1/32 Bob Clidinst bodyshells - 1960s Indy 500 slot cars
Mar 8, 2024 14:35:56 GMT -5
illeagle10 and Chris Hale like this
Post by markg on Mar 8, 2024 14:35:56 GMT -5
Only fairly recently I found that former Indianapolis resident, Bob Clidinst not only drew scale drawings of a lot of the Indianapolis racers but he also produced and sold 1/32 scale fibreglass bodyshells of a number of them. As you may know, Bob was a real enthusiast and from what I’ve read and seen in pictures, he built slot cars and hand painting the bodyshells with fantastic results.
Unfortunately Bob passed away a few years ago but a good friend of mine had five of his bodyshells still in their original plastic bags and he agreed to part with them. I also discovered that Lance Sellers (another brilliant Indy car modeller) has the Bob Clidinst moulds and had replicated a few in resin. I’d missed the most of these but have a few of his more recent releases. Then I found another slot car friend had a number of originals in his stash, so all in all I’d set myself up with quite a few ‘projects’!
I wanted my builds to be appropriate to that 1960s era (with a few exceptions) so my slot cars are being built primarily using Monogram, Atlas or similar era components, so brass chassis, open motors, 1/8” threaded axles, aluminium wheels and a few scratch built components such as exhaust pipes and suspension arms. The compromise was the sponsorships markings where I used decals (Indycals where available, existing old decal or those I made myself). The other compromise is using Ortmann tyres. The ambition is to make the slot cars look ‘sharp’ but still hand made!
I’m trying to do them in batches and so here are the first ones done, they are:
1962 No34 Mickey Thompson Harvey Aluminium Special driven by Dan Gurney
1964 No05 Watson Offy Wynn’s Friction Proofing driven by Don Branson
1965 No02 DNQ Watson Ford Moog Autoparts driven by Roger Ward
1965 No12 Brawner Hawk Brabham Ford driven by Mario Andretti
1966 No24 Indy winner Lola T90 Red Ball Special driven by Graham Hill
1966 No43 Lola T90 Seal Fast Mecom driven by Jackie Stewart
1968 No03 Indy winner Eagle Offy Rislone Special driven by Bobby Unser
I am still on the lookout for more of these Clidinst bodyshells (or early Lance Sellers replicas) so if you have any that you would consider parting with, I’d be very interested. I also have a few swaps if that would be preferable. I could also do with quite a few more Atlas chassis’ and motors as I’ve still a lot more to do!
Unfortunately Bob passed away a few years ago but a good friend of mine had five of his bodyshells still in their original plastic bags and he agreed to part with them. I also discovered that Lance Sellers (another brilliant Indy car modeller) has the Bob Clidinst moulds and had replicated a few in resin. I’d missed the most of these but have a few of his more recent releases. Then I found another slot car friend had a number of originals in his stash, so all in all I’d set myself up with quite a few ‘projects’!
I wanted my builds to be appropriate to that 1960s era (with a few exceptions) so my slot cars are being built primarily using Monogram, Atlas or similar era components, so brass chassis, open motors, 1/8” threaded axles, aluminium wheels and a few scratch built components such as exhaust pipes and suspension arms. The compromise was the sponsorships markings where I used decals (Indycals where available, existing old decal or those I made myself). The other compromise is using Ortmann tyres. The ambition is to make the slot cars look ‘sharp’ but still hand made!
I’m trying to do them in batches and so here are the first ones done, they are:
1962 No34 Mickey Thompson Harvey Aluminium Special driven by Dan Gurney
1964 No05 Watson Offy Wynn’s Friction Proofing driven by Don Branson
1965 No02 DNQ Watson Ford Moog Autoparts driven by Roger Ward
1965 No12 Brawner Hawk Brabham Ford driven by Mario Andretti
1966 No24 Indy winner Lola T90 Red Ball Special driven by Graham Hill
1966 No43 Lola T90 Seal Fast Mecom driven by Jackie Stewart
1968 No03 Indy winner Eagle Offy Rislone Special driven by Bobby Unser
I am still on the lookout for more of these Clidinst bodyshells (or early Lance Sellers replicas) so if you have any that you would consider parting with, I’d be very interested. I also have a few swaps if that would be preferable. I could also do with quite a few more Atlas chassis’ and motors as I’ve still a lot more to do!
