Just in time for the Holiday shopping frenzy, Auto World has released Series 5 of the Thunderjet 500 Ultra G cars. There are 6 body styles released in this series, A 57 Chevy with a new hood design and no blower, a 57 Suburban in new two-tone paint, a Cobra GT Coupe in two new colors, and three completely new designs, the Ice Cream Truck, a too cool VW Beetle and last but my favorite, a 67 Nova. The cars will be released in the following color combinations.

The slot car gurus at AFX have done it again! This time they have come up with the most useful item, an affordable variable voltage power pack. For those of us who have young or new racers coming into their own or if you like racing the in-line cars with weights in lieu of magnets, this power pack is just what you have been looking for.

Wow! The first impression left me with one word....Wow! I could even say it backwards....Wow! I was feeling the rush and couldn’t wait to open the packaging and get this awesome looking car on the track and turning laps. But the writer thankfully took over and I remembered that I needed to take pictures of the packaging and all for this article. So let’s get started, the anticipation is killing me!

AutoWorld has gotten the reputation of having very detailed, collector worthy cars for some time now. Tom Lowe and his team always seem to find the coolest subjects to create, whether it’s a historic race car, some new “tuner” that we see rippin’ up the pavement or a classic hot rod ready to cruise our little HO world.

The Auto World Super III comes packaged in the familiar cube AW has been using with other model chassis. A major difference that I appreciate is the elimination of the wire wraps on the axles. The cars are held tightly by a vacu-formed shaped piece of plastic inside the cube. This protects the car and body nicely and you don’t need to have to spend 15 minutes getting your new prize out of the packaging.

For the folks who are veterans of HO scale, Nu-Rora is nothing new, however for a novice like myself; I was unaware of the models they offered. After I had called SCW and demanded (begged?) that this beautiful Chevy be sent to me quickly, I went straight to their website to learn more.

After poking around the site and reading about my latest addition, I discovered the reason why this car looked so fantastic to me. It is the efforts put forth by Nu-Rora that makes these cars what they are.

I can hear the screams, the cries for help. I hear voices of thousands praying for something, anything NEW in HO. In larger scales of slot cars, almost every new release is more than just a new body on an old chassis, even the chassis is new. In HO, the chassis change almost as often as the track itself, not very often. It wasn't until Playing Mantis released the T-Jets that HO fans had anything new to get excited about, and the funny thing was, it wasn't a new idea, just an old idea re-released.

These cars are quite eye-catching to say the least, and Life-Like has done a fantastic job in creating these little gems in HO Scale. Coming in a simple blister pack, both of my models showed no signs of rubbing from the inside, and all parts were intact.

Tampo markings here are crisp, clear and opaque, with no runs, fades or peeling. In fact, Life-Like has really done an excellent job in this department, and they should be commended for it. Wheels and tires are true and clean, with no signs of cracking and initial gear mesh appeared smooth and trouble-free.

Playing Mantis, under the brand of Johnny Lightning, has been producing quality diecast for years. Known for their all metal construction, and multi-piece, often rubber tires, Johnny Lightning diecast is preferred by collectors as being the benchmark of quality small scale diecast. Within the last couple years, Playing Mantis released a line of pull-back cars with replica bodies of Thunder Jet and ThunderJet 500 slot cars. Questions started flying about whether Playing Mantis would introduce it's own line of slot cars.