Ray had suggested that I contact Steve01 because he was a TycoPro man and may have some NOS White Boots to see if they perhaps would fit the Riggen rear Dynamic hubs more snugly.  It was at least worth a try, as the pair I had were stretched and at best encircled the hubs and bound the rear wheel cutout anyway. The worst that could happen would be no-go on the fit but certainly the shoes of choice for my childhood TycoPro Cobra. I asked Steve to check on the possibility that he might have a slanted front AFX Supertraction weight as well. Turns out that Steve had spent some time here working in the Research Triangle in the past, so was familiar with my neck of the woods. In the end Steve came up with one Supertraction weight which I will use on a future not so soon to be had AC Cobra Thunderjet as well as several pairs of lightly used White Boots along with the NOS pair. If they fit I had a bank of spares for the Riggen, and if not, shoes for my AFX cars that are at this juncture just a twinkle in my eye. I see the contingencies as good either way. Steve said he also had some AJ's sponges and hubs he was not going to use, and would throw them in the pile for free. Not too shabby.

Our newest member Rasa Racer is certainly not alone in the quest for layout space. I can count on both hands and then some toes the number of HO Slotracer.com community members who have expressed the same problem. Riverside is built on a 4'x8' sheet of AC plywood and rests on two Craftsman sawhorses. The need for it to go into storage for projects that require the sawhorses and the garage space-ie working on my MGB is self explanatory. In the 1960's a small layout for a train or slot car set no bigger than a full sheet of plywood was the norm and Riverside is an expression of just how it was once done. With condominiums and rooms taken for new additions to the family, space remains at just the premium it was then if not more so. The World Wide Web abounds with smaller layouts that can fold upwards as does Matt's when garage space calls. Some are designed to tuck under a bed or set into a closet or even made to fit on the backside of a closet door. I hope that we can generate enough ideas to perhaps solve a problem for someone here, and at the same time perpetuate new interest.

A few days ago I sent Serge a pair of Sears Supertraction AFX front weights in trade for one of his balanced Mean Green armatures. An even-Steven, straight-forward trade in an effort to at least start on the mail-in race entry. Serge emailed me later, and to my jaw dropping suprise informed me that he was going to send me one of his FRAY prepared cars. I mean the whole thing-body and highly modified chassis with I am guessing numerous hours of preparation involved in making it all come together in a fast and highly modified T-Jet. Well, it landed in the mailbox yesterday, and it is everything I anticipated. I cannot wait to send it down the back straight at Riverside. What can you say except THANKS MAN! Once again it is the quality and not the quantity of folk here at HO Slotracer.com that makes the site what is is. Thank you Serge for all that you do. God Bless! Tonymgbbrown 

After an extremely busy day at the alcohol and drug treatment center it was time to turn my efforts on restoring the white Gala guide flag assembly that was originally on my late production Riggen chasis. Yesterday I received the factory repair kit from Ron Bernstein, and the hands-on experience of assembling the replacement black plastic guide flag assembly provided the necessary insight as to how the Gala pieces fit. The sides had been melted together to form a one piece affair, and careful sanding with 2000 grit sandpaper and polishing with Mother's Polish resolved the problem on the guide sides, returning it pretty much to the state it was in when new. A good electrical connection to the motor brushes was simply made by sandwiching the lead wire ends between the top and bottom guide flag surfaces and positioning them to rest on the top of the steel braid brass endcaps. The whole shebang was snugged together by the white keeper nut once affixed to the chassis nose. This particular guide flag was unused albeit modified, and perhaps one of the few survivors of its type.

Today I received a package from Ron Burnstein of Riggen HO containing two original Riggen factory repair kits, which are in and of themselves quite interesting. This contained a replacement guide flag that was on Riggen production cars by August 1971, or was at least available to the general public by that time. A bit of slot car sleuthing into one of my childhood CAR MODEL magazines provided some useful clues to the restoration. An article entitled "Mini Mods/Riggen" by Dale Flanagan was full of production nuances.  Interestingly the chassis featured in the article came with a one piece guide flag with press-fitting steel braid and two white lead wires to the motor brushes, both a thinner white than the two red lead wires originally on the car. This was the same type of flag that I received in the kit. The production car had a black plastic keeper nut and a black crown and pinion. The kit contained a white pinion gear and a white keeper nut. By this juncture the shape of the pinion had changed to a more rounded profile where the teeth contacted the crown gear, something also found on the later Gala car.

Landing two wife approved slot cars in a week, especially with all of the commotion going on in and around the Brown house is rather noteworthy. We did learn that my former Royal Ranger Josiah Crumpler earned a Bronze Star for his bravery, and that is indeed some comfort. It seems like the Army was certainly aware that he was of sterner stuff, as a four star general greeted the Crumplers at the airport in Raleigh. Somehow half of Hillsborough knew that his remains would be landing today, and they were at the airport to show support. I was also able to help sort out some problems with a friend's 1962 MGA Mark 2 Tourer, and this was an escape valve. Nice to come home to a package from Slot Car Central as well. Inside was a new old stock L&M livery Lola T260 body. Number five in the AFX Can-Am Pit Kit. A non-magnatraction chassis is in order, but that can wait of course. All that is needed is an early production Porsche 510K to land each of the initial Can-Am Aurora AFX production cars. That leaves two slots in the Pit Kit, so at least one will be a Super II clone of some sort with a Jairus Watson painted body.

It certainly pays to have friends in high places, or at least friends who can fall back on their years of slot car experience to provide some assistance. I must say that that is a fine quality of our community. I spoke with Dennis Hoskins on Sunday who in his youth in Huber Hights, Ohio was an employee of the Huber Heights Hobby Shop which had both an Aurora Tub Track as well as a King Track. The best of both worlds if you will. Of course the nature of the call involved restoring my late era Riggen chassis which has arbor pressed Dynamic hubs on all four corners. I was able to remove the original sponge tires not only successfully in that they were removed from the hub, but to do so with the tire still intact. Quite amazing considering it was a forty year old low profile sponge tire in the first place which by its very nature would be a somewhat fragile beast. The tire had been glued onto the hub with rubber cement, and by examining a thread in the vintage HO section of SLOTBLOG they still advocate rubber cement as the best glue for the job. Amazing, as I still use the Elmer's version, complete with a bottle brush just like in was in first grade in 1961.

I received my long anticipated Riggen chassis from Ron Bernstein or Bernie as his friends call him. The car has a unique provienance as it came from a former owner of Riggen before the company was purchased by Gala Plastics. Gala produced lexan bodies and later crown, pinion, and guide flag assemblies for the car. Jack Garcia molded the lexan bodies for Gala during this time. The chassis itself is a later flush motor type, as the Mabuchi HT-50 can sits flat and level to the bottom for greater stability. The axles and hubs on this particular chassis were made by Dynamic and the hubs fitted by an arbor press to the larger diameter axle. Riggen also offered replacement rear hubs and tires with a grub screw and corresponding Allen wrench, but not on this chassis. The rear slicks were black foam rubber, and will be replaced with NOS TycoPro White Boots for a snug fit to the rim. Dennis Hoskins confirmed that this was a popular replacement in the 1970's.

Not many people can say that they survived a horrific crash in a race car at speed, especially in the likes of a Porsche 917-10K Turbo Panzer, which delivers nine hundred and fifty horses in an equally terrifying fashion. Brave souls like Marke Donohue and George Follmer certainly come to mind as skilled pilots, as does their equally brave teammates. Take Follmer's co-pilot Charlie Kemp-who managed in 1973 to loop Follmer's RC Cola 917-10K in practice, making him an instant member of the Road Atlanta Flying Club. God Bless! Tonymgbbrown

I spoke with Serge over the weekend and he can confirm that I indeed have a Southern accent. From my neck of the woods this could be divided even further to say a Tidewater accent or a Duplin County accent where my father was from- which is a distinctive Scotch-Irish cross between the two. Having attended Serge's alma mater for the Southwestern archaeology portion of my training in the mid to late 1970's, I would call home in Raleigh and then eminate a Southern drawl for a week or two. At least this is what my dormmates said, and I have no reason to doubt them. My neck of the woods was and still is no slot car haven, as the accent must have scared off all of the Aurora sales force once upon a time. Just like any hobby, pockets of enthusiasts abound in say the Charlotte metro area, Winston Salem, or even Raleigh, but for the most part slot cars remain a scarce commodity.  Jim Collier from his North Hills hobby shop in Raleigh sold anything and everything related to Aurora and later TycoPro slot cars, and he had quite an inventory. There was another very nice hobby shop in Cameron Village, and I remember distinctly when they sold out all of their slot cars to focus on trains and static models.