Who are the best solderers of the vintage era pro chassis builders and how do they do it?

**brucefl** · 02-28-2012, 07:01 PM

Of course the list is near endless,but inorder to entice our heros of slots to finally let the cat out of the bag(so that us wanna be s can finally make a pretty work of art too(hey i could only draw stick figures until one day my desire was overflowing and i drew a near perfect rendering of a famous person with a pencil) I thought I would title this in this manner,now does everybody just solder blobs and spend forever doing cleanup(as Ive heard that roy wong did,Im not sure if this is true).So our innumerous heros please chime in and teach us,we re all anxious children(In our 40s and 50s)waiting for the masters to give us crumbs.

**Greg N** · 02-28-2012, 07:52 PM

Jim Bandes of Limpach/Parma/Yeti, no question.

Greg

**Chris Dadds** · 02-28-2012, 09:43 PM

I'm guessing you want to become better at soldering chassis. So let me point out that whoever came up with the idea of heating your joint before applying the solder never built a slot car, worked with a wave soldering assembler or tinned copper gutters on a breezy day. Probably didn't do a lot of electronic assembly after the vacuum tube days either! What you want to do is make sure everything is clean of course, use a toothpick with a slightly crushed end to apply acid flux where you want solder to be, use another toothpick to apply oil lightly where you don't want solder to go, apply just enough solder to the iron before you touch it to the parts you want soldered. Once you touch the molten solder to the workpiece you'll see it flow quickly across the workpiece and you can lift your iron as soon as it reaches the extent you desire. Surface tensility will pull excess solder away from your joint leaving a nice neat clean joint. Small parts like pin tubes will lift with the iron but you can hold them down with the edge of a lightly oiled exacto knife. And practice, practice, practice...

**brucefl** · 02-28-2012, 10:32 PM

The oil trick Ive never heard of sounds nifty,and yea you re right the traditional techniques all say to heat your joint and then apply solder to joint,eventhough Ive used your technique (not including the oil trick)40 plus years ago I had limited success;Ill try again and again,lol,thanks.Keep those tips coming guys.anybody know when or if there going to be a retro sidewinder open build it yourself racing series like the old days(not the D3 races).

**La Cucaracha** · 02-28-2012, 10:53 PM

Jerry Miller from Indianapolis was the best builder and racer I ever knew.
Everything he put together was beautiful.
He taught several of us how to race.
I wish I could get in touch with him.

**brucefl** · 02-28-2012, 11:09 PM

MAYBE WE COULD ALL COMPILE ALL OUR VINTAGE SLOT RACING EXPERIENCES WHETHER THEY ARE INVOLVING THE FAMOUS OR NOT SO FAMOUS iM SURE WE VE GOT SO MANY UNSUNG SLOT HEROS OUT THERE,EVEN I DID SOME INTERESTING BUILDING AND RACING,EVENTHOUGH THEY WERENT WINNING EXPERIENCES ALL THE PROS RALLIED BEHIND ME(GOES TO SHOW WHAT KIND OF GOOD GUYS THERE WERE IN OUR HOBBY)IVE EVEN BEEN WRITTENUP IN A CAR MODEL RACE REPORT,WHENEVER I READ IT IT BRINGS A CHUCKLE TO ME.

**brucefl** · 02-28-2012, 11:03 PM

What era and what part of the country did he build and what style of chassis did he build?

**brucefl** · 02-28-2012, 11:12 PM

We ll all write the book the novices daily experiences of behind the scenes of the vintage slot racing in the 60s and 70s.

**brucefl** · 02-28-2012, 11:29 PM

Anybody know how to get the car model dvd of all the issues i tried the link but when i get there the pay pal link doesnt work and i emailed and so far havent gotten an answer,thanks for any help,as well does anybody know where to get model car journal slot car paper old issues or any other similiar slot car papers,and are there any current slot car mags covering the current group 7 scene.

**La Cucaracha** · 02-29-2012, 12:49 AM

Jerry raced the Tri States in the 70`s and 80`s.
He was one of the best slotcar racers ever, as far as I`m concerned.

**fastg** · 02-29-2012, 06:14 AM

Raisin Garret (sp) from the Detroit area did beautiful work, he built a few cars for me that were soldered to perfection.

I have a friend that has a qualification in soldering, worked on Satellites and very high end electronics. It's amazing the detailed work he can do.

Graham

**Chris Dadds** · 02-29-2012, 07:36 AM

I'll second the vote for Jerry Miller. I raced with him for a while in the late eighties. Very thorough and meticulous. All his builds were beautifully detailed. I think his day job was as a mechanic on one of the Indy Car teams. He's a really nice helpful guy too!

Mike, I just shot a note off to Rick Bailey asking if he knew what happened to Jerry, We'll see if we get a response.

**La Cucaracha** · 02-29-2012, 07:52 AM

Thanks Chris
Jerry was a fabricator for several race teams.
He raced USAC Championship Dirt Cars.

**Chris Dadds** · 02-29-2012, 08:49 AM

Mike,
Rick says he talks to him a few times a month. I sent Rick the yahoo e-mail address I noticed for you from an open wheel site and Rick said he'd get it to Jerry this weekend. We'll see what happens.

Did we ever race together? At Shieks or Indi Mini in Indianapolis in the late eighties or early nineties?
Enjoy!
Chris
(who really should log off and get some work done now)