Friday, February 29, 2008

New LeMans Miniatures Audi

Click on the photos to read them more closely.

New Fly Porsche 911

I wonder if Fly has made a new mold or if this is the fat-fendered mold they've been using in the past.
Thanks to REH for sending the news!

Sultan XL Off Road Truck Chassis

Fernando from DSC has sent along photos of a new chassis.
This is the Off Road Truck Chassis – Sultan XL.


http://dsc-desgalslotcompetition.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

1:18th 1961 Chevrolet Corvette Mako Shark Diecast Car By AUTOart

The XP-755 Mako Shark show car was designed by Larry Shinoda under the direction of GM Design head Bill Mitchell in 1961, as a concept for future Chevrolet Corvettes. In keeping with the name, the streamlining, pointed snout, and other detailing was partly inspired by the look of that very fast fish. The "Mako Shark" was very similar to the 1963 Corvette, with some alterations. These included adding two more brake lights in the rear (six total), making the nose of the car longer and more pointed, creating a clear glass roof with a periscope-like rear-view mirror, and remodeling the interior.






Read all about this fine 1:18th diecast from AUTOart at this link
With Kind regards
Frank

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Spirit 2008 releases

Several things to note with this posting.
Here are the 2008 releases for Spirit, and REH is the sole US Distributor for Spirit.







AVAILABLE 501103 Peugeot 406 Silhouette Elis
AVAILABLE 501105 Peugeot 406 Silhouette Esso
AVAILABLE 501106 Peugeot 406 Silhouette Motul
AVAILABLE 601201 Courage C65 Pirelli
AVAILABLE 601302 BMW 2002 RAC Rally
AVAILABLE 601303 BMW 2002 Pneuhoge
AVAILABLE 601304 BMW 2002 Olimpia 72
AVAILABLE 601401 Porsche 936 LeMans 76
AVAILABLE 601402 Porsche 936 Nürburgring
AVAILABLE 601403 Porsche 936 Dijon 76
1st Quarter 501108 Peugeot 406 Silhouette Liqui Moly
2nd Quarter 601202 Courage C65 Gulf
2nd Quarter 601203 Courage C65 Kumho
2nd Quarter 601204 Courage C65 Fimat
2nd Quarter 601305 BMW 2002 GS Tuning
2nd Quarter 601307 BMW 2002 Jagermeister
2nd Quarter 601404 Porsche 936 Monza
2nd Quarter 601405 Porsche 936 Salzburgring
2nd Quarter 701501 VW Golf Street White
2nd Quarter 701502 VW Golf Street Black
3rd Quarter 701503 VW Golf Rally BP
3rd Quarter 801601 New Car 1 V1
4th Quarter 501104 Peugeot 406 Coupe Halfords
4th Quarter 501110 Peugeot 406 Silhouette BLS
4th Quarter 601205 Courage C65 Mazda
4th Quarter 601306 BMW 2002 Pack Nurburgring
4th Quarter 701504 VW Golf Gr.2 Kamei
4th Quarter 801602 New Car 1 V2
4th Quarter 801701 New Car 2 V1


1:32 SPORT SERIES CARS
AVAILABLE 501111 Peugeot 406 Silhouette SPORT
AVAILABLE 501114 Peugeot 406 Coupe SPORT
4th Quarter 601207 Courage SPORT
4th Quarter 601406 Porsche 936 SPORT


1:32 BLISTER KIT CARS
AVAILABLE 400590 Peugeot 205 KIT 2in1
AVAILABLE 500690 Renault 5 KIT 2in1
AVAILABLE 501190 Peugeot 406 Coupe KIT 2in1

Monday, February 25, 2008

Tire Cleaning Station

Recently, I joined a slot car club called IMAR (Iowa Model Area Racers). There are ten classes with very few minutes between heats for maintenance. Racing at home, I always use a paper towel and butane or Tiger's Milk to clean my tires before each race. In the club this takes too much time and is a hassle. One of the club members showed me a very neat tire cleaning station made with a slot car base, copper tape, velcro, a 9 volt wire end and two 9 volt battery holders.



The slot needs to be extended using a dremel or exacto knife and a narrow slot needs to be cut perpendicualr to the guide slot for the copper tape to go in and fold under the base. The velcro used on the tire cleaning station is the soft side of the velcro. Velcro spacing is determined by the widest track width of your slot cars. The 9 volt terminal end, battery holders and velcro strips can be bought at most electronic stores. Clear cellophane tape was put over the soldered wire ends for protection. Battery hold downs were glued in place using Goop. The extra battery holder is used to hold a spare battery. The battery holders hang down below the bottom edge of the base so wood dowel legs (not shown) were added.





Here's a pic of the tire cleaning station being put to use on a Slot.it Nissan. This is the way to clean your tires for club racing and home use too. Its fast, easy and there is no mess to deal with.




DSC - Sultan XL Chassis

We are a new Brand from Portugal, DSC – Desgal Slot Competition.
The Sultan is our first chassis, it is to apply en Revell bodies (Nissan Navarra, Mitsubishi Pajero, Vw Touareg)



Upcoming is the Sultan XL, the Chassis to use in Off Road Trucks.

We are also planning to have some spares…

At this moment the complete car (ready to run) will cost 160 euros.


To buy, or to any explanation please contact us to:

dsc@tvtel.pt

http://dsc-desgalslotcompetition.blogspot.com/


Hope you enjoy it,
Many Thanks,
DCS – Desgal Slot Competition

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Bachman Train Set # 00644, Deluxe Thomas with Annie and Clarabel.



For many years young people have revered and played with Thomas The Tank wooden trains on play tables with a plethora of wooden accessories.
Bachman Trains are producing a series of Thomas the Train in electric HO scale, They have obviously taken great effort to make faithful duplicates of the original wooden trains.
Deluxe Thomas with Annie and Clarabel is one of those sets and at first glance one could readily mistake them for the originals.
The set includes;
Thomas the Tank with moving eyes.
Annie the coach with international-style hook and loop couplers.
Clarabel the coach with international-style hook and loop couplers.
Bertie the bus.
Harold the Helicopter.
Sir Topham figure.
56" x 38" oval of snap-fit EZ Track
12 pieces of curved track, 3 pieces of straight
track and 1 straight plug-in terminal rerailer.
Power pack and speed controller.
Illustrated instruction Manual.
With This set one could relive the stories seen in books, on television, videos and feature films or just plain use ones imagination to create your own adventures.
The engine has a standard Bachman geared motor with all wheel pick up to insure smooth operation either on the supplied track or any standard HO track.
I feel that even though this set is designed for the younger folks there is no reason it can not be a part of any other layout. Just imagine how a grand child would react to seeing Thomas on dad or grand dad's layout.
After all model railroading is a journey into ones imagination.
I would have to give this set an above average rating for its uniqueness and its over all good quality.

Happy Railroading Bud

Bachman Train Set #00762 - THE SILVER STREAK


Again I will have to say that I have never been in favor of packaged train sets but producers like Bachman are surely turning my head by producing sets like the Silver Streak.
The set comes in a well produced package that displays its contents in a vivid manner showing the contents to any prospective buyer. Further it is printed in English, French and Spanish.
The set includes;
One powered GP40 diesel engine.
One unpowered GP40 diesel engine.
One single dome tank car.
One steel gondola.
One 40' stock car.
One off center caboose.
Twelve 18" radius curved steel E-Z tracks.
Three 9" steel E-Z tracks.
One 9" straight terminal / rerailer steel E-Z track.
One wall pack with speed controller.
Fourteen piece graduated pier set.
One signal bridge.
Twelve unpainted people.
Twelve telephone poles.
Twenty four railroad and street signs.
Twelve piece set of crossing gates.


The engines are painted in the well known War Bonnet theme and are very detailed in every way. The powered unit has an all wheel geared drive and electrical pick up that insures smooth operation under most circumstances.The engine is equipped with a bright head light. I found that the set ran smooth and well on grades and level tracks and tracked well on curves. It also ran well at slow speeds used for coupling operation.
All the units are equipped with E - Z Mate couplers and should be compatible with most other couplers. Close inspection of the rolling stock revealed fantastic details that are normally found on much more expensive units. The set includes information on how to trouble shoot problems that might arise and a support phone number.I feel this set would in on most layouts and would perform well. I especially feel that this would be a great set for anyone young or old to use as a starter set as it comes with so many extras. I would have to rate the Silver Streak with or above average and certainly a product to be enjoyed.

Happy railroading; Bud

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Watts on the Motor List


How to rate a motor, or create a class of motors which can compete against each other on an even footing? Do you use RPM, torque, or some kind of combination of the two?

After lengthy pondering, much staring into space, and a mercifully short session of calculations, the Slot Car News Motor List has been upgraded with the power output in Watts, for every motor for which we have both RPM and torque data. Power is the product of RPM and torque. The exact formula for maximum power is given in the Intro to the list. Watts were chosen due to ease of calculation, and because they are universal units of power. All you have to do to convert Watts to Horsepower is divide Watts by 746; the most powerful motor on the List puts out a whopping 35.7 Watts, or .048 HP! That is forty-eight thousandths of a HP, a number with which you can impress your friends. It is also about half of what a normal light bulb produces. So, click on the link at the head of the page ("click here to see updates") and amuse yourself by reading numbers.

In the photo above, motors are (counter-clockwise from upper right) Slot.It Boxer 2 (FK-180), Scalextric Moto Bike (FF-050), Plafit Fox (FK-130), Slot.It V12/3 21.5k (FC-130), Fly standard "black stripe" (FC-130), Cox TTX-250 (FT-36D), and Pittman DC-195A.

Lifelike news

Click on the image to read it larger.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Spirit GTI Golf prototype photos

Thanks to Jose from Spirit for these photos of a very nice looking little Golf.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

NY Toyfair - a few more pix

Motorhead Miniatures was showing some really great looking 1/32 figures.



Some photos of Scalextric cars, these were shown in Germany but I thought they were sure worth a second look.






Wednesday, February 20, 2008

MRRC Cheetah prototype photos

Well the eagerly awaited Cheetah from MRRC is coming together. John emailed these photos of his work on the car, nice so far. I'm sure a lot of slotters out there are hoping to see it soon.