New Spirit BMW photo...here first!

Well...we're all waiting for this one I think! What a beauty.

Thanks to Spirit for the photo!
DaveK

Slot It Nissan "Unisia Jecs"-review

The Unisia Jecs Slot It Nissan 390 GT1 is the third (and final) black and red livery made by Slot It of this popular slot car. The Nissan's are know to be quite fast and this car, with its new 21.5k motor is no exception.

Years ago I raced with Maurizio Ferrari of Slot It when he visited the club I belonged to then. While we were at the track that night he brought out the prototype of the Nissan body. We all marveled at the detail, especially the engine in the rear window. At that time, this level of detail was a rarity. Now the detail Slot It puts into their cars is the icing on a very, very fast "cake"...er... I mean slot car.

As you would expect the paint and printing on the car is flawless. And the red details over the black paint is well done and opaque.


The finish is very shiney and there are no problems with extra mold flashing on the body to be seen.

Slot It makes a light set that is user installed, with this car more than others I'm kinda feeling the lack of lights. I'd love to see the front lights and those beautifully modeled tail lights lit up as this car whizzed around the track.

Under the car we see the angle winder ready chassis, offset motor pod and orange endbell 21.5k motor.

Here we see inside the body and chassis (notice the intercoolers have been removed because they made contact with the chassis in previous models):




In the photo above you can see the channels for the wires now guide the wires under small brackets that don't allow the wires to foul the front axle, a nice feature.

While we're inside the car here, why is it that Slot It is the only company that's figured out how to make channels for the power wires that actually hold down the wires? Those channels are a great design and firmly hold the wires in place. I know this is nothing new but it struck me recently that Slot It have a great design here that no one has yet to copy.

A little grease here and oil there and it time to race the 76 gram car. The S2's went on the car and the car went on the track... and turned very quick 5.1's on the 61-foot East New York track. The car was very quiet and zipped around the track easily.

We had a set of NSR tires/wheels (#9010- 20x10 Ultra grip tires pre-mounted on wheels) on hand so they went on the car (along with a TSRF axle that fits the wheels a bit better than the Slot It axle...where's that standardization of 3/32 when you need it, eh?). With the NSR's in place the car did 4.9's and after a bit of truing to the tires it then dropped to a speedy 4.861 fastest lap. Nice and fast! The car had a very different feel with the NSR rubber, it seemed maybe a bit less predictable than the S2's. Going into the corners the car slid out a more in the top of the corner (under breaking) than with the S2's which tended to grip more at the top of the corner and then slide out at the apex of the turn.

The Nissan's, with their centered greenhouse, short wheelbase, and wide body just may be the speediest out of the box Slot It I've driven. And since we can't leave things as they are around here at Slot Car News this can will soon undergo a conversion to an angle winder open can 20k...more testing to follow about that soon.

Thanks to Fantasy World Hobbies for the car for review!
Dave Kennedy
Publisher, Slot Car News

New Artin DTM's...only $16.95 each!

Holy cow what a bargain at $16.95 each! Slot Car World and other Artin dealers are selling these cars now.

Hobbico acquires Revell

Champaign, Illinois, May 2, 2007 - Hobbico, Inc. announced today that it has acquired Revell-Monogram. Revell will continue to operate from its Northbrook, Illinois headquarters and will be led by Jim Foster, the company’s President since 2002 and a hobby industry veteran for over 40 years.

Revell is a world wide leader in detailed, scale model kits including cars, trucks, ships, and planes. Founded over 60 years ago, the company markets under the brands of Revell and Monogram which were combined in 1986. In September 2006, Revell’s European business was sold to a group led by Revell GmbH management.

Hobbico is the world’s leading manufacturer, distributor and retailer of model hobby products, including radio controlled models, plastic model kits, trains and other hobby products. The employee-owned company sells products through hobby shops, toy stores, chain stores as well as its retail subsidiary, Tower Hobbies.

“Revell has had seven different owners over the last 37 years,” said Jim oster, “but this new combination with Hobbico represents a unique partnership that provides stability for the company’s dedicated staff and the resources they need to create exciting new models. Hobbico understands what’s mportant to serious modelers. Joining the strengths of the two companies will lead to products that modelers will really appreciate.”

Revell’s research and development staff includes many talented professionals who have been with the company for as long as five decades. They will continue to manage the creation and manufacturing of all new and existing products from their facility in the Chicago area.

“Many modelers who fly or drive R/C got their start in the hobby by building a plastic model kit,” said Wayne Hemming, President of Hobbico. “Plastic kits are the foundation of model building. We are committed to giving Revell the support it needs to continue its 60-year tradition of quality and excellence in plastic models.”

The Revell and Monogram brands both originated in 1945. Revell started out with plastic toys. Their first plastic model kits sold in 1951 were a series of vintage cars called Revell Highway Pioneers. The first model was a 1913 Maxwell, a car made famous by comedian Jack Benny.

Monogram started with wooden ship models and progressed to flying control-line and free flight airplanes as well as CO2-powered cars. Their first all-plastic kit, a midget racing car, came in 1954 and sold for 98¢. Next came a Hot Rod and a Racing Speedboat which both were sold as “Snap-Fit and Press-Fit for Jiffy Assembly.”

“Both Revell and Monogram have produced literally thousands of different models over their long history,” said Jim Foster. “Every effort has been made to preserve the production tooling for possible future re-releases.

Over the coming years, we will work to not only create exciting new releases, but also bring back many classic favorites from years gone by.”

Links:

www.hobbico.com

4x4

4x4, originally uploaded by Deego.

Off Road Puppies

Off Road Puppies, originally uploaded by Daniel Del Sarto.

Red Car

CIMG3569, originally uploaded by easygoal.