George Turner Models have (some-what) recently released a range of Edwardian era race cars. You can see that full range here: https://george-turner-models.myshopify.com/collections/edwardian
My Dad brought me the Mercedes for Christmas and I brought him one of the Fiats for his birthday.
We have both build models from Mr Turner before so we knew they would be good quality. It’s safe to say that I was somewhat blown away by this kit though! I’m very much looking forward to writing this build thread and sharing my experience with you all!
Oh just a side note – you’ll notice a white set of tyres in the first pic. They came from Pendle Slot Racing who do running gear kits for George Turner’s models. The kit should have come with black tyres which I ordered a bit later.
I was planning to repaint the white ones for the spares on the back, which is why they’re in the photo below, but I ended up using old tyres from another model. So those white tyres will no doubt get used on another Edwardian car further down the line!
The running gear I ordered for the Fiat was absolutely perfect.
I’ve used Pendles a lot over the years and have never had the wrong item shipped so I’m not sure what happened there. As I said though it’s no big deal as they’ll get used on another model further down the line. Just make sure that when you order, make sure you’re getting the right running gear set for your car.
Here’s the full list of running gear sets that Pendle Slot Racing do for George Turner’s cars: https://www.pendleslotracing.co.uk/brand/george-turner-models.html
We’ll start with the chassis.
The kit actually replicates the full size car, as everything that makes the car drive is built onto a ladder style chassis then the body is mounted on top of that.
You’ll also note that there’s a lot more pieces compared to a conventional slot car chassis. That’s because these kits actually have working steering!
If you’re building one of these cars yourself, dry fit everything together before painting it. It all fits together perfectly before paint, so you might want to open any holes up slightly as the paint will make everything a bit tight.
Pop the knuckles onto the steering rack.
The purple stub axles go through the knuckles.
That assembly is then mounted between the chassis and the upper guide mount with the front leaf springs attached.
Once everything is together you can see how it’s meant to work.
The lower guide mount has a pin at the rear of it that goes through the hole in the middle of the steering rack.
The whole thing pivots as the guide leads the car around a corner, allowing the model to steer. It’s a very clever little bit of engineering.
The final piece needed for the front end is the guide itself.
The stalk simply goes through the lower and upper guide mount and then the whole thing is held together by the screw at the top.
I did have to remove a little material from the front of the guide mount to get the guide to fit once the chassis had been painted.
As I mentioned earlier – the kit fits together beautifully unpainted, but everything gets a little tight once painted. As this kit has to steer it’s best to sand back the paint from moving components. Everything should be nice and free moving.
The motor simply clips in. The wiring I fed through the chassis, through the steering rack and one of the crossmembers on the chassis and then through two pre drilled holes.
The body sits tightly against the chassis and if the wiring were left loose the body simply wouldn’t fit. Plus routing the wiring through the chassis makes everything look nice and neat.
George Turner does provide resin bushes for the rear axle. Pendles supply metal bushes with their running gear kits though.
I personally prefer metal bushes as they should theoretically last longer. Realistically slot cars, especially home raced slot cars, aren’t really going to cover enough miles over the course of their lives to wear away either a plastic or metal bush.
This is a complete tangent but I wonder if anyone’s ever replaced those bushes with a tiny ball bearing? In theory it would reduce resistance…. That’s something for future Richard to look into.
The rear axle looks completely out of centre in this picture. I promise it isn’t!
The rear gear was the only part of this kit that really caused me any problem. The back of the body wouldn’t fit over it so I just had to take a tiny lump out of it.
The spare wheels cover where I’ve had to make the modification, so it’s not a problem really.
The body is mounted! The chassis and body are held together with three screws. It’s going to be a handsome thing!
To paint the car I used Halfords white primer, then the top coat is Mercedes Artic White and then I put a clear lacquer over that.
The exhaust and the chain drive gears were added next.
Accessories painted. I use Vallejo paints on everything I hand paint. If there’s any particular colour you’d like to know the name of, just ask and I’ll let you know!
The interior detailing on this car was really nice. The gauge has tiny markings around the face as well as the needle which I was able to pick out. It’s a really impressive casting!
The old fashioned seats with the button tufting look fabulous. It’s a shame the driver and mechanic will cover them up.
The radiator grill was dry brushed. Basically I painted the whole thing black, then when I went to paint the silver, I wiped most of the paint off of the brush and lightly went over the grill to highlight the moulded pattern.
Some people can get it looking really nice and uniform. I’ve not figured that out yet. It gives the illusion of a grill though.
The driver and mechanic.
I went over them lightly with a black weathering powder just to make their overalls look grimy. Racing in this era wasn’t a particularly clean business.
Here’s the finished product!
To conclude, I’d say that this was the best engineered slot car kit I’ve ever built. On the whole everything fit together really nicely, the steering was a lovely surprise and all the details in the casting were really nice and crisp. I’ll be doing more of these in the future for sure!
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By Richard Francis
