[Chadow]

Hi all.
Received my new Policar Ferrari 312 over the weekend and, having read how brilliant these cars were compared to Scalextric 60s/70s F1, I eagerly unpacked the car and rushed up to the track cabin.  Put the car on the track, pressed the trigger and.....disappointment!

Lots of whirring and spinning of wheels and no forward movement!  Now, I hadn't bothered to check if there was a magnet or not, but assumed there must be, though not mentioned in the reviews.  Nope!

Back on the track, pressed the trigger and....same result.  Had a closer look and - see for yourselves from the photos.  Anyone else had this problem?  How to fix it?  Grind away the plastic (it supports the exhausts)  Larger tyres? How the heck do I chip this one?

Cheers
Chas                

[KensRedZed]

Hi Chas. Is the exhaust glued on incorrectly? Is the axle bushing seated in the chassis? They can sometimes pop out during packaging.

I would separate the body from the chassis and investigate further. Other Policar customers have found loose screws, etc. Once tightened, eveything usually works.

If the exhaust is glued onto the wrong spot. You may be able to make a clean separation, and fix it.

Did you get a warranty and support with the purchase of your new car? Talk to your supplier. These should work better than you've shown us out of the box. Talk to them before grinding or doing anything yourself.

Ken

[DPJ]

This might help you sort that car out...

[autoavia]

None of the Policar F1 models are supplied with a magnet. I run mine on a wood track so a magnet is pointless but with F22 tyres they run very well and all the releases so far are pretty closely matched. I use the Policar metal replacement rear wheels but I have been told that the plastic originals are quite good.  

You will need to make sure that the gears in the Policar gearbox are kept lubricated. Silicone grease seems to work but others may have better suggestions.
 
 Unusually for Policar it seems there have been a lot of quality control problems with the Ferrari which is a real shame. From reading other forums common problems are :-

The axle stopper is loose on the rear axle which means the gears don't mesh correctly. If you try to run the car with the stopper loose there is a good chance you will damage the gears.

The exhausts have been fitted wrongly and drag on the ground.

The rear wing droops because it is fitted incorrectly  

Screw holding the motor into the pod is loose

Rear axle tight - probably because axle stopper has been wedged against the side of the motor pod - it needs a tiny bit of play or a shim between pod and axle stopper to run smoothly.

Front wheels not touching the track which can probably be sorted by adjusting the braids

Front axle binding

Front wheels falling off because the axle is too short.

Unfortunate that there have been so many problems because Policar make great cars although I am sure Maurizio will get the quality problems sorted.

If you don't feel competent to take the body off to sort out any problems it would be a good idea to speak to the dealer where you bought the model. Ask for replacement and ask them to check it over before they send it out. Under UK law a product is meant to be fit for purpose and unfortunately it is clear that some of the first batch of this car are definitely not fit for purpose straight out of the box.

[Chadow]

Thank you all for your replies - I was somewhat disappointed that it was so bad OOB, I did read the comments on the other review and am pleased to report that the cars axles are approx 50mm, so wheels falling off shouldn't be an issue and the gears mesh perfectly.
I will be doing major surgery on the car to fit a digital plug, so the chassis bend isn't so much of a problem as the 'bridge' linking the two halves of the  chassis will have to go!  Not much of a problem.  I will have to put slighly deeper tyres on to clear the LED too.

Cheers
Chas

[JasonB]

It obviously shouldn't be like that. So either send it back, or if you don't want to do that, open it up, find the parts that haven't been assembled properly, and wiglle and jiggle until they fit together properly.

[autoavia]

Reports on another forum say that Maurizio is aware of the problems and has contacted the factory to get them to sort out the assembly issues so hopefully a second batch and future versions will have the quality control problems sorted. 
 I suspect that there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place if there hadn't been travel restrictions which prevent anyone travelling to China to visit the factory and probably delays to shipping samples caused by Covid19.

[autoavia]

Below is a copy of a post by Maurizio Ferrari of Slotit on another forum.
Unfortunately when models are manufactured so far away problems will arise occasionally and all credit to Slotit for admitting that there has been a problem and for taking steps to make sure that the problem is resolved. Maurizio clearly values our custom so we should do our best to support him in the future.

Quote

Anyway, about the 312 B2, we were able to trace the issues to this fact:
During manufacturing, after we checked the production items, the company had to rework all the models, to replace the motor mount which was injected with a wrong configuration, unsuitable for this car. Rather than injecting the rear exhausts parts again, they removed the old exhausts parts, kept them aside, and recycled them on the freshly injected motor mounts. Evidently this added layers of glue to layers of glue and the rear exhaust part now protrudes from the bottom of the chassis. In some cars it is very noticeable, in some other less. This reduces clearance between chassis and track, and especially on the bumpy Ninco track, with its raised rail, can lead to a car that may be malfunctioning.
 
In the light of all of this, we have decided to do as follows:
 
we are preparing a kit consisting of
a ) a 51mm axle
b ) a new, rear exhaust assembly to replace the existing one on the cars.
This kit will be made available free of charge to anyone requesting it, through the distributor - retail shop chain or may be obtained directly from us in some cases.

[Chadow]

A brief update!
Having finally got some spare time, I changed the rear tyres to a deepre profile - actually some ols Scalextric tyres from a Lotus 72 and they fitted!  It also solved the problem of the exhaust holder scraping the track.  The next issue was grip, so the higher profile tyres gave me room below the chassis to add a bit of lead. Sadly, my spring gauge broke a couple of years ago, so the weight is completely unscientific, but I found that a piece about 1/3rd the size of the motor works perfectly on Scalex F1 cars such as the Lotus 72 and Tyrrells. Thickness wise, the lead i use is old flashing and  is probably about 60 thou.

So - on my track (painted Scalextric Sport) using Truspeed controllers in analogue the lap times are:

OOB - 14.2 secs
Scalex tyres added - 8.2 secs (haven't got anything better - yet)
Weight added - 5.8 secs

Average lap time in digital mode with existing early 70s cars - 5.0 secs.

Problem solved! (Apart from getting a chip inside it)