DYNAMIC:
Dynamic Models was founded by Robert “Hi” Johnson in the late
fifties, and specialized in model airplane accessories. That is, until the
advent of slot racing, a business that completely involved the company from 1963
to 1971. Dynamic’s specialty was small aluminum die-cast parts, and they
conceived some of the most intelligent frame designs of the sixties, producing
many variations of interchangeable motor mounts for virtually every available
slot racing motor. Wrongly labeled “magnesium”, they were really made of an
aluminum alloy. They sold very well and almost all 1960s slot racers had at
least one car with a Dynamic chassis. AMT acquired Dynamic in 1964, bringing the
capital needed to expand. AMT actually provided them with their first complete
cars, the Mustang and Cobra RTR derived from their own kits.
Business became
so good that Dynamic decided to market cars on their own, and issued their first
in 1966. It was the “Bandit”, an RTR packaged in a triangular display box, first
of the “Outlaw” series. This was a single-seat, bubble-topped “thingie” painted
a metallic root-beer color. The body was mounted by a fiendishly clever system:
you simply spread the body slightly and engaged two slots on each side of the
body onto tabs stamped on the brass body mount. The die-cast aluminum chassis
was hinged at the center, the whole front end effectively becoming a drop arm.
Wheels were beautiful American mag-style aluminum die-cast units, with
knife-edged front, and rear black sponge tires, soon to be replaced by glued and
trued gray sponge. All this was quite effective, and, with power by AMT’ s
purple FT16D, performance was excellent.
Dynamic’s Bandit in red, the Super Bandit and Bandit running gear. A clear body with brass mount and decals was also available.)
A sister car was issued at the same time, a futuristic coupe called the “Renegade”, with a sidewinder AMT purple FT36D. The chassis was of similar construction to the Bandit’s, but the rear American mag wheels were larger to accommodate the spur gear. These wheels were only used on this car and are quite rare. Both cars had self adhesive decals including a number 44 and blue stripes, along with a USAC crest.
A few months later, Dynamic released another new
car, the “Super Bandit” RTR. Painted black, it was decorated like the previous
models but used the DynaFlex suspension chassis, smaller tires on the same
wheels, and a hot “Green Hornet” rewound FT16D, painted pale metallic green
right over the purple. The magnets were of the “broken” type, a ferrite found by
local pros vastly superior to stock *. Mura, a North California company
specializing in high performance motors, probably supplied the rewound armature.
The windings were red, and it was dynamically balanced by drilling, rather than
grinding. Some had broken assembly tabs, so self-tapping screws attached can and
end bell. This was a very fast car indeed, for about ten minutes, when the
over-heated Mabuchi endbell would begin to melt, throwing the brushes sideways
and generally seizing the motor in full flight. Fortunately, the motor was sold
separately, if you could pay the hefty $9.95 price tag. Packaging was a clear
plastic box with printed paper insert.
Next was the Ferrari P3 kit, using a
beautiful Lancer clear body, the newest FT26 motor with nickel-plated or purple
can dubbed the “Mad Hornet”, and a sidewinder die-cast aluminum chassis. Wheels
were machined aluminum, with the Bandit front tires and gray spongies on back.
Decals were provided, and instructions were printed inside the clear plastic box
insert. It sold very well in spite of wheels that were too small for the
body.
A Mirage Can Am kit followed, later produced as an RTR with black or
red painted body. It used the new General Electric “Silver Hornet” motors, a
well-built product from an industrial viewpoint, but not well adapted for slot
racing use, with excessively violent dynamic brakes. This motor was mounted
inline in a DynaFlex chassis. The Mirage was sold in the same small clear
plastic box with printed insert.
At about this time, Dynamic issued a strange
hard-bodied kit in a large card display box. The “Swinger”, as it was called,
was a reworked AMT Hussein body with side slots for the brass body mount. The
chassis was an inline Dynaflex unique to this car and never sold separately,
fitted with a Russkit 33 motor.
The “Swinger” kit was a strange combination of old and new, featuring sponge tires and die-cast wheels, with obsolete Russkit 33 motor. Russkit’s Jim Russell was always able to sell these “dogs” to companies like Dynamic, Unique and Grand Prix. Courtesy Joe Alessi.)
The Swinger also had Dynamic’s Chaparral-style
wheels with black rubber tires, all parts being sealed under vac-formed clear
plastic “bubbles”. This now rare kit was followed by a whole series of RTRs as
Team Dynamic captain and in-house engineer Jack Garcia upgraded various elements
of the cars. They featured floating body mounts (“Sloppy Sam”) invented by Jim
Wessels and popularized by Team Riggen’s Jerry Cowan, and were eventually fitted
with Mabuchi’s latest end bell-drive FT16DBB, with upgraded ball bearings,
“oval” can vent holes, and better magnets.
In 1969, an East Coast pro, Erich
Hochdorf, designed a tapered center section anglewinder frame, made of a single
piece of spring steel on which the tapered drop arm and side pans were attached.
While there is no real reason why it should work any better than a normal
straight frame, it caught the attention of Hi Johnson and he copied it in brass.
Most subsequent Dynamic RTRs had this frame and the Mabuchi FT16DBB. Later
“deluxe” cars had a Mura “A” end bell-side drive can motor.
In 1970,after
AMT had jettisoned the company, Dynamic formed a partnership with Buzco owner Sy
Cohen, and they went in a big way into radio-controlled cars. By 1972, Dynamic
had all but dropped its slot car line.
They came back briefly with
specialized pro items in 1973, but this was a commercial failure. Hi Johnson was
killed in a hang-gliding accident in 1977.
Dynamic was one of the most
important suppliers of quality components for slot racing. Many new items have
survived and are still commonly used today by vintage racing
enthusiasts.
* The Californian pro-racers had discovered a superior Alnico circular magnet, and had devised a fixture to break it to fit the two resulting pieces inside the Mabuchi FT16 can. Later, this process was used by Mura (and subsequently Dynamic) for their “hotter” motors. Eventually, Mura created the tooling to cast new magnets, named “Mura 44”.
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