Slot cars

[Mr T]

I remember having the Airfix set with the BRM and Ferrari when it came out for Christmas. I recall Airfix did some kits  and figures, that were quite nice. They also used some of their bodies from the 1/32nd car kits and produced kits  with the car kit and a new underbody with a motor etc, I had a Mini, which was a brilliant runner and a Cortina, which wasn't. Almost completely forgot about them until I read this post. I liked the fact the Airfix front wheels followed the track around the corners, unlike Scalextric. 

[s.e.charles]

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2011/03/slot-car-addiction-joys-of-model-racing.html

 

 

[nearsightedjohn]

I grew up in So. California in the 50’s-60’s. One night  in the early 60’s (63?) my dad (a tool & die maker)  brought home A big box of Eldon slot car track pieces from his job. I believe he was making a die for the metal contact strips for Eldon. Mom & dad popped for a transformer, two controllers and two Eldon cars (an Impala and a C2 Corvette if I recall) from the local toy store and my two older brothers and I had a blast wearing this first slot car set out that year. A few years later I got into racing 1/24 Cox cars (a Chaparral and a Cheetah) at a neighborhood track and then graduated into scratch building my own chassis using soldered brass tubing, plate and vacuum form bodies. My last build was a Ford GT Mirage (1969?).  Wonderful memories.

Fast forward 40 years (2010) and after reading an article in Road & Track about contemporary Scalectrix cars & tracks, I directed my much better than my youth hobby budget on buying a Scalectrix starter set, expansion tracks and a few cars every years. It’s fun to assemble a race course in the living room about once a year and invite my much younger car buddy (56) over with our adult kids for a Holliday Grand Prix. If only my body and knees were as limber kneeling on the floor as it was last century!

[Troy Smith]

On 08/05/2020 at 22:44, s.e.charles said:

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2011/03/slot-car-addiction-joys-of-model-racing.html

 

 

in the link, this....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UQ2vqFJvpA

 

bonkers.  I had to watch it again.

[JeroenS]

Mesmerizing!

[rob Lyttle]

On 03/06/2020 at 01:33, nearsightedjohn said:

A few years later I got into racing 1/24 Cox cars (a Chaparral and a Cheetah) at a neighborhood track and then graduated into scratch building my own chassis using soldered brass tubing, plate and vacuum form bodies. My last build was a Ford GT Mirage (1969?)

Great recollections John! 

I think we were pretty much contemporaries, though I was in the UK. 

Those Cox cars, (and Russkit....?) were something of an expensive import. 

My last effort was a Chapparral 2F.. Not a roaring success. 

But I made a Ford J in 1.32 which was a gem. Sidewinder style with the motor running direct on the back tyre. Just a valve rubber tube on the motor pinion. 

 

Ever fancy remaking an old scalextric car?? 

Trouble is it's all plastic with no proper constituent parts. 

Nice to read your recollections 👍

[johnlambert]

I've been messing around with some of my slot cars, which were unearthed from the loft early in lock down.

 

The yellow Ferrari you can see was missing its airbox and also had a disintegrated pinion.

 

Thanks to ebay I sourced a replacement airbox and got the correct type of pinion on the second try.

 

I also replaced the guide blade, which split when replacing the pick-up braids (I'd forgotten what a fiddly job that is).

 

Here it is with the Brabham that came from the same set (both picked up cheap, second hand about 20 or more years ago).

 

The tyres are a bit hard and starting to crack (back to ebay for replacements, I guess) and the cars have no traction magnets, so they slide round corners.  I've probably spent more than the cars are worth on spares and stuff, even though I doubt I've spent more than £5 so far, but it's as much about the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

[Sterzo]

Stumbled on this great thread by accident, so thought I’d join the forum!

 

My first slot car was a tinplate Scalextric Ferrari in 1959. From 1962 to 1965, belonged to a slot racing club in Cambridge, making occasional forays to open meetings elsewhere.

 

Moved to London in the mid sixties, and slot racing became all about orange sponge tyres and overwidth bodies, so it left me behind. In 1972 I recruited a group of friends to race in the sixties spirit, building models for realism (within the limits of our meagre skills) rather than as works of model engineering. We all liked historic motor racing and made mainly cars you’d see at Vintage meetings.

 

This carried on, usually with four of us, sometimes more, until 1996 when we drifted apart. The circuit was a forty foot lap-length two lane, Scalextric track, on demountable sections. It filled my dining room, and my wife was banned from buying extra furniture in case the track wouldn’t fit.

 

Loft is now full of “pre-used period collectibles” (i.e. boxes of old junk). In recent times I’ve dug out some cars and put them on display. They’re mainly balsa bodies, made while peering through a layer of sawdust on the inside of my glasses. I’m not a precision worker, and  relied on patience rather than skill to get them something like the real thing. They’re all a bit misshapen and battered, but then, so am I.

 

Could say more if anyone’s interested… you have been warned.

 

Here are some recent pics. First, a box from the loft….

 

 

...and a miscellany, from left to right: 1958 Ferrari, 1924 Alfa, 1914 Peugeot, 1953 Jaguar, 1957 Maserati (Airfix cockpit with balsa front and rear), and 1935 ERA in front.

 

 

 

and finally a 1952 Gordini, 1953 Ferrari and 1948 Maserati

 

[rob Lyttle]

1 hour ago, Sterzo said:

and  relied on patience rather than skill to get them something like the real thing. They’re all a bit misshapen and battered, but then, so am I.

 

Could say more if anyone’s interested… you have been warned.

Aw Man...... Fantastic ‼️😍

What a great model collection. Every one is a classic! 

Why don't you pick a couple of favourites..... if you can choose favourites from THAT...... and do some close-up pics.? Underneath shots etc 

That Maseratti in the last picture kind of looks like it has steering. Is that just an optical illusion? 

I remember some makers had functional steering front wheels. Was it MRRC and Airfix?? 

I bet they were done with the aid of Prototype Parade drawings from Model Cars magazines 😎👍‼️

 

Show us more...... 

[rob Lyttle]

On 06/06/2020 at 10:16, johnlambert said:

messing around with some of my slot cars, which were unearthed from the loft early in lock down.

I missed your post, John. 

Can't beat a bit of tinkering with these. 

Your picture illustrated just how sparse those scalextric cars are. 

Not much left in there to adjust 

[Sterzo]

Wow, thank you for your kind words, Rob, and others for their "likes". You never know if anyone is going to be interested...

 

None of my cars has steering. Airfix cars did (later branded as Airfix-MRRC), and VIP had very good steering. I never liked it though, as you can't make it look right on a small model. The wheels always pivoted miles inboard instead of where it should be. Oh, and I did use Prototype Parade drawings for most, though for the one below I drew my own because theirs was awful.

 

I shall get out the bellows camera and magnesium flash and take some pics of the workings as you suggest, Meanwhile, here's another view of the 1958 Ferrari Dino 246, with Mike Hawthorn on board. Always enjoyed carving the drivers - nothing pervy, just liked trying to get them right. Car and driver made from balsa, exhausts from sheet plastic, aero screen and wrap round screen (Mike had both) from celluloid from a shirt collar. (V cheap). The wheels are ancient Super Shells soft aluminium alloy. I trimmed off the outer rims with a Stanley knife, hand-knitted a wire spoke pattern with 5 amp fuse wire, and Araldited the rims back on. MRRC tyres, ground to profile with coarse abrasive paper while they rotated on a wheel mounted on an antique gramophone motor. (Obviously). Who says model makers are insane?

 

Buried inside is a 3 pole motor, gears, and plastic chassis front-end kit, all by MRRC.

 

Edited June 14, 2020 by Sterzo

[rob Lyttle]

Well, I've decided to have a go, again! 

I'm just making it up as I go along so it could be a crash and burn project, but I'll see what happens. 

It's a makeover of a scalextric Nissan which is a sidewinder chassis with one of these rotating pick up guides. 

Here's the deconstruction of the car. 

On the left is the standard production chassis, and on the right is the one I chopped for the Corvette conversion some time ago. 

Under the bodyshell I now have this.... 

 

I'm kind of using the shell as a jig, and using the small gauge brass rod to insert into the screw fixing lugs and the brackets inside the sills. 

It looks like this.... 

..... And the main, bigger diameter tubes are level with the sill line. 

 

I think I need some flat brass strips or sheet to proceed with axles and pick-up, and the motor installation is going to be emotional ⁉️🤔

I was surprised how strong and rigid the whole thing feels already though. 

The other Nissan shell is masked and rattle spraycan primed to make it look like a car instead of an advertising billboard! 

[rob Lyttle]

Thought I would put up some progress on my Nissan slot car. 

Some considerable fiddling and faffing has been involved ‼️

But I have a rolling chassis and a painted shell. 

 

 

4 tyres square on the track, sidewinder gears meshing a bit better, guide looks like it is at the right height, and the original front Reinforcement piece is back in. 

I thought about doing a drop arm for the pickup.... remember those?..... but we'll save that for another day! 

It's all a bit rough and ready, but that's the nature of research prototypes 😅

[fightersweep]

Great topic! Never entered the world of Scalextric, but did get bought a TCR set one Christmas at which I was thoroughly rubbish (it would often conk out in between lane changes and one car was way faster than the other making it a ridiculously one sided affair). My mate had a Matchbox "Race and Chase" where I fared a little better. I did have this great raceway on my doorstep though, which I visited every so often. It was hugely popular back in the day....

 

 

 

Steve

[johnlambert]

1 hour ago, fightersweep said:

Great topic! Never entered the world of Scalextric, but did get bought a TCR set one Christmas at which I was thoroughly rubbish (it would often conk out in between lane changes and one car was way faster than the other making it a ridiculously one sided affair). My mate had a Matchbox "Race and Chase" where I fared a little better. I did have this great raceway on my doorstep though, which I visited every so often. It was hugely popular back in the day....

Steve

I remember the adverts for TCR maked it look great; but even at the tender age I must have been back then, I was cynical enough not to believe the advertising hype and always suspected that it would be disappointing in reality.

 

A couple of friends both had the Matchbox Race and Chase set.  I think one friend's set worked better than the other. Might have been more used and better looked after?  I remember the second friend had some extra track and we built a big oval and used the seesaw piece as a ramp to try and jump as far as possible.

[rob Lyttle]

This just turned up on the Heller Forever pages, great little video. I hope this link works.... You may need fbook to use it.... 

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/103995076609636/permalink/1332177073791424/

[Billy54]

The memories.

We, my brothers and I, were first introduce to slot car racing via Airfix in, I think, the early 60's. I seem to remember a Porsche (in yellow?), a Cooper in green, a shark nosed Ferrari in, what else but, red and there must have been a fourth car but I cannot remember what it was.  Our early track layouts were simple variations of the figure eight but as we acquired more track pieces the layouts became bigger and more complex encompassing pretty much the entire area of the living room floor, furniture was moved to the walls to ensure more real estate for our tracks. As the hobby grew Airfix released accessories for the slot car line and we built and painted pits, pit crews, grand stands and spectators. Airfix also issued a Mercedes, Vanwall and an Auto Union which because of the longer wheel bases performed better than the smaller cars which they first issued, same electric motor were in all the cars.

As we matured in the hobby, clubs were starting to form and we discovered 1/32 scale slot cars from Monogram and Cox which came with a brass chassis, faster motors and wider and better tyres. These American imports proved too fast for our Airfix track so we started to build four lane layouts but only using the centre two lanes, that way the Mongram cars could slide around the corners without putting a wheel over the edge of the track and coming off. Clear plastic bodies were introduce which lacked the detail of the hard plastic but made the cars lighter and lowered the centre of gravity, there was also an explosion of different body styles. Because the clear plastic bodies could be attached to the chassis via pins modified chassis were developed with small brass tubing attached which enabled a slightly bent pin to be pushed through the lower body and into the brass tubing attached to the chassis. Prior to that balsa wood was sometime glues to the inside of the hard plastic body and the chassis was attached to the balsa via screws. 

The club experience opened the door to building our own chassis and rewinding the motors (in fact I still have a roll of copper wire that use to apply super glue to parts when I'm building plastic kits). When I first came to the US, in 1975, I built a one lane track on a four foot by eight foot base on which I could 'play cars' .  It seems that shortly after that slot car racing began to die out and my interest slowly died although I still some of my cars bur no track to race them on.     

[Pete in Lincs]

A few months ago my Son raided the attic for old toys and retrieved a boxful of Scalextric track with a car.

He couldn't find any other cars though. A coupple of days ago I got the Crimbo decs down. Guess what I found?

Scalextric Batmobile and Joker Porsche along with a yellow Mini. Son is very happy!