To RtR or not to RtR, that is the question....

Thought I´d open a new topic concerning 1/24 RtR contra the nuts and bolts chassis "do it all yourself"!

I have not tried the new AutoArt RtR´s but they look nice and seem to look a bit better technically than the Carreras! I know some have ordered AutoArts so sooner or later there will be some results on how they perform.

However, here in Europe, the pre-dominant form of 1/24 model car racing is taking your PlaFit, MoMO, Metris, Slotvision, Schoeller, Slotdevil or whatever chassis kit and mount a kit of some kind. Most kits are of the special for slotracing produced resin or glassfiber type. Take a look at www.scaleracing.de the page of Dieter Jens, he stocks most of the 1/24 resin kits that is availabel for slotracing. We Euro guys have found that the adjustable chassis are the most versatile way of making good looking and top performing model car racers.

Without whishing to get into the TSRF contra nuts and bolt chassis discussion, suffice to say that here in Europe the PlaFits have been on the market for around 10 years now and all the other chassis manufacturers has followed up on the initial sucsses created by PlaFit, therefore it is the most common type of model car chassis. Why?? Well because they where designed for model car racing, using kits either plastic or resin for a body! They where NEVER marketed as a RtR chassis!! Yes, there are kits from PlaFit that comes with everything bar the motor! But its still a kit, not an RtR!

In the 60´s slot racing was about model car realism, until the thingie fad smashed the market to pieces!! In Europe, most of slotracing was always centred around the club scene, that is private clubs with limited funds, therefore we never had (Maybe luckily!?!) the vast commercial raceway scene! Here in Denmark in the heyday of slotracing there where a total of 6 commercial raceways (That I know about!)! So when they folded, the whole hobby went back to the living room floor or the private clubs! For years there where a very small slotracing following that race what is now IRSA rules slotracing, but the majority of model car builders left the hobby as slot racing degenerated to cars bearing no recemblance to the real thing at all! It left me cold, so I played around with my friends on my old pre-70´s Carrera track using al the old stuff I had in my possesion.

I used to have around 60 of the old type Carrera drop arm chassis, akind of Russkit clone I guess but a great little chassis. These chassis was used for a lot of different bodies, Lancer vac forms, Heller plastic kits, Tamiya plastic kits you name it I did it! At one point I even bought the last existing stock from Neuhirl, the then producers of Carrera, straights and of their Ferrari and Brabham F1 RtR cars. This was the mid eighties.

By then we held races in my basement on a two laner, we even held a 24 hour race! I made my own tires, I worked in rubber and plastics in those days, and we raced realistic cars and had a lot of fun!! Even then 1/24 was not RtR!

Then the 1/32 scene started to move, we got Ninco, FLY, SCX and all the small specalist manufacturers that followed in the wake of the majors! I did the single most stupid thing I´ve ever done, I SOLD ALL MY 1/24 cars!! Why? Well, all those beautifull 1/32 cars got me convinced that I should change scale! But any, and I mean any 1/32 cars handles like crap compared to 1/24 cars so it was a mistake. Unfortunately I didn´t know about the german 1/24 model car scene and all the nice products you could get. That changed!!

Now I still got a few of my 1/32 Lotus´s, my passion, but 1/24 cars are now the main thing!!

When i started getting back into 1/24 RtR never crossed my mind, as my very first kit was a Ferrari 312PB with a Sakatsu chassis and Sakatsu F10 motor. It took me a year to make that car perform, mainly because of the Sakatsu chassis which in no way is as good as the PlaFits, MoMo etc. Then I ordered a bunch of MoMo chassis that helped me get much better handling cars......from there as they say the rest is history!

So, To RtR or Not To RtR?

For a good model car, I find that the only way is one of the good chassis kits that you can get! Again, if I ever buy a AutoArt RtR car it will most probably be to use the body only, just like I do with the Carreras I have. Whether the chassis is a nuts and bolts chassis, an MJK an old Russkit, Cox or a brand new TSRF chassis thats up to the individual, as long as it gets you into the model car realism of slot racing again!! Even racing Carrera RtR or AutoArt RtR´s in 1/24 and having fun with that is fine, as long as true scale model cars is what drives you back into slot racing.

For a high tech state of the art 1/24 model however go for the advanced chassis as these was designed specifically for making a great handling, fast running True Scale Model Car! Dont do it unless you are ready to test and tinker with your cars, and use the time to assemble the cars. Dont expect commercial raceway speeds or performance, these kits are designed for model car tracks, whether they are wood or plastic matters little, but they are not pocket rockets, its not what model car racing is about anyway!

But lets hear what you have to say.