Vintage tyco set

[scalexdoza]

Originally Posted by NicoRosberg.

Any kids at home? Get them on side and then it's easier.

Kids tend to gravitate towards the smaller scale too, in my experience.

No kids as yet. That is at least a couple of years away (that is the plan at least..)

The Kittens will most probably enjoy it though..... maybe not so much the cars

[Gareth]

I'd avoid letting the kittens near the track if I were you. My cats love nothing more than racing round chasing the cars, knocking them off the track and filling the mechanicals with lots of cat hair. Its all good fun when you start them off with it but if you ever want to have a race or just turn some laps, it quickly becomes a nightmare.

Have you considered some HO club racing? Bournemouth to Worthing would be a bit of a trek but there's a great club waiting when you get there!

[scalexdoza]

Finally plucked up the courage to open it tonight..... Wow. I like it.
The cars are so tiny lol but have much better detail than I was expecting. Magnets feel very strong. What's the best way of removing them. The cars feel incredibly delicate!

[Slotbob]

Doza,

3 thoughts:

>>Don't worry about removing the magnets--yet anyway. I suspect that the tires are hard as a rock and it will be difficult enough to get traction. Later you can get silicone tires (that will be stuck), or urethanes (a little less stuck than the silicones, but probably more than what came out of the box).

>>Also don't worry about the Tycos being delicate. They are tough little jobs. I used to race 1/32 and if you left the track for the floor, the odds were it was going to require repair before you drove it again. Not so with Tyco 440's.

>>Be prepared to be amazed at the speed. Even though your cars are not as esoteric as some, the power to weight ratio will still more than get the job done.

[007]

Wow Nice find
But whan I read the header I thought I might see something like this





and it has 4 pieces that can be used as adaptors to Aurora track

[scalexdoza]

Originally Posted by Slotbob

Doza,

3 thoughts:

>>Don't worry about removing the magnets--yet anyway. I suspect that the tires are hard as a rock and it will be difficult enough to get traction. Later you can get silicone tires (that will be stuck), or urethanes (a little less stuck than the silicones, but probably more than what came out of the box).

>>Also don't worry about the Tycos being delicate. They are tough little jobs. I used to race 1/32 and if you left the track for the floor, the odds were it was going to require repair before you drove it again. Not so with Tyco 440's.

>>Be prepared to be amazed at the speed. Even though your cars are not as esoteric as some, the power to weight ratio will still more than get the job done.

Ok I'll give them a try. :-) thank you.
I have to admit, I was expecting the rubber to have perished after a couple of members posts, but the tyres are actually still very supple with no cracks. Quite a unique look to them too. The cars were tightly wrapped up which helped i guess.

Sunday will be test day. ill try and get a video sorted




007, now that is a Vintage kit!! Nice.

[SouthLyonBen]

Originally Posted by 007

Wow Nice find
But whan I read the header I thought I might see something like this

Too bad the adapter pieces aren't straight. I wonder why Tyco did that. I mean I understand Aurora was top dog at that point in time but they were also competitors, maybe they viewed it as beneficial to draw people into trying their stuff, like Life Like making adapters to other brands....

[scalexdoza]

So tonight I decided to take the new Tyco set over to the in laws. I get on really well with the other halts step dad, and he likes sitting in front of a scripted/fixed talent show as little as I do....

So a couple of beers, and a little setup on the kitchen table. It's some of the most fun I have had in years with a slot car track. A different kind of enjoyment to the digital stuff...


Loved it. :-)

Cars insanely fast. Only drawback is that the rear wing on the Ferrari has broken, so I will try to find another one.

Definitely on the lookout for some more cars too!

[greg nagy]

Originally Posted by SouthLyonBen

Too bad the adapter pieces aren't straight. I wonder why Tyco did that. I mean I understand Aurora was top dog at that point in time but they were also competitors, maybe they viewed it as beneficial to draw people into trying their stuff, like Life Like making adapters to other brands....

Even the early tyco track should have the wider lane spacing, I think. The "swerves" seem to hide the difference a bit better than a straight on "narrowing" track. Just a thought.

[slotcardan]

The old TYCO to AU track adapter was suppose to act as a universal adapter to all slot car tracks of the day stromebuger and faller and some others but its original function was as a Wiggle track like the cobblestone and it allowed you to split the wiggle zone in half for placement in different areas of the track. they showed placement before and after crossover track to force you to slow down for a lane change.

Granted the ability to connect to other tracks was a terrible afterthought. Later the wiggle track become 1 piece like the AFX version and then became cobble stone track to force a low speed area, again like AFX had.

connecting Tyco pro to modern AW or AFX track is easy, you go tyco speedway to Tyco Quick click then quick click to modern AFX or AW or lifelike.

there was an issue with lane spacing on the old track tyco always had spread spacing in the center. even though all the tracks were about the same width, Aurora put the lanes closer together and gave you more room on the outside of the lanes. tyco then made up for the reduced outside track spacing with aprons. Later the aprons were not needed when everyone went magnatraction.

the early aprons were Curved up so as the cars drifted onto the aprons it acted like the AFX drift turns. It works so well that whomever had the idea at tyco to first get rid of aprons should be beaten with his own shoes.

you can hack modern tyco track to use the Pro Era Aprons.

the easiest aprons to find are the Tyco U-turn aprons. these aprons are flat and require special radius curve track with clips, however once again you can hack a normal radius track to fit a U-turn apron. due to the mounting you can't hack both types of aprons to fit on one track.
so its either/or on the aprons.

you think HO is fun now, take the magnets out and use aprons and your enjoyment level will rise further.

[Slotbob]

Dan, do the tyco aprons exist for 15" turns?

[slotcardan]

no , they only made them for 12" and 9".. The 12"s are obviously beyond rare.

for the tyco pro era they only had 9",12" and 6" radius curves, only 9" and 12" got the aprons, as optional.

there was only a few sets that came with a few pieces of aprons sections you mostly had to buy them 'À la cartet'

the aprons were designed as 1/8 pieces so you needed 2 for a 1/4 curve.

I don't think tyco ever made a 15" curve, I own a 15" tyco type connector curve but it was made by somebody else not tyco.

for the later tyco only the U-turn sets used aprons because they "U-turned" on curve sections only. but those only came as 9" and 6" aprons.
the 6" was used for the inside lane, and 9" for the outside lane. they had keyed left and right pieces and came only with special radius track.


now you can get the 12" tyco mattel track used on the dirt bike tracks that has a built in outside lane apron.

what i found was i bought the special 15" track from Evil-bay, but its still not enough as far as room for throwing the butt of the car out. So i went to the 12" with the apron, and it was night and day, the apron makes all the difference in the world. I went back to the 9" and installed aprons, and again night and day difference. After that i scrapped the new track and went to the tyco pro track, Everything has been night and day, I put the 15" track away and now either use the 9/12" with aprons or go to the monza style 20 degree banked track or the full 40 degree high banked turns with aprons.

I really scratch my head because the old stuff is amazing to bad its made of chalk and glass(breaks very easy, no lateral support)

whats cool about the aprons is how you can use them to balance the speed of cars in different lanes. if you find the inside lane is faster, just add a few aprons in certain areas for the outside lane, and you will balance the game play. you can even put them in places to cause a delay. for example you have a down hill area where the outside lane seems to be faster, you trick the player, install the outside lane aprons but right at the end of the aprons you put a guard rail. you have to seriously slow down at the climax of the turn to avoid hitting the rail, so if you get a lead foot coming out of that corner he either deslots or slows down as the inside lane is drifting past.

REALLY cool stuff you can do.