04/22/02
| How much would you spend on a vintage slot car kit? $200? $500? $1,000? Once you got it, would you build it? Or would you put it on display and wonder what it would be like to assemble, then race it? What if I told you that you could get a vintage quality kit for under $60? E.J.'s Hobbies of Grand Rapids, Michigan has produced a quality 1:32 scale kit, complete with an original Strombecker Ferrari 365P2 body. Though the running gear is not vintage Strombecker, the technology is old school. Seeming to offer everything the original kits had to offer at a small fraction of the cost, I had to check one out. | |
| The kit arrived boxed in a rather plain white box, with only a photocopied end label to define what the box contained. Inside, the parts are separated very nicely in individual bags, grouping the major sub-assemblies together. The body is molded in red, and showed little flash or mold marks. A driver's body is molded into the body, and his head is separate. The car uses a Fox motor, threaded axles and wheels, and soft |
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rubber tires. An instruction sheet and decals for three different versions are also included. Chassis assembly was quite easy for the most part. It requires an allen wrench and a flat tip screwdriver, and a soldering iron if you choose to solder the motor leads (not required, but recommended). I found that the motor leads could be shortened a bit, as they come with wires long enough for a rail dragster. Once assembled, I tested the chassis on my track, and found it ran |
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great. The chassis alone makes this kit worth getting, as it is adjustable, smooth, and could be used for any number of applications. I found that the rear of the body, when placed on the chassis, sat too high in the rear. To remedy this, I trimmed approximately 1/16th inch off the rear posts. This allowed the body to sit a bit more level, giving it a more prototypical look. | |
| Probably the toughest part of the assembly process was fitting the screw inserts into the posts underneath the body. I took a small drill bit by hand and bored out the posts a bit to allow the screw inserts to go in just a bit easier. Care must be taken as you could break the posts (and the body) if pressure is applied at anything but straight in. It's also possible, as I found, |
| to stress the body with too much pressure. I ended up with a white ring on the outside of the body opposite one post from stressing the plastic. | |
| The body could be finished without painting or any added detailing, but I felt it needed a little dressing up. At minimum, I would recommend painting the driver and clear coating the body, but I felt that a few coats of Testors Dark Red spray paint gave it more of a Ferrari red look, and cover up the stress mark I had made while installing the screw inserts. I detailed out the driver figure and interior using Testors model |
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paints. Painting suggestions are included in the instructions, and I only varied a little from those suggestions. I decorated my car in the number 20 scheme, which the directions tells me was a car that ran at the 1965 LeMans race. The other numbers included were the #1, and number 198. Also included are decals of many Ferrari logo's. Once I had the interior painted and the decals applied, I clear coated the entire body with Testors High Gloss Clear. I gave it liberal coats, without putting so much on that it would run. I allowed this to dry two days before I touched it again. | |
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My final step was to put the chrome details in place. Details such as gas caps, tail pipes, head and tail lights, and engine vents are all included with the kit. I took some care to scrape paint and chrome from mating surfaces, and glued the parts in place. I also glued them from the inside of the body to ensure they would stay in place. Finally, I added the headlight covers, and installed the body to the chassis. My expectations were low |
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when it came time to track test the Ferrari. Though the chassis by itself ran well, the added mass of the body could only hinder it's performance. What I found was that the car actually runs quite well. In fact, it out-performs my Ninco Cobra by a long shot. It accelerates quickly, and responds to braking well. It won't corner like a FLY, but you won't get this much fun sliding a FLY though the corners. It is a little tipsy, but very controllable, powering out of the corners like a champ. The tires are very grippy, and do the job they are intended to do. So if you're longing for the "good ol' days" or just want a interesting challenge that out of the box stock cars don't offer, then for the price, you can't beat an E.J.'s Hobbies Strombecker replica. It offers a vintage body, vintage style chassis, and vintage style performance and a very reasonable price. Or you could literally spend ten times as much for an original. I'll stick with the E.J.'s, and I truly hope they come out with more of them. A thank you goes out to Jon at Rad Trax for sending me this great kit. I recommend you check out his website for this or other great cars. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to eMail me at ken@slotcarillustrated.com. | |
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Ken
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