# Majic Bus - Part 1



## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Bobzilla sent me a pile of wood. Included with Bob's usual plethora of goodies was a 4 gear dually project that Bob had picked up off the beach. Apparently some flotsam off the bay. More on that later.

So I sprayed for termites. Then last night Gus and I got out ole #2 and put a fresh biscuit on the implement of destruction(dremel). 

First off the dually got sorted out and after about an hour it was ripping some naked laps. I had been eyeballing the Woody and my T-jet version of the dually with malice for some time.

This project, like usual, is a tune up for the T-jet version. Sorta figured out the hows and wheres to cut. Proceeded cautiously and basically killed two to make one with no major D'Ohs! along the way.

At this point it's time to move into the body work stages and dress the seams. Everything is prefit. Once the finish work is done. I can start bonding the modules back together. Unfortunately the winder insert decided to fall out of position right when I snapped these first pics... So just squint and pretend it's in it's correct position. 

So far I got about four hours in da Bus. Gus was helpin' so things take a little longer when the crew chief requires immediate attention every so often.


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## JordanZ870 (Nov 25, 2004)

Bill!
This is one "zilla" of a bus! Ok...so the joke was bad, but your bus is cool! :thumbsup:

Does it fall under the "Wood'n, it be NICE!" catagory?
I need to see some chassis pics though!


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## WesJY (Mar 4, 2004)

DANG!!! thats one cool looking woody bus!!!

Wes


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

*Looking strong Bill...*

A dualie eh?... Wonder if that wood make it through a 3 inch hairpin??? hmmm

nuther


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## JordanZ870 (Nov 25, 2004)

tjd241 said:


> A dualie eh?... Wonder if that wood make it through a 3 inch hairpin??? hmmm
> 
> nuther


OMG!!! only you, 'Nuther!


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## *MAYHEM* (May 4, 2007)

*Nice!* :thumbsup:


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## micyou03 (Apr 8, 2003)

That is supercool!!! Really nice work.


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## Crimnick (May 28, 2006)

:thumbsup:


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Thanks guyz! You're all to kind.

Although it's a 4 gear, I plan to size this AFX dually to an old semi tonight and see what's up with that as well. Might be feasible on a standard chassis. Realistically at first glance the spacing between the duals is a bit wide for the application. I'm gonna look at it anyway while I'm doin bodywork...er ...I mean carpentry to the Woody.

I'll get some pics up of the chassis and details of the necessary repairs and mods as well as some intel on the grafting.


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## keionius (Aug 22, 2007)

Very beautiful. Could ya snap some pics of the chassis, i curious to see how the dually set up works. Thanks Bill :thumbsup:


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

*Nice Woody bus....oh yeah!*

Bill,

All I can say is that you can fix some stuff up. Love the way that looks and it runs too....Sweet! That Chassis and my hammer almost became real good friends ("SMASH"). Looks Freakin" Fantastic. I couldn't get her to crawl down the track so, no body was made. 

Have said it before Bill Hall must be an Alien from some far away Galaxy cause, no earthling could have gotten that thing to work right. Well maybe some here on HT could and now just showing that I am more of a body man than a Mechanic. 

My Woodie just has 2WD and is NOS...dats why dat one runs. 4 gear chassis don't work half the time cause those dang screws that hold the gearplate down are stripped out. How many gears are involved in this crazy 4WD specialty chassis...woah alot! I have used those JL twisy ties to keep the gearplates tied down with great sucess. Just be carefull not to have the twisty touch any of the gears.




























Now try that with a Tyco or a Tomy.lol

Bob...zilla


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*Majic Bus part 2*

Heres the details on this build.

Chassis had a few minor problems and one big one. The no run condition was actually green fuzz under the comm brush on the holder. The arm pinion was stripped and the shaft required the spline trick to get a new 9 tooth T-jet pinion to bite. Both crown gears were stripped as well so I modified and AFX standard crown to fit by bobbing the shoulders from the front and back sides. Cured the gear skip for good! Replaced a rear axle as the splines were really worn. For some reason Neos were installed in this chassis so I swapped them out due to the excessive braking and the extra grunt required to drive the duals with the bigger crowns. Not earth shattering but a respectable chassis.

The big problem was that the second drive module was off set, not square. Not much to do about it now. It'll live.

Pic 1 Shows where the fender module can be modified to get a little drop. Where the blade points you can take the 'lil shoulder out and square up the relief. This necessitates a scallop in the rear fender strap for gear clearance. Hardly a slam but anything is better than the jacked factory stance. 

Pic 2 The gusset method was used to join the gearplate sections together. This had to have a bit radiused out for wheel clearance as they rubbed and were spaced out beyond sense. It's been my experience that the large Specialty rears require the axle to be seated into it's proper depth so they dont wobble like these were. 

Pic 3 Here's how it looks once corrected. The gusset would not be my first choice for joining the two modules.

Pic 4 Most of ya have seen my t-jet dually. Shown here to illustrate the over lapping of gear plate rails and spot welded with a fine tipped iron Very sturdy and naturally flat and square by nature. The gusset method although less labor intensive, leaves a lot of margin for error an wiggle during assembly. Hence the cockeyed rear module on the four gear. IMHO

Pic 5 Just a comparo pic. The inherant beauty of the 4 Gear is that the rear axle centers are closer together due to the smaller idler gear diameter. It makes a much tighter more realistic rear unit.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*More Bus*

The actual body work is minimal however some planning was required and compromises had to be made.

Pic 1 The seams were staggered in the hopes of preserving some rigidity in that the Woody is naturally long and somewhat thin due to the wood grain relief and the delicate pillars. Note that the roof cut was made well out of the way to allow room to work. Although the rear pillar spacing is not equal I was feeling a bit lazy and called 'er close enough. The two halves of the graft were precision filed. In this case they were bonded with plain testors.
I had some concerns about the goop squeezing out frontside and messing up the wood grain's crisp edges.

Pic 2 The window inserts were sectioned so they met at a pillar and were precision filed so the seam was hidden behind. The two halves were NOT bonded together. The tolerance was too tight and I feared some clouding or wandering of the glue could possibly spoil the effect from the frontside. The seperate pieces were bonded at the factory roof points with goop. Note that the aquariums (internal standoff braces) were removed. They're just icky. The result is quite slolid by stock comparison and doesnt squeak, groan and rattle when ya touch it! She took a HARD tumble when one of my stock AFX cheese grater controllers jammed. A full throttle wall plant and all parts remainig in their correct location. :woohoo:  

Once the glass was set the larger forward fender module was bonded in with black goop. I always hated the squeaky flimsy nature of the "A" body AFX's so I hammered everything down nice and snug. The rearmost fenders were then bonded to the body as well as forward rear fenders. Again note the relief modification and scallop to both sections. The rear ride height is set by the relief cuts. A bit was removed from the front screw post to level the body. Although there's not much available room to move it helps.

Pic 3 I got lucky and the all critical roof seam was dead on. The faux roof finish was cut back to allow a proper fill. The factory paint can ocassionally create problems when using goop bonds so I always cut it well clear of the work area. It's gonna have to sit for a week. I'm itching to cut it back and block the roof out, but the risk of a sag/lowspot if I cut it too early is holding me back. After its cured and blocked, I'll make a stab at the factory roof finish using a drybrush technique with matte black enamel. If that blows up on me it'll get reblocked and blown with a smooth matte as a fall back.


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## SplitPoster (May 16, 2006)

Bill, amazing piece of work.....


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## win43 (Aug 28, 2006)

Great stuff!!!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


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## sethndaddy (Dec 4, 2004)

It is amazing how you do this stuff Bill. I hardly have the patience and time to sit down and do decals and touch up paint.


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## *MAYHEM* (May 4, 2007)

Bill, when you paint the roof you might try this; give it a smooth coat and let it set, then do a second coat, give it a few minutes and brush it with a toothbrush or a small wire brush.

I used to use that technique on 1/25 scale using brown and tan paint for woodgrain.


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

*Okay ...*



*MAYHEM* said:


> brush it with a toothbrush


... only not Ma's toothbrush. Or else you might end up with some woograin of yer own from a well aimed rolling pin!!!  nd


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## *MAYHEM* (May 4, 2007)

tjd241 said:


> ... only not Ma's toothbrush. Or else you might end up with some woograin of yer own from a well aimed rolling pin!!!  nd


LOL Good point.

Use one of the kids toothbrushes.


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

Bill,

This is just incredible to see all these pics and read what you did to this specialty chassis and woody body build. 

Love your brass gear double whamy sloter' as well. 

You should get into the HT Bill Hall of Fame with no problem-en-to!

This aint no Flake here , Bob...zilla


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

Coming from someone who has yet to remove a gear from a slot car, this accolade may not carry much weight, but it is incredible what you can do with these lil cars. Keep us posted until finished! :thumbsup:


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

Would have to agree with the others. Great job! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: rr


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

The Bus is as good as done 'cept for farging up the roof! This build was FUN as it was just a re-shuffling of existing parts...tab "A" slot "B" kinda stuff. No major battles were fought. Other than a straightline graft, it snapped together like Lego. 

Ed: LMAO! Like your house, I'm sure, patience comes and goes 'round here. When it's gone I just walk away and shut the door on the slotcave. Realistically there's usually some other thing I probably should be doing anyway. A coupla hours in the cave is always prefferable to the inevitable list of lifes mind numbing chores.

Martin: Thanks for the tip. I plan to take a practice run or two on some scrap. Upon close inspection the roof is not just striated. There is a slight stippling to the pattern as it represents material and not actual wood. 

Nuther: According to current intel my head is made of stone...no contest with a mere wooden rolling pin...I do fear the cast iron skillet though.

'Zilla: Sorta funny how things work out, aye? When your care package was unpacked I thought, "What the H E double toothpicks am I gonna do with this?!" LOL. This build just fell outta the box you packed. I'd been pushing Woody parts around since the Woodster build of last year. Joez mentioned the ole S'Cool bus on chat a while back so an idea was finally born.
The dually chassis was the real catalyst as it stretches the wheel base to a "bus useable length" but still maintains the original 2WD Woody wheelbase so the standard body fits. A Win Win. 

Many thanks to all for your positive comments and support. It drives the insanity for my next HO-micide.


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## keionius (Aug 22, 2007)

Very creative, well done bill.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*Dun Bus*

Cut the roof down hard with 600 wet.

A careful mask with 1/8 fineline and a complete over mask.

Finish is Duplicolor flat black enamel. First coat was alowed to dry. Second coat was dry brushed with a 1" fine squirrel hair brush, then one more coat to nock the sharp edges down.


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

Bill,

Looks like a fun ride...Top to bottom and two thumbs up. Sweet!

Bob...zilla


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## Crimnick (May 28, 2006)

Bill Hall said:


> Cut the roof down hard with 600 wet.
> 
> A careful mask with 1/8 fineline and a complete over mask.
> 
> Finish is Duplicolor flat black enamel. First coat was alowed to dry. Second coat was dry brushed with a 1" fine squirrel hair brush, then one more coat to nock the sharp edges down.


Damn...even looks like wood panel under paint...

well done!


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

*OMG......................WOW! Thanks Bill Hall!!*










Bill,

You are the Man! Had won this chassis from Paybay months ago but, When it arrived it barely moved the rear tires when they were lifted up off the track (bummer city) then a puff of smoke from the blue pancake armature ended any hope for me and soon it just started to collect dust on my bench.

Bill and I did a little trade. Just put this dead chicken chassis in the package for him to have. Using his Mad Scientist abilities it was shortly brought back to life.

Bill Hall decided that my Monster layout needed a tour bus so, packaged the thing up and mailed it to me. It drives and looks Fantastic! I am still in SHOCK that this Woody gets to run around on my layout now. :hat: :woohoo: :hat: 

Thanks Bill Hall for this very generous gesture. It is gonna see some track time and then going to take it apart some day to see what makes this thing tic...tic...tic...tic...

Would like to thank you for the explanation on what was wrong with it also. I some times have no clue (even though I should) and then after some refresher basic fix it slot car tips things all make sense again. It may seem like I am lost at times Bill but, really just in a Twilight Zone for short periods. Your advice and tips bounce back my brain into the world of "what do I gotta do to make these things run right".

Bob...zilla

P.S. :woohoo:


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

*Zilla-Land Tour Co.*

Tickets please... let's check yer tickets. All aboard !!!

Nice work Bill. Can't think of a better track for this cool project. This Woody reminds me of those vintage tour buses running in Glacier Park Montana. 

Enjoy Bob its a beauty... :thumbsup: nd


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Aw c'mon Bob, the pleasure was all mine. You've been more than generous to me. 

You seemed like a likely victim so Joez, 'Nuther, and I cooked this sceme up in Chat a while back.

For the record I've already completed two nice 4 gears from what you sent, a Woody and a Panel and still have two and a half Woody bods left, plus enough scrap to build another Woodster Drag car. So I feel like I'm way ahead.

Looks just right on your layout! Run it hard! I did...in the interest of quality control of course


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

Hello folks and welcome aboard the Godzilla might eat you tour bus. 

On your right you will see Godzilla eating a sweet Vega drag car....now up ahead is King Kong and he looks hungry so.....Vrrrrroooooooooooooom we are outta here.

Thank you for riding on Godzilla Woody tours. Please exit carefully and watch out for the spilled Toxic Waste on the ground. 

Thanks again...gonna ride it hard, Bob...zilla


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