SCALEXTRIC #3303 FORD FALCON XB GT Hardtop BREAKS COVER!!!!

[Ember]

Definitely sidewinder with plenty of room to spare for super fat tyres if that's your fear.

I'll grab some shots of the chassis when I go back out to the toyroom after lunch break.

[Ember]

[dr fabio]

Thanks Embs. Man that chassis looks like its gonna need some TLC to make it competitive for club racing. Outside edge to outside edge of the tyres, how wide is it? Guide pivot to rear axle line, how many mils?

cheers
de fabio

[ListerStormGT]

[Burglar]

I'll lose the wiring and the lights on mine, and install a guide conversion.

On the positives, it looks like this chassis doesn't have any annoying ribs or ridges near the front axle mounts, so if someone wants to install SCC's axle blocks it should involve less grinding and cutting than on the Mustang chassis.

[Ember]

The rear wires are a tad short. The twist is probably my doing. You would not believe how many times I managed to drop bits yesterday while running superglue cuffs into the rear bearings.

Even with Scaley tyres untried and nothing done other than the magnet removed she runs quite well. Going to be one for big open tracks for sure. On my track I just know I'm going to lose paint from the rear quarter panels. Though I don't see the rear spoiler being in jeopardy. Rear wings do not last long on my track, they tend to get hooked in rockfaces. The shape of this one should be fine.

Looking forward to getting stuck into this one on the weekend.

[dr fabio]

Weird but I only just noticed that the tyres have tread on them. Why?? Wonder what model they pinched those tyres off of?

Come on Embs, give me some dimensions, trying to decide if I want to buy it or not.

cheers
de fabio

[bkrownd]

[dr fabio]

Yeah but this was a race car from 1976 which raced on slicks, not a 60s T/A car.

cheers
dr fabio

[dreinecke]

Great shot - thanks for the info!

Not worried about tread...it would be gone after a minute on my tire truer anyways.

[Reslotted]

[dr fabio]

Damn but that's a long guide to rear axle length. Gonna struggle to make that competitive against all the other classic touring cars in the same class.

Its a damn pretty car but.

cheers
dr fabio

[Ember]

C'mon Doc. If anyone can change the laws of physics it's you. :lol:

[Cosmic Bilby]

....I for the life of me can't understand Scalextric at times...

No, true~!

I had a bit of a chance today to have a mess around with the XB Falcon...

Its a very nice model, as is the Torana, but I really can't see how they are going to run together on home tracks, which is in reality where these two models will do most of their paint swapping.

They aren't a match for each other with or without mag from what I can see....

Here are a few observations, and I'm focusing on magnet tuned as that is what we happily run here at home.

Torana, 224 grams of downforce (nett), XB Hardtop 76 grams of downforce nett (yes, a crappy little bar magnet like the Scaley Corvette had).

Overall weight, Torana 74 grams, Falcon 94 grams, 20 grams difference.

Motors, Torana with FF power, some bizarre figure, XB Falcon 10200RPM at rear wheels which is pretty average or a bit below.

The way I look at it is you either re-motor the Torana for non-mag or you add a magnet in the XB to get parity with the Torana....

I replaced the stock mag in the Falcon with a Slot.it neo mag (Cinc01 or some such number), it improved nett downforce to just over 100 grams.

Two Slot.it neos (one in the rear pocket, one in the forward pocket), 300 grams downforce nett, too much for me, too much for most I'm certain.

Slot.it mag in the rear pocket and stock Scaley mag in the forward pocket, 180 grams nett. With braid set-up and tyre truing I should get 200 grams nett downforce or thereabouts.

Tyres for the XB are reasonably easy, I found some XPG's, I believe either SCX Cuda or Nascar rubber will fit, with enough sidewall to ensure you arent running on the spur gear.

Probably my main gripe with the XB out of the box was the front tyres were rubbing on the wheel arches, a pain but the meatier tyres do look good.

I think I could say these two models won't run together equally in mag or non-mag set-up. I pity the ordinary guy and his kid that buy one of each and try to run them together. For most of us here it isnt so bad, we have well equipped workshops and parts bins to dive into when things go awry...

I love both models, they are Aussie icons, my main focus now is getting them to run reasonably close together performance wise, that will be the big trick.

[Cosmic Bilby]

Oh,

...Which leads me to comment on the "universal" "adjustable" chassis like Scaleauto/MRRC/Monogram/Slot.it. and the many others....

I think it would be a GREAT IDEA if slot car companies started changing over NOW!!!

For those of us that would like to organize some racing without a tonne of rules and allowances regarding parity, the adjustable chassis concept makes a mile of sense....

You can till achieve a scale look, without all this messing around (just try getting parity in the various releases of Scaley V8 Supercars! And no, I'm not picking on this brand, just pointing out the performance anomalies between each chassis type)....