Saturday February 05, 2005

Revell/Monogram NSU 1300 TT

This little model from Revell/Monogram is yet another release that first caught my attention at the last Chicago iHobby Expo. Slot Car World was helping Monogram at the time and I was curious about all the news about this particular car. I did not have a chance to drive it then, but now as these are available here it was time to see what this smaller car could do.

Many of you might not know what an NSU is. To be honest, I had to look it up on the Net myself to get a better understanding about the history of the car in question. (Prepare to translate some pages as most are in German) Although not that popular here, in Europe these little machines had a huge following. As looked at photos on the web I compared them to the slot car and although I am sure experts of the 1:1 car will find issues, I felt Revogram did a good job reproducing it.

The overall fit and finish on my model is about as good as you can ask for. All the Tampo and paint are very clean and opaque with no runs or fading. I felt the small details like the Tampo on the glass really made this model much more appealing and just gives it a cleaner, finished look. The interior is good as well considering the size we are dealing with. Our driver is nicely painted along with visible roll bar, seat belts and fire bottle on the floor. The rear lid is opened to expose a slight amount of motor detail and is accurate as the car was raced like this. All in all I think most scale enthusiasts should find this model to their liking.

Wheels and tires are certainly different, but look very well done and fit the model well. The tires are slicks and of a medium compound, which does provide decent grip on plastic tracks out of the box. I did notice that they would need a good level of sanding to get them true, but this can be said for just about every model on the market today. Still, the molding of the tires could have been a little better but I just might be getting a little on the picky side. Others have commented that they like the tires while others cannot wait to change them, so it will all be based on your racing preference as most things in our hobby are.

Underneath we see the model has 4 screws that mount the body to the chassis. We also see a change to the magnet system that given the size of the chassis was almost expected. This model has a small but powerful bar magnet held in place with a plastic bracket cover. You can see a small tip on the bracket where you can slide a small flat screwdriver under it and pop it free. I did this several times and it is quite an easy task with no damage to the bracket.

Inside we see the motor sitting at an angle equipped with a 9 tooth pinion that turns the 27 tooth crown gear.  In front of the motor there is a stabilizing bracket held in place by 2 screws that you will have to remove if you decide to do a motor change.

This bracket does help the motor from flexing and shifting from side to side under load, so make sure you install it before testing other motors.

Out of the box this model did function and was once again very quiet and smooth, a trait that Revogram seems to always bring us. The car was very quick of course due to it's small size and the standard motor it is equipped with. I posted lap time averages of 4.2 seconds with this little beast, which I thought was impressive given the smaller bar magnet and high center of gravity. I then gave these small tires the good sanding and truing they needed and headed back to the track. Instantly I noticed a difference and my averages dropped to 3.9 seconds. This is a very fast and sturdy little model and I found it to be very addictive. Even with the magnet and it being top heavy, I could still manage some decent drifting action from it.

The control of the car was actually better than I expected on 12 volts with our PARMA 35 ohm controllers. Braking and acceleration is a little more distinct compared to other Monograms in the past. The smaller diameter of the wheels is one of the main reasons I suspect, but I have to admit it surprised me. I am no fan of the latest trend by slot car manufactures to keep putting in hotter motors and stronger magnets that turn our nicely detailed slot cars in giant HO cars. I thought this model would be the same, but it really isn't that bad. Although the power of the motor might be too much for some, it still functions better out of the box than you might think.

However, non-magnet was a different issue. With just the magnet removed I could only manage a 7.1 second average on our track. This really shows you how much work that little bar magnet is doing! Then again, enthusiasts who enjoy non-magnet racing are accustomed to advanced tuning and I have already seen reports from clubs here that tells me there is plenty of options for this little car. Silicone tires are most likely upgrade #1 (as soon as they are available) and then tuning with lead.

Overall I like this little model for what it is: Different. Sometimes it is nice to bring out a model that is in a class by itself and this model definitely qualifies. Of course it will not appeal to everyone in our hobby, but it just adds one more choice that broadens our selection even more. I am sure to get another to have a matched set and possibly more if the series becomes more popular at our track.

- Harry

As always feel free to contact me about this article or just the hobby in general at harry@homeracingworld.com, or better yet drop into our Message Forum and share your thoughts with other enthusiasts!

Thanks got to Slot Car World for providing us with this model.