March 15, 2009
 SCX Porsche 911 GT3 CUP 'UPS' Review By Shawn Smith Appearance:  UPS might be known for a big brown truck delivering packages all across the world but now SCX Worldwide is going to be known for making a fantastic looking UPS Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. Brown isn't always a color I attribute with attractive race cars but SCX has done a great job producing a car with a deep brown base color accented with yellow and bright orange paint work and gold decorations and parts.  This car really does look great on the track... in certain lighting the brown almost looks black and the clear coat is deep and shiny and fingerprints really easily. Keep a polishing cloth handy. Small details such as simulated hood pins are painted silver, there is some of the tiniest writing you can get on a car this scale running down the windshield pillars and for as small as it is you can ready it perfectly providing your eyes are as good at seeing it as it's printed.  Very rugged side mirrors and a large rear wing are about the only things you could potentially hurt on this car, the wing perhaps being the weakest link, and under the rear wing (see below) the striping is about the only paint flaw I could find but its really such a small example and you'd never notice it with the car sitting on the track.   Wheels are white plastic, painted gold, and the tires have Michelin logos that will get scuffed off eventually but they look great when the tires are new. Taking tires on and off the rims will likely scrape off some of the gold from the lip of the wheels too. Back on the rims, while I don't have a good image of it, I like the three strengthening ribs SCX has molded in to the inside of these wheels.  So looks wise SCX has a hit with this UPS car. Taking it right from the case and turning a few laps it might not run near as good as it looks. Performance: Here is where our first concern surfaces. Take a look at this little video clip of a bad vibration which certainly didn't do too much to help the cars handling. At first I thought it might be a bum wheel, hopefully maybe just a poorly fit tire, however taking the body off and giving it some power showed it to be a gearing issue.  Pulling the four post motor pod out of the car, then removing the motor, I spun the axle to see the gear wobbling on the axle. Replacing it was my first idea but not having another spare SCX plastic crown, and not wanting to replace the axle for a set-screw gear due to the stock axles splines, I decided to try something I normally wouldn't do and I simply snapped it back in the car and decided I'd run it the way it is and just deal with the vibration. Oh sure I pressed on it pushing it in when it rotated out and pulled out when the low spot rotated in and for just a couple seconds I hit the gear with the heat from a lighter while spinning one of the wheels hoping the pressure of the pinion on the heated gear would help change its shape.  Motor wise that brass pinion is fitted to SCX's RX-42 motor. Quite a lot of dicsussion around whether this motor should be replaced by the faster 42B version and for magnet racing I would agree the 'B' would be the direction I would want it. Running my Carrera home track the RX-42 and wobbly gear issue managed a 6.044 fastet lap on lane one and while it was a bit of effort to try and get that it's actually pretty close to the stock lap times we've gotten home testing SCX cars like the Honda Accord WTCC cars. Non magnet racing? Here is where I might actually keep the non-B motor as the car was actually quite drivable and testing it non-magnet on one of our club tracks this Porsche with sanded tires and an ever improving vibration was turning 7.8 and 7.9, the fastest being a 7.700, and that's actually pretty good considering times run by some 'tuned' non-mag cars were in the 7.2 to 7.5 range.  Besides the gear problem the car had one other minor problem and that was power feeling like it was cutting out. Braids having been adjusted I pulled the guide out of the car as I know from other SCX cars their 'tab' type connections can be a source of problems and such was the case here. In the image above you can actually see how one tab is slightly lifted while the other is smashed flat. Prying this flat tab up, and even lifting the other a slight bit more than it already was, putting the guide back in proved the power issue was solved and the car ran smoothly.  Guide back in you can see in the image above how the newly shapped motor tabs were keeping the guide down and you can also see how the guide is spring assited. In the extreme left of the image you can also see how this car is fitting with independent front wheels which is a pretty huge difference form the SCX Pro-Performance Porsche I reviewed last November.  Of course another big difference is how this non-Pro car is fitted with a working light system. The chip above has contact patches for the tabs that extend down from the body. This is the first SCX car that I recall having the lights connecting in such a way and I'm hoping this connection, and or the chip itself, is a design intended to help with the electrical connection and light longevity.  The Final Verdict:  So a slight gear problem to contend with, and some adjusting here and there, and the SCX UPS Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car is another great option in the SCX GT range of cars. I give it very high marks for looks while performance with the RX-42 motor will be good for some and have others wanting to swap it out for something with more punch. The isolated front wheels worked perfectly without any noticable chatter or excessive free play for that matter, the motor pod pivoted within a range that allowed movement without letting the rear tires come in contact with the body and if it weren't for the wobble from the crown gear I would be able to say the car ran about as perfect as you could ask for. All in all a pretty nice job by SCX. As always HomeRacingWorld.com would like to thank SCX Worldwide for sponsoring this review. If you have any questions feel free to contact me via my email link below. Shawn Smith - SJSlots shawn@homeracingworld.com Thanks Go To SCX For Sponsoring This Review!
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