Any interest in the reintroduction of Artin 1/32?

[-Nimrod-]

If your looking for half straights or curves it should be easy to cut and make what you need
I made these track pieces many many moons ago





Cheers
NimROD

[spaceshoes]

I had quite a few of the stockers, but they're gone. I'd love some more. They had a great motor and tires. I also like the the guide. I have some scaleys, but their guide pops out too easy.

If they Artin could make some cheap stockers and then do a generic formula style car, I would be ordering some decals and get my NASCAR and Indycar stables back up and running.

[Czar]

What has changed in the retail landscape that makes you (plural) think Artin would be successful the second time around? What was the reason they closed in the first place? Have the circumstances that led to that decision changed significantly enough to resurrect a brand that was only favored because it was priced lower than the competition? Low prices equals low margins. When a company that is well established and has a defined distribution stream fails, it is a pretty monumental task to bring it back to life. A few hundred enthusiasts buying toy cars with a slender profit margin is not going to put your kids through college.
Also, the expectations of the market place have changed. Given the level of detail that is now expected in slot cars, the old Artin cars look like toys. Their competition in the low price segment is Carrera. Unless all the old molds are updated, which would be very expensive, the Artin cars are simply not going to fit (visually) with cars from other makers. I see it as a situation like the re-introduction of AMT cars. There was nostalgia that made them appealing, but the reality of not being able to perform to the standards of modern cars quickly made them less desirable. Good luck.

[frank9129]

Hay Czar.
Artin Died with Frank at Slot Car World, I hope I got that right. Frank had the exclusive rights to Artin in the U.S.A. from what I understand. Frank and Harry are responsible for the Artin Stocker.
Artin would still be going strong if Frank, a Vietnam Vet had not passed on.
I run 10 - 12 races featuring Artin cars yearly. As they die I fill a box. At some point I will rebuild them. Easy to work with.
Let's get a 3D chassis, wheels and tires on the market.

[BRS Hobbies]

Frank,

You got it right.

Always room in our hobby for more affordable products. Artin was my first 1/32 scale race track and that led to buying more slot cars from Carrera, FLY and Scalextric.

Best regards,
Brian

[burad]

Personally, I'd like to see them make VW Fun Cup cars. HUGE number of liveries, so less costly to manufacture a variety of cars, and it's an ongoing popular racing series in Europe.
There are Fun Cup national series competed in the UK, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the Canary Islands, all of which combine in the 25 Hours at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

[Reegs]

Frank, that was my understanding, too. The business didn't "fail".

[viejoronnie]

Correct me if I am wrong, but Artin 1/32 was mainly a US toy/hobby due to the tireless efforts of Slot Car World, Harry, and all of us on this forum. While, they were sold in Europe under the Artin Racy brand, their main competitor in the plastic home racing hobby was Cartronic, which still produces a similar product at a similar price point, as Artin did, in 1/32 and also 1/24 scale.

[viejoronnie]

FYI, I have been a fan of Artin 1/43 cars for decades, having owned dozens of cars and track sets. I was very late to the Artin 1/32 track and car band wagon, but have been able to semi-catch up with help from members of HRW.

Recently, through sheer luck, I seemed to have gained the ear of top executives with Dragon-I Toys, the current owner of the Artin brand, intellectual property, and previous 1/32 production tooling. I have broached the subject of Artin returning to the 1/32 slot car home racing hobby. Through significant investment over the past couple of years, Dragon-I Toys have reintroduced the Artin 1/43 line with several new home racing sets. Thus, they have not abandoned the Artin slot toy brand, at least on a mass market basis.

[HomeRacingWorld]

There was a timeframe where they were basically finished until Dragon picked up the reins. There was talk about a collaboration with Fly from the "Weekly World News" of slot car news, but I knew that was all talk. I reached out to them back then, and the price point was not even close to what was needed. Even if it was...without my friend...I had not interest.

Before Frank passed, we were trying to bring in more product...but the price had jumped quite considerably. With the price they wanted, we were almost about to stop distribution unless they accepted the counter offer.

For THE record: The second generation Artin Stockers AND the sets they came in were designed by Frank and myself. The Stockers took a lot of work to get them close to the Aero cars of that time.

We designed a new chassis. Still have the prototype of it. That would have been a good one.

The R4 WITH walls were also Frank. We tested this several times but had short supply at that time.

The 1/43 digital was a failure. Too many complaints about what it didn't do. The voltage on the sets were too high and cars were very hard to control. I will never forget the public response at the iHobby show in Chicago. Meanwhile, the standard Artin 4 lane set in 1/32 had a line waiting to race. It was...and will always be the best set for the money.

With Carrera and now Scalextric reducing price points of new cars under $40 with Carrera hanging on to the sub $35 arena, the quality of the Artin cars simply have to be much lower to be appealing. Even Scalextric has the "Super Resistant" line with cars priced at $29.95.

The Stockers would be welcomed as we have zero modern NASCAR type models available. But again, at the right price.

IMHO and of course will anger a few, but 1/43 is a dead player. Not enough people in the scale and those that are/were did nothing but complain about the Artin cars and track. Even when SCX had a great line with the COMPACT system and Carrera still supporting the GO!!!, there wasn't enough people to make it worthwhile. Today you hardly see anything about that scale. SCX failed and Carrera is now in some woes of their own. And with Walmart and Amazon carrying the sets...well, I know what would do if it were my money.

Good luck in your venture. It would be great to see Artin return IN 1/32. We have lost more brands in the past 5 years than I ever thought. Having one come back that actually offered us something would be very good news indeed.

[mattb]

About all I see going for 1/43 is that when I go in Hobby Lobby, they actually have one or two sets on the wall. I don't see a presence for 1/32 anywhere that I shop. That's too bad, it misses a big part of advertising, that is having stock on a store shelf. Sure be nice to see step up 1/32 sets there, too.

The size is a big drawback. The older you get the more you like bigger toys that are easier to see and work on. Big plus is less room for a track layout. I think the future for guys like us will be 1/32 home racing. HO will hang in there, but doesn't offer anywhere near the true scale and building options that 1/32 does.

To stay in the 1/32 market, a company has to offer a good basic track and accessories. SCX may be a victim of their own engineering dept. I did a track setup for a local kid and the controllers were junk and the cars were junk. That won't cut it when the other companies offer decent product that a kid can use out of the box with no problems.

It could also be that the older generations all have the slot car tracks they want and older guys re-discovering the hobby may have run it's course and the demand with it.

I still remember all the talk about the Policar track. What is the result of this product? Anybody know anything about their pricing
and availability?

GOOD DISCUSSION

[HomeRacingWorld]

[viejoronnie]

I am no expert in the intricacies of marshalling a return of a somewhat dated competively/low priced toy product to a global market of mass retailers, as opposed to we mere hobbyists. I will leave that to the marketing folks at Dragon-I Toys who have spent hundreds of thousands in retooling to relaunch the Artin 1/43 brand this year, shown most recently at the Fall Toy Preview show in Dallas last week. That said, they did bring "Sea Monkeys" back.

The president of Dragon-I Toys has informed me that the tooling still exists for the 1/32 range, and has asked me what direction they should consider with regard to 1/32, after my initial inquiry to the company. I explained that the second series stock cars/4 lane sets that Frank of Slot Car World and Harry of Home Racing World had designed had seemed to have been very successful in the US. I further related that since these cars were not represented as exact replicas of any Chevy/Ford/etc. NASCAR racers with only non trademarked faux stickers included, that this range of products, with the body molds updated slightly (rear wing spoiler perhaps), but using the same chassis, motor, stockcar wheels/tires might be the initial product to be considered for a return to the market, if financially feasible, but at similar cost as 10 years ago, adjusted for inflation, or perhaps comparable to their closest toy slot competitor in Europe, Cartronic. Other Artin 1/32 cars have been representations of actual Porsche GT1/GT2; Mercedes CLK; Mercedes, Audi, Alfa, Opel DTM; Saleen, Lambo GT;Lola LMP;Ferrari, McLaren, Williams F1, etc., which likely added to the overall set/car cost due to car and sponsor tampo liscenses.

I have invited the president of Dragon-I Toys to visit/review the discussion forum on this topic.

[BRS Hobbies]

The Artin Oval 1:32 4 lane sets didn't sell very well at all but the new R3 and R4 curves were a great addition to the Artin 1:32 track options. Frank of SCW admitted that the Artin 1:32 oval sets were a mistake after they became so hard to move. Sometimes it's hard to tell what will sell until you bring it to market and things don't always sell like you think they will. The Artin Figure 8 1:32 4 lane sets sold very well and would be the best layout for a return along with the Stockers.

Also, most preferred the all black borders as opposed to the yellow construction zone ones. I also recommend either removing the white center stripes or at least making them narrower.

Best regards,
Brian

[mattb]

I see Policar has a set for release that is an elongated figure 8. It has no cars it is just a basic track set. No price given. It will be interesting to see if there is actually much interest in another 1/32 track design