# what's the big $$ car(s)



## cwbam (Feb 8, 2010)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-old...260866630243?pt=Slot_Cars&hash=item3cbcdce263

# 3 cougar Xlerator ?


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## old blue (May 4, 2007)

I do not see a high dollar car here. The Cougar is nice and so is the red Ferrari GT 250, but I do not see $170.00 worth of goods.

Old Blue


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## Marty (Oct 20, 1999)

The orange Dune Buggy and maybe the blue Mangusta.

Marty
Marysville, OH


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## wheelszk (Jul 8, 2006)

That's what I was going to say.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Da buggy drove this auction.

The Xcellerator Cougar is pretty decent, but if I'm not mistaken the oddball Xcellerators arent bringing quite the coin that they were in the past. 

The Mangusta appears to have issues on the hood, might just be schmootz, but it looks more serious from my armchair.

When ya toss out the buggy, the XKE looks like it might be a standard green version; and therefore the darkhorse of the bunch. Sadly it has SEVERE shrinkage issues across the nose and tail.


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## SplitPoster (May 16, 2006)

The blue Mangusta has the little notch on the leading edge that I have seen before (identical in my case) - pulled out of the mold and left a chunk? Hopefully the splotch on the hood would come out. I likes blue t jets, not as easy to find, but I would bet whoever bought this lot will likely keep the orange buggy, sell the rest off, and be pretty darn happy.

Bill, what made the Jag shrink so much?


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## bobwoodly (Aug 25, 2008)

Orange Dune Buggy!


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## A/FX Nut (May 28, 2004)

Too high of a high price $227.50 for just bodies in my opion. Even if the seller decides to keep the three with chassis together.


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## SCJ (Jul 15, 1999)

Orange DB
Green XKE (Great sleeper)
CAndy Vette

Bodies are where the money is....there are very few chassis that out sell the body!

-------------------------------
www.SlotCarJohnnies.com


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*Transistional stress wells*



SplitPoster said:


> .... snip*
> 
> Bill, what made the Jag shrink so much?


Split, I dont know exactly why, but I have some eyedeers. The quick answer is exposure to heat and or prolonged exposure to temperature fluctuations; but like so many things there is often several and variable contributing factors, and more afoot than meets the eye.

For instance, a quick glance at the:

Willys nose
Mako sides
XKE nose and tail 

...reveals that fatter areas or those areas which radically exceed the average density of the rest of the model are prone to actually "exhibiting" the shrinkage issues right out in plain sight. 

Shrinkage creates tensions throughout the entire body, some of it seen like the XKE, and some of it quite the opposite/lurking. It's common knowledge that driving a screw into a 40 year old screw post without first relieving the post usually results in dissaster. Also sequestered from sight and equally destructive are A-pillars that are stretched tighter than a violin string, just waiting for some undue stress or shock to doink them in two. 

Now with that in mind, lets examine other bodies that lack the aforementioned thicker areas. What we still see is that the areas of greater density continue to exihibit some form of distortion where it meets an area of lesser density, albeit not always as noticeable. Especially areas surrounding screw posts on hoods and trunks, or roof tops which indicate where the index pin is for the glass....aka shrink divots. You'll also find them on the exterior corners of the body work on models where either the inner bumper bracket lurks behind or where the chubbier valences meet the body work at right angles. So almost without fail, any abrupt area of transitional density will evetually exhibit shrinkage in the form of divots, wallows, swails, or striation if given time.

So to illustrate, lets go back to grade school science and picture the old iron filings on white paper with a magnet underneath. The old lines of force tutorial. The thicker parts of the plastic body being where the field is strongest but the tension or stress is at it's minimum; where as the thinner area would be the weaker part of the field but more highly stressed. Merely an excercise where I personally liken the invisible stress pattern in old plastic slot cars bodies to magnetic lines of force; relative only to illustrate the idea in my minds eye. 

Volitals exit the plastic via natural or accelerated aging, the thinner the area, the more permeable; ergo these thinner areas gas out quicker. So relative to their paticular density, similar areas will gas out at similar rates. Areas that are proportionally transitional or lineally progressive in shape seem shrink at a common rate as well so long as the angle increases or decreases gradually.

Those radical shrink furrows like we saw in the XKE occur where high and low density exist side by side. It is my suspicion that due to the different rates of out gas, the two radically different areas of density carry radically different tensions/stress; and thus a warp is created where the higher mass, less stressed area abruply meets the lower mass, higher stress area. This describes exactly what we have with the XKE. The valences are very fat but immediatly transition into the thinner hood and trunk respectively. Notably that's exactly where the east/west shrink furrows are, like faults in the earth's crust. 

Sadly it's a characteristic of the material and inevitably part of the natural aging process. This is why it's SO important to store your styrene bodies in a cooler place and keep temperature fluctuations to the absolute minimum. No direct sunlight, no UV of any sort, no heat vents...yada yada....with foremost in your mind the idea of keeping the volital molecules decelerated to a state of molasses.

For the doubters: Take any sacrificial scrap T-jet body that isnt overly shrunk and pop it in the oven at a gentle low heat. This will accelerate the aging process. Watch the gradual shrinkage and distortion of the body and note that the body will start to sweat/outgas and the areas we already recognize as problematic reveal themselves in even greater proportion. :freak:

Disclaimer:

Remember this is an opinion based on equal parts observation, conjecture and bull plop.


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## A/FX Nut (May 28, 2004)

SCJ said:


> Orange DB
> Green XKE (Great sleeper)
> CAndy Vette
> 
> ...


From the picture, I thought the Vette had been painted by a previous owner.

Thanks John.

Randy.


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## SplitPoster (May 16, 2006)

Bill: Re the shrinkage explanation - for screen space, I won't hit "quote" - what a great post!

Follow up: Does application of Testor's 3052 (or whatever the number is as I don't carry a bottle with me) rejuvenate the plastic marginally/enough to halt, recounteract or even reverse the process to any degree?

Analogy: There have been a variety of products designed to treat and rejuvenate heat-cycled race tires (relieved of volatile elements and no longer as soft and sticky) , and the stuff seemed to work. One caveat to successful use was that one needed to apply it in such a way that it had time to soak in - not evaporate due to air movement, sun or heat. Are there options that could serve the same purpose with old Aurora plastic? Not that one could evenly restore the correct shape to a shriveled up t jet, although....
it's interesting to think about if said solvent could diffuse evenly into said plastic.....
envisioning a sealed Testor's vapor cannister...

It may seem way out there, but if you've accelerated the aging process in an oven I figure you have also contemplated the fountain of youth LMAO!


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Dumb question: How does one "relieve" a screw post? I haven't had many (none?) that never had a screw in them over the last 40-50 years, but I have turned screws in ever so gently and felt like the grenade was being armed (or whatever the term is)...

thnx 

--rick


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

ParkRNDL said:


> Dumb question: How does one "relieve" a screw post? I haven't had many (none?) that never had a screw in them over the last 40-50 years, but I have turned screws in ever so gently and felt like the grenade was being armed (or whatever the term is)...
> 
> thnx
> 
> --rick


I use the term loosely Rick. Much depends on how much shrinkage there is to start with.

I start with a CLEAN screw and post...those old oxidized ones need to be buffed off with the wire wheel...because they are not smooth they add friction. You want the interior of the post clean because you'll be using testors and dont want foreign objects in the mix. Ideally you'll get the screw wound in just under halfway in before the screw starts to lock up. STOP! Back the screw out and wipe a little testors around the inside of the post and restart the screw. Work the screw carefully in and out until it locks again...repeat the process until ya get er dun. Sometimes it takes a few applications. You have to let the testors do it's thing and feel your way along

If you wind up getting the bore too gooey and the screw strips or freewheels DONT PANIC. Without over working the screw just bury the screw and walk away. Wait 2 er 3 days and back the screw out. You've just redistributed the plastic to construct new threads in the post...it's magic...just let it dry and presto!

Sometimes the bore is too small to even get a start. I just buzz a little out with a battery drill and a dremel burr. Slow speed is where it's at so you can control exactly how much material is removed. Open the bore up carefully until you can get the screw near halfway in and begin again at step one. 

If you over relieve, just prewet the bore and load her up with goop. After it sets up, I poke a small vent hole in the center to help it breath/cure. After a few days I drill it with a 1/16th bit and return to step one. 

It is important to never allow excessive liquid testors to remain in the screw bore when the body is upside down. I've seen it sag a belly button onto a hood or trunk when overschlobbered and left inverted. This is why you wipe the testors in rather than just fill the post with liquid. Conversly a re-fill of the post with high solids goop generally wont cause this. Still I err to the side of caution, once the re-fill of the post flashes off, usually a few minutes, I turn it right side up to be safe.

The whole idea is to work some testors in to help rejuvenate the aged posts, move a little plastic around, recreate threads, open the bore up and ultimately make the post serviceable again. Worse case scenario, if it blows up on you, just re-fill it and go after it again.

Good luck!


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Thanks for the detailed description. Amazing how you can make it seem like I just sat and watched over your shoulder as you did the procedure in question...

--rick


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Thanx Rick!

I always try to write them directly from the work bench. Dad always stressed the whatness of why...the why we got how...the when we got who....and several other perversions of the whowhatwherewhenwhyhow school of thought; for which he was a stickler. In doing so he made me better at many things....sneaky sumbitch that he was! 

If your not careful, writing an instructional guideline can become very "this is how you do as I say". Including the "why" helps keep others from "doing as I did" and often answers the inevitably obvious "why" question beforehand.


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## TBI (Apr 25, 2011)




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## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)




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