Competition cars are generally taken to events by some means of transportation. Even at grass roots level the norm is to not drive a competing rally or race car to and from events.

This thread is to show off your slot-car transporters and trailers.

I just showed this Marlboro transporter in another thread and when viewing the photographs afterwards, I realised that I had not fitted the had rails to the upper deck...

I bought the resin cab (FIAT 643) and fabricated the cargo assembly. Getting everything square shaped and aligned was a challenge but I got a decent outcome. The tailgate lowers to allow loading the lower deck but I decided not to attempt the mechanism to raise it to the upper deck.
The Lancia team transporter was a conversion of an existing FIAT transporter with the "parts bin" added on.
A key aspect of my build was to get chequerplate for the load area and the only place that seems to sell such plasticard is Green Stuff World in Spain. GSW Site

Leo


   

   

   

          

Good prices at Time Tunnel Models (No affiliation other than as paying customer.)

https://www.timetunnelmodels.com/live/ca...8_111.html

Leo

2020 will be the eleventh year of 1/64 scale slot car racing in Worthing - and we'll mark the club's tenth birthday at our February Nascar night.

   

Our HO racing is great fun and a perfect introduction to slot car club racing. Competitive club cars and controllers are available at all HO events and are included in the entry fee of just £3 (£2 for under-16s). There's lots more info on our website: whoracing.org.uk

Expect plenty of race coverage here on SlotRacer Online throughout the season. There is a separate thread here for our WHO/digital Scalextric digital racing.

The 2020 Micro Scalextric range has just been unveiled at Hornby HQ and all the new Micro products should be in the 'New For 2020' pages on the Scalextric website... Except it is really struggling with all the excitement just now.
 
This is the second year of new Micro Scalextric / My First Scalextric track system, which I looked at on SlotRacer Online here. It seems that the 2019 sets did well in the run up to Christmas, both in terms of the publicly-available stats at Amazon and Argos, recommendations from Toy industry websites and in the overwhelming positive feedback by consumers. Two sets were included in last year's Good Toy Guide, including the Law Enforcer set...
 
         
 
So have Scalextric followed that up in 2020? There will be three sets to add to the range, one extra individual car and three Micro Scalextric Accessory Packs. Let's have a look at them...
 
       
 
What caught my eye first was the 007 No Time To Die set - a tie-in with the new James Bond film which is due in cinemas this April. The set contains a re-worked Aston Martin DB5 body that fits the new Micro Scalextric chassis. The DB5 is the iconic movie car and the previous Micro Scalextric version is one of the prettiest 1/64 scale cars that Scalextric have produced.
 
The second car in the set is the Jaguar XF - the standard-issue vehicle for the double-O team in recent Bond movies. This is new tooling for 2020 and the first proper road car for the new Micro system.
 
The set will contain black, undecorated track which will appeal to more mature Micro enthusiasts. It is the medium-sized set - building nine different layouts - and features a battery-powered powerbase. This delivers the same 9 volts as the mains powerbase, but makes the set more versatile and cheaper. A mains powerbase is available as one of the new Accessory Packs. This 007 set is, without doubt, top of my 2020 slot car shopping list.
 
   
 
These are the three new Micro Scalextric Accessory Packs, priced between £10 and £15, all in the same pocket-money price-range as the individual cars. There is the mains powerbase (including UK or US power supply), a stunt loop track and a Straights & Curves pack that includes four 45-degree standard curves and six standard (6-inch) straights - all undecorated black track. I'm sure these will be joined by other Accessory Packs in the next few years.
 
       
 
The second new set is the Batman vs Joker race set. This features last year's Batman character car plus a brand new tool - the 1/64 version of what Scalextric have called their Rasio hypercar - decorated superbly as the Joker's car. The set is another battery-powered medium-sized layout with the decorated black track we say in the 2019 Micro sets. Where I was a little underwhelmed by last year's Justice League cars, I find this new set really attractive.

In terms of individual cars, last year's Superman car will join Wonder Woman and The Flash in the Justice League range. Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner and Penelope Pit Stop's Compact Pussycar will remain in the catalogue, but no new Wacky Races or Looney Tunes individual cars will be added in 2020.
 
       
 
The third and final new set is probably the most important for Scalextric, but will mean very little to most grown-up slot car enthusiasts. The Ryan's World Ryan's Street Chase set features the 2018 police SUV as the Ryan Patrol car and the new Rasio hypercar as Dark Titan Racer. Like the Batman vs Joker set, this is the medium-size set, battery-powered and has decorated black track. It's a great little set and I like the cars... but who is this Ryan kid?
 
Ryan's World is a YouTube channel with over 23 million subscribers and an eye-watering 30 billion views since 2015, including some of the most-watched videos on YouTube. Ryan Kaji is just eight, but he and his family are some of the most recognisable people on the planet for young children. Ryan's World is all about reviewing and playing with toys - so for Micro Scalextric to have a Ryan's World licensed and branded set in their catalogue is a big deal. Despite the enduring ethical issues around social media influencers promoting products to children, official branding is about as transparent as you can get.
 
       
 
That's pretty much it for Micro Scalextric in 2020 - apart from adding that some of last year's sets will be re-released as batter-powered versions. The My First Scalextric Looney Tunes set (with Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny) was the one 2019 set on show at Margate today with the battery pack. 

If you want to take a look at the entire Scalextric 2020 range - 1/32 scale as well as 1/64 - there's another thread here.

The wait is over - the 2020 Scalextric range has just been unveiled at Hornby HQ in Margate and on the Scalextric website. It looks like the Hornby website is creaking a bit - there must be a lot of excited people around the world trying to get a peak. So while you're waiting...

       
 
Counting on my fingers, there are 14 (or maybe 15?) completely new models with new tooling - that's twelve in 1/32 scale and three for the 1/64 scale Micro Scalextric brand. There are additions across all the ranges, plus some cool TV and movie-themed stuff that will appeal beyond the established Scalextric audience...
 
       
 
There is an evolution of the Spark Plug wireless control system which will feature in one of the six new sets (including three Micro Scalextric sets and one new ARC Pro Digital set). There is also plenty for families starting out or progressing with Scalextric in either 1/32 or 1/64 scale, including some must-have sets...
 
       
 
It's an exciting new catalogue with some fabulous new cars and some mouth-watering new liveries on existing models. I'm pretty confident that Scalextric fans the world over will be delighted.
 
If the Scalextric website hasn't gone into meltdown, I'd suggest you head there first. Then come back here for some exclusive pictures from Margate, commentary and a few snippets from the Scalextric team. I've already posted all about the 2020 Micro Scalextric range on SlotRacer Online here.
 
Before I continue, I'd like to say a big thank you to Martyn, Simon and the Scalextric team for inviting me to Margate and showing me what they've been busy putting together over the past couple of years. You've done an excellent job - thanks for sharing it with SlotRacer Online!

Reading a model railway magazine over Christmas I came across this firm offering to 3D print a scale figure of yourself. LINK

Not cheap at £30 for the scan and another £15 for the actual figure but a novel addition to the layout perhaps?

While we are on the subject of 3D printed figures can someone enlighten me why they are so expensive please? As I understand it one figure will use about 20p worth of material. Adding in a bit of electricity cost, designer's time and effort creating it, a selling price around £2 should give an acceptable level of profit but they cost from £7 upwards to silly money. Is it anything to do with the time it takes to print them?

I used the season holidays to create a new track, the „Boombergbaan“ aka the Triple B track. Here in my town there’s an area called the Bloomberg after which I named the track.

The previous track I had was 1,22m by 5,10m and had some fly-overs.
I was not completely happy with it, in some places it was hard to see the car. You can guess how many cars were damaged by the youngster in our neighborhood who love to come racing.

So I wanted a „flat“ track with a good visibility and using less space because it was hard to create a working space in the room, where SHMBO also has some stuff occupying space    Also I wanted the track to be simple but yet challenging.

The track length is about 15m, it’s a digital Arc Pro setup. I used 2 pit lanes, 3 straight lane changers, one hairpin, 4 K1, 12 K2, 8 K3 and 6 K4’s. Where you see a combination of a full, a half, a quarter and a short straight (twice on the backend) these are just to simulate the extra long straight I got in my start set. I don’t have them (yet) in Ultimate Racer with which I designed the layout.

Space occupied now is 3,67m by 1,22 and the length of the L-shapes side is 1,90m.

Next is some scenery but first we had a go, the boys loved it :)

I’ll post some pictures later, for now here’s a screenshot from Ultimate Racer:

   

Good evening,

I am on the look out for some slot car branded track banners, I have been in contact with NSR and they said they would said me some through gauge master but nothing as of yet. but if anyone has anything else would be great.

Many thanks

Time to start this one then, what have you bought this year?


My first purchase, Slot.It Mercedes 190E DTM:    

Very pretty but it seems that not even the mighty Slot.It are free of quality control problems. Fired it up and no response, took it apart to find that one of the lead wires wasn't connected to the braids. Also the front wheels wouldn't turn, adjustment screws on the axle too tight. Not a major problem and easily fixed but you would expect a £50 car to actually run straight out of the box!
   

A small query, this packet of bits was included:    

The wheel  inserts, grub screws and Allen key are fairly self explanatory but can anybody tell me what the washer, black and chrome plastic bits are for please?

The announcement of the new NSR Formula 86/89 range towards the end of 2019 took most people by surprise... especially as the first cars are due any time now. This video of the first 'Test Car' models was posted by NSR today...




The Formula 86/89 concept is typical of NSR - a high-performance racing car class that evokes the shapes and stance of Formula One cars from the late 1980s. The rear track is 67mm, wheelbase 90mm and guide to rear axle 95mm. The weight of the body is 11g and the highest point is 24mm...

         

Underneath the generic late-80s body is a 21,400 rpm King Evo 3 long can motor in a new inline motor pod that has five mounting points to the chassis. The gear ratio is 10:27. Rear wheels are aluminium air system hubs. Front wheels are 'extralight' aluminium hubs with no-grip tyres. The front axle height is fully adjustable.

         

Four different chassis and four different motor pods will be available - Medium, Hard, Soft and Extra Hard. A new suspension kit will be available for the Formula cars (soft, medium and hard springs). The current range of NSR gears, pinions and guides will fit the new car. New 1980s-style F1 wheel inserts will be available in white, black, gold and red.

         

It looks like these cars will shake up slot car club's F1 racing in 2020. Plenty of decals from this era of Formula One are available from the likes of Pattos Place and IndyCals.

RRP for the new NSR test cars is £69.95, but retailers such as Pendles and MRE have them listed for less. They are expected in the UK this month.