SCX Formula 1 - Home Racing World & Slot Car Garage

Saturday November 15, 2008

Acquiring this model has taken me some time, but finally our first modern F-1 in quite a while has arrived. I do not follow the 1:1 series much but I do enjoy them in our scale. I chose the SCX version based on the recommendations of my fellow enthusiasts and when it arrived I took one look and was very pleased with the choice.

Although out of the box it is a very nice model I had special plans for this Ferrari.

Over the years I have enjoyed many hours racing modern F-1, but they have to be just right. My main collection before this car arrived is comprised entirely of NINCO F-1 models that are 7 to 8 years old. Why? Well we like the way they run and they have one other characteristic: Functional steering. Many enthusiasts do like this feature as it not as durable as a solid front axle. I suppose this is true, however all of my current models are still working fine without any damage. When my friends informed me that SCX versions had this same steering, that is what helped me make up my mind.

This model really isn't a new release as it has been out for about a year or more. Since I don't often collect them I cannot be certain. In any event it did not matter as this car was also chosen to be the first of 2 models tuned specifically for our 3 lane routed wood road course.

Overall it appears SCX has done an excellent job recreating this historic model in our scale. I say historic as this was the last car Michael Schumacher drove in the 1:1 series. When you look closer there is more small detail to enjoy than I expected. Our famous driver looks well enough for most enthusiasts and the mirrors and antenna really finish it off for me.

Speaking of these mirrors I can safely tell you that IF you want to keep these intact, remove them before racing. There is not much adhesive on them and mine simply pulled out rather easily. No real issue here as without the finely detailed mirrors the car would not look right. Making them from softer rubber could be accomplished although having them the proper color would be the challenge. So carefully remove them if you want to keep the car looking like new years from now.

The paint work and Tampo stamped markings are very crisp and everything is sealed with a clean, dirt free clear coat. I would say most any fan of F-1 should enjoy the overall appearance of this car.

Wheels and tires seem nicely done and appeared to need little sanding. The rear tires have no markings as they were sent in to K&D to have after-market tire molds made and during the process the markings were lost. No issue for me as I plan on using those tires as part of the tune up plans. I did notice a little wheel clean-up was needed, but this can be said for most and model.

Box Stock Testing
Artin Plastic Track- 12 Volt DC Aftermarket Power - 25 OHM PARMA Econo Controllers

Many of us expect our ready to run models to do what? That's right RUN! Well that is exactly what this car did and it did it better than expected. The car has a low growl to it like many SCX models do but it will soon fade away with proper break-in procedures. I was also surprised how smooth it was seeing as we had sanded the wheels or tires.

Very decent acceleration and braking with this car and lap times were decent. After a 100 lap run we had averages in the 3.9 second ranges. Again, not bad considering no maintenance has been performed.

Don't ask me why I like functional steering. I just do. Since we race our models at lower voltages the speeds of them are not as fast and you can really enjoy the detail of the model. Seeing the wheels turn in the corners, well there is only one way I can think to put it: Cool.

So for those of you just looking for a nice looking, low-cost F-1 model to add, I think you will be happy. As of this writing these models can be found for around $39.99. In today's economy this is a great price point. This kind of price just makes me enjoy the model even more. As I am doing some modifications to it, it is nice to start out with a low initial cost.

Modifications/Tune-Up

Turning the car over we see that there are 4 screws that secure the body to the chassis. One is sort of hard to find as it is up front on the nose, right under the front guide. I did not need to remove the guide though, I had just enough room.

Once inside we see our chassis layout. Wireless connections are standard fare for most SCX models and is present here. The motor however is different. This car comes equipped with a RX-44B motor. I do not have any specs for this motor but in seems to have more than enough power for most enthusiasts. In any event, it won't last long as we are going to swap it out.

Standard gearing of a 9 tooth pinion and 27 tooth crown are also employed. I like the standard gearing for our track so this will stay the same. Snapping the motor out is easy enough accomplished by slightly flexing chassis and popping it out.

Now for some of you high speed, heavy magnet racers, you will not look at this as an upgrade. Putting a lightly tamer motor in and running at 12 volts non-magnet is not something everyone appreciates...that is until you have done it. The action is still plenty fast enough for our tastes and the added control we get is right where we feel it needs to be.

Every track and person is different in our hobby. You simply tune your models to suit your won taste in driving and also for the track you are racing on. In our case we are choosing the standard RX-42 motor. This motor was tested with a range of 14,971-15,400 RPM @ 12 volts. This is an ideal speed for our 4 x 16 routed road course.

The spares of the RX-42 I have are slightly different. The motor tabs that come down (chicken legs they are know to be called) are longer and point the wrong direction. Don't panic, you won't need a soldering gun.

I simply bent the tabs by hand to match as best I could the ones on the 44B. Then I trimmed the length slightly to fit. This was all it needed and in it went with no issues. I did add a drop of solder on each tab to make sure we had a good connection. You do not NEED to do this step if you keep these tabs correctly adjusted and clean.

Time for wheels and tires. After removing the tires the wheels needed some light clean up. Using the same procedures we show here, we accomplished this quickly enough. Then the addition of K&D tires to replace the stock tires. Again we gave them a quick sanding and it was now time for some testing.

The End Result

Have you ever tuned on a model and in the first couple laps knew you had accomplished your mission? This was the case here. Very smooth in and out of the corners with adequate braking and acceleration. Lap times at the start were decent with a 4.2 second average. Once we settled down into a good rhythm we easily had cutting 4.0 second runs.

What we did notice on our smaller track is that the 44B and this 42 are pretty close to performance. There is a slight more punch with the 44B, but this could be simple brush break in. I will stay with the 42 as a "spec" motor for the next model to keep things even as possible.

Summing It Up

This car is a good choice for either the box stock racer or those who enjoy tinkering around. As I stated there is another coming this way that will be tuned identically so we can have the kind of close, white knuckle racing action we enjoy. Given the low price, adding a pair of these to your collection should be on your list if you are a fan of this series.

-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!

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