Old HO slot cars and moving to 1:43

[Trevize]

I joined the forum today as I am getting back into slot cars. I'm a long timer in HO cars and have a collection of Aurora/AFX cars and track dating back to the early 70's. In my late teens in the 80's I boxed it all up. Fast forward to today and my 6 almost 7 year old is getting me back into things.

I unboxed everything a month ago. Cleaned up the track which was all in pretty good shape. I started disassembling the cars and cleaning them up. Upon looking for spare parts for old tjet cars as well as magna traction, g-plus, super g-plus cars I'm finding some interesting pricing. Mostly needed is lots of brushes, pickup shoes and springs and lots and lots of tires. Amazing how the old rubber has become rock hard over the years.

In my course of looking for parts I stumbled on the now digital control of cars and WOW. I'm hooked, especially when I was looking at buying $150-$200 on HO parts, I'm thinking forget the parts I want to go digital. Seems 1:43 is the smallest scale for the new digital cars. It also make very good sense for me to go Carrera Digital 1:43. I'm a very active O scale model train builder. I've built a huge layout in our basement. I'm thinking my now static display cars could become actual moving cars.

Which brings me to my questions:

#1 - am I wrong in seeing that 1:32 cars have a greater variety and seem to be cheaper?
#2 - are there any differences in the digital command of 1:43 vs 1:32?
#3 - How easy is it to buy a basic set of 1:43 Carrera GO and add Digital control?
#4 - Where are the best places to buy track? I'm thinking of starting with a RTR set and adding track but track seems scarce for 1:43

It's been recommended to me that the best way to go is to buy a 1:24 RTR set and then buy 1:32 cars. Or for that matter 1:43 cars? I hear that the Carrera track is the same for 1:24 and 1:32. How do 1:43 cars look and run on it? Grossly out of scale? or I suppose it is just a nice wide road..

#5 - Carrera D 1:43 cars work with a D 1:24 RTR set?

I'm also trying to get a sense of space. If I buy a RTR 1:24 set for my son to start with. He really wants the police chase set. How big of a table / bench work does it take? I'm trying to get a sense for how large it really is. 1:43 scale I'm much more attune to. 1:24 and 1:32 seems like they would be huge to me. Many of the photos online either have huge basement layouts or photographed in a way that doesn't offer a sense of size. I've yet to get a good sense of how much space I need for a RTR set.

In the end I would setup a RTR set for my son either in his room or in our kids "playroom" that they have. That would get the initial start into slot cars. I would then later integrate 1:43 cars into my train layout at a future date.


Next up is I'm going to sell all my HO stuff. I imagine eBay is the best way to go, but I'm up for alternate suggestions!

[LloydL]

Welcome Trevise, I am sure you will get the answers you need here.

Regards, Lloyd.

[OldDogMotorsports]

Welcome aboard,for which track to purchase,check with CJent he`ll get you headed in the right direction,plus he`s the owner of AMERICAN SLOTCAR WORLD,hope ya enjoy your stay here!

[pastor bubba]

Welcome to the site and enjoy. I am just getting back into slot cars as well and mine were packed up in the mid 80s. Back then, I was strictly ho and now have a little of each scale. As far as alternatives to ebay, there have been a couple of people sell their stuff on here since I started coming here. Post pics and set your price and people will contact you if they are interested.

[BRS Hobbies]

Trevise,

1) As far as Carrera, the 1:32 scale has a better car selection than both 1:24 and 1:43. The pricing falls in the middle of the two scales. Generally, Carrera Digital runs with these prices per car - 1:24 ($ 70), 1:32 ($ 50) and 1:43 ($ 30).

2) The digital commands are the same but the sensor location is in a slightly different location on the Carrera Digital 1/43 cars in relation to the Carrera Digital 1:24/1:32 slot cars. For this reason, lap counting and lane changing may not be 100% accurate when running a Carrera Digital 1:43 slot car on a Carrera Digital 1:24/1:32 track. Also, the Carrera Digital 1:43 cars have a more basic decoder chip which doesn't include brakes and a ghost car mode like the Carrera Digital 1:24/1:32 slot cars.

3) The most economical way to convert an existing Carrera GO race track to Carrera Digital 143 would be to purchase a Carrera Digital 143 race set. The cost of the individual Carrera Digital 143 products needed for the conversion would cost more than just getting a Carrera Digital 143 race set. Also, only the track from the Carrera GO race set can be used with a Carrera Digital 143 race track.

4) The 1:43 cars will look very small on a Carrera 1:24 track.

5) See #2. I would say that you would need a bare minimum of a 5 x 10 foot table for a Carrera 1:24 track set up. The Carrera race sets all have the dimensions of the assembled layout listed, so you can get an idea of the size of each layout.

Best regards,
Brian

[BRP32]

I'd be interested in what Ho cars you may be selling.

Please PM me a list or post some pics.

Thanks,

Wayne :D :D :D

[ourwayband]

Welcome Trevize ,
Cjent and Brian are the experts here,but I'll give you my humble opinion.
I've been racing 1/32 and in both modes for a few years.The Carrera 1/32 -1/24 track is a great system,but does take a large foot print and can get expensive.There are many more choices in Carrera 1/32 digital as far as car selection and added extras ..Having said that,I've also raced the 1/43 scale off and on for a few yeas also.I just recently purchased Carrera's 1/43 digital system.So it is still new to me.Bought a 2 car set ready to go.I added another car and controller for about $44 more bucks...I like it.It does have it's limits in the ready to run version,but one can advance past these limits if they choose to.It is fun just like it is too.I'm running so-called ghost cars buy using the ol' rubber band trick on the controllers..

#1 - am I wrong in seeing that 1:32 cars have a greater variety and seem to be cheaper?
Much greater Variety,but the cars are close to twice the cost of 1/43 .I gave $22 for a d143 car on sale..
#2 - are there any differences in the digital command of 1:43 vs 1:32?
yes,several.In the stock form of d143 you can only run 3 cars and change lanes,no ghost car,no fueling,no pits,etc..With additions to the d132 system one can do all of these things plus more.You don't get all of this with a basic d132 set though you do have Ghost car function plus the cars can be set to run analog also.It is a very good system...One can update the 1/43 system to include Ghost cars refueling and such,but you will have to incorporate some of the d132 system into the 1/43.Such as chipping cars,adding the d143 black box,etc...Thus more expense
#3 - How easy is it to buy a basic set of 1:43 Carrera GO and add Digital control?
you would need d143 cars,power supply,lane changers,red box and controllers.In other words the Go track is the same,but everything else will need to be added.Cheaper to by one of the $170 sets..
#4 - Where are the best places to buy track? I'm thinking of starting with a RTR set and adding track but track seems scarce for 1:43
I've found track at several places.Even local return stores for a very good price..Also Cjent (American Slot car world) and Brian at BRS hobbies all members here sell the track..
In closing,I like the footprint of the 1/43 track.I also like the simplicity of it..Lot's of racing in a small area.You can set up this stuff in just about the same area of an HO set..Check out 'my new D143 layout with jam cars'...post.This will show you want can be done on a 36 by 80 inch Hollow core door with a 24 by 32 inch extension added..
Hope this helps.I'm sure some of the other guys will have some great info for you.. :)

Rusty

[ourwayband]

Trevize ,In rereading your post I saw that you also ran the ol' T-jets.One thing to think about with these carrera 143 cars.These are running pretty strong mags.They are fun with the mags,but kinda like running the tyco 440 cars..You also have strong magnets in the larger scales do too,but I find the larger scales easier to tune to run non mag. Here is picture of the different scale track.


Rusty

[Broman62]

[Dodgefarmer]

Welcome to the 1/43 corner of the slotting world Trevize. I'm not much help with digital but you will get expert help here on this site. Go offers a huge track selection from several different sources that are sponsors here also. Kids will do it to you every time, that's how I got here (grandson).

Randy

[Cjent]

:text-welcomewave: I think you will love it here! Lottsa great help! :D

[Trevize]

Thank you so much for all the great info so far! Giving me lots to think about. I think some of you are catching on to some of my thoughts. The old tjet cars are awesome to slide around the track. The newer super glued magnetized cars just aren't as much fun. Even my 6 year old after running 2 of my really upgraded cars with cobalt magnets, spin balanced motors and silicon tires went immediately back to the tjet and magna traction cars. Something that you actually have to drive and slow down for curves. My 3 year old was getting into to it too and only liked the slower cars. He can't see the faster cars at all. (he's significantly vision impaired). Which is yet another reason for sizing up from HO. So are the 1:43 sets running at insane speeds with no ability to actually drive them due to being so heavily magnetized? One of the things that really drew me to 1:32 was being able to drive the cars, slide around corners and have a much more realistic speed. When the cars go so fast and the magnets are so strong I could just hang the track upside down from the ceiling.... well there's no challenge to it.

Below is a link to the library of photo's I'm creating. Originally thinking selling on ebay hence the link name. Undecided on that so far though. Rather trade for what I want on a forum like this. There's still some items I haven't photographed. I built a small flat track for testing cars that is on a 3 foot by 5 foot board that has the power track and enough track for a folded figure 8.


http://s120.photobucket.com/user/treviz ... tCars-Ebay

-Trev

[nitroexpress]

I sent you a PM about my track that is for sale......It's a great deal & perfect opportunity for someone just getting into the 1:43rd seen...I did all the hard work for you!!! You could not replicate what I"m offering at my price no way no how!!!!!!!!!!!
Look at your PM box!

[ourwayband]

[Trevize]

OK. The more sites I visit and links and youtube vids I watch the more I become settled on 1:43. If I had the space I would go for 1:32 however. They just seem to race much better.

Anyway... what's up with the upside down loops on all the 1:43 sets. Yeesh. I have a set of loops from 1970 for Aurora tjet and they never worked well and so many of my cars drivers lost there heads (literally!) on those loops. My son of course wanted me to setup the loops. It took all of 5 min to show him what a terrible idea they are. 90% of my cars simply won't go around them due to the car body scraping its' front end in the loop or things like the semi truck. HAHA.

I'll obviously experiment with building up a berm around the outside lane with a wide outside guardrail and pull magnets from the cars! I never liked how in HO cars who ever got the outside lane or at least who ever got the most curves with the outside lane could ride the guard rail to stay on the track, so I always built my tracks and fabricated a berm so that the outside lane car can spin out just as easily as the inside car. Make for a much more fair race and allows for track plans to not become restricted as much based on lane preference.