The name's Bond... James Bond

As a kid, I had a small Matchbox version of the Aston Martin DB5 that Sean Connery used in Goldfinger, with a working ejector seat.  That's long gone now but Scalextric have just released a slot car version and Louise got it me for Christmas.

This is a nicely detailed model; I particularly like the wire wheels and spinners.  But it also has some of the gadgets that Q described to Bond in the film (classic line: "I never joke about my work, 007"). The car has working front and rear lights but the sidelights at the front have machine guns protruding from them (non-functioning!).  Operated by the boot catch is a bullet proof shield that pops up.

And operated by a lever on the side of the car, is the working ejector seat.  The set comes with a bollard that clips to the edge of the Scalextric track so the ejector seat is triggered as the car drives past.  The passenger flies out but I haven't lost him yet!

All this in a smart presentation box.  This is the 1st of three.  The other two are representations of the DB5s in GoldenEye and Casino Royale.  I suspect that those will just have different number plates and no gadgets, so the Goldfinger model is the one to get.

Vee-dubs

Thanks to Andy's 4WD, we made it across town to get together for Rivals Christmas.  And also thanks to Andy, I'm now the proud owner of another couple of slot cars - VW Golf Mk 1s produced by Spirit, who also made the fabulous BMW 2002s Andy tracked down for my birthday.

I kept my coat on to go up in the loft to try them out.  It's minus 8 here at the moment and the track had contracted and come apart in one place, but no permanent damage.  Like the Beemers, these cars are a hoot - they drive very fast and slide all over the place.

Porsche 911

It's been a bit cold up in the loft recently so not a lot has happened on the Scalextric front.  But I have had a successful clear out of cars on eBay - either ones that didn't live up to expectations, or that I'd bought at auction for such a good price, I thought I could turn a profit... to buy more cars I really wanted.

So the first new purchase is a companion for a Porsche 911 that Andy bought me quite a while ago - a 1973 Le Mans version.

I wanted a similar vintage with lots of livery, and found another Fly model, this time the 1982 911SC Rally El Corte Ingles.

This version is suspiciously plain as delivered.  But underneath is a plain package intriguingly labelled "Adults Only".  This contains the transfers for the main sponsor - Rothmans cigarettes.  After soaking in water and sliding the transfers on to the car, it now looks complete...

Tarting up the Marcos LM600

This Marcos Le Mans car is very popular in slot car circles - Fly produce lots of different versions.  Andy bought me this one last Christmas but I've always had trouble with the gears.

It's from a range called Fly Poly Starters and they are aimed at the younger driver who crashes a lot - hence no wing mirrors or aerials, with fewer transfers and a robust wing.  After going through one gear, I've fixed the driveshaft and replaced the gear and pinion, and now it runs very quickly.

But I always thought it a shame that the driver was so plain, so I painted him and the interior.


Looks good fitted back in the car, but perhaps I need to get some more stickers for it now...

(Updated 25 October 2010)  I've now painted the alloy wheels, front grille, exhaust and bonnet catches:

Camera Car

I bought an Action Camera this week - a small camera with various attachments for fixing it to bike handlebars, car windscreens and even for strapping it to your head.  It's the last I thought would be most fun - I'll try it out ski-ing next February.

In an inexplicable oversight by the manufacturers, it didn't come with an attachment to fix it to a slot car.  So I had to make one.

You can see a very short clip of test footage around the track here or embedded below if you're reading this in your browser.

Best of three?

Andy was quite taken by my Hummers and so was pleased to learn that Ninco produce a third model - the H2 County Sheriff - which was ordered at the weekend and arrived yesterday.

Like the other two models, this is based on a real car - although the markings don't specify a particular county (Hazzard would be good!) so I presume this is another promotional vehicle from Hummer to encourage police forces to buy them.

Possibly the campest police car yet...?

Andy and I had a quick "best of three" races which I just managed to win as his Hummer was sliding out quite a lot.  I noticed at the end that one of the rear tyres wasn't fitted quite right so that explained the poor road holding.  I expect to get thrashed next time...

TV tie-in

In one of my very first postings, I highlighted some pictures I'd hung on the wall in the loft and said they'd be the subject of a future blog, but never got round to it.  Originally, I bought three prints from a guy at last year's Toy Collector's Fair at the NEC - Starsky & Hutch and their Gran Torino, Michael Knight and KITT, and the Duke Boys and the General Lee.

I'd suggested to him that the set would be complete if he painted BA Baracus and the A-Team van.  He says he still might do that, especially since the film came out this year.  I saw him again at the NEC last month and bought a new painting featuring KITT, the A-Team van and Airwolf.

I don't think Louise would let me have this downstairs but it looks great above the slot car layout, although I'll have to find another place for it if he does paint BA.

And of course, I do have the three cars matching the small prints.

The General Lee and the Ford Gran Torino are both excellent models.  But KITT is very disappointing.  Scalextric based the model on the mold for the Triumph TR7, and as a result the proportions are all wrong and it's far too small.  Perhaps another manufacturer will make another one day.

Here's what it should look like... my very first car...

Finally, here's the current state of the layout (click to see larger image):

A couple of eco-friendly little cars

The final pair of purchases from last Sunday's Toy Fair.  Ridiculous, obscene but irresistible - at least in 1:32 scale - it's the Hummer H2.  I know someone who has one - he sold his Lotus Elan before buying it, but I am still talking to him.

The first car is the Hummer Baja that competes in desert rallies.

This model by Ninco is genuine four-wheel drive with independent suspension on each wheel.  Here's the real car competing in the "Best in the Desert" Terrible's 250 in Nevada in 2008.

The second version isn't quite so suitable for off-roading.  Despite the Gulf livery, this is for posing not racing.

As well as the nice paint job and bling wheels, this even has scissor doors, as you can see in this photo of the real car (non-functional in the model).

These cars are great fun to race despite their size.  They do clip each other's wing mirrors on the way round but I don't expect that will be a problem for long.

Another Audi

I already bought a second Audi from Revell to race against the first one from Fly but it just wasn't fast enough (and horrors, it was actually two-wheel drive!).  So I found a different liveried model from Fly.

This is Stig Blomquist's winning car in the 1983 RAC Rally.  You can see it in action here and winning here.

Deux voitures

I've never been a big fan of French cars but there has always been two I've had a soft spot for.  The first of these is the Citroen DS.  Even now, the "goddess" looks like it's just landed from another planet.

This SCX model is the Citroen DS 21 that won the Rally Monte Carlo in 1966.  However it "won" on a technicality - and this story won't endear the French to you.  The first four cars to cross the finishing line were all British - Timo Makinen (Finland) driving a Mini-Cooper, followed by Roger Clark in a Ford Lotus Cortina, then Rauno Aaltonen and Paddy Hopkirk, both also driving Minis.  But they were all ruled out of the prizes - with six other British cars for alleged infringements of complex regulations about the way their headlights dipped - after a protest by the Citroën team manager.

To his credit, the driver Pauli Toivonen did not brag about his victory because he felt he had not deserved it. However, when his son, Henri came first the same event twenty years later - this time in a convincing manner - Pauli was heard to say: "Now the name of Toivonen has been cleared."  (Sources: BBC, Wikipedia)

The second car is the Renault Alpine 110 which came first in the 1973 Tour De Corse (Corsica).  A lovely little model with lots of detail and decals.

These are two more of the cars I bought last Sunday.  Halfway through the reveal now...

Toy Fair

Andy and I went up to the NEC today for a Toy Collectors Fair.  600 stalls of toys, trains and cars.  Several "I used to have one of those" moments, plus a few "and I wish I'd kept it now I see what it's being sold for!".  I filled my rucksack with slot cars but I'll spread out blogging about them.  Here's the first purchase:

Another MAN TR1400 truck to race against the silver one I bought about 8 weeks ago.  These trucks are really detailed and are lots of fun to race.  Especially now I've got two of them.

100 adverts

I've replaced the remaining red and white crash barriers with modern silver ones, so the entire circuit is now edged with silver barriers that give just that extra bit of width of clearance for wider cars and trucks.  I also printed out 100 adverts onto self-adhesive paper and stuck them onto every visible face of the barriers around the circuit.

You might have spotted in the photo that the background scenic view has gone.  It had started to ripple a little bit from the damp in the loft after the rain the week before last, so it is now being plastic laminated.  Should be back in place later this week.

Track Detailing

As well as yesterday's toilet block, I also added a few more details to the track last night:

A chequered start grid

A yellow-lined box to indicate where to stop for refuelling

A servicing canopy for the rally cars I have parked on the layout

A satellite transmitter for BBC live coverage of my races

And lastly, and most importantly, I replaced a flag on each of the grandstands with the Maltese flag.

Not one of the original nationalities in the Scalextric pack but particularly appropriate given Herman's input to the lap detection setup.  You can also see in this photo that I've painted the MDF border as a breeze-block wall.

Jenson Button in ladies loo shocker

"How do you feel about your Number Two at Monza?", asks Martin Brundle.

Mercedes McLaren

The Scalextric Club Car for 2010 arrived today - the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 GT.

The "722" refers to the victory by Stirling Moss in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR with the starting number 722 (indicating a start time of 7:22 a.m.) at the Mille Miglia in 1955.  This model is highly detailed (unfortunately not with the gull-wing doors of the real thing) but I fear that rear spoiler isn't going to last long...

Muffler Love

Stuart came up today for a few hours of Scalextric and Playstation.  He has almost mastered the Sampson Chicane but still has his own unique parking style...

...and coming in for the pits (the red sensor in shot), prefers to park over the poor mechanic and tear out the Armco barrier...

Since his Plymouth Roadrunner police car was chasing the Duke boys in the General Lee at the time, we think he may have run over Cooter...

Sadly, despite all this, he still beats me!

Race Night

Andy came round for the first race night with the completed scenery.  We raced a number of vehicles but two are worth a special mention.  The first is a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro that I bought for Andy six or seven years ago.  He'd been promising to bring it round once the track was sufficiently complete to race against the Ford Boss Mustang I'd bought at the same time.

As we positioned the cars on the start line, I noticed Andy's blue Camaro was missing half a bumper - and I recognised it.  I found the missing piece in my little box of bits I find on the track after races!  So clearly it has raced on the Highwood Circuit before.

We also had huge fun racing the little BMW 2002s which slide all over the place but rarely de-slot.  This was also the first race night with 100% reliable lap timing and fuel management.  Having to stop at the right point to refuel certainly added to the challenge.

NSCC vs Scalextric Club

My first blog posting was on 17 September last year so I've spent just under a year on this project.  On that day, I'd just received my Scalextric Club pack.  I've recently renewed and should have the 2010 Club Car shortly, but I've also joined a different club.

The NSCC was originally the National Scalextric Collectors Club but is now about all makes of slot car.  The subscription costs about the same as the Scalextric Club.  The latter gives you a free car each year but the quarterly magazine is basically a set of Scalextric adverts.  The NSCC does sell a special car each year but the reason for joining is their excellent monthly magazine which reviews new models from all the slot car manufacturers as well as other related articles.

Both worth joining for different reasons I think.

And this is probably a first (and last?) - slot car comedy clips.  A year old now but there are a series of clips on YouTube called Slotcar 2009 which made me snigger.

The Finishing Touch?

Ok, it'll never really be completely finished - there will always be little things to do (or repair) like adding spectators and the first aid hut (if I ever find it - I bought it back in January and it must be somewhere...).

But nevertheless, I am going to declare the layout finished today as there are now no more major pieces of scenery to do.  The final piece was a 20 feet x 15 inches panoramic view of hills installed along the two long sides of the layout.

A few companies sell these for model railway layouts but this was the only one I found that was 15 inches, and so high enough to give good clearance above the elevated track.  Here are some photos closer in:

The control tower and helipad

The pit garages

Folly Corner

I'm really pleased with how these look - well worth the effort in cutting to size, mounting to cardboard and fitting around the layout.  Although I'm not in a hurry to crawl under the table and squeeze up in the small gap at the far corner again any time soon...