Friday February 21, 2008
 NINCO HUMMER H2 'Sheriff' Review By Shawn Smith Officer: 'Dispatch this is Charlie-285. I am just east of that location. Any more details on the call?' Dispatch: 'Charlie-285. Caller advised vehicle involved is a silver NINCO ProRace Toyota. Vehicles reported as traveling at a high rate of speed and driving wrecklessly.' Officer: 'Roger that dispatch. Show me in route to that area.' Appearance:  Speed, speed and more speed... the cravings of almost all slot car racers! While I love speed as much as the next guy some times I just enjoy running a slot car that brings to the track its own unique style of fun. Such would be the case for the all new NINCO HUMMER H2's, recently released in a bright yellow civilian paint job and this really cool black and white 'Sheriff' decorated version. Meant to break track records? No... Intended to be fun? I certainly think so.  First impressions? Man this sucker is big! It's really not, measuring roughly 2.5 inches wide, a little less than 6 inches long and roughly 2.5 inches tall I think the NINCO Hummer H2 looks big mostly due to its large boxey shape compared to the lower profile racers we are used to running. I applaud NINCO for tackling such a project and was really pleased to see how good of a realistic representation they came up with. Details are nice and plentiful. Starting in the front the H2 has wide front grille protector that has proven to be very sturdy and will hold up well to a shot straight in to a barrier. Headlights, fog-lights and turn signal details are separately applied and are not painted on but very tiny details such as the word HUMMER are stamped between the headlights on the truck's grille.  And lets be honest it is the painted on details that make it such a cool version. The hood is decorated with a painted white hood sporting the 'County Sheriff' banner and matching logos. The doors get a similar treatment with the mathing white background and gold lettering. Other mention-worthy details include large sturdy side view mirrors, painted door handles and side marker lights as well as tiny but easy to read decorations like the '7 Liter' logo on both sides of the hood.   Inside the HUMMER's cavernous interior a rather plain clothed officer sits at the wheel wearing a light gray uniform and wearing white driving gloves. They might be plastic surgical gloves in preparation for your strip-search... wait, no not going to go there...  Through the HUMMER's clear moonroof it's easy to make out the white faced dash board gauges and the well detailed dash board area. The rest of the interior is hidden behind dark tinted rear windows but if you angle it right in the light you'll be able to see the full modeled rear bench seat for our 'perps' to be wrestled in to.  In the back the famous HUMMER name is molded in to the rear bumper of the truck, tailights are red clear plastic with painted on turn signals and reverse indicators, the rear hatch looks like it should open, it has tow hooks, a hitch location and more painted on Sheriff details right down to the Texas Sheriff license plate with the tiny slogan 'The Lone Star State' running across the bottom.  HUMMER stamped rims sport giant treaded tires that make an entertaining 'hum' while driving around the track. The fenders get a special fender flare treatment that also look like seprate details, and as we'll see later, they are.  Looks wise the NINCO HUMMER H2 looks the part and the final product is really nice although my example did have a slight issue with the white hood and door paint being a little thin in some areas making it look a little gray. Still... a really cool looking piece that will no doubt be popular with many.  Performance:  Time to take the cuffs off and get to processing this baby for booking. Up front the NINCO HUMMER has two screw locations under the front bumper and in the back a single screw needs to be taken out right in the center.   Taking the body off I was puzzled for a moment as I can't recall another NINCO model that covered up everything inside of the car. All you can see from this shot is the motor and its wires but I quickly realized these covers were those fender flares I mentioned earlier and they pop right off to let you get to your axles.   As is the case with all NINCO 'off-road' modeled trucks this HUMMER H2 comes packing the speed and torque of the NC-7 'Raider' motor in an inline configuration spinning a brass pinion to a black plastic crown gear. That crown then spins the rear axle which is fitted with AWD pullies and a black rubber drive belt that transfers power to the front of the truck for additional bite.   Brass axle bushings are plentiful with a total of 8 between the two axles. Four are snapped in to chassis mounts while four others are the connection locations for the bottoms of the HUMMER's yellow spring equipped shock absorbers that give this HUMMER, and many of its NINCO trucking cousins, humorous leaning, tilting and often some fun three-wheel and two-wheel stunt driving characteristics.   And because this HUMMER does tend to get off it's wheels a little bit a long drop arm guide is provided to help keep power going to the motor. This is needed, trust me, and could be even longer in my opinion as even with the amount of travel it provides its not uncommon to find the guide poping ouf of the slot in the turns... some additional weight in the nose is probably a good recommendation.  There is of course a magnet installed, NINCO's bar style typically only used in truck style vehicles such as this, but the trucks top heavy design proved this little rectangle magnet to be no match for the trucks tipping abilities and part of my review fun became seeing if I could over power the magnet and forcing the truck in to a slide without throwing this HUMMER on its luggage rack roof supports.  On the track my best advice to you would be... Do NOT attempt to drive this bad boy like you might it's lower center of gravity cousins. The Sheriff will be sending a wrecker to pull you out of the ditch faster than you can say 'too much trigger in to turn one!' It drives nicely on four wheels but also likes to three wheel through a lot of my tighter turns and even two-wheel itself on occasion tossing right over on its side.  How does it stack up with other NINCO off-road style trucks? Not too favorable we found out, running this NINCO HUMMER trying to track down Eric's X826 'Schelesser' Fox. While fun it's size and balance proved to be a challenge to drive fast and it simply couldn't be pushed to keep pace with the more race-friendly Fox. Tracking a speeder down in a straight line won't be a problem but if there are sharp bends involved your best bet will be to toss this monster sideways and block the escape route of your prey. The Final Verdict:  Have to love the truck's looks... it is a cool looking slot with that 'emergency vehicle' appeal. It's size makes it a challenge to drive fast but race two of these things door to door and I can imagine the laughs that can be had. Another idea might be to try and track down your favorite magnet-free get-a-way car and see if that evens the score a little bit. In any case it's fun once you get the hang of it and should provide hours of entertainment. Thanks to Model Rectifier (MRC) for providing the NINCO Hummer H2 'Sheriff' for review. Please stop by the HRW/SCG Message Board to talk about this and all other models of slot cars. Happy Slotting! Shawn Smith - SJSlots sjslots@hotmail.com Thanks Go To MRC For Sponsoring This Review!
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