Which Scalextric as a starter set

[james_tigerwoods]

Cheib said:

My kids are a similar age....the advice I got was that it would be best to go Digital as you can slow down the speed of the cars.

I'd agree normally, but the cost difference is pretty great - If he likes it, I'll look at the Digital sets going forward.

However, the real problem here is that any money spent on Scalextric is money not available to Lego...

[LordHaveMurci]

Bought my kids a set last christmas as the old stuff I bought for my nephew 20yrs ago was getting pretty tired & mostly in need of TLC to work properly.

The set stayed up in the living room for a month after Xmas then my OH went spare & it got put away, hasn't been used since

PITA is that we have a spare bedroom & a playroom but neither are really suitable to leave it set up. My Dad fixed the track to a sheet of ply about 8' x 4' & hinged it to the wall in the spare room, he then wallpapered the underside so when it was in the 'up' position you barely knew it was there.
We have bridges & curved embankments etc so not much chance of me doing the same.

[james_tigerwoods]

LordHaveMurci said:

My Dad fixed the track to a sheet of ply about 8' x 4' & hinged it to the wall in the spare room, he then wallpapered the underside so when it was in the 'up' position you barely knew it was there.

That's awesome.

And I'd make a point of getting your track out You'll get the same response as I do over Lego being out all the time, but hey, it's for the kids and you don't want them to suffer do you?

[Pothole]

LordHaveMurci said:

Bought my kids a set last christmas as the old stuff I bought for my nephew 20yrs ago was getting pretty tired & mostly in need of TLC to work properly.

The set stayed up in the living room for a month after Xmas then my OH went spare & it got put away, hasn't been used since

PITA is that we have a spare bedroom & a playroom but neither are really suitable to leave it set up. My Dad fixed the track to a sheet of ply about 8' x 4' & hinged it to the wall in the spare room, he then wallpapered the underside so when it was in the 'up' position you barely knew it was there.
We have bridges & curved embankments etc so not much chance of me doing the same.

You could just stand it off the wall a bit, putting a strip along the wall before the hinge deep enough to allow for the stick-outy bits.

[LordHaveMurci]

Pothole said:

LordHaveMurci said:

Bought my kids a set last christmas as the old stuff I bought for my nephew 20yrs ago was getting pretty tired & mostly in need of TLC to work properly.

The set stayed up in the living room for a month after Xmas then my OH went spare & it got put away, hasn't been used since

PITA is that we have a spare bedroom & a playroom but neither are really suitable to leave it set up. My Dad fixed the track to a sheet of ply about 8' x 4' & hinged it to the wall in the spare room, he then wallpapered the underside so when it was in the 'up' position you barely knew it was there.
We have bridges & curved embankments etc so not much chance of me doing the same.

You could just stand it off the wall a bit, putting a strip along the wall before the hinge deep enough to allow for the stick-outy bits.

That's what me dear old Dad did, but ours would stand out much further plus I don't know how I'd keep the sectional bridges intact!

[IanMorewood]

The sport track is so much easier to set up and take apart so you can setup a fairly big track in half an hour and with digital you can have six cars racing in no time, great when the lad has his friends round.

[Pothole]

LordHaveMurci said:

Pothole said:

LordHaveMurci said:

Bought my kids a set last christmas as the old stuff I bought for my nephew 20yrs ago was getting pretty tired & mostly in need of TLC to work properly.

The set stayed up in the living room for a month after Xmas then my OH went spare & it got put away, hasn't been used since

PITA is that we have a spare bedroom & a playroom but neither are really suitable to leave it set up. My Dad fixed the track to a sheet of ply about 8' x 4' & hinged it to the wall in the spare room, he then wallpapered the underside so when it was in the 'up' position you barely knew it was there.
We have bridges & curved embankments etc so not much chance of me doing the same.

You could just stand it off the wall a bit, putting a strip along the wall before the hinge deep enough to allow for the stick-outy bits.

That's what me dear old Dad did, but ours would stand out much further plus I don't know how I'd keep the sectional bridges intact!

dUCK TAPE!

[Simes205]

james_tigerwoods said:

LordHaveMurci said:

My Dad fixed the track to a sheet of ply about 8' x 4' & hinged it to the wall in the spare room, he then wallpapered the underside so when it was in the 'up' position you barely knew it was there.

That's awesome.

And I'd make a point of getting your track out You'll get the same response as I do over Lego being out all the time, but hey, it's for the kids and you don't want them to suffer do you?

8x4 is not enough!!! unless you're talking in metres!

Seriously though - the hinged idea is great and a solution to roll it out from under the bed.
Check here for ideas!

http://www.slotforum.com/forums/index.php?showforu...

[RAClNG SNAKE]

Setting up time is one of the drawbacks of Scalextric, along with the space it takes up on the carpet. To solve this, mine is mounted onto 4 interlocking boards that sit on tables or trestles.

[groomi]

james_tigerwoods said:

groomi said:

I have too much Lego, too much scalextric and too much RC stuff. The only stuff I feel bad about is the Scalextric which so rarely gets used due to the space it takes up.

Writes a "donate your unwanted stuff to me" email



No. Seriously

Sorry bud, nothing is 'unwanted' Haha!

[Pooky67]

RAClNG SNAKE said:

Setting up time is one of the drawbacks of Scalextric, along with the space it takes up on the carpet. To solve this, mine is mounted onto 4 interlocking boards that sit on tables or trestles.

So much awesome!

Edited by Pooky67 on Wednesday 10th December 08:14

[audi321]

I too am considering a set for the kids (ahem....myself).

Is the new digital stuff more reliable than the older stuff? Are the controllers wireless these days? Also, what's this about slowing the cars down? Might be handy for my youngest.

Thanks guys

[IanMorewood]

The expensive digital stuff gives you all kinds of control over the circuit, the older digtal stuff allows you to race upto 6 cars with ability to change lanes and manually brake the cars. Reliability isnt a major problem, the major sticking point we get is braids getting messed up and then shorting the track but its a quick enough fix.

[audi321]

IanMorewood said:

The expensive digital stuff gives you all kinds of control over the circuit, the older digtal stuff allows you to race upto 6 cars with ability to change lanes and manually brake the cars. Reliability isnt a major problem, the major sticking point we get is braids getting messed up and then shorting the track but its a quick enough fix.

Cheers. Do you know if this set is the newer or older stuff. Mainly bothered about being able to slow the cars down for my youngest son. Cheers

[Simes205]

That track will do.

Scalextric sport and scalextric digital are the same except for the lane changing track and pit lane and the power base.

Sport controllers increase the voltage to the track.
Digital power bases give constant voltage to the track which is translated by the chip in the car to make it move. Your cars need to be chopped to work on digital. With the 6 lane digital power bases you can run analogue and digital.

Buy sport upgrade to digital later.


The other type of digital is provided by 3rd parties who hack into digital power base and allow you to race sim using a laptop.

[IanMorewood]

audi321 said:

Cheers. Do you know if this set is the newer or older stuff. Mainly bothered about being able to slow the cars down for my youngest son. Cheers

That's a four pin digital setup and won't allow you the functionality you want straight out of the box although you should be able to add function shortly.

You need one of these http://www.scalextric.com/scalextric-digital-advan... in your setup to adjust the cars, think only one set direct from hornby has this as standard currently, you would do well to look at jadlam racing (Rich is a member here) as you can probably get more compact or exciting layouts with this power base. E.g. http://www.jadlamracingmodels.com/p-1394-scalextri...

[russy01]

That set you link to is years old.

Drop me an email. (Its Russ, not Rich).