Friday June 24, 2005

New Slot-it NISSAN R390!

The very latest model from Slot-it has arrived here after months of waiting. I looked forward to this model not because of the series or what type of car it was, but from who was making it. Slot-it has impressed me with their latest series of Porsche models and I anticipated that this latest hot rod would be at the same level of quality.

For myself, this Le Mans Nissan really does not hold much prototype favor but there are many Le Mans fans out there that remember this model and the popularity of cars like this continues to grow. And as with many series of models released today, you may not know much about the prototype but it certainly will not stop you from enjoying the model in our scale.

Such is the case here as the minute I opened the box I was very impressed. The level of detail Slot-it has put into this Nissan should please just about any slot car enthusiast. Comparing the model to prototype photos told me that they have done an excellent job recreating this machine in scale as well. Hopefully the photos here will do most of the talking for me when describing the accuracy and level of detail.

The pre-qualifying flat black finish really makes the model appear very ominous. This coupled with the contrast of markings really made the model stand out for me. These markings are very well done too as I found no signs of fading or runs with even the markings over some of the molded panel lines being crisp and opaque.

Some enthusiasts have commented that the rear of the body is set a little high off the wheels. According to prototype photos is does appear that it is slightly higher, but I must admit it is not enough to bother me within the least. If it does bother you, you can simply adjust this by sanding on the rear body post.

The wheels and tires themselves are of course some of the main players with the performance of this model. The rear wheels are the Slot-it turned aluminum that are mounted to the axle using a set (Allen) screw. Both the rear wheels on my sample were as round and true as you could ask for. The tires are of a medium to soft compound and they fit on the wheel very well. Sanding these tires were needed to get the full contact patch I wanted, but this can be said for just about every model on the market today.

The front tires and wheels however posed an issue. I noticed that the tires seemed to appear to be out of round and had some high edges. To be fair though, the out of the box test did not really show this to be a glaring issue as operation seemed fine. This is due to the guide height being set at almost a perfect tri-pod so the tires really did not show themselves until I took a closer look.

The problem was that the tires were not seated all the way on the wheels. Even after I tried re-seating them by hand, there were still a couple small areas that just would not set right. I removed the tire and discovered that the wheels had some excess flash molding on the inside and outside of the inner rib. It wasn't a large amount, but just enough to cause the tires to sit slightly off-center. I used a common finger nail file (or Emory board) and lightly ran it across these areas. You simply have to run your finger across the area until it feels as flush and smooth as possible. This was all it took for my model and the tires fit the wheel much better. I have heard that this issue has shown itself with other enthusiasts, but  I cannot comment on any other reports of bad wheels or tires simply because the fix for our sample was very simple. If there are other models out there with these issues, I would really take a close look at the inner rib of the wheels to see if you have the same issues.

Underneath we find that only 2 screws mount the body to the chassis. The front screw might be hidden by the guide, but you just need to move it to the side to get easy access. Inside we see typical Slot-it components with the motor equipped with a 9 tooth pinion that turns a 28 tooth crown gear. The rear axle is held firmly in place with brass bushings that I found are very solid in their mounts. There is a pocket up front to add or change the location of the original magnet. The motor is the same 25,000 V12 found in the recent Porsches, and provides you with plenty of power. I have not seen where you would need to change this motor, but Slot-it does have a wide range of power-plants to choose from. Personally, this motor is more than enough for our normal home racing and we plan on keeping the original.

The motor mount can be changed as well to accept different styles of motors. 4 screws are easily removed from underneath allow you a quick change format. According to Scalextric-USA it will accept either inline or sidewinder motors. Plus they will accept the boxer and reverse motor mount. Their chassis now will also easily accept the magnetic suspension kit. If this design does not tell you Slot-it cares about the racing enthusiast, nothing will.

One new item is in the front of the chassis. The 2 raised ribs under the front axle now have plastic caps that sit directly over them. This allows you to remove them and introduce varying degrees of front axle vertical free-play. However, out of the box with the caps in place makes the front axle sit in the raised position where I feel it should be. The axle is still free-spinning with no binding and it also removes excess body roll. Depending on your track and driving style, this option further allows you to tune the model to your liking. Once again, it seems Slot-it goes the extra mile for the enthusiast.

It has always been the quality of the running gear that has made these models as popular as they are. Slot-it makes very good axles, motors and gear systems that many choose to replace the ones found on other brands of cars. Having these higher quality parts already on your model along with the price of under $50.00 makes this Nissan just as much of a great value as the Porsches before it. This running gear is held in place on the axle by very small Allen head set screws. The size wrench you need is a .9mm wrench and although it is not easy to find in stores, SlotCarPlace has this wrench in stock. I would highly suggest that if you decide to purchase this model that you go ahead and get a wrench to go with it. Even though the components are very good, you might want to experiment with gear ratios so your wrench will come in handy for this.

Operation of our model was very pleasing. Although they use a smaller c-shaped magnet, we like this lighter magnet set-up. It still gives you some light pinning action yet it forces you to actually DRIVE the model instead of just escorting a heavy magnet around the track. It has always been my opinion that these models were designed for the advanced enthusiast and nothing I have seen in this model changes that view. While other car makers are beefing up to faster motors and super-strong magnets so that their cars act like large HO scale cars, Slot-it still delivers models that keep the driver in mind. The magnet is easily removed without much trouble. I simply flex the edges of the chassis downward until one of the tabs holding in the magnet release it. Then a small flat tip screwdriver will easily pop it free and in seconds your ready for non-magnet action.

However, in box stock form acceleration and braking are very crisp and you should have no trouble getting into a smooth rhythm with it. The rear turned aluminum wheels and true axles make this car very smooth to drive right out of the box and is surprisingly quiet as well. The rear tires needed some sanding and cleaning to get them to hook-up the way I prefer but that can be said for any stock tire found today. Silicone tires are an option some enthusiasts especially on routed wood tracks, but for our home racing here I will keep the standard rubber.

Lap times were easily into the 4.2 second range with the tires sanded and clean. This is an excellent average on our Artin 4 lane layout and working with different set-ups will most likely yield an even faster car. Non magnet this model only fell off 1 second on the lap time. I did not add any weight, but doing so will make an even better handling model. It was important to make sure the tires were clean and true, but the important thing was that the model was still very smooth and showed no signs of bent axles or out of round wheels. On our new NINCO 2 lane layout, this car had just a little more magnetic traction and control was just as precise using the standard 55 ohm plus controllers. The light magnet still gave us a good window of recovery even with the more abrasive surface of the track.

In my opinion, the models made by Slot-it are some of the best quality ready-to-run slot cars on the market today. They run wonderfully smooth and reliably and have fantastic scale detail to go with it. If you have not considered a Slot-it model before, I can safely say that now is the time to take a close look at what they have to offer you.

- 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 Go To SLOTCARPLACE For Providing Us With This Great Car!