# Dirt Late Models



## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

My first try at resin casting. I got a few bubbles in here & there. I think they will disappear with paint if not. I can try & refill the bubbles or just do some more casts.My 6 y/o girl and I are gonna paint them this morning so I will post (ahem) interesting results we come up with.


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## TeamMadMarsupial (Dec 23, 2012)

They look cool! I tried scratch building a couple of these years back, but could never get the shape right. Its probably good I never did, I'd have so many to do, I would have to quit my job and become a shut it recluse building and painting Mods and Lates!

Can't wait to see them painted!


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

Thanks, TMM how do you mount your bodies to your chassis's?


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## TeamMadMarsupial (Dec 23, 2012)

I use Glue Dots and their Glue Line products. They are made for Scrapbooking and available at A.C. Moore, Michaels and other craft and hobby stores.

They are like that gooey, sticky stuff that the Credit Card companies attach their fake cards to the paper when you get their offers for signing up.

I find they work pretty well. They are not permanent, and allow a little bit of flex. When used on my competition cars, I need to redo the mounts a couple times a year as the oils used for lubricating the chassis beark down the glue.

I find whenused for racing, they allow a little bit of flex during crashes and don't break free like my old super glue mounting did.

When needed, I scrape them off with an xacto knife, clean the area up with alcohol and remount. On my display cars, they seem to last forever. Been using them for quite a few years now.


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

Cool !...another Dirt Track Fan :thumbsup:


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

Cool stuff FOST...It's an addiction!!! RM


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

These are what ended up with. Purple is what she picked out for hers & I used black for mine. The paint is from a testor's airbrush kit. The green and imo the best one came from some 10 y/o rust-oleum plastic paint. We painted our shutters with this paint ten years or more back. And they still look great! I am gonna have to get some more of that paint in different colors. That is if they still make it!


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

It did not attach my pic & now it is not letting attach another one. So I will try again later.


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

if you are using two part molds and not a pressure/vacuum system. 
try sloshing the resin in the "female" half of the mold a little while to get it nicely coated with resin before inserting the "male" half of the mold.
this will result in less bubbles, pinholes etc on the outer surface where it counts the most.


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

Okay there it finally let me put the pic up.

Thank you, for the tip. I am using the two part mold. I also think that the mold cooled down some & the bubbles were getting worse each time. So those will be our beaters & test cars. I can give my little girl an anvil & she will bring bb's back to you in a matter of minutes. So if these hold up to her then I must be doing something right.

I used some BAP Bluestick to get them on chassis' but I am too lazy to go to the basement to get pics of them. I also got to put some #'s on them.


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

FOSTBITTEN,

Oh man you gotta be happy with those!! Fun, fun, fun....Yeah!!

Jtslots told me a trick about heating my mold up in the microwave for a min. before you get started on you first pour. 

Yep it worked for me and the resin keeps the mold warmed up after the first intial pour.

Bob...Keep on having fun man...zilla


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

We did some more & I forgot to post pics. These are blast to race against each other due to the flat sides. The flat black one is a whoops that got cut up to fit a long w.b. mega-g chassis. It has been a learning experience & my painting skills have not got any better since I was 10 or so. 

"Carolina Speedway" is named after my daughter Carolina. I used photo paper & small binder clips under the track.


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

My attachments got dropped & now I cannot upload again.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Get a photobucket account!! If you can load attachments here, you can load them there, and then copy n past the links here. No limits with PB, limits with HT hosted pix!


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

Maybe this time it will work.


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

bobhch said:


> FOSTBITTEN,
> 
> Oh man you gotta be happy with those!! Fun, fun, fun....Yeah!!
> 
> ...


Thx for the tip, I knew about heating the mold the 1st time. But I was heating for everyone after that too! So I will just try one heating. From now on. I still get bubbles though. I shake the brown bottle before using it. Should I be doing this?

Thanks for the photobucket tip too


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## TeamMadMarsupial (Dec 23, 2012)

Really like the look of your Late Model bodies! I've always thought at some point or another I'd purchase a few bodies to paint up and add to my Modified collection. Unfortunately, I can build a dozen of my Modifieds for less than the cost of buying one late model, so in the end the economics of it have won the argument.

I did scratch build a couple years back, but they just were not what I hoped they would be in the end. Might be something I attempt again one day?

Keep posting the pictures, we got Modifieds, Late Models....now I'm hoping we can get someone to showcase their Sprints and we got ourselves a little H.O. scale Dirt Track Racing thing going on!


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

Thank you Sir, I saw some good looking Sprints on here somewhere. They looked better than what Life-Like makes/made too!

I got some banking on order so I am so geeked up for that I cannot stand it!


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

FOSTBITTEN said:


> Thank you Sir, I saw some good looking Sprints on here somewhere. They looked better than what Life-Like makes/made too!
> 
> I got some banking on order so I am so geeked up for that I cannot stand it!


docsho makes some real neat sprint cars. I will take some picture of the ones I have and post them up here later. TM wants on Puter now...doh.

You may not need to heat up each time but, I don't think it could hurt to do it every now and then to keep it going.

It's cool to see people casting up bodies. It's fun to do and neat to race and show stuff you made.

I remember when Hilltop was talking about casting up slot car bodies. 
Now look at him go....Vrooooooooooooom!!

Have bodies casted by lots of HTers and others from the bay. Resin bodies are fun to build up...Oh Yeah

Just saw that BigHack joined HT and that is Cool Beans. I dig the stuff he cast up. I have a Tyco Short Bus he casted up on my bench in yellow right now. Can't wait to get to it.

Bob...want a 3-D Printer someday...zilla


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

I am hoping 3d printers go the same way other electronics have gone over the years. They start out really expensive. Then more companies start making them & then they are in Wally World on a Black Friday sale. I doubt it will happen but hey who knows? 

As soon as I can get my castings a little better I will send some out for you good people to look at. And do what you wish them. Right now I am having a molding issue, the back driver's side corner of the mold is ripping apart. And it is screwing up the tail sections of the spoiler. 
I am hoping not to have to make a new mold but time will tell.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

3D printers more than likely will become more popular as time goes on, and I do see them being commonplace in big box stores. Unfortunately, I see the same thing happening as with regular printers/scanners/fax machine/copiers... The 3D printer itself will be cheap, and the plastic cartridges will cost an arm and a leg. :freak:


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

slotcarman12078 said:


> 3D printers more than likely will become more popular as time goes on, and I do see them being commonplace in big box stores. Unfortunately, I see the same thing happening as with regular printers/scanners/fax machine/copiers... The 3D printer itself will be cheap, and the plastic cartridges will cost an arm and a leg. :freak:


I used to sell printer cartridges as well as other office supplies. Anyway I heard this from a Senior Sales Rep. from a very popular printer company. In a nutshell he said if it was not so transparent they would give their equipment away just to sell the ink. But selling them makes more sense because people will keep the printers because they paid 200 bucks for it & it is useless unless you pay 70 bucks for their grossly over-priced ink cartridges.


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

if your mold is tearing, it is only a matter of time before total catastrophe.
but, get what you can out of it and learn what you can from it. .


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

alpink said:


> if your mold is tearing, it is only a matter of time before total catastrophe.
> but, get what you can out of it and learn what you can from it. .


Aw man thats not good, not good at all.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

I just had a thought. It may or may not work for a temporary patch. Silicone sticks to silicone (that's why you put mold release one the female part of the mold when you pour the male). If you were to mix up a small (really small) batch of silicone, and brush paint it inside the tear and then set a resin body in there to make the mold keep it's shape, would the sili cure and "heal" the tear? I know it'll be the weak spot and won't last long, but it might help get a few more bodies out before the mold is shot.


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

personally when they tear big time, I chop em up and put em in a large plastic bag for fill in a later project.
if careful, pieces can be used in the male cavity to save on volume of fresh liquid silicone rubber.
stretch that rubber, so to speak! 
LOL


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

I have never had to stretch rubber.


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## WesJY (Mar 4, 2004)

Fostbitten - your racing cars looks COOL!!! 

Wes


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

Here is a couple more pics. As well as the new banking. They are really a lot of fun on there. If I put some of the blue body mount stuff under the front of the body it really produces some nice slides.


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

Work in progress. The #'s are made on the inkjet with avery mailing labels. The labels are frosted like scotch tape but they look good on flat white!! I guess that would be the only color they would work on!! 

Where is Bubba he sbould recognize this one!!


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## Lype Motorsport (Mar 14, 2004)

Hi _*FOSTBITTEN*_

Here are some winged Sprint Cars I cast several years ago. They are mounted on narrow Tyco chassis










Close up of one, the wings are snap on and the driver is a separate casting


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Wow, those sprints look cool!!! Glad you found something to print numbers on too!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

Cool Sprints Larry, thanks for sharing :thumbsup:


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

Those look great Lype I especially love the 461 "built like a brick s&#thouse!!" Lance Dewease driving? And the Red Apple 77 but I cannot remember the driver.

So how many castings would that be 4? 1 body, 1 front wing, 1 top wing, driver, & the car body itself?

Sadly though the white 49 looks to be one of the last cars I have from this mold. I tried casting some yesterday & the mold has torn in several places. But I have new style LM's coming soon. And maybe I will have enough rubber to do the original style too. I am going to do a few things different this time around.


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

Dirt late Model version 2 These are a little rough I just had taken the flash off. Sanded a little bit & filed to get the chassis to fit. I need to do some more bodies so I can take some more off the rear of the wheel well instead of so much off the front of the wheel well. Oh well I guess these are just prototypes.


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

I did this one for a firends 40 th birthday. No where near as great as everything here but I have not done anything with waterslides in about 30 years. I made an attempt at a green Amp/Mtn Dew car but that did not turn out so great. But I think I will get that body back into shape. 

Thanks for the help!!


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

*Sunday, Sunday, Sunday................*

Neat Amp/Mountain Dew Dirt racer!
Your friend is going to love it. :hat: 40th!!

It doesn't have to be perfect. 
The only thing I care about in the custom slot car world is having fun. 

Bob...keep at it and have some fun...zilla


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

Would you give him my address just in case he doesn't like it...:thumbsup::thumbsup: RM


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

Sorry fellas I missed your reply, he loved the car. In fact he liked it so much he came over the other day. To race, with a different chassis, and said "Are we gonna race?" I said "Yeah. But where is the car I gave you?" He said "I left it at home, you have more bodies that I will not care if I screw them up" I just laughed & he handed me his other chassis he bought to use instead of the Johnny Lightening one I gave him with the 88 body. I guess he did not want to screw that one up too!! 

I made an M&Ms car for my daughter too. That I gotta get a pic of too.


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## TeamMadMarsupial (Dec 23, 2012)

Hey Fostbitten,

The guys got me thinking with this contest and their idea to start with a Shadow body. I've been thinking about doing one of these up as a Dirt Late Model for years, just never got around to it with all my Modified builds keeping me up at night!

So anyway, this Shadow thing got the better of me yesterday afternoon and I dug one out, got a fresh sheet of sandpaper and plugged in the ole Dremel tool.

Well what started out as a simple conversion soon got out of hand....way out of hand. A few minutes of research on the Web and I now have a list of vintage Charlie Swartz Late Models in the works.

The simple Shadow conversion has morphed into Charlie's 1983, #1 Super Late, and by 2am this morning, you really have to turn the body over to find anything left of the Shadow.

I've got to mount the roof, make a change on the left side plexiglass and bend up a few paper clips for the bumpers but, its almost built.

I'll post up a couple of pictures later today or late tonight. Gotta run to Lancaster County and our Club races tonight, so times tight today.


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## TeamMadMarsupial (Dec 23, 2012)

OK, Fostbitten, this Late Model thing has really got my mind working overtime. I was hoping to buy a couple of your bodies down the road and put the paint brushes to them, Now these old 80's Super Lates have really got my attention.
Don't want to hi-jack your thread so I'll just post this onetime before heading over to my thread.
Here are a couple shots of the progress on the 1983 Charlie Swartz Super Late Model I started Friday night.
Got a few details to clean up and figure out how to mount the roof then off to paint.
Please keep us up to date on your progress with your bodies. I have been following the progress with much interest!


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

Great minds think alike I was looking at Shadow with the same intent of making a Late Model. I even wwas thinking of the Swartz car too. Creepy.....

My good man you hijack away. I kinda stalled out on my car making. So I am glad you stirred me a bit. I built a wing car a little while back it was not pretty but man was it fast! Too fast in fact it broke. With the sideboards on the car it ran like a magnet car. So I tried it on a magnet car that was it's last voyage. It did not make like 2 or 3 laps & something bad must have happened it was gone & broken into 3 or 4 pieces before I knew what happened.

But for anybody reading this & wondering, What the heck is so special about the 1983 C.Swartz car. It was a Fiero yeah thats right it was rear engined!! From what I have heard & read it never worked out that great and shortly after it was being tested & raced. Tracks started outlawing the "Wing Cars". So I think the idea for the car was pretty much scrapped.


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

And your build really looks great I love the way your car looks already!!


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

Fiero's were considered Mid Engine. the engine being in front of the transaxle.
rear engine cars have the engine mounted behind the transaxle ala Corvair, Porsches and VW bug.
just sayin


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## TeamMadMarsupial (Dec 23, 2012)

My original intent was to build Charlie's mid engine car. Been wanting to since I saw the original a few years back at the Brownstown Fairgrounds Speedway. It just stuck in the back of my mind and was jarred loose Friday night.
You are right in the agreement that, although it seemed like it should have been a home run, it never amounted to much. As for the rules being re-written about that time, things were obviously getting a little out of hand.

Don't get me wrong, the outlandish creations were cool, and great for a few end of the year Run-What-Ya-Brung shows....but not so much as a weekly deal. That was never gonna work!

My plans are to build the mid engine car. along with Charlie's over the top Wedge car next. I'd like to find a few more pictures of these body styles. I'm thinking its time to start a theme and try to fill a display case with these nods to the builders and drivers imaginations and ingenuity!

Let me know when you are ready to part with a few bodies. I'd like to do up a few of the local Late Model drivers from my area.


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

http://www.racesrp.com/late-model-photos-21Dunno if you found this looking around for pics. But there is a bunch of old photos here.


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

Here is a few cars I have in various states of ?doneness?


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

Watch this space.


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

I'm Watching


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## sidecar53 (May 14, 2006)

Me too.......


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

I am gonna turn this 1/24th 4 inch wb flexi into a car that will be "legal" to run here http://www.outbackmotorspeedway.com/ I am pretty sure the body will not pass through their templates. 

This car was mine when I was young. I thought it was long gone. I found it in my attic! I must have packed it away a long time ago. I didn't think I would ever see it again.


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