Hi Chaps

Can anyone please help with this, just bought a

Scx Digital Advance E10286 - DIGITAL LANCIA FULVIA 1.6HF SAN REMO 1972 WINNERS

didn't notice it was digital, massive school boy error!
Anyway you can flick a switch underneath to run on analogue track, so it does work.
Only thing is the front lights don't work, rear lights do work ok.
If you put back to digital mode all the lights work but the engine doesn't run!

Any suggests?

Thanks
Graham

Got some really nice used Scalextric Caterhams and apart from having to change one pinion, even though I could see nothing wrong with it using magnifying glasses, they're great - apart from one.

The rears on that offer no traction whatsover, which seems to be down to perished? hardness rather than the original compound, as the others are ok.

I could swap  the rears with the fronts but I'd like to do away with the magnet really, so can anyone recommend replacements please? 

I have seen elsewhere that they are an odd size?

Thanks for any help offered.

I am putting this on here on behalf of all the newbies. Its a second hand set I bought from a seller in the UK who sells these layouts as a starter set for us beginners for less than £100, which I think is good value for a Scalextric sport digital set (with lots of border that I am yet to fit) .

I cannot match the wonderful track layouts that I will be racing on, so this is meant as a test track to set up the cars on, so it's all I need... 




p.s. not sure how to rotate photos...

Looking for a car to race in  1948-1960 Goodwood events. I'm thinking:-

Ferrari F555, or
Lancia Ferrari D50

Happy to consider new or used, I am hoping for a mechanically sound chassis, but am a bit more flexible on the condition of the body. 

Thank you for looking.

Greetings All...
My name is Bill Winski and I am from Aurora, Colorado, in the U.S.
I have a painted and sceniced 4-lane Scaley Sport track (the Circuit du Soleil):

   

The Scalextric Jaguar I-Pace individual cars are finally here and on their way to UK retailers.

       

C4042 Jaguar I-Pace - Red. RRP £40.99
C4064 Jaguar I-Pace Group 44 Heritage Livery. RRP £40.99

The Scalextric Jaguar I-Pace is an electric slot car model of the battery-electric Jaguar SUV which won both the European Car of the Year and World Car of the Year in 2019. You could say this is the most accurate Scalextric car ever - even down to its sound! The Scalextric model focuses on the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy cars that run as a support series on some ABB Formula E weekends...

       

The I-Pace eTrophy is a typical one-make series with the chunky SUVs providing some great action on the tight Formula E street circuits!



I had a look at the pre-production version of the red I-Pace last autumn and surprisingly fell in love with it. I think the I-Pace could provide a fun and colourful grid for a one-make Scalextric Digital racing series...

   

I was a little disappointed not to see more I-Paces in the 2020 catalogue, but with the 2019 set and cars so late to the market, I am sure we can wait until 2021. The I-Pace is one piece of Scalextric tooling that has joined other Hornby Hobbies models at a new factory in Vietnam - a move outlined in the magazine 'Hornby Hobbies - a Model History' that was published last year. Unfortunately, the US government's imposition tariffs on Chinese goods last September sparked a full-on stampede of big US toy companies from China into Vietnam and it seems this completely clogged-up the output for smaller companies like Hornby.

The C1401 I-Pace Challenge set is already available (RRP £109.99) and features the two really nice liveries. They do have the typical set-car blacked out windows, but - who knows - we might see them at some point as full-detail individual cars...

   

If you want to follow the I-Pace eTrophy series this year, the 2019-20 season (eTrophy Season 2) continues with Round 3 in Mexico City on Saturday 15 February and finishes with Rounds 9 & 10 in London over the weekend of 25-26 July. There are also plenty of highlights on YouTube, with some races covered live on EuroSport.

   

A long and impressive list of new Fly cars for 2020 and early 2021 is beginning to circulate, so I thought it was time to share it here.

The first two new cars are BMW 3.0Ls - the first the Jägermeister Alpina Racing Team car driven by Nikki Lauda and Brian Muir in practice and qualifying for the 1973 Nürburgring 6 hours...

   

The second BMW 3.0 CSL is the red #51 car driven to third place at the 1974 ETCC round at Zandvoort by Huub Vermulen and Rob Slotemaker.

There are also two Datsun 240Z racers - André Haller's GTS Datsun that he drove with Hand Schuller and Benoit Maechler at the 1975 Le Mans 24 hours; and the car that Edgar Herman drove to victory at the 1971 Safari Rally...

   

Next up are two works McLaren M26s - but with very different liveries...

       

The first - in the traditional Marlboro colours - is James Hunt's winning car from the 1977 British Grand Prix. The second is the Löwenbräu car driven to sixth place by Patrick Tambay in the 1978 US Grand Prix East at Watkins Glen.

The final pair of new Fly cars are especially wonderful - the Toleman TG184s driven at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix by Ayrton Senna and Johnny Cecotto...

   

This is most definitely the Grand Prix that will stay in my memory the longest - rookie Senna spectacularly hunting down race leader Alain Prost through heavy rain and on a sodden track. The clerk of the course panicked by halting the race as Senna passed the Frenchman for the lead - handing Prost an undeserved win. However, it was a decision that would cost him the 1984 world championship. Karma...

It is unclear at this time which of the new cars will be 'normal price' full-run injection moulded models and which will be the very limited edition resin models that have appeared recently. I am sure we'll find out in due course.


There are some great re-liveries on existing models too - a long list across the various fly ranges, including a good number of rally cars...

A-2010 BMW M1 Daytona Classic 2017 D. Quester
A-2011 BMW M1 Rally Du Var 1981 B. Darniche
A-2012 Ford Escort Safari Rally1971 R. Clark
A-2015 Renault 5 Rally Costa de Marfil 1982 J. Ragnotti
A-2016 Porsche 911 German Police car
A-2017 Porsche 911 Oran Park 1969 B.Foley
A-2018 Ferrari GTO Rally Gerona 1968 E. Baturone
A-2019 Ferrari GTO 1000Kms Paris 1962 P.Rodriguez & R. Rodriguez
A-2022 BMW M3 Rally Vila de Teror 2000 J.M Ponce
A-2023 / 24 BMW M3 24 H Spa 1992
A-2025 / 26 / 27 Porsche 908/2 Targa Florio 1969
A-2028 / 29 / 30 Lancia Beta Giro de Italia 1980


A-2031 Hesketh 308 German GP 1975 H. Ertl
A-2032 HESKETH 308 German GP 1976 G. Edwards

TRUCK62 Iveco GP España 2017 J. Hanh
TRUCK63 Iveco GP Misano 2018 S. Halm
TRUCK64 MAN Jarama 2012 A. Alabacete
TRUCK65 MAN Jarama 2011 A. Conejero
TRUCK66 Mercedes Jarama 2018 O. Santos
TRUCK67 Mercedes Zandvoort 2017 H. Leinz

VAN01 Ford Transit 260S
VAN02 Ford Transit 260S

TEAM20 Caja Audi Quattro A2 Monte Carlo Rally 1984 (Triple Pack)

AS2001 'Sport' Porsche 917K
AS2002 'Sport' Porsche 934
AS2003 'Sport' Porsche 908
AS2004 'Sport' Porsche 934

RACING Toyota 90C-V Taka-Q
RACING Toyota 90C-V Denso
RACING Toyota 90C-V Minolta

And finally - some SlotWings cars carried over from 2019...

W036-03 Porsche 911 IROC 1973 Fittipaldi
W036-04 Porsche 911 IROC 1973 Hulme
W036-05 Porsche 911 IROC 1973 Donohue
W037-03 Renault 5 Rally Villa de Llanes 1983 G. Ortiz

Admittedly, a lot of the list is rather sketchy, but I am sure UK Fly distributor Gaugemaster will let us know more as the year goes on. A few of these new cars are already available as pre-orders at Pendle Slot Racing - take a look here: www.pendleslotracing.co.uk/new/coming-soon.html?manufacturer=64

Stumbled across this range of building kits by M F Motorsport. They do look really good but there are no prices so ...........
......if you have to ask then you can't afford them.

There is currently a listing on eBay for 13 kits with a start price of £795!

I have added them to our index of scenic item suppliers which is a useful source of items for track builders.

Recovering Alloy Wheels with Damaged Threads.
A guide for those not familiar with cutting threads etc.
   
Background
Set Screws ("Grub screws" to our new world colleagues)
Probably the smallest part of any slot car that can cause calamitous failure on track.
If your set screws fail, you may end up spinning a loose wheel off down the track never to be seen again.
You may also lose all drive if a set screw in a crown gear fails.


The majority of set screws (slot.IT, Ninco, Policar) are the smaller variety requiring a 0.9mm hex wrench.
I've found that the smaller set screws are quite likely to fail after many wheel changes and prolonged use.
Overtightening these smaller set screws will probably strip the thread in the soft alloy used in slot car wheels.

Some manufacturers (NSR etc) use a bigger set screw commonly known as UNC 4-40 use a 1.3mm hex wrench
Quite how an Italian manufacturer ended up using imperial set screws is a bit of a mystery to me.

Tools. You will need :
A. 1/8 inch drill
B. Tap&die set containing a UNC 4-40 tap
   
   

Both of the above are available through various online tool shops and ebay sellers.

Fixing wheels.

Let's start with the easier of the two grub screw types.
1. When a small screw fails it is often possible to drill and re thread to the larger size.

Use the tap holder in the set to mount the drill.
The alloys used in slot car wheels are generally very soft so you will probably not need to use a power tool at all.
Run the drill into and through the existing hole.
   
Fit the UNC 4-40 tap into the tap holder
Run the tap GENTLY into the hole
For each turn forward, turn half a turn back to clear the debris from the cutting.
   
When you are finished, you should be able to run a UNC 4-40 set screw into the hole.
   
Job done !

2. When a larger screw fails.
The best approach is to run the 1/8 drill into the failed thread and right out of the other side to create a new hole.
You may well need a power drill to do this but do be gentle.
Some slot manufacturers create 2 (or even three) set screw holes in their wheels.
NSR only create one so running the drill through to create a new hole is relatively simple.
Be aware that the rim often has a concave cut to allow the driver to access the set screw.
Allowing the drill to run right out to the far side if the rim will cut this concave for you.
Once you have cut the new hole, run the tap through it as above.

When performing the operations above , do not fear! The wheel is ruined and would be heading for the trash so the worst you can do is confirm that prognosis.
When cutting small screws out to larger ones, you may find that there is not enough alloy on the collar side of the hole to retain the new thread. There is no work around for this.

Choosing set screws.
Is this even a subject ?

Cost ££££
Set screws can be bought from your slot car retailer in branded slot car zip lock bags.
Typically a bag of 10 for £2.50
Have to a look at online sellers not aiming at the slot car market and you will find these available in much larger quantities at much lower prices. You will find a bag of 50 screws for less than a fiver. Free delivery...Deal!
Always buy stainless steel screws. Far superior.
Don't buy pointed-end screws, these will cut into your axles.

My preference is the shiny steel set screws. The Matt black ones are much harder to find if you drop one on the floor.

Lengths
UNC4-40 screws are Available in various lengths. I Find that 1/8th inch is sufficient.
Screws that are too long will get in the way of your tyres and create a wobble because of the balance offset created.

I hope this short guide is useful. Comments welcome
I'm aware that there are many ways to skin a cat and the screws/threads I chose are not everyone's preference.
Remember this is not an engineers guide. It's a guide for non engineering slot heads!

AlanW 
(NonFractal)