Scalextric Trans-Am! Full Review

[dreinecke]

Randy - didn't know that. I do know that many manufacturers in that day bragged about their paints and that they wouldn't need waxing. Pretty sure that didn't work out.

Jim - thanks for confirming the tires for me. I thought something had changed.

[ListerStormGT]

David,
What a awesome review! The historical info on the cars was great to read. This was a great way to end my Christmas day now that everything has calmed down. I also got these today and I think they did a great job on both of them. I totally agree with everything you said about these cars and the only thing I was dissapointed with while really not a big deal is not having a full dashboard but thats just rivet counting I guess and has no effect over either of the cars. Its just great to have these on the track with the other T/A cars. Great review all around!

[dreinecke]

Glad you like it. Get the Cars of Trans-Am book...much more history in there too!

[goosenapper]

Very nifty review! :clap:
It may be the most comprehensive and best organized that I've seen on the site, and quite well written too.

As a no-mag plastic runner, it looks like these cars will work for me pretty much out of the box. The only question is whether to tackle front-end ride height. Is this something that can be fixed by merely sanding a bunch off of the front tires? I thought I picked that up from the review, but that seems too easy given some of the other fixes that have been posted, so maybe I'm missing something.

[dreinecke]

Goose, the tires will help a little, but you'll really need to shave material off the mounting points to do it right along with some other areas. I plan on getting on mine this week to do it.

[PeteN95]

Great review, David! I have already lowered my Cougar, as it's stance looked wrong to me. I cut the valence panel off the front of the chassis and glued it to the body to allow the chassis to sit farther up into the body. It was a little more work than other cars, but came out pretty well. I also painted the wheels dark grey to closer match the look back in the day. I'll post pics later.

[dreinecke]

Thanks Pete. I'd love to see pics of the wheels when you're done!

[hksk25]

After a lot of work, I was able to get mine (Cougar) to run good. I lowered the front as much as I could without losing the interior. I also sanded the crap out of the front tires so they are barely touching the track, also straightened the chassis. Still have slight wobble on left front wheel. Think I'm going to contact Scaley for a new front axle assembly. Thanks to the info on this site I was able to get it running fairly well.

[RazorJon]

Great write up Doc, I liked the story on the cars as well, its nice to get a history about the car and racers :text-bravo:

[dreinecke]

hksk25 - Bummer about the axle assembly, but Scalextric does have good customer service so I'm sure you'll be able to get another one.

Jon - thanks! You know me...history geek ;)

[KnowtoriousWon]

Great review!
The different magnet is great info. I never understand why these changes are made when the original was such a success.
I also appreciate the comparison with the resin kits.

[dreinecke]

Rich - not sure what they were thinking either. I like them though and after family stuff will finish tuning mine.

Glad you liked the comparison, I had a good time with it.

[PeteN95]

Here is my Cougar after lowering and painting the wheels, David. I just mixed black and silver paint to get the wheel color, could have gone a little darker maybe? I think it looks better and with a little lead up front, it handles very well.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Great job. You brought out the detail nicely.

[Jesla]

You can get a good color on the wheels with a #2 pencil.......