1/28 Scale

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1/28 Scale

Postby WB2 » Fri Feb 16, 2018 9:22 pm

I just ordered an MG Vanquish McLaren. I’ve never seen one of these in real life, but have read quite a bit about them. I’ll see how the size compares to my SlotIt and HSRR McLarens and to my Carrera 1/24 cars.
Scribes seem to really like the cars.
And I read about the care and feeding of the differential.

I noticed some printed chassis on Shapeways’ site for Kyosho MiniZ bodies. Piecing them together part-by-part brings the price up to $100 or so (yikes!).
I’ve seen articles on 1/28 scale racing in Europe (which, I believe, used Kyosho-bodied cars).
The Can-Am thread mentions Otaki bodies, of which there are some nice ones available (especially the Ferrari Can-Am cars).

So, why didn’t 1/28 scale racing catch on in the US?
Oddball scale? Not readily available? Were Vanquish cars too expensive or ahead of their time?
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Re: 1/28 Scale

Postby Jesla » Fri Feb 16, 2018 9:40 pm

In a class of it's own inside and out.... bet'cha you can't own only one.... just say'n.
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Re: 1/28 Scale

Postby waaytoomuchintothis » Fri Feb 16, 2018 9:43 pm

I was in the middle of that one. 1/28 was never going to displace 1/32 or 1/24. It was apparently intended to establish a new scale, a huge gamble. Ninco had done a new scale plan of similar size that was a disaster some time ago, bolstered by an ultralight body and an unexplainably transparent chassis. Massive failure. The transparent chassis was brittle and often cracked wide open before they were delievered (re: Moslers). Along comes MG Vanquish with a great drive train, wonderfully detailed and scaled body with gorgeous engine, and in a Can Am venue that was very popular. But the cars arrived here with stiff grease in the differential, dried up and guaranteeing rejection by customers. I had a friend with R/C cars who advised me about the diffs and so all of my Vanquish cars got properly packed with grease as soon as I got them out of the case. Mine ran great, no problem, and I posted several times to advise my HRW friends, but it was too late. People bought the cars and ran them "as is" from the RTR box, and the diffs failed as might be expected. The next thing you know, folks are selling kits to convert the cars to pinion/crown drives, which made them compete with ordinary 1/32nd cars, which was never going to work. Sad result to a great effort by Vanquish. I still have 2 of them, with diffs that are perfect. They track around curves like they are on rails.
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Re: 1/28 Scale

Postby Rooster » Sat Feb 17, 2018 12:46 pm

I think the Vanquish cars are great. And, they key is taking care of the diff as Way mentioned. I have some experience with RC, so this care was taken on a couple cars I owned. Nothing wrong with the scale, it was what it was.....race them together.

I was fairly heavily involved with Mini-Z's at one time. Kyosho has great 1/28 autoscales. I've kinda wondered why the fantastic builders on this board haven't made a chassis for these cars. There are several body options. They are expensive (about $50), but, expense is the case for most building projects anyway. One of the issues would be wheels and tires, but in today's world that could be easily resolved. I know PG made tires for Mini-Z's at one time. I've never built a brass chassis, I intend to one day.
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Re: 1/28 Scale

Postby WB2 » Sat Feb 17, 2018 1:54 pm

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