Popsicle stick Chassis are chassis built  from popsicle sticks or lolly sticks .The idea of using wood for a building medium of model cars is a very old one but in recent years has been made popular by people like Al Penrose of BWA wheels http://trak.to/BWASLOTCARS.Al designed a simple way of building a popsicle stick chassis which any one can constuct with the minimum of tools and experiance,this is a chassis which works extemely well in most cases.

Building a Popsicle stick chassis

 

 

Step one

 

Take 2 Popsicle sticks and tape them together as this will keep the axle holes in alignment

Drill a 3/32 hole at one end for the rear axle, this can be as close as 1/4"from the end if you don’t require any over hang for a rear mounting I usually only use a central mount and allow the rear to float free,

Measure the wheelbase of your proposed car and drill a second hole in the appropriate place; you should have two identical side members

Take a piece of hard wood the width of your motor, drill a 3/16”hole in it and fashion a piece similar to the one in the photo this will be the guide holder

Cut a piece of Popsicle stick the inside width of your body shell and drill and countersink a couple of 1/8” holes near the edges this will be the front body mount.

Cut a piece of Popsicle stick the width of your motor for a rear cross member. 

 

Step2 assembly

 

Put the axles you are going to use in the side members and place the chassis on a piece of flat level track or

a board with a slot cut into it

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Fit the guide into the holder and glue in place at the front of the chassis making sure every thing is both square and level as a mistake at this stage can lead to the finished chassis taking on the appearance of a parallelogram

Once the guide holder is set you can cut the sticks to the correct length

Place the motor between the side members and get a good mesh, if you are using scalex type gears this should be automatic, glue the motor in and allow to set                                                                   

Lastly fit the front and rear cross members. Hook up the lead wires and your Popsicle racer is now ready to test.

Step 3 Set up

 

The car should run ok as it has been described but you may need to make one or two minor adjustments for optimum performance .I prefer to run mine with the front wheels just clear of the track by about 5 to 10 thou as you will find it gives better pick up and better straight line speed the front wheels are only to stabilize the car in the corner.

The car might also need a little lead weight on the front or under the rear cross member to stabilize it, it all depends on what type of tyres, surface and how powerful a motor you run

 

Step 4 Body shell

 

Choice of body is up to the builder the Popsicle stick chassis can be adapted for any type of car mine is one of my own vac forms and is mounted with two wooden blocks glued inside the edges and screwed through the front cross member at each side the top of the motor rests against the interior so no rear mount is necessary and the body is left a little loose to damp out the vibrations

 

When you get really adventurous then you can alway make something like these

                                  

these are 3 entrys which competed in the Pendle Popsicle  Race in 2002

 

Controller Options

 Most racers these days favour the Parma type trigger controller but it is often a neglected  part of the new racers equipment.

The controller is the only link from the driver to the car  ,too high a resistance and the car will feel sluggish and not respond until you are nearly at the end of its travel too low and controller will feel like  an on /off switch..In the old days we used to carry several different controlers to cover the different motors  but today it is possible to buy variable  controlers which will  suit all applications. There are 3 variations  on this .the transistorised electronic type. the diode chain type ,now produced by Professor Motor and the variable resistance type as sold by Slot Tech .For the beginner Iwould recomend buying the Professor Motor type as you  dont need to make any adjustments as the contoller is suited to all motor types.however if you already have a Parma controller  you can make your own adjustable circuit.

The parts you require are:- 2 x 50 ohm variable potentiometers as high a wattage as possible I used  loud speaker potentiometers as these are rated at 100 watt, 3  on /off  toggle switches , 1 x10ohm 10 watt resistor

1 x 5ohm variable potentiometer ( this is optional as it is  for a power choke which will be usefull to turn the power down if driving in slippy  conditions)

 One 50 ohm resistor is connected in paralell to the main resistor as in the diagram with an additional 10 ohm resistor in series ,so that the minimum setting is never less than 10 ohms

 The second 50 ohm resistor is  wired in series in the brake line to reduce the braking effect this will make the car easier to drive as it will roll into the corners rather than stop quick.

 The optional 5 ohm resistor  is a choke to reduce the track power fed to the controller this is wired in series with the power feed

 All the components can be fitted into a small plastic box and the  track plug can be fixed underneath.

 The circuit diagram is easy to follow and the average enthusiast with a little knowledge of soldering should be able to construct it.

 The finished controler will be variable between  about 12 and 45 ohms and should  suit most of the currently available scalex type motors .If you use the choke facility then you will have to reduce the controller resistance  to get the same response as with out