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The latest eBay purchase:

MSC Metro 6R4 Rally Slot Car - Didier Auriol and Bernard Ocelly
Condition is ‘Used as New’.
UPDATE - PLEASE NOTE ONE WINDSCREEN WIPER IS MISSING.
See photos. Little use by Adults, no children. Original braids.

   

Straight out of the box it looked great, the only obvious issue being declared, the missing wiper.

However, the first thing I always do before applying power to a car is to turn the rear wheels by hand to check for gear mesh and/or any binding. I was surprised to find that the crown wheel didn't engage with the motor pinion, or would just occasionally touch and 'graunch'. 

On stripping the car I found the crown (axle) gear to be well out of alignment and the separate brass 'spacer/saver' to be rubbing on the motor shaft, both easily adjusted though. In retrospect - and by enlarging the original eBay photo - both these issues can clearly be seen.

   

This prompted me to check out the whole chassis. 

The front axle had way too much side-play, with the offside front wheel rubbing on the body, as can be seen in the photo below. It was easy enough to adjust out, as the wheels simply hadn’t been pushed fully home on the axle. While doing this I noticed that one braid had a very tight 180 degree twist where it exited the guide blade. Even enlarged this isn't obvious, the twist being so tight and almost in the braid slot itself.

   

Never seen that before. 

Fine needle nosed pliers dealt with that and thinking all was done the chassis was reinstalled in the body. Tried on a set-up plate it became clear there was something fundamentally wrong with the chassis. It appeared warped, with one rear wheel rubbing on the arch, while the other had a huge gap. However, clearances at the front were fine. Backing off the body mounting screws a couple of turns made no difference. Taking another look it turned out the front axle only looked fine as one height adjusting grub screw was so loose it was compensating for the rear misalignment. I was lucky the grub screw was still there. Adjusting both sides to give an even minimum ride height I thought might have fixed things but back on the set-up plate the chassis twist was even worse.

   

I checked all the chassis screws and adjustments and they were all fine. That had me foxed for a moment. All that I hadn’t touched was the motor – and that’s what it turned out to be. Presumably when tightening the motor's locating screw at the factory they held the chassis steady by the wheels at one end but overdid the tightening and introduced the warp as the screw tightened against the motor mount. I simply backed the locating screw off a little then nipped it up gently and - problem solved.

Back in the chassis the car now sat beautifully flat and square.

Finally the body. Both front and rear spoilers were poorly fitted, the rear not having been pushed home fully and the front not being located in the body recess at all on the Navigators side. I was expecting to have to glue them but both seem to be securely locked in place now they’ve been tweaked.

   

Looks like it was a bit of a factory lemon. Not unexpected as no manufacturer is immune from mass production errors. Sorting such things out is half the fun and a source of immense satisfaction once done – but a shame for the original purchaser who just expected to 'plug & play'! 

I left positive feedback for the seller as it’s a great car at a bargain price (half the going rate) but I also contacted him separately and constructively about the issues and yes, he’d sold it because it had been a big disappointment. Straight out of the box it was a dog and not being a ‘hands on fixer’ it had become a shelf queen,  although at some stage it had been robbed of its wiper to go on another MSC 6R4.

Nothing I can do about the missing wiper - for now – but I will keep an eye out for a suitable pair of replacements, unless anyone out there has a runner that can spare the navigators wiper blade?

Of course there’s still the gluing, truing and lubricating to do but now there’s a good base to work from.