Maxi-Models - A ‘Lost’ Manufacturer - Printable Version

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Maxi-Models - A ‘Lost’ Manufacturer - CMOTD - 23rd-Nov-19

If you should Google Maxi-Models today then an awful lot of sites promoting the modelling services of fuller figure ladies will predominate, but delve a little deeper and you should come across some references to a range of slot cars. This is their story.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away an 11 year old boy called Max Winter was parked at a commercial slot car raceway at the bottom end of Hamlet Court Rd in Westcliff-on-Sea by his grandmother while she went off to do the shopping. It was centred around 1/24th scale subjects as it was nearly all imported from the US. The seeds of a lifelong interest were sown and, as a result, his first slot car was a McLaren M6 Can-Am contender, liveried as driven by Denny Hulme.

Sometime later, now in his early 30’s Max stumbled upon a model car shop near his office called St Martins Accessories and, with a bit of disposable income to splash out, he spied the self-same McLaren that had spurred his interest in Motorsports some 20 years previously. It was a 1/43 white metal kit made by John Simmons of Marsh Models.  The shop owner plonked it in his hand and its detail, finish and fidelity to the original was like nothing he’d seen before. He was smitten, a new hobby had been found. Soon after this, an article in Supercar Classics in 89 brought in slot cars to add to the static model habit.

The original concept for what later became a “Maxi-Model” first came about in the late 80s. Max Loved the old Scalextric/Exin stuff but wanted something better than the then current mainstream offerings that could approach the standards of the artisan produced 1/43rd scale models that he built and bought ready-made. He found the one 1/32nd scale resin multimedia kit available, a Michel Conte Ferrari F40 and set about converting it. It worked, after a fashion, but the full time job meant it remained just an idea and sat on a shelf. Then in the mid’ ‘90’s along came Fly, Ninco and the Spanish resin makers Slot Classic and Top Slot. Between them they really upped the game quite a bit and while all were excellent in their own right it was still not quite there yet to his eyes.
 
So, In 2000 Max decided to go into business as a small scale manufacturer trading under the name of Maxi-Models and marketing niche slot cars. That is to say, high quality slot cars based on race cars that might otherwise have been overlooked by the mainstream volume producing manufacturers. By now he had a large collection of both slot cars and static handmade miniatures from which to draw inspiration and he wanted to make something a bit more special than was on the market at the time. The cars would be accurate race/driver specific scale models while still having reasonable performance as slot cars.
Except for proprietary components such as the motor, gears and guide blades he proposed to make everything in house. Over the next few months Max tapped into the creativity of a group of talented craftsmen, including two of Britain’s top model pattern-makers, to ensure the success of this new venture.

Major contributors to the project included:
John Shinton – made the masters for all models except the Ferrari 612P.

Chris Sargent - made the masters for the Ferrari 612P. He also made most of the masters for Marsh Models.

Dave Buttress/CMA Moldform – Resin mouldings, metal castings and vac forms.

PEC – Photo etched parts.

Professor Motor - 26,000 rpm Mabuchi 'S' cans which replaced the original Scalex’ 'S' cans.

K&R Replicas – Tyres.
 
John Simmons/Marsh Models – helped with a lot of information on car specifications and build advice.
 
Spot-On Decals - They produce full size replica liveries for historic racers too.
 
Milton Keynes Paints who came up with all the matches for the cars.
 
Adrian Norman of Hornby Hobbies hosted the website and sales facility.
 
Having purchased a cottage which was formerly an antique shop he converted the shop part into the production centre, complete with a 65ft scenic track and set to work.
[attachment=4548][attachment=4549]
The first model was ready by July 2001 being the McLaren M6A #5 Denny Hulme 1967 Laguna Seca or #4 Bruce McLaren 1967 Laguna Seca, catalogue #MX-001. This was the very same car that had sparked his interest in motorsport, slot cars and modelling all those years previously.

The fully built RTR model was complete with a diorama base and CD-ROM V8 soundtrack at the then hefty retail price of £199 but to cater for smaller wallets it was also available as a prepainted kit at a lower price level of £99.  The kit included the polyurethane resin body ready painted and finished, chassis, white metal castings, turned aluminium wheels, etched stainless steel detail components, vac-formed tinted screen, synthetic rubber tyres, Mabuchi motor, water-slide decals and a fully illustrated instruction sheet. Two heads with different helmets and choice of race numbers allowed you to build it as either Bruce or Denny.  An unpainted kit was also available at £65 for the more experienced modellers who liked to paint their own.
It was a limited edition of 300 with hand written certificate and available through the specialist retailers who were most supportive of the venture – MRE, Scale Models, Pendle Slot Racing and Professor Motor.
 
It received rave reviews in the press and sold out in a fairly short space of time. Gary Cannell of MRE maintained it was probably the finest detailed slot car he had ever seen, better than a lot of collectors’ resin models but fully working and raceable. Encouraged by this initial success Max continued to produce further models over the ensuing couple of years and the range eventually included Lola T160, Ferrari 612P and a Ford GTP J car. All were available as fully built models, painted or unpainted full kits. A number of short run reliveries of the M6 variants were also produced with alterations to the masters by Max where necessary.

Built models and kits were initially supplied in made to order white “postal” cardboard boxes with coloured labeling showing front and side views of built up models with a separate printed L/E certificate. Later kits came in MRRC or Scalextric crystal display type boxes with a similarly printed sleeve that sometimes included the certificate printed on it rather than as a separate item. Most of the built models were supplied with their own ‘race specific’ diorama base and cover. An entry level, basic ‘Super Sport’ body kit which required a donor chassis was available for all models except MX001 and there was also a very limited run of ‘Sprint’ kits for some of the M6 variants with a lightweight body and full racing chassis.
[attachment=4510][attachment=4511]
Peter Novani’s comprehensive review of the first model by can be found in the NSCC magazine archives December 2001 issue, page 13 of the pdf and John Dilworth’s review of the later Lola T160 is in the October 2002 edition, page 23 of the pdf.

In 2004, although the models were reasonably successful and profitable, Max decided that overall demand wasn't sufficient to provide a viable long term source of income so he returned to a ‘proper’ job and wound down production. All the remaining stock was eventually bought by Phil Smith (scaleslotcars.com) who has one built model and three full kits available at the time of writing. He also has a stock of the spares, decals, chassis and bodies but these are not listed on his website so anybody interested in them would need to contact him direct.

Another ‘lost’ manufacturer then but Max’s cars were absolutely top notch and very few ever surface in the collectors’ market these days. As fairly heavy resin bodied items they obviously don’t stand comparison with today’s speed oriented makes such as NSR but they were very acceptable home racers and the attention to detail was way superior to anything else on the market at the time.




MX 001 M6A #5 Denny Hulme 1967 Laguna Seca/#4 Bruce McLaren 1967 Laguna Seca
Total production 300, approx. 1/3rd as built model, the rest kits. Decals for both versions were included. Three pre-production prototypes of this model also exist.
All built models are the Denny Hulme version apart from just one Bruce McLaren #4 Laguna Seca car with the larger rear brake ducts, which is owned by the man who did the artwork for the build instructions. It is certified 1/300 in the series.
 [attachment=4513][attachment=4512]

MX 004A M6B Jo Bonnier #9 1968 Bridgehampton
Built 5 Kit 80
[attachment=4515]

MX 004B M6B #99 Moises Solana
Built 6 Kit 13
[attachment=4516]

MX 004C M6B #11 Lothar Motschenbacher
Built 8 Kit 8
[attachment=4517]

MX 004D M6B #17 Jerry Titus
Built 7 Kit 5
[attachment=4519]

MX 004E M6B #55 Rodger McCaig
Built 4 Kit 4
[attachment=4520]


MX 004F M6B Richard Brown '69 #28
Built 5 Kit 7
[attachment=4521]

004G M6B #54 Oscar Kovaleski
Built 4 Kit 7
[attachment=4522]

MX 004H M6B Jay Hills'  '71, #81
Built 3 Kit 5
[attachment=4523]

MX 004J M6B #9 Jo Bonnier Riverside
Built 4 Kit 1
[attachment=4524]
 
MX010 M6 #4 Bruce McLaren
Built 16 Kit 36. Modified body master.
[attachment=4525]
 
MX 011A M6B "McLeagle" Dan Gurney #48 Bridgehampton
MX 011B M6B "McLeagle" Swede Savage #36 Laguna Seca
Built 30 Kit 39
[attachment=4526][attachment=4527]
 


MX 002 Lola T160TS John Surtees #7 1968 Riverside
Built 82 Kit 161
Aerofoil struts were pewter; they would bend but not snap like white metal would in a flip over.

[attachment=4532]


MX 005A Lola T160 Dan Gurney Can-Am 1968, #48
MX 005B Lola T160 Swede Savage Can-Am 1968, #36
Built 21 Kit 35
A completely separate body master from MX002, not just a livery change.
[attachment=4533][attachment=4534]

MX008 Ferrari 612P
Built 5 Kit 73
[attachment=4535]

MX015 Ferrari 612P
Built 5 Kit 47
A different body master to MX008
[attachment=4536]


MX 019 GTP 'J' car Le Mans test weekend 1966 McLaren/Amon.
Built 50 Kit 98
[attachment=4537]


 
MX 001B Santa
A one off promotional model with its own snow scene diorama base with Xmas tree! Inscribed around the cockpit are all 8 reindeer names – hence R8 power and shod by “Goodeer”. It has a red nose but does not light up.
[attachment=4538]

MX 006 M6 1967 High wing test car.
Prototype only, never released.
[attachment=4539]

MX020 M6B #6 Mark Donohue Sunoco M6B Penske
Not released. Body and chassis master only were produced.
[attachment=4540]


2 car sets on special diorama bases with covers.
MXD 001
1 Built
[attachment=4541]

MXD 007
1 Built
[attachment=4542]


MXD 014
1 Built
[attachment=4543]

Virtually all components were available separately with engine mouldings and wheels etc proving very attractive to scratchbuilders.
[attachment=4544][attachment=4546][attachment=4547][attachment=4545]

And Finally…………….
My thanks to Max Winter for his invaluable help in compiling this article, all photos were provided from his files and remain his copyright.

By the way, the masters are still in Max’s possession, including those for a couple of unreleased cars. If any budding entrepreneur would like to buy a turnkey project with support material and resurrect the range then I will happily put you in touch with him.

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RE: Maxi-Models - A ‘Lost’ Manufacturer - JasonB - 23rd-Nov-19

Great stuff Brian.

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RE: Maxi-Models - A ‘Lost’ Manufacturer - Scuderia_Turini - 23rd-Nov-19

Nice one Brian,
I always assumed that Maxi-Models was a one-man operation. With other contributors, the cost overheads must have been high. 

Great to have the background story recorded here.

Leo

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RE: Maxi-Models - A ‘Lost’ Manufacturer - JasonB - 26th-Nov-19

For anyone that would like to see more of these fantastic models, we have loads more photos over in the Maxi Models section of the Pit Lane

Maxi Models

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RE: Maxi-Models - A ‘Lost’ Manufacturer - Anthony B - 27th-Nov-19

What a fine summary and great that we have 'saved' a part of history of the hobby.

Superb work Brain.

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RE: Maxi-Models - A ‘Lost’ Manufacturer - autoavia - 21st-Jul-20

The slot car raceway was the Model Racing and Drag Centre run by Laurie Simmons, the friendliest of the Southend raceways. Max must have hung out there about the same time as I did. Every Saturday I turned up with my Monogram 1/24 Chaparral which was a brick compared to many of the other cars and paid half a crown (12.5p) to trundle around for an hour.
 The track was long and complex and I never did get the hang of it. I turned up one day and it was all closed down.

 In 1988 I was involved in an attempt to set up a club with an ex Butlins Bognor AMF Queen which belonged to Laurie's son Neil Simmons. Below is a link to Neil pictures of MRDC and some pictures of a track in a bedroom which I believe are the beginnings of Estuary Equipe which was a local club where many well known 60's racers competed including Laurie Simmonds, Reg Chapman, Ron Penn, Ian Pickering and others.

The club later had a clubroom above an archway which led to some lock up garages in St Helens Road Westcliff, about 5 mins away from MRDC. On page 2 of Neil's photos the track with posters on the wall is the Estuary Equipe clubroom. There was a second room next door for the pit area. I tried to help Reg Chapman revive Estuary Equipe in about 1971 but although we had a fair turnout for a few weeks the track just wasn't suited to the Group 20s and similar that most people were running by then so attendance dwindled and Reg called it a day. The rooms were taken over by a model railway club who cut up the track and dumped it on the roofs of the garages. The model railway club moved on but I think the building still exists.

The 19th picture on page one shows the original Wonderland tracks also built by Laurie. The track in the foreground was known as the Blue track and was very fast with an almost vertical banking which ran below the drivers podium. The hump on the straight was eventually flattened out to suit the later cars. The Yellow track in the background had a series of ramps to climb to a hairpin which was about 4 or 5 feet off the ground and was very difficult to drive. Both tracks were broken up when Wonderland bought the Tottenham King track. 

https://s282.photobucket.com/user/Hurri439/library/slot%20car?sort=4&page=1

 A few years ago I showed the photos to George Turner. Apparently the young lad in the eighth picture is George. He said he was better looking and less world weary in those days!

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RE: Maxi-Models - A ‘Lost’ Manufacturer - DPJ - 21st-Jul-20

(21st-Jul-20, 04:03 PM)autoavia Wrote:  The slot car raceway was the Model Racing and Drag Centre run by Laurie Simmons, the friendliest of the Southend raceways. Max must have hung out there about the same time as I did. Every Saturday I turned up with my Monogram 1/24 Chaparral which was a brick compared to many of the other cars and paid half a crown (12.5p) to trundle around for an hour.
 The track was long and complex and I never did get the hang of it. I turned up one day and it was all closed down.

 In 1988 I was involved in an attempt to set up a club with an ex Butlins Bognor AMF Queen which belonged to Laurie's son Neil Simmons. Below is a link to Neil pictures of MRDC and some pictures of a track in a bedroom which I believe are the beginnings of Estuary Equipe which was a local club where many well known 60's racers competed including Laurie Simmonds, Reg Chapman, Ron Penn, Ian Pickering and others.

The club later had a clubroom above an archway which led to some lock up garages in St Helens Road Westcliff, about 5 mins away from MRDC. On page 2 of Neil's photos the track with posters on the wall is the Estuary Equipe clubroom. There was a second room next door for the pit area. I tried to help Reg Chapman revive Estuary Equipe in about 1971 but although we had a fair turnout for a few weeks the track just wasn't suited to the Group 20s and similar that most people were running by then so attendance dwindled and Reg called it a day. The rooms were taken over by a model railway club who cut up the track and dumped it on the roofs of the garages. The model railway club moved on but I think the building still exists.

The 19th picture on page one shows the original Wonderland tracks also built by Laurie. The track in the foreground was known as the Blue track and was very fast with an almost vertical banking which ran below the drivers podium. The hump on the straight was eventually flattened out to suit the later cars. The Yellow track in the background had a series of ramps to climb to a hairpin which was about 4 or 5 feet off the ground and was very difficult to drive. Both tracks were broken up when Wonderland bought the Tottenham King track. 

https://s282.photobucket.com/user/Hurri439/library/slot%20car?sort=4&page=1

 A few years ago I showed the photos to George Turner. Apparently the young lad in the eighth picture is George. He said he was better looking and less world weary in those days!

What history! Loved looking at the pictures, thanks for sharing!

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RE: Maxi-Models - A ‘Lost’ Manufacturer - autoavia - 21st-Jul-20

Glad to share. There must be many people here who have never seen a proper raceway. To me they had a very special atmosphere. When they were busy MRDC and Wonderland were buzzing. I went back to Wonderland in 1988 about 5 years after the raceway had stopped operating during an abortive attempt to rescue the ex Tottenham Raceways AMF King and it was quite ghostly like moving around a sleeping giant and I mean giant the King covered a floor area 50 ft x 25ft with a lap length of 155 feet - a serious raceway!

 There are still some big raceways in the US including Buzzarama in Brooklyn which appears to have changed very little since the sixties. If you take a look at the videos on their website you will get a feel for the place and what serious racing was like in the sixties.

http://www.buzz-a-rama.com/
 
Unfortunately in the late 60's BSCRA and serious slot racing generally moved away from cars that looked like a scale model of the real thing and it all got very expensive and less interesting for me. 

Sorry if I hijacked the thread it wasn't intentional.

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RE: Maxi-Models - A ‘Lost’ Manufacturer - Scuderia_Turini - 22nd-Jul-20

(21st-Jul-20, 08:19 PM)autoavia Wrote:  ...There must be many people here who have never seen a proper raceway... 

True!

Many thanks to yourself and CMOTD for sharing these wonderful photographs. The term "Commercial Raceway" implies an atmosphere that is cold and controlled but that is obviously countered by regulars forming a friendly club-type environment. 
I guess that the monochrome photographs belie the "glamour" of the venues.
Perhaps we do these facilities a dis-service by labelling them as commercial, we don't do that with ten-pin bowling centres and such enjoyable experiences.

Leo

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