By Rob Wessling
G’day Guys!
I've been reminiscing of late about all the milestones in our hobby over the last ten years or so. A lot of models have come and gone, some with barely a whisper, others stay firmly planted in the minds and hearts of many of us....
....I believe the models that started the boom in 1/32 scale Trans AM are one of the latter, namely the model I'd like to share in the way of a retro review here with my mates at HRW.
In 2002 I'd just come into the hobby, there were a lot of models to choose from around this time but unfortunately for some of us most were of prototypes of cars from Europe. Fine if that was your scene, but for myself (and a lot of others too it seems) I really wanted some classic American gear.
As things turned out, Scalextric came to the party in 2002 with two limited edition T/A cars, the 1969 Ford Boss 302 Mustang and a 1969 Chev Camaro Z28. Both models came in the two (historical) liveries apiece for their respective teams, wow I was stoked!!! I bought a #16 Follmer Mustang and a Penske Sunoco Camaro, these were my third and fourth models, my first two were a pair of Cadillac's that came with a Sport set I used as a base for my layout. Believe it or not the Scaley T/A models were in very high demand, I wanted to collect the four liveries but they sold out very quickly from dealers everywhere, Scalextric had hit a home run....
Man did these two T/A cars cop a hiding! They were used almost non-stop by my kids (and of course me!), we loved them, over time we bought more, even holding race meets on our home layout with other racers that had these cars, as far as I know scale Trans Am racing is still alive and kicking.
Naturally nothing is never perfect, and these models were not perfect! They copped a lot of flak about scale issues, and really that was fair comment, BUT we knew what they were meant to represent and many of us felt Scalextric could be forgiven for being a bit "liberal" in this department....
....EXCEPT for the infamous MR. BLOBBY HEAD!!! 'Strewth, what was the design team thinking when they came out with this drivers figure??? Man, if ever there was a candidate for a "bag job" this "guy" had to be it :) Nevertheless we accepted this small "setback" with grace and continued on racing and loving these cars...
The Scalextric Trans AM cars were very quick back then, in fact one of the quickest stock magnet cars you could buy. I thought it would be interesting to re-visit the Scaley T/A cars ten years on to see how they go with modern tuning techniques and tyres. In this review I will be keeping the Scaley Mustang essentially stock, the only non-Stock item I will use are a set of PGT XPG tyres, Paul makes excellent rubber, I think this model deserves it!
As mentioned, the model on test is a new in box Scalextric 1969 Boss 302 Mustang #15, driven by the famous Parnelli Jones. This is a "Sport" limited edition, basically the same as any of the myriad liveries of the Scaley Mustangs with the exception of having metal bearings for the rear axle to run in. I'm not going to go into an indepth on the chassis layout, I'm certain you will all know this chassis very well....
In stock out of the box condition this particular model ran a best of 2.2 seconds on my small four lane Scalextric Sport layout. I would consider this a pretty good time for a dead stock slot car, it hooked up reasonably well, even on ten year old standard rubber! It felt like many other Scaley Mustangs I've had over the years, lots of magnet, stable, fast and such an awful lot of fun :)
...And it sounded great too, nothing beats a sidewinder configuration for sound as it comes up to peak revs, very nice indeed!
After its SOOB run I thought I'd get some figures as a baseline, this particular model yielded 226 grams (net) of downforce on my magnet marshall with the stock Scaley mag in its standard location. These "Sport" releases also came with a small round mag that could be placed in a pocket near the front axle, I would really recommend NOT using the extra mag, it really loads up the motor, anything over 200 grams net downforce is plenty for a model that weighs in at 82 grams (this models weight)....
The motor in this model managed 10800RPM at the rear wheels, which is about average for a Scalextric Mabuchi. Of course the motor in this model is packaged as a "Sport" motor, the shiny silver wrapper is eyecatching indeed but remove the label and you will find its just another "Black Stripe" Scaley FC motor, nothing like a bit of hype is there???
OK, with the preliminaries out of the way it was time to get this bad boy stripped down and trued up, I felt confident that we would be able to see a small improvement in on-track performance.
First job was truing up the rear wheels, ditching the stock rubber and mounting a set of PGT XPG's, I'm pleased to report that the bearing to axle fit was first rate, as was the rim concentricity, obviously Scalextric was on the money ten years ago and full credit to them!
The PGT's fitted up no problems, they were superglued, trued to 20.45mm and had the edges rounded for both scale appearance and to assist cornering. The rear end was then re-assembled, spur gear "check glued" with CA glue as were the axle bearings when re-fitted to the chassis.
Next the motor was water dipped, cleaned, dried and oiled and re-fitted to the chassis. I did not use CA glue to glue it to the chassis, I decided to run a small bead of hot glue along the bottom edge of the front of the motor, this bead also keeps the magnet seated. I have had the magnet come loose occasionally during racing, this is usually in conjunction with the model its attached to deciding it wants to try flying.... :)
....Moving forward along the chassis I trued up the front rims, re-mounted the stock rubber, trued both tyres to 18.5mm, cut the shoulders and capped them with CA glue. Again, congrats to Mr Scalextric for providing nice concentric wheels to work with.
Finally we come to what is probably the Achilles heel of this era Scalextric model, the guide assembly, actually come to think of it, this is pretty endemic for many manufacturers still today isn't it?
Anyway, as you can see from the photo, this model has one of those ugly self-centering style guides with a clip in blade. No great drama really, what needs to be done is to remove the plastic cross-brace (held by two screws) and also that spring you can see under it....
Next, the guide (blue) is removed and the back end of the blade ground down so it is in line with the triangle/trapezoid shaped main "body" of the guide. This is done to help the guide get through tighter radius corners without binding. Naturally this would be an opportune time to give the braids the once over (it is very nice braid too, I re-braid most of my models with this braid). About the only thing I do a little differently here is turn the short "tail" of the braid thats been tucked in under the main part backwards, this helps the front end sit that tiny bit lower....
Finally on the underside of where the guide clips in there are two silver pick ups that run along the braid that sits on top of the guide. It pays to spend a few minutes test fitting these and bending the pickups so they run smoothly over the braid and give a little tension to the guide as it turns laterally. I know most of us are aware of these old tuning tips, but maybe, just maybe a newer slot racer may pick up one of these cars off the net and want to use it :)
OK, with tuning out of the way it was time to give the Scaley Boss Mustang a run, which I did and I'm pleased to advise my tinkering paid off with a best lap of 1.9 seconds! It ran very nicely, smooth, grippy, with the typical magnet chassis outcome when pushed too hard, no warning, no oversteer, just a total loss of grip and off it would spear. JUST WHAT I'M USED TO!!!! I loved it, beautiful, fast consistent laps, as I remember, these Scaley Mustangs just hang on to the bitter end, no noticeable top heavy feel to them, the ideal magnet racer for sure.
...And the car looked great too, an iconic livery from a golden era of racing, what more could we ask for!!!
Sadly this story doesn't end 100% positively for the Scalextric '69 Boss 302 Mustang from 2002...
...It was the "king" of 1/32 scale T/A racing back then (no Scaley Camaro I've ever had could match the Mustangs), but unfortunately there is a newer, faster offering from another manufacturer on the shelves in 2012. No, not SCX, the Cuda's can't touch this Scaley on my layout or our local clubs magnabraid Ogilvy track, the PIONEER Notchback Mustangs can however. I recently built a 1967 Pioneer Mustang using the same procedures mentioned in this review, its best on our layout is 1.8 seconds! It flies, the motor is superior too, more punch off the corners, I'm certain the Pioneer T/A would prevail on larger track as well.
From an aesthetic viewpoint the Pioneer is better as well, great detail, excellent in fact.
So where does that leave our review car?
I'd say it leaves it as one of the most iconic plastic chassis models of our era! The Scalextric T/A cars were the start of something really good for us, without them it may have left those of us that love US cars out in left field for many years....
....Its still an excellent model, the livery and model year of the prototype are awesome (Freudian slip), as demonstrated whether out of the box standard or tuned, this model still hauls the mail with the best of them.
I still love this model, its a part of my past, my son Jake and I will be able to continue our on-track skirmishes for many years to come with both the #15 car and our rejuvenated original #16 car (yep it still survives, albeit with a replacement motor and yellowdogs on the tail-end, 2.0 laps are still pretty good for this old hammer!).....
Thanks Guys!!!
