TYCO HO Scale Slot Cars...what happened to slot cars?

Scalextric is still alive and well, mostly 1/32 scale, but they do have some 1/64 scale sets. I bought the 1/32 scale cops and robbers set for my Grandson for Xmas last year. Great fun, the cars are built like Lego and fall apart when the cars crash into each other.

Mike W. posted:

What happened to electric slot cars period?  There certainly has to be modeler/collector groups still interested in new production?

Since it appears you didn't even try to search and see if there are any current manufacturers in HO scale, you missed seeing the current offerings from AFX, Auto World and Life Like (not sure if they've resumed production?).  Then there is an entire cottage industry offering reproduction parts as well as modern racing chassis and other components.  Just a few weeks ago I was at a slot car show with around 120 tables offering a mix of old and new production.

As mentioned above, there are a number of manufacturers in 1/32 scale, and also several in 1/24 scale.   1/43 is considered toy-like, but several people have converted them over for use on O scale layouts.  

You pretty much read my mind on this post. I've been doing a lot of research on this lately. I think some slot cars would add some interest in my train layout. I've been considering a Carrera digital set. If you're looking into buying a set, I would research carrera, and maybe watch a youtube video or two on them.

I just got out my old tyco cliffhangers set, and put together a temporary floor layout. My young boys sort of liked it, but it was frustrating to them when the cars flew off the track over and over again. I then imagined the frustration I would have retrieving the cars off of a permanent train layout over and over. I may just make a separate layout for slot cars. 

Hi Folks,

    I've been experimenting with O27 trains and 1:43 slots:

The 1:43 Artin slot cars are actually 1:48 scale. Hope this inspires others to combine the cars with the trains.

Take care, Joe.

coltm16a2556 posted:

I just got out my old tyco cliffhangers set, and put together a temporary floor layout. My young boys sort of liked it, but it was frustrating to them when the cars flew off the track over and over again. I then imagined the frustration I would have retrieving the cars off of a permanent train layout over and over. I may just make a separate layout for slot cars. 

Unfortunately, if you're looking for HO scale cars that are going to stay on the track and still be fun, you don't have many options.  Modern HO cars are usually going to be 1) extremely fast and 2) heavily dependent on magnetic downforce to even have a chance at staying on the track.  Even Auto World has gotten to the point where most of their "pancake" style cars have additional traction magnets on the bottom of the chassis.  Even then, they still come off the track fairly easily.

If you really want to have slot cars integrated with your trains, there are a few solutions.  I've seen several layouts that had an old US-1 set integrated into them   Those trucks are slower, I believe that they're geared differently, and have more than one guide pin on the chassis.  I've also seen a layout that used older Aurora track with a few t-jets that had weaker armatures, so they were slower.

AFX Super International 4-Lane Mega G+ HO Slot Car Track Set w/Tri-Power System, these cars are super fast and stick to the track very well.  The tri power lets you set the mode to less speed, user friendly.

The Tyco tooling is now with Mattel Electric Racing.

The Rokar tooling went to Walthers with the Life-Like purchase several years ago. The Life-Like T-Chassis cars are my favorite, but almost too fast, for competitive racing we use the LL M-Chassis cars mostly.

Not to change page subject from Tyco slots. Today's slots are fun, take Carerra 1/32 or 1/24 scale both scales run on the same track. Digital is here too; you can run 3,4 + cars on on the same track set or go old fashioned and stay analog. Scaletrix, SCX ALso have many many sets both analog or digital. You can also get Tyco and compitalble HO cars and sets thru auto world or other web sites. Some forum sponsors sell slot cars too.

Joe Rampolla posted:

Hi Folks,

    I've been experimenting with O27 trains and 1:43 slots:

 

The 1:43 Artin slot cars are actually 1:48 scale. Hope this inspires others to combine the cars with the trains.

Take care, Joe.

Joe

Who makes that slot car track with O gauge crossing?

Oman posted:

Who makes that slot car track with O gauge crossing?

That would be Joe, using Carrera track:

ADCX Rob posted:

The Tyco tooling is now with Mattel Electric Racing.

The Rokar tooling went to Walthers with the Life-Like purchase several years ago. The Life-Like T-Chassis cars are my favorite, but almost too fast, for competitive racing we use the LL M-Chassis cars mostly.

Thanks!  I was hoping you would chime in with some valuable info for me as in the past!!

Looked at the Walther's Life-Like line and they seem uninterested in keeping the Life-Like sets in production.

Oman posted:

Joe

Who makes that slot car track with O gauge crossing?

It's homemade, as Rob said.  Here is a close-up:

Both the O27 and Carrera track are very forgiving, so nothing has to be perfect. Since the video was shot, I insulated the little slot track ends (notice how they appear as white squares in the photo above), but the flageway isn't deep enough for the train wheels to make contact with the slot track ends anyway. 

Since I will running at non-race speeds, all the slot car track will be live, but if you are racing, those short pieces of slot rail can be left dead.

Hope this helps.  It isn't too difficult to make over a couple evenings.

Take care, Joe

(Thanks, Rob, for addressing Oman's question and your always-helpful information!)

Lots of good info posted.  Slot are alive and well with much of the old tooling still around or cloned. 

'HO' slots stopped being HO scale about 1966-67 era. They grew to 1/64 scale while still being called 'HO'.   Auto World's 18 wheeler trucks are very close to HO scale but most cars are 1/64 or bigger. Scale in the 'HO' slot car world is kinda like 'scale' in G trains!!! 

I still have all my slot cars from back in the day....need to sell them or use them!!! I have bought a few 1/43 slot cars I am working on,  hoping I can have a small section of operating highway. I have a huge box of 1/32 track my son gave me I may modify. 

I assume AFX is related to the old Aurora Line?  AFX was TOMY and is now private?

I think AFX was a different company, and not related to Aurora Model Motoring. Been too long ago though, hard to remember.

The original Aurora AFX cars were updated ThunderJets still with pancake motors and larger magnets that were also traction aids. When Aurora came out with the G-Plus cars, that changed the whole landscape of HO/1:64 road racing.

mowingman posted:

I think AFX was a different company, and not related to Aurora Model Motoring. Been too long ago though, hard to remember.

AFX = Aurora Factory eXerimental......yes..same company. 

slot cars have come a long way.  Especially with the digital 1/32 and 1/24.

I know this is getting a away from the original topic, but here's a cool example.

A "24 hr LeMans" slot car race held in the UK with digital systems.

Some very neat stuff shown.

slot car race 24 hours

Carrera has digital 1:43 if anyone wants to use them with O scale/gauge trains.  They can be run at a rather slow speed without any motor change.

http://www.carreraslots.com/slot-cars/CGOdig.html

Take care, Joe

P.S.  I have experimented with PWM to the slot car track from the Picaxe microcontroller with analog Carrera 1:43, and achieved rather good non-racing speeds. The Picaxe allows a more user-friendly PWM than the Arduino.  With the Picaxe, both the 'period' and 'duty cycle' are easily controlled in one line of simple BASIC code:  pwmout B.6, 99, 225    So there can be digital control of most analog cars, any scale, at a very small price with no mod of the car. J.

Not sure if Tyco still makes H.O. scale racing cars. A few years ago a company called Johnny Lightning made re-makes of some of the Thunderjet 500's by Aurora, they were very similar in style to the old TJ-500's but went a whole lot faster. 

Try this site for H.O. race car parts; www.HOSlotCarRacing.com  they have several brands and lots of H.O. car parts.

Lee Fritz

phillyreading posted:

Not sure if Tyco still makes H.O. scale racing cars. A few years ago a company called Johnny Lightning made re-makes of some of the Thunderjet 500's by Aurora, they were very similar in style to the old TJ-500's but went a whole lot faster. 

I will see if I can find the H.O. racing car parts source I know of.

Lee Fritz

Johnny Lightning was a Tom Lowe biz. Today much of the Aurora T-Jet and other cars are sold under the Auto World label.  AFX is independent....Tomy sold it off a while back. Tyco stuff went to Mattel but not sure they are doing anything with it right now. Walthers has the Life-Like racing line....but it's a bit stagnate right now.  

Ho slot racing is still around but not like it was 40 + years ago. I do have an auto world HO drag racing set. I also have 1/32 SCX slot set, they're bigger and more fun now with Digital it's a ton of fun, but like trains many slot car hobbyists still like analog.

Careera makes the best slots now, just my opinion but at 1/32 and 1/24 scale sized track that both scales run on,there slot sets are the G scale of slots and take up a lot of real estate.

Also part of the slot car racing fad of the 1960s were storefront raceways, some with very large spaces and a number of tracks, where kids and adults raced 1/24 and 1/32 slot cars. And just as home slot car racing has endured, although not with the interest it had in the '60s, so have storefront raceways never left the scene, although there are far fewer of them.

In fact, large storefront and club raceways can be found all over the world. Take a look at the list of countries that have hosted the World Championships of the International Slotracing Association: http://isra-slot.com/isra/isra%20world%20tracks.html

I race my present-day and my 50-year-old slot cars at a raceway in the Chicago area: chicagolandraceway.com.

Cheers!

Keith

Is AutoWorld making new slot cars copying the Aurora models or do they actually have to tooling?  That clarification is tough to find on the web.  Its unclear if Tomy's purchase of AFX came along with the RC2 purchase or separate.  I stumbled across AutoWorld's webpage (or Round2) yesterday and was impressed...its like a time machine.  Today's younger adults don't like to do anything but video games and even then they don't buy certain brands...always trying to find the free or open code games.  That's a problem!

I know the guys at Round2 Auto World but I have never talked slot cars with them as my area of expertise is plastic models. So I am not 100% sure if the AW stuff is from old tooling or cloned from it. I have worked on projects where we cloned old plastic kits so it is done.  But all of the AW stuff is pure Aurora design for sure. 

Slot car racing is alive and well, especially in various basements around the country. Sound familiar?     I know several guys who race 1/32 scale which seems to be a nice fit in terms of space allotment and detail of the cars. Bigger than HO and smaller than 1/24.  Call it the O gauge of slots.

And this place may just well be the "OGR Forum" of slot racing:

http://www.homeracingworld.us/TeamHRW/

AMCDave posted:

I know the guys at Round2 Auto World but I have never talked slot cars with them as my area of expertise is plastic models. So I am not 100% sure if the AW stuff is from old tooling or cloned from it.

It's cloned.   The first time I went to their now-closed retail store I asked that question out of curiosity.  Looser tolerances than the original tooling, which explains when they're so unreliable.  There are better T-jet copies out there for less money.

AMCDave posted:

But all of the AW stuff is pure Aurora design for sure. 

The Super III chassis is more of a Life Like clone, but again a poor one at best.  And what they did to it to try and make it work under their Indycar body is borderline unspeakable.  I've made a few of these run decently but only did it for the challenge.  They're not worth the time/money to do so.  

Is the Round2 MPC Kit tooling original tooled product?  i.e. The General Loco kit.  I saw that in the 70's.

Click here and find out.

I have a Tyco US-1 set.   With the loading and unloading stations its a natural for adding to a layout; I've always thought of it as a hybrid between a slot car and train set.  The only drawbacks are that the trucks are very finicky (even by Tyco HO standards) and the stuff can be hard to find in decent condition today.  A fair amount of it flows across eBay though

Tommy_F posted:

I have a Tyco US-1 set.   With the loading and unloading stations its a natural for adding to a layout; I've always thought of it as a hybrid between a slot car and train set.  The only drawbacks are that the trucks are very finicky (even by Tyco HO standards) and the stuff can be hard to find in decent condition today.  A fair amount of it flows across eBay though

We had two of the US-1 Trucking sets when the kids were young. I found them very solid built.....they had 4 pickups when the norm is 2 and 2 guide pins when the norm was 1 (so they could back up). Ours still run and I am modeling my 1/48 scale version. The sets were cool for sure. 

Mike W. posted:

Is the Round2 MPC Kit tooling original tooled product?  i.e. The General Loco kit.  I saw that in the 70's.

Round2 owns the vintage tooling of AMT, MPC, IMC, Lindberg, Pyro and Hawk. 

99% of that tooling is vintage tools. In order to reissue a kit a part or even entire tree (parts rack) may need to be retooled or cloned. This IS the area I do a little consulting on. The 1/25 scale General loco static kit is vintage MPC tooling.  

When I built my layout I knew the grandkid's were not interested in trains. So I added an Autoworld HO dragstrip with return road and threw in a Tyco corkscrew to make it more interesting. Thanksgiving day they wore out 3 slot cars. The cars are new Autoworld models and stick real well. The table is 12' long and the extension is another 3'.   I enjoyed creating a train layout that goes over and under the race track. Fun for the whole family.  Azgary

In the late 1970s,AFX brand slot cars were at their peak.They were on a roll with clever and desirable products that young boys wanted like Lionel was in the mid 1950s.

I still have 6 Aurora TJ-500's that are originals, replaced brushes, tires and shoes but they are all factory otherwise. Have about 7 AFX from around the 1970's that still run. Bought some Tyco cars and they still run but they are different(Tyco has can motors, Aurora has the older style motors-accessible armature and magnets) then the Aurora race cars.

My question is why did H.O. slot car racing not hold up like H.O. trains as far as being popular?

Lee Fritz

phillyreading posted:

My question is why did H.O. slot car racing not hold up like H.O. trains as far as being popular?

I think they got bigger and able to grip the tracks better. There are a couple of hobby shops around here that sell a lot of that stuff and it's a big hobby in itself. But the cars are way bigger, now.

p51 posted:

phillyreading posted:

My question is why did H.O. slot car racing not hold up like H.O. trains as far as being popular?

I think they got bigger and able to grip the tracks better. There are a couple of hobby shops around here that sell a lot of that stuff and it's a big hobby in itself. But the cars are way bigger, now.

Like I said above 'HO' slot cars today are very close to 1/64 or what we call 'S' scale.

The problem with HO slot cars was Aurora and Tyco got in such a war over speed the cars got VERY picky to the point they didn't run with beans. I was in the hobby at the time.....many went back to T Jets. A HO race track takes lots of room and time to keep it up. Time being a killer. 

Does anyone have experience with lionel lines slot cars? My dad gave me his set from his childhood in pieces. I can't find very much information online, but I believe it is a pike's peak set. I think the 4 cars are supposed to race in a relay of sorts. The cars look rough and it looks like it might take some real doing to get the set going again. Any information would be much appreciated.

During the era where slot cars were a craze almost everyone got into them Idea had some great sets. I recall the Lionel but they were looked at as inferior and the Lionel stuff was not usable on Tyco or Aurora sets thus making them unpopular.