Scaleauto GT3 cars

[Giddyup]

Hi Folks,

While I don’t buy as many cars as I used to, I’ve been tempted by the Scaleauto GT3 Class. After some research the consensus seems to be to avoid the “Home Series”(sidewinder) and spend the extra few bucks on the “R spec” (anglewinder) chassis. But it’s difficult to tell from what I read exactly why the Home series chassis isn’t good.

And despite searching through various forums, there seems to be very little information published / discussed about these Scaleauto cars in general.

So a few questions for folks here:

1) what are people’s opinion of the Home Series and why it is so poorly rated? Or why is the R spec so preferred?

2) regarding the cars themselves, and I guess this applies to the R spec cars, but I’m interested in people’s thoughts on these cars: Corvette C7R, Audi R8 and the Dodge Viper. What’s your preference to race and why?

3) Lessons Learned during tuning. We race 10v on wood, with urethanes, track surface painted flat matte latex. Just looking for anything special or in particular to consider before starting in on blueprinting any of the 3 cars I mentioned above?

4) Our local club is pretty much Paul Gage tires. I see Paul in his eBay listing has the 191005LM size for the Corvette. Has anyone tried fitting either taller and/or wider PG tires on any of the Vette, Audi or Viper?

Sorry for all the questions, but as I said, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of information about these cars out there.


Thanks in advance!
Tom

[lancelotalove]

yes you are right, not much info about these cars . I can tell you when i look at the 2017-2018 catalog, the home series HS is a 1 piece chassis, motor mount, no motor pod. Not much adjustability.
The R series is angle winder but is a adjustable pod and the pod can be changed out for other configurations.
I cannot answer your other questions as we dont have any of these cars

[Dodgefarmer]

I picked up a Home series Viper (obvious reason :lol: ) when they were first released. Totally unaware of the difference between Home and R. The chassis difference is exactly as Lll described. However the Viper chassis came with all the reinforcing, drilled holes, etc. etc. to install a pod, all that was required was to remove the piece of chassis to accommodate the pod. The end result is a R series Viper for an extra $20.00 over the cost of a R series car.

Randy

[chrisguyw]

Hi Tom, I have done a few of the Vipers and C7's for myself(wood track) and folks at the shop (plastic track) and club members (more wood tracks), and, they are more than competitive with anything in the GT3 class. All tracks run urethanes.

Apologies, but the only pic. I have is of a Viper chassis done a while ago......as it is, it is more than quick. It has won its last few races in the GT3 category driven by its new owner........and, I hope he does not read this but, he is far from the quickest driver in the club.

This one has had the SA pod swapped for a Slot-it..(not needed, as the SA pod is actually stiffer than the Slot-it..use the SA !!)
I cut the bushing retainer "fingers" off of the Slot-it pod, and installed single flange oilites to gain a bit more room for the wheels/tires and gears used.
Urethane washers are used between the pod lugs and main chassis plate to allow progressive flex, and same washers are used between the body posts/chassis to eliminate vibrations/noise.

While this is certainly more than "out of the box" tuning, with a good basic tune, and on urethanes, the cars will not disappoint, and should run with anything in you GT3 fleet. I have only done the Viper and the C7, and both appear to be equal.
As well, I have only played with the "R" spec cars, and can't comment on the "home" versions.

Cheers
Chris Walker

[Slot_It_bob]

chrisguyw, where do you buy the Urethane washers?
Thx,
Bob'

[chrisguyw]

[WB2]

The R series cars have aluminum wheels front and rear. To me, that makes the upgrade worthwhile.
I have a Viper and a 935. On my short track, they’re well overpowered. Wish they offered the Home Series with the R Series wheels.
On the PG tires, I feel his recommended tires are undersized. Both of my cars are running 20x11 Slot.It tires at this time. They’ll get changed out when I get around to ordering tires.

[Giddyup]

Thanks fellas for your thoughts and suggestions so far. I don’t have ANY GT3’s in my fleet, but have been tempted for a long time...so this’ll probably be a slow decent into more :lol:

I must say that while I’m tempted by the price of the Home Series, but am leaning more towards the R spec if only for the fact I want to do less, for more performance. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve spent hours and hours, like many of you, tuning the old Flys to be real blazers. But the R spec adjustability etc is hard to ignore, same with the metal wheels. And the more I pay, the more I expect.

After our last club race we were talking about thoughts for potential classes down the road, everyone pretty much agreed...we all are willing to paying a little extra for quality versus retrofitting a cheaper car top to bottom; especially, if we want to attract new members - it’ll be easier for them versus having to essentially build and tune against those far more experienced.

Right now, these SA GT3’s have my eye as do Revoslot...but I’m holding out for Revo’s Ferrari 333SP.

WB2 - with the 2011’s, is that the low profile “LM” you are using or just the normal 20115’s from Paul Gage?

Chris - lovely build! I always like to look at the little things - spacers etc. I was looking at your clean profiling your tires on that Viper; curious - what grit do you start out and finish a tire when truing? I’ve been starting at like 600, then going to 1500 and then wet 1500 before I get into polishing. I’ve driven your cars in proxies before, always smooth :music-rockout: so just curious about your truing progression...

[WB2]

The 20x11 tires are not PG, they’re Slot.It.
PG recommends a 19125LM for the Porsche 911 and Viper R Series cars.
I would think that would be the recommended tire for the Viper. IMO it would need a 20 or 21 LM tire. Can’t say for sure as I’m out of tires at this time.

[wanabgts]

When looking at these cars make sure you note that right now the NEW viper, C7r, and the latest Mercedes are on the newest R4 chassis. This chassis has some unique flex characteristics and a different pod than the older cars.

For what its worth. My Scaleauto C7r is the fastest GT3 car I have purchased, and I haven't done hardly anything with it. The rear tires are very small out of the box, so I moved the rear wheels to the front and put some proper rears on.

The chassis and pod have the best float I have seen in a car out of the box, just loosen the screws and go.

I did lockout the guide, I removed the spring and used a couple o-rings on top to hold it flush to the chassis, then set front axle height.

It is a VERY fast car.

Zack

[Austin]

If you want to run with other one piece chassis cars the Home Series, Run great with the Scalextrics if you run the same motor.

[ra7c7er]

The C7R has the newest version of the R series chassis. I don't believe the Viper or Porsche has the same. I'm sure the Audi will also have the newest chassis also. It's supposed to be a bit more flexible without losing strength as I have been told.