I spent three hours in my workshop early this afternoon: probably the only time I will get this week. It was great - nothing I like more than being in that workshop with my trains chuffing around out in the trainroom, an NFL game on the TV next to my workbench - and well, a PBR at my elbow, too.
I'm still working on the WBB sedans I got, etc. Of the four, one died (binding center pickups), two ran well (at least at speeds above about a 45 mph scale speed, and one was so-so. The one that died I will use for donor parts: the so-so one I am both trying to fit with better center pickups and fit a motor with a flywheel - to see if that makes it run smoother: it would make my first car with a flywheel.
I have grown convinced, however, that to get a car that will run smoothly at city traffic speeds (25 mph scale) I will have to make my own chassis, etc. In time I will try.
But for this afternoon I play with three WBB chassis - diecast car conversions - all pretty simple to do, but fun.
First, (photo below) is a White Rose 1:43 '49-50 Ford Highway patrol body fitted to a completely unmodified chassis from the new WBB police car: I didn't trim anything, drilll any holes, cut away anything, or even have to loosen the hold-down screws to adjust the wheelbase! Note that among the different WBB sedans only the police car has blackwall tires, as did the white rose model before the conversion. I did have to work on the White rose body a bit - dremel to cut away the screw towers inside the car's body and trim the front facia (see inset in picture below), and then used a trick I've posted photos of before of small bits of Loctite repair putty used to make new screw towers where I wanted them. That was all. Everything fit: the back wheels just barely squeeze in side to side, but I got them to spin freely without trimming body metal away heavily or anything. I was able to fit the WBB interior in the model (dashboard, steering wheel, and only the front seat, but still - they just popper right in cleanly, looking good!. . .
The stock WBB police car looks nice, but this just lovely running on my country road. It runs as well as stock and not noticeably slower: the White Rose metal body weighs only a bit more the the WBB plastic one did: the completed model is 9 rather than 8 ounces so its not noticeably slower or anything.
I took the best running of the three remaining chassis I had (all white wall tires) and cut it along the front corners slightly so I could use it to fit and replace the one I had originally put into this '54 Brooklin DeSoto (that's the chassis that had binding center pickups right out of the box). This is a very heavy car because the Brooklin bodies alone typically weight more than an entire stock wBB sedan. converted, this weights a total of 13 ounces versus about 8 stock, so: a) it takes a lot more trhottle to make it run at any speed, b) it runs smoother at any speed, c) motor life will hopefully not be an issue.
Finally, the Brooklin Nash Ambassador body below is mounted on the chassis from a WBB Ford panel van. This is the best running car conversion I have because its the only one I have done with the WBB van - which has really good, lever-action center pickups. It runs noticeably smoother than anything else at low highway speeds, going as slow as 40 mph, and just behaves it itself better.
If you study the photo, you can tell that the wheels of the van chassis are too big a diameter - too big for the Nash and too big for any car: if you could see them the car not look good at all. But the Nash - the only 1:43 car I know of with skirts on the front wheels, too - hides that nicely. This and the fact that its wheelbase is exactly the same as the vans, too, is why I picked it. The conversion was easy: I had to slightly trim the corners of the WBB van's chassis and drill mounting holes that fit the Brooklin body mounting towers but otherwise it is unmodified: stock wheelbase fits the Ambassador perfectly. The WBB van did not have an interior, and the Brooklin interior would not fit. I stretched a piece of Gorilla tape (last photo below) over the top of the interior and then put the bust of a 1:43 figure through the open window on it. Covers the motor, etc. this is a nice little runner, and sooooo ugly. I love it.
(my forum ID relates to my other hobby AMC's)
) since their last visit , I confess that I spend more 
) I just had to ask whether those things reflect your true passion, more so than the trains? Forgive me for the question.
