Vinno

Thanks guys for the kind comments it took me a while to finally see the writing on the wall. I had been tossing it up for about 6 months but in the end things change. I do apologise to those who use Auslot religiously, like yourself Charles. You are part of the reason it took so long to make the hard decision.

I would like to advise all the existing users that we will be closing down Auslot Forum as of the 22nd of March. The forum has lost a lot of interest over the last 5 years due to technical issues we had with the site for quite a while. While the issues have been resolved members have either moved to HRW, Slotforum or gone to Facebook on group pages. I have been funding Auslot’s annual costs myself and with Jacob wishing to step away from the technical side of the forum as well, we have decided it is time to close. I did think I may have had more time now I have retired to work on the forum but it doesn’t seem that way. We will make the forum read only as of the 15th of this month and will be taking a full copy of the forum from that period in case something does come up. I will keep the domain name going for the time being as it is only a small cost. We do have a Facebook page that was a linking page to the forum and will change it to allow posting for those who wish to stay in touch and use social media. Otherwise I would say we will see some of you on HRW as I feel this is the best Slotcar Forum on the internet. Thanks to all who have supported us over the years, 22 of them to be exact. We have met many friends from all over the world and learnt a lot from the experts. Many of us will still be involved in the scene, racing as well as building cars and tracks. Regards, Vinno

I got my first Slotcar set in the Christmas of 1985 courtesy of my wife. It was a Scalextric Le Mans with two Porsche 934’s. It stopped me going to pubs, not that I did really, which was smart on her part I guess. Although around 500 cars later and multiple tracks and race nights I wonder if she thinks otherwise? Probably not really as she never complains. What actually got me interested was neighbour who had a large track in their garage around 1972 or there about. And as a 6 year old my brother and myself got a Matchbox Motorway. Like yourself it has become an obsession although I generally focus on Aussie cars and building Aussie cars. I also got into 1/24 scale racing three years ago and am enjoying being reasonably competitive in a completely different class of racing.

Liking the pre war 1/24 GP cars, they look interesting. Also the modern 1/24 F1 cars look good.

Aussie releases are announced in March, those are international cars with Aussie liveries. They don’t count on the Aussie releases. I know you will love that Transit and Escort twin pack. The BP RX7 Bathurst winner has the wrong rear wing in the picture. Assuming it will be correct in the actual model.

I’ve done a little more work on the track and am about 90% happy with the elevations I have set. I’ve added temporary borders on the outsides of the corners so I can feel safe running cars at speed also and started work on the pit area by adding some Scalextric Armco along the straight and marked pit bays with pin striping. I was planning on adding pin striping bordering the track but it starts to get a bit expensive so I may just mask and airbrush. It also doesn’t stick that well to the flat paint I used on the track surface. I have also added timing and it is working pretty well. I’ve found MJK tyres to be the best runners on the track but noticed Revoslot tyres seem to work well also. When I run rubber tyres for a while I am seeing a little rubber line in some of the corners and these are starting to help rubber tyres grip. No tyre products are being used just a spin on damp cloth to clean them seems to be the way to go.

It was sad to hear of Garry’s passing. Gary was a friend of many of our local racing group in the Illawarra and manufacturer of the Slotworx brand. Condolences to his family in this tough time.

I’ve been working on a new 2 lane routed track since July this year as I have been using a plastic Policar/Fleischmann track since I moved house 5 years ago. Since getting back into racing 2 years ago and starting 1/24 scale for the first time I figured it would be a good idea to at least make enough lane spacing for the 1/24 cars too. I went with 100mm lane spacing and ended up with an end to end length of around 5.2 metres. I wanted a main straight that was diagonal to the space it was in for length and a slight curve three quarters along the length. It is around 17 to 18 metres of lap length and seems like it will be fast enough with some rubber down. I did wire power to test it out but will clean that up properly once I have got the elevations worked out. I don’t have a name for it at present but it may end up being something along the lines of where I live seeing Calderwood Valley actually sounds like a decent track name. I will be adding in something of an Allan Moffat tribute with the great man’s recent passing. Maybe a repaint of a Scalextric Grandstand or something like that. Here’s a few progress photos, and one of showing 1/24 scale cars on a corner getting a space idea.

Glad you are back on. I have kept up with your kits though with your posts on Facebook. A XA 4 door would be nice, I have decals ready to go.

The only one I don’t have is the BMW. Have a Monza ready to paint. I did convert a Carrera Capri to the Moffat one.

Would love a few good quality prints of a XA two door and 4 door.

Thanks for posting Gaz, he deserves a good tribute on here. The reason I turned Ford was Moffat his Mustang and also the Falcon Bathurst wins. It was great to actually see him outside the racing circle in retirement at the Muscle Car Masters years ago, he was a humble man after racing. He was super professional and changed the face of Australian Motorsport.

Both look great, love the sprint car and the sedan. Could a Lexan wing work on the sprint car to get the weight lower up high?

Looking good, I will get back into mine when I finish my track.

Just an update to my post above, I have found a number of other forums where there are numerous complaints that products have taken months and one saying after two years he has received nothing. Marco from Area71 appears to send the odd order out but then cashes in on those a long way away who can’t do anything about it. I paid direct deposit so it appears I won’t get my money back which is what I have asked for. All I get is lip service with excuse after excuse, similar to what I have read from others.

I thought it might be timely to let people know that buying from The Area71 directly may be at the buyers expense. After two months of back and forth after Marco was happy to take my $402.00 Australian I can report that nothing has been posted despite numerous emails back and forth and the order being miraculously found last week. Following this I did receive a tracking number from the Italian Post which says tracking not available and refers to it being either a very recent order still being processed or a parcel older than 2 months. My order is more than 2 months old.

Western Sydney slot car group still race but they don’t post any results on line. I know they still race at Quakers Hill which is on the North Western side of Sydney. That’s about 25 minutes from Marsfield. I can put you in touch with them.

Not sure on any northern Sydney private tracks but I am sure there would be. Just no one posting on here in a while.

No schedule at the moment, they have only been getting the group going again. There have been a few health issues and people going away a bit also so we haven’t been racing every week. The classes we race at the moment are 1/24 scale NASCAR’s with MJK dogbone chassis and MJK tyres. 1/24 Slotworx Porsche and V8 Supercars. They run foam tyres. 1/24 Can Am, also running foam tyres. 1/24 Group C Le Mans cars also on foam tyres. Breakout class which is like a Sport Sedan class running pretty much anything. The class has a minimum lap time set so if you go under that time your lap doesn’t count. There will be more but some of us are still getting cars together. We aren’t running 1/32 scale but that will likely happen next year. We just need to get everyone healthy and not go on holidays. As at least half are retired, myself included holidays is something we do a bit. Where are you?

Are they the actual prints, they look brilliant.

The Mustang is a must have for me. Hope the wheel inserts don’t poke out of the wheel like that though on the production model.

Thanks Chris. The reason I wanted to see them is because I have been thinking of building Styrene chassis for years. What glue are you using? I have used the brush on glue which really just melts or welds the two surfaces together.

No problem Grant, maybe I can get a track or two in my area next year.

I agree to cutting the recess first and then painting with the track. The surface of the MDF is smoother than undercoat and helps the router slide bette. I paint the recess colour before adding the braid as I use enamel paint which helps with the tape adhesion on the underside of the braid. Gloss enamel being smooth gives a better surface area. That’s how I see it anyway.

Gotta love a Cobra. I have a couple of Monogram Cobra kits waiting for me to finish all the other cars and track I am working on. Nice to see a kit being put to use.