I just bid on an item on the British Ebay and I won it.

When starting to pay I noticed that the total price was higher than expected so I checked it to see if I made a mistake.
I then saw that the seller was using the Global Shipping Program that was charging an additional GBP 15 on a GBP 45 item.
Because of import duties and additional costs, while import from the UK is free below 150 Euro!

Why are people using this scam system of Ebay? 

I messaged the seller that I cancelled the order because of these unnecessary costs that I am not willing to pay but that I am still willing to buy for the action price and stated shipping.

If the listing would clearly show that there was such an amount of extra costs I would not have bid at all. Shame on Ebay.

   

Twelve of us met up at the Barn for our annual test & fun night. With some not insignificant changes to our HO classes next year, it was a good opportunity to test new cars and raid the club shop. There were certainly some fast Bulldogs on show and not too many takers for the down-graded Viper traction magnets...

   

The drag strip came into its own towards the end of the evening, with four elimination races and a winners' shoot-out to decide who'd go home with the medal. With no timing, we ran 'best-of-three' match-races...

   

We started with a WHO Nascar-spec Bulldog & Mega-G+ ladder, with four racers getting a bye through round one. Ash managed to get to round two with his Mega-G+, but this race was dominated by Bulldogs...

   

Kevin and Andy got through to the final, where Andy's California Flash Camaro took a 2-0 victory...

         

The second race was a Mega-G+ only class - and most of the bodies were F1. James' McLaren and Andy's red Camaro were the class acts on the strip, meeting in the final...

   

It was another 2-0 win for Andy, but very close...

         

We opened things up to any WHO-eligible car for race three. A lot of Vipers, although our race two finalists chose a Mega-G+ (James) and a Tuners Bulldog (Andy) - both were quickly knocked out...

   

Rob and Isaac met in the final, Rob winning 2-0...

         

Next, we matched up two Auto World Top Fuel dragsters - one of Pete's and one of Andy's...

   

The yellow dragster started out the car to have - we swapped them for each race, with drivers drawing lots of over which they started with. As the races progressed, the purple dragster became quicker- and then evened out again. Plus there was the lottery of whether the purple car would start... There was a lot going on in this race!

   

Ollie and Andy got through to the final, with Ollie taking the win on a tense and exciting deciding run...

   

The last race was a shoot-out between the winners - Rob and Ollie's Vipers facing off before meeting Andy's Nascar Bulldog in the winner-takes-all final...

   

In the final, Andy took the first run, but Rob was too strong and took the medal with a 2-1 victory...

         

And that was the end of an excellent night. A big thank you to the set-up crew and to everyone who stayed behind to pack away. We'll do it again next November - but we are back at the Barn next Wednesday for the climax of our 2025 HO season.

Thanks to Trevor Ford for this short journey.

Go to a website, upload a photo, generate a 3D image, download as a 3D file... is this possible?

...of course it is

There's plenty of websites out there, good ones you have to pay for their best tools but for freebies this is what you can do.

Upload a photo, in this instance Stirling Moss

   

Go to one of the websites offering this service, at the moment I'm experimenting with https://hyper3d.ai/rodin

It takes a few minutes to generate a 3D image which will look slightly different as you'd expect but it's passably good.

I run the .stl file through Netfabb to repair the mesh and the end result is pretty good actually.

   

I always fancied a Darrian T90GTR... no 3D file is available and I've even contacted Darrian with the possibility of a 3D file... with no luck although he liked the idea.

   

After hollowing the file to 1mm in a 3D printer slicer and removing the wheels and floor with simple blocks in 3D Builder... it looks similar enough to a Darrian T90GTR to be worthwhile printing.  The windows can either be cut out like a resin cast bodyshell or further work in 3D Builder to remove most of them that just needs tidying up.

   

These tools are here now and will only get better.
For a 3D file from a single photo these are remarkable.  These websites have the option to use multi view photos but you have to pay for that service.

                       
Here from the slot car museum is a rare MM3s set I am restoring from 1958-1959. I contains 2 tin plate Austin Healeys.

Is there a recognised upgrade path for the SCX motors anyone? 

Adapters to fit a Slot.it style motor or a long can, or an alternative to the SCX motorpod maybe?

I have several and they are great looking cars E.G Fiat 131 Abarth, SEAT Toledo GT and Renault Sport RS 01 but the performance doesn't match their looks. 

No doubt there are 3D printed chassis out there but I'm really looking to just swap out the motors for something more 'mainstream'.  

I run them magless by the way.

Thanks for any useful responses. 

I love those "seemed like a good idea at the time" racing cars which achieved virtually nothing and soon disappeared.  Even better is when somebody makes a slot version of one. Step forward the BTCC 1994 Volvo 850 Estate. It only raced for that one year, never won a race with a best placing of 5th at Oulton Park and the team finished just two off the bottom step in the championship. Volvo won the championship a few years later with a saloon but people only really remember the estate version oversteering round the corners with two wheels off the ground. 



It is worth repeating the story of the alleged reason they chose the estate for their return to motor racing. It goes like this:
Volvo hired Swedish performance company Steffanson Automotive (SAM) to develop a prototype racing-version of the 850. As the legend goes, when SAM visited the factory to pick up the 850 bodyshell, only estates were available. On a tight timeline, instead of waiting for a saloon model they just grabbed an estate and went on their way.

Volvo realised the PR potential of this as they were primarily known as the middle classes dog transporter of choice. TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) was contracted to finish off the project and testing revealed that the estate actually had better downforce than the saloon due to its long flat roof. While this was certainly a bonus, in the end the decision to go ahead with it was a marketing decision. Naturally the estate caused much merriment and piss taking when it turned up at the first race so the team stuck a toy dog in the back for its first parade lap. The picture below is a recreation done at the Goodwood FOS.

 A short lived, unsuccessful car then but people remember it with affection so Scalextric have provided us with one and it has been a lot more successful in 1/32 scale as it is currently their best selling product.

Is it any good though?
Well a bit like its full size counterpart - ultimately not that great a performer but sort of OK and a fun addition to the stable. Let us start with the good points - it looks the part and the decoration is virtually spot on, the wheels let it down a little bit as they are the correct pattern but matt grey rather than prototypical alloys. So 9 out of 10 for appearance. 

My track has now been taken up as my wife is having the room for her hobby room and I am going up to the loft.

Its not as bad as it sounds as the loft is all insulated and boarded in the roof trusses and so not to cold even whenthe outside temperature is low.

Ive been planning on Railmodeller Pro as I have a Mac and I now have a plan,

The shaded areas are a marshall area top left and the larger area where the racers will stand.

   

Any recommendations for a replacement slot guide for this Scalextric Bentley Continental GT please? 

The original guide has already been replaced once but it doesn't solve the problem of the braids gradually losing contact as they sink into that bowl shaped recess. 

Original chassis needs to be retained.

Thanks for any help.

Hello,
Whilst searching for material to make a pathway, I stumbled over a model of the much-loved Post Office red telephone booth. I am currently building a track layout based loosely upon the fictional village of Tannochbrae and when I saw the red booth I had to get a couple. Lemax do a lot of snow-scape figures and buildings and I have bought a few things before so know that they are approximately 1:32 scale.
Telephone Booth dimensions are 7.7 x 3.1 x 3.2 cm. They are really nice white-metal castings with a glazing and an opening door. Inside there is a representation of a pay-phone but both of mine are strangely squint.

My photographs feature feature a Carrera figure and a Scalextric figure.
From a bit of research I reckon that the booth type is a K6 with artistic licence reducing the rows of glass to 7 (from 8).


I have no connection to the suppliers, for info a link is below.  £3.82 + P/P  in their Black Friday sale.
      Christmas at Dawsons

Carrera Figure:
   

Scalextric Figure:
   

When Team-Slot produced their Delta HF 4WD model I used Lemax skiers to mimic a Lancia advert:
   

Après confirmation de la mairie, la date du FDD6 est fixée au 10 et 11 octobre 2026 à Venerque (au sud de Toulouse)...
Vous pouvez déjà réserver votre week-end en attendant les premiers détails et changements de cette nouvelle édition...