SlotCarMAG issue 16

FOR RACERS, COLLECTORS AND BUILDERS

Niemas

ISSUE 16 • VOLUME 3 • OCTOBER 2013

www.slotcarmag.co.uk

Racecars:

Super realism to the max!

Building walls:

Part 2 of Lynne Haines’ wall building techniques

Immense Miniatures:

A sculptor will take pride in his work... there’s super detail on these small masterpieces

PLUS – New F1s by Andi Rowland and Policar...

NSR:

Part One of the NSR story, with Giovanni Montiglio

Guided Tours:

Hub Habets reveals the secrets to keeping that guide in the slot

Sam’s World In Miniature:

Easy-build kits from a new company, to enhance your layout

SlotCarMAG

FOR RACERS, COLLECTORS AND BUILDERS ISSUE 16 • VOLUME 3 • OCTOBER 2013

www.slotcarmag.co.uk

In This Issue:

Niemas Racecars

13

Designer Flairs

Guided Tours

20

The Inbetweeners 26

2 Performance Advantage:

16

18 Bridge Magnets:

Giovanni Montiglio – We were lucky enough to kidnap NSR’s Giovanni for a while at the last UK Slot Car Fest... and grabbed an interview – here’s part 1.

Sams World In Miniature – Slot racing’s newest building contractor, with a range that will find many a home. We find our feet with the Pedestrian Bridge.

Lynne Haines finishes her wall and shows there’s mortar this than meets the eye. The final piece is so lifelike, we’re sure you’ll be mightily impressed

Keep That Car In The Slot – Hub Habets reveals his techniques for keeping some of his more wayward cars on track, with a few easy steps.

Artistic Perfection – Some artists produce perfection that most of us could never emulate...

Meet the figures of Immense Miniatures.

Brakes on HO – HO cars don’t necessarily need the same forceful dynamic brakes as their larger cousins; Andy Player shows how to pull out all the stops.

Niemas Racecars – When we first saw these, we had to double-take... Were we looking at a model, or a real car?

One-Forty-Three – There’s a scale that has large sales but suffers from small press coverage; Andy Player covers the middle ground.

Andi Rowland & Policar – Perhaps the most exciting Formula 1 news for many years... Policar will produce ’70s Grand Prix cars... and it all started in the kitchen.

Cheese – Something smells fishy with the cheese and the FEDS are ready for action. Has Johnny Foreigner sent us a bad joke? Gouda find out!

6 Another Brick In The Wall: 9 Immense Miniatures:

13 Big Is Beautiful:

16 Designer Flairs:

20 Guided Tours:

24 A Welcome Break:

26 The Inbetweeners: 28 Dilworth:

SlotCarMAG is an independent magazine for the Slot Car enthusiast. It is produced bi-monthly and available to purchase from either: www.pendleslotracing.co.uk (hard-copy, hi res digital) www.lulu.com/uk (hard-copy, print-to-order hi res digital with laminated cover) www.slotcarmag.co.uk (hi-res pdf download) For further information, please contact the publisher via email. Address opposite.

Here we are again with our October issue and it’s another great mix of articles, with writers from six countries covering four scales of racing!

I’m rather excited that we have got inside the mind of yet another big name in the slot car industry, Giovanni Montiglio of NSR fame. I have to say that every time we get to do a piece from inside a company it’s especially interesting as they are the guys who keep the hobby ticking with new technology and ideas.

With regard to the smaller things in life, we have our usual HO contribution from the 1:1 Andy Player, and having taken us to task over our lack of 1/43 coverage, Andy helps to put things right with his piece about these cars too – something which really caught my eye as I have some 1/43 cars myself.

If size really does matter, we have a report from Niemas Racecars, who I must say have produced some stunning 1/24scale cars that would look great in any collection, be it slot or static, and what’s more they are built to race. I must admit I’d drive them pretty carefully if they were mine…

Finally, unlike the two old men in the team, I was only born in the ‘70s, so the news of a forthcoming selection of cars from this era is of great interest, given that I was too young to fully appreciate them at the time! The Lotus 72 does look great, and I can see why the old folks get so nostalgic.

(Let’s have some respect here, sonny! – Ed.) See you in December (Aaagh!

Another year almost gone!)

Wayne Tooke

PUBLISHING / WEB: Wayne Tooke: info@slotcarmag.co.uk EDITORIAL: Ric Woods: ric-woods@slotcarmag.co.uk ART & DESIGN: Marc Abbott: marc-abbott@slotcarmag.co.uk SlotCarMAG is printed digitally by LDP Ltd

ldpltd@btconnect.com

Disclaimer: Whilst every effort has been made to accurately compile the information contained herein, SlotCarMAG or any of its contributors or advertisers accepts no liability for any errors and omissions or any inadvertent disclosure of any information not meant for publication. SlotCarMAG neither endorses or accepts responsibility for the reproduction of material supplied that is of sub-standard quality, such as photocopies, laser prints, pre-printed photographs, low resolution digital images etc, and reserve the right to refuse the use of such material, products or services of advertisers in this publication. Opinions expressed shall not necessarily be that of the SlotCarMAG. All information should be verified before being acted upon.

Copyright: Contents of this magazine or our web site, cannot be reproduced in any way, shape or form without the written permission of the publishers.

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1

PERFORMANCE ADVANTAGE

O

ne thing is for certain, the brand of NSR will probably draw a wider range of opinions from slot racers than most, if not all, other manufacturers.

In a world where there was an established and commonly accepted level of compromise between scale and performance, NSR pushed the line that little bit further towards performance, and in the process won or lost friends according to where an individual’s preferences lay. The club slot racer did benefit from having a choice of approach: NSR’s ‘straight-from-the-box’ philosophy versus the ‘added upgrades’ system of Slot.it.

That original ‘performance, no compromise’ ideology has softened from time to time, it must be said. The Ford Mark IV was revised and much improved from a scale appearance point of view after widespread criticism of the original

interview with Giovanni Montiglio

model’s front lights, and the opportunity was taken to improve the detail in other places too. Similarly, the original Ford Mk II release lacked the full compliment of front lights but this was very quickly rectified. In conversation with NSR’s Giovanni Montiglio, he was eager to point out how particular Aston Martin had been when co-operating with the new NSR model of their GT3 car, so perhaps the more scale-minded enthusiasts will be won over in the end!

Ever since we started SlotCarMAG in early 2011 we had been trying to obtain an interview with Salvatore Noviello, the man behind NSR, but somehow it never seemed to happen. We had high hopes of finally getting to meet and chat with him

part 1

at Gaydon this year, but of course the worst possible circumstances intervened when he was tragically killed not long before this event. Giovanni Montiglio has taken on much of the responsibility for the immediate future of NSR, at a time when the company had just completed the move towards making all their cars ‘in house’, even down to the tampo printing on the Above:The all-conquering NSR Mosler has appeared in various colour schemes plus of course a white kit for custom-paint jobs.

Main pic: Factory setting. Staff pose on the balcony at the NSR HQ.

2

The magazine for racers, collectors and builders – Slot Car MAG

Another brick in the wall – Part 2

By Lynne Haines

F

or some of my projects I found myself in need of brick walls and decided the only way to achieve such a thing cheaply and repeatedly was to cast them. To this end I made a latex mould of a 1/32 scale wall section (see previous issue). Now has come the time to produce the wall, or at least to try.

There are many products available for casting: Resins. Plastics. Many recommend a formulation known as Hydrocal which is a blend of plaster and cement and provides a stronger and possibly lighter final product than straight plaster. However, this option was not available to me without wasting a lot of money on shipping, so for the sake of simplicity I used simple casting plaster or plaster of Paris.

In the past I have used plaster to produce bucks and moulds for casting ceramics, concrete and glass. But I’ve never actually used plaster as the medium for the final cast. This whole experience has been a bit of an experiment for me and not necessarily one of my more successful ones. But, in the words of my high school science teacher, the only failed experiment is one from which we learn nothing.

The equipment required for plaster casting is simple and easy to obtain.

6

other way around. Apart from the impact disturbing the plaster dust and sending much of it into the air, you will finish up with a mix full of undesirable air bubbles.

Always use cold water for your mixing.

Plaster generates heat as the particles reabsorb water and return to gypsum.

Warm water speeds this process giving very little working time.

A Casting plaster – readily available from most hardware stores B Water C Mixing & measuring containers D Tint (optional) E Sieve (optional) F Teaspoon G Flat and level surface The optimum ratio for plaster strength is 2 parts of plaster to 1 part of water. This can really be seen as a guide only and the proportion of water increased some to allow for better pouring.

When mixing plaster always add the powdered plaster to the water, never the

Carefully sprinkle the plaster all over the water surface rather than just in one place, a sieve may make this easier. Keep sprinkling until the plaster is no longer easily swallowed by the water, but is creating a raft across the surface. At this stage you can add some tint if desired. I

The magazine for racers, collectors and builders – Slot Car MAG

IMMENSE MINIATURES

by Mark Huber

I

t is a typical story, one to which most of us can relate: a boy receives an HO slot car set for Christmas. The boy plays with the set on the kitchen table or living room floor. The boy starts building his own cars and goes upscale to race at a club track. The boy discovers girls, puts away the slot cars and heads off to university. The boy graduates, moves to Hollywood, works in the movie business; marries a fellow artist, rediscovers the joys of slot cars and launches a specialty accessory business producing little gems for scratch builders.

So what part of this did you not do?

While your identification may have stopped at the part about going to Hollywood, this is the real story of Marc Tyler, creator of Immense Miniatures.

Marc, with the able and skilled assistance of his spouse, Heidi, designs and produces exquisite figures in 1/43, 1/32 and 1/24 scale when they aren’t turning out master props

Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders

and accessories for the film industry.

Marc grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and like many of us he was introduced to slot cars at an early age when he received a Thunderjet HO as a Christmas present.

Marc was 9, his younger brother 6. Marc recalls that the picture of Stirling Moss adorned the box, but the cars were somewhat ordinary passenger cars.

However there was an HO Ferrari 250 GTO as a stocking stuffer.

It wasn’t long before Marc was modifying his HO cars, and he soon bought his first 1/32 car and made his way to a local commercial track. Marc recalls, “Everybody looked much older and tougher, with bigger, faster cars. That was my first and last visit.” So Marc stopped

9

BIG

NIEMAS IS BEAUTIFUL RACECARS The slot cars from

W

hen the SlotCarMAG spies spotted some absolutely amazing 1/24th scale Formula 1 cars, we just had to find out more about them, and, of course, we asked for some pictures… They are made by Niemas Racecars from Germany and, far from being something to put on a shelf, they are designed to race! Here’s what they said.

“The mastermind behind these models is Michael Niemas, a thirty-year-old trained and passionate modeller with a background in the car design industry, who started to realise his passion as parttime job in 2009.

His first modelling experience was when he was twelve years old. At the age of eighteen, he had his first contact with slot racing at a local race club and was directly infected by the virus of these small cars

and drove from then on in club races, national championships and even world championships.

Over the years he focused more and more on the ‘big’ cars in 1/24 scale, where the standard of building and detail could reach a more authentic level. The response of the model making ‘scene’ – customers and other model makers – confirmed this thinking.

Many of the NR slot cars are not only great collectors’ pieces to be driven only from time to time, but also potentially

Slot Car MAG – The magazine for racers, collectors and builders

competitive racing slot cars. That is the reason why the finest ‘cutting edge’ technology is always installed under the

13

Designer Flairs

by Andi Rowland

Original computer design for the Lotus 72 and main pic showing the completed prototype.

1970s Grand Prix Racing The 1970s were a very exciting period in Grand Prix racing. Many different ideas were tried and tested on the racetrack, making for a great diversity of styles.

This was largely helped by the availability throughout the period of the Cosworth DFV engine and the Hewland FG400 series of gearboxes. These were cheap enough to attract many different teams into F1, some of which became very successful – and others, of course, which did not! However, they all added to this diversity of design, colour and excitement of the period.

Policar believes that it is high time that these cars were celebrated in 1:32 slot racing, and that the technology is now available to overcome the inherent difficulties, both aesthetic and technical, in bringing to the market cars which are both competitive, fun to drive and which really reflect in amazing detail the look of open-wheel racing cars of this era. It is the perfect company with which to do this, having sponsored real Grand Prix teams in its 1970s heyday, as well as having a huge heritage in producing slot cars. Everyone involved in this project is extremely proud to begin this series.

16

Lotus 72 The Lotus 72 is, in my opinion, the right car with which to start the series, since it debuted in 1970 and because it was one of the most successful cars both in the 1970s and in the history of post-war Grand Prix racing as a whole.

In fact, the Lotus 72 epitomises the start of this era. Born in a period of 'cigar shaped' cars, it revolutionised how people thought about designing Grand Prix cars back then and indeed the overall design concepts can still be seen in Grand Prix cars today.

Designed by Maurice Phillippe, it was not super quick ‘out of the box’, largely due to the complicated suspension geometries that were initially incorporated, but once this system was revised, Jochen Rindt immediately showed that the car was a step ahead of the

competition by taking five wins in its first season. The car itself was characterised by its wedge nose design (so that the body itself would provide downforce), the sidepod-mounted water radiators and the torsion bar suspension.

Overall, it won an impressive five championships: three constructors’ in 1970, 1972 and 1973, and two drivers’ in 1970 and 1972. That these were gained over a total of six seasons in which the car was campaigned and that it won races in four of those seasons shows just how advanced the car must have been on its debut. Some of the most famous drivers of all time drove the 72 to these championships: Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi and Ronnie Peterson as well as Jacky Ickx, Graham Hill and a long list of others.

The magazine for racers, collectors and builders – Slot Car MAG

E G D I R B S E T A MAGN

by Ric Woods

Sam’s World In Miniature have been grabbing quite a few headlines recently with their new range of 1/32 buildings and trackside accessories. It’s a new venture, from Jem Little and Gary Long, two long-time Scalextric racers and track builders. The buildings come in kit form, and are manufactured with great precision using a CNC router. I had a look at their Pedestrian Bridge kit, which features raised ‘Dunlop’ lettering…

T

he packaging is very reminiscent of an item of flat-pack furniture that you might spend a week struggling with, but it is of course smaller and promises to be much more fun. Sam’s (S.W.I.M. seems a little odd) immediately set themselves along the path to a positive review by including full, helpful and easily understood instructions. See? It can be done!

The first task is to build the stairs (without which any pedestrian bridge is rendered useless) and this is made a

18

whole lot easier with the thoughtful provision of two templates that hold the sides straight while the steps are glued into place. Superglue (CA) is the recommended adhesive for the plastic used and it works well, though I departed from this a little later on in the build. As is to be expected from the hi-tech manufacturing process, the parts all fit together perfectly, with only the occasional deft sweep with some fine sandpaper being required to remove any rough edges.

In a completely out-of-character move, I decided to check that the bridge would span my Carrera track (“Fits all track systems” it said) before putting it all together and actually it didn’t… this was very easily remedied, however. With a new blade in my trusty scalpel (and my lucky 1989 first aid kit to hand) I removed 4mm from the inside of each elegantly curved foot. Some loss of ultimate architectural style, perhaps, but it now fitted perfectly.

Talking of curves, the supporting ‘A’ frames need to be curved slightly to match those of

The magazine for racers, collectors and builders – Slot Car MAG

GUIDED TOURS Hub Habets’

A closer look at the front axle and guide – part 1

S

ome cars leave the slot at a much lower speed than others. When grip and weight distribution are nearly the same, why does it happen and what can we do to change it? For the answer we have to take a closer look at the front axle and guide, because these parts have much influence on the driveability of a car.

At first we have to test the maximum reachable rotating angle of the guide. This should be at least 45° to both sides. 60 – 65° will do the job even better and is also more usual. On older Scalextric cars, such as the Mitsubishi Lancer, the angle is only

20

about 39°, but can easily be increased to 45°, by cutting some material away with a sharp hobby knife. This can be done at the edges of both sides of the guide or from the hole in the floor pan. In this way the guide rotates a lot further before it reaches the end stop, which is the floor pan itself.

Vertically fixed front axle and guide.

To realise quick lap times, the front axle and guide are more important than you would expect at first. If the guide is positioned at the correct height in relation to the front axle, the front wheels should only just touch the track and the outer

The magazine for racers, collectors and builders – Slot Car MAG

A Welcome

Brake

by Andy Player

In the UK HO community we frequently borrow and refine ideas from other areas of the hobby. One development is a driver station that has a built-in adjustable brake switch – something that is used at most HO clubs in the UK and on many HO home tracks...

M

ost modern HO cars have strong traction magnets, which makes braking a tricky issue. Wiring the track for brakes gives too much stop for HO cars. Using a little bit of brake would be good, but using full brakes is just too much.

Of course, slot car racers have been fitting brake pots into their controllers for decades in order to refine braking. This comes as standard on more expensive controllers. However, HO prides itself on not needing to break the bank (oh, very good! – Ed) to be competitive. Instead we put the brake switch into the driver station to allow brake adjustments when using any standard resistor controller. The set-

24

up is essentially the BSCRA-style 2 amp round pin socket with a diode switch inserted into the brake wire circuit.

It was HO racer Andy Whorton who borrowed from Andy BrownSearle's 'Rotary Diode Brake Kit' and refined it for HO. The original tutorial – for putting a switch in a Red Fox controller – is at http://www.abslotsport.com/page22.html The brake switch is constructed by soldering eight 1N4001 diodes around a single-pole 12-way break-before-make rotary switch. Each diode drops the voltage in the brake wire by around 1V, each time reducing the effectiveness of

Main pic: Driver station module at Worthing HO Racing Inset pic: Box stations at an EAHORC meeting Above: Wiring diagram

The magazine for racers, collectors and builders – Slot Car MAG

by Andy Player

Searching back through the archives, I was surprised by the lack of 1/43 coverage in SlotCarMAG. So let's have a look at that 'in-between' scale...

I

f you line up a 1/43 car between similar models in HO and 1/32 scale, you can see it really is an excellent compromise. The cars are a decent size with the possibility of some great detailing – 1/43 is, after all, the top diecast scale.

The track geometry allows more layout in less space. I built what is a nice little track on a six by three foot door – far too small for a decent 1/32 track, and I'm not sure HO would have offered much more in that space.

26

The track I used was Carrera Go!, which is easy to get hold of, new or used. Carrera have three radii of curve pieces and some cool speciality sections, including a long chicane and a manually operated pit lane. Other 1/43 track systems include SCX Compact and Artin, which is found in many of the cheap slot car sets sold in the big toy stores.

Being a bit of a snob, I didn't try out the Artin track or cars, but I did give a

run out to cars from the Carrera Go!, SCX Compact and Kyosho Dslot43 stables.

The Carrera and SCX cars have the appearance of the Scalextric Super Resistant or NINCO 1 cars, with their blacked-out windows and rugged racing features. My favourites have to be the Carrera F1 cars and the SCX Plymouth Barracudas, which have a look that's not far off their bigger 1/32 siblings.

The Kyosho Dslot43 cars are spot-on with their scale model bodies and show

The magazine for racers, collectors and builders – Slot Car MAG

An Englishman S Not Abroad

ummer holidays probably seem like a distant memory now; you remember – that two weeks of intense sunshine when we all wilted and a hosepipe ban was introduced! This year it was decided that myself and the good lady wife would take a tour of England’s green and pleasant South Coast and I made a mental note not to think about how I should be preparing cars for the next club night because, as usual, my championship standing was not as near to the top as it used to be, when I was younger and quicker...

Well, to my surprise and the wife’s dismay we just happened to stumble on a place called Sharky’s, situated on the rather nice harbour front in Weymouth (away from the crass arcades on the seafront). We had passed this establishment on the previous morning and I noted that it catered for kids wishing to relieve their excess energy in a laser shoot-out, or what’s billed as a ‘soft play’ area (more like a killing zone for screaming brats I concluded).

Anyway, later in the guest house, whilst supping on my evening glass of port (Really? – ED), I was flicking through all the local advertising literature and saw a rather large slot car track... under the banner of Sharky’s, the establishment we had walked past earlier.

“Heavens, would you believe it darling?” I stammered (or something similar, anyway). “There seems to be

a...”

“YES! I was hoping you wouldn’t notice” she retorted.

Well, I could barely refrain from throwing off my smoking jacket and marching straight down to the harbour, thumping on the door and demanding to set the best lap time. However, that would have to wait until the morrow, which, as bad luck would have it, was our day of homeward travel. Yet I convinced the good lady that at least we should pay a visit, for future reference.

Jason, the manager, was good enough to show us around and I was astounded to see that the advertising image hadn’t done this fabulous track justice: it is a smooth, purpose-built, 6-lane routed track, with steel braid!

Jason commented that most of his business is for kiddies parties, but he is rather keen to get “proper” racers in for a go too. You can even bring your own controllers and cars and, if there’s enough of you, hire the track for an hour and make sure that there’s no pesky kids on it to ruin your lap times! The price is quite reasonable – about a fiver each for half-an-hour.

Now this is a glimpse of past glory days... of the numerous pay-and-drive

by Marc Abbott

raceways found around the country. So if you’re around the Weymouth area and need an adrenalin fix, book yourself a drive. I’m sure the wife won’t mind!

Sharky’s can be found at 9, Custom House Quay, Weymouth, Dorset, DT4 8BG or telephone: 01305 750 550. Further information can be found on the Sharky’s web site at: www.sharkysweymouth.com