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| While some of the Detroit iron modeled by Aurora have decent proportions, the boxy design of the stock T-jet chassis gives almost any Aurora sports or GT body the look of an SUV. There’s nothing like a Ford GT that looks ready to take on a Chevy Suburban! I built the "flatter pancake" chassis to address this problem, while simultaneously improving the car’s handling. The archived HO World article shows how you can build one for yourself. Never one to leave well enough alone, I knew the flatter pancake chassis had the potential for even better performance. What I wanted to explore was how far the handling envelope could be pushed while maintaining a realistic appearance and a traditional Tjet body. “Realistic appearance” dictated that the wheels and tires would stay under the fenders. “Traditional Tjet body” meant that wide track resin bodies were out. Hmm, there’s an old Aurora TuffOnes Dino Ferrari body sitting in my pit box. The Dino Project was born! The Aurora “Dino Ferrari” is a model of Ferrari’s Dino 166P. Aurora made some obvious compromises when sculpting the model to fit the T-jet chassis. In the front, the area between the front fenders has a much steeper slope, leading to a windshield which is noticeably shallower than the real thing. In the rear, the fenders and the bodywork were flattened as necessary to clear that infernal driven gear which always seems to get in the way of T-jet bodywork! Despite these changes, the model captures the spirit of the original, which is more than you can say for some of Aurora’s other sports and GT cars. Note how the sides of the body curve out from the side windows and extend down only a short distance to the rocker panel. Thank goodness Aurora didn’t ruin the proportions of the car by extending this area further down the sides of the chassis. Can you say Mclaren-Elva? In fact it was this distinctive shoulder-like curve at the side windows that created the most challenging aspect of mounting the body. Initially I thought hogging out the body would do the trick, but it became evident that the drastic lowering of the body required the upper edges of the chassis to be rounded and the gearplate clamp to be bent to provide body clearance. Compare your favorite T-jet chassis to the picture and the difference is obvious. The picture also shows how the area above the front axle holes was trimmed for clearance. Oh, and don’t forget that these changes were made to an already modified flatter pancake chassis. OK, on to other changes. Those with sharp eyes have noticed that I cut off the back of the gearplate, behind the rear locating posts and the cluster gear shaft. To provide some armature cooling and remove more excess weight, I cut cooling holes on the sides of the chassis. I first drilled some rough holes, then smoothed out the opening with a hobby knife, files, and sanding sticks. In addition to the main armature cooling holes, you’ll see a small hole just below the gearplate clamp and another at the front motor magnet position. If you were paying attention during the first flatter pancake article you remember that I had some difficulty grinding out the area where the edges of the magnets sit. This time around the holes in the sides of the chassis allowed me to use a small file to reach that part of the inner chassis. So much for removing weight. Stay tuned for the next installment, when I’ll talk about adding some weight back! | ||||||||||||
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| Part 2 | ||||||||||||
