had the best luck running FK motors wired in reverse, so I swapped the crown gear to the other side of the chassis to get the car to go in the correct direction.

I was actually surprised by the car's performance! I've had a lot of experience racing Womp class cars, and this little guy had similar characteristics. Cornering speeds were not as high as those with Womps, but hey, this thing is narrow with a 10 gram body (without any of the chrome detail parts). So my next thought was; how much worse will the handling be with the 4 gram driver figure sitting way up on top of this body? I taped the driver figure in place on top of the midget body. To my surprise I could not detect any difference in handling.

The handling of this car right out of the box really surprised me! I would have bet money it would not handle this well! Especially when you consider in box stock configuration; the front wheels do not rotate independently, and there is not added weight/ballast for tuning. The car also has foam tires all the way around that are pretty grippy! At this point I don't know exactly what Rob has in mind for this class as far as any allowable modifications or changes. I would be fine racing these things "box stock" with no modifications!

Bottom line for me is; these midgets look really cool and they are actually fun to run! They are challenging to get around the track at a fast pace, but that is part of their appeal to me. Now I need to paint this thing!

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/Rob_Redline_Midget3.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/Rob_Redline_Midget2.jpg

Nice racin' Rico!

Results from the July 31st race:

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/RRR07312025a.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/RRR07312025b.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/RRR07312025c.jpg

Results from the July 17th race:

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/RRR07172025a.jpg

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/RRR07172025b.jpg

30

(24 replies, posted in PASER)

July 27, 2025

Sports Car Rules modified to allow lowering of the bodies within specific parameters.

31

(24 replies, posted in PASER)

July 25, 2025

Can Am Rules Updated.

I remember you telling me you had to get your race car ready. That's OK, we will see you next time!

Chassis STR 001 has been located! Early conversations regarding a possible trade have commenced! I am hopeful!

Another non-scheduled open track last night here in Vancouver, again with 8 racers!  I consider that a really good turnout for a Tuesday night, especially in the middle of summer! Some attendees were repeats from last Tuesday, some were racers that did not make the last Tuesday track time. Thanks guys for coming out, your attendance makes it worth while!

35

(1 replies, posted in For Sale or Trade)

If nobody steps up to buy it from you Steven, I will buy it.  ====Bill

36

(240 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

STR 103 is sold.

Sometime back, somewhere I read a post about Bob Hanna's STR 001 chassis. Someone was talking about selling it. Does anybody know who currently has it, and do they want to sell it? I'd love to add that one to my collection!

38

(240 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

39

(240 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

40

(240 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.

43

(240 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

STR 233 is SOLD!

44

(240 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!

45

(240 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!

46

(240 replies, posted in Slot Talk)

STR 129 and STR 258 have been sold.

47

(240 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.

49

(240 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!

50

(240 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......