Policar P4

[Dogsbody]

I'm at around 75% done with fixing the body. Much sanding and a little filling with putty was required. Now I need to hit it all over with Tamiya 2K sanding foam and scribe back in the panel lines. The rivet detail had to go since that was a casualty from the sanding. The car is supposed to be smooth curves all over for the most part and that was not the case with this particular body. From what I can tell two different colors of plastic was used but the mold lines and imperfections are on both clam shells.

This is really like seeing a supermodel without her make up in the morning after an all night bender...

Note to self - buy the painted version next time...

[MacMoose]

I'm strictly a racer. No shelf queens at my place. So, sometimes I don't get the grave concerns about aesthetics.

Anyway... I recently got hold of my Policar P4 and, as usual, I took it apart to replace the pod and body screws and make a few obvious adjustments. The front ride height was nothing short of ridiculous (high) but inasmuch as I'm taking off the front wheels and tires, I would have been doing that anyway. The screws are wrong-wrong-wrong as noted by several of you. But again, I put those in the bin and use Slot.it brass screws with shoulders. My chassis was in perfect condition and, for a box stock piece, pretty darn flat. The pod was a perfect fit. That is, there was no slop whatever. A few passes along the sides with a sheet of sandpaper fixed that. The mounting holes were in exactly the right places and there was sufficient fore and aft movement of the pod for my needs. I don't know where you guys got yours, but my local dealer charges a whole lot more for the Policar F1s than he does for the P4 and F40s.

I would think the rear wheels would need truing (being plastic press-ons) but they're not good enough for my purposes so they followed the fronts into storage. I will be using the inserts because I do like my cars to look good, even if that's a secondary concern.

So.... as I sit here looking at it, I don't see any mold lines or paint defects. In fact, the finish strikes me as a very true shade of red, but my color comprehension has been called into question on a few occasions :D.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Yes, pod fits fine when the right screws are used. Nothing short of a defect in my eyes and lack of QC. Seems some ignore this as they have screws on hand. What about the person who does not? More out of pocket to fix what never should have been.

Maybe we should have done a video series on this car?

The red finish is fine...front roundel cracked. Slot.it/Policar has said they are thinking of offering a decal to make up for the paint issue.

[SuperSlab]

I received mine on Thursday so I very quickly prepared it for our regular Friday races. Preparation included:

* Replaced the plastic rear wheels with the Slot.it aluminium equivalent.
* Glued & trued urethanes. Note that I uses PGT2125LM tyres: allowed the tyres to extend past the edge of the wheels and I also left the tyres with a higher profile to look more like the real 60's era tyres.
* I am not very keen on clip-in guides so I replaced it with a Scaleauto screw guide. Added some soft NSR braid.
* The front tyres were rather wide and low profile: not quite right for the car. So I replaced the tyres with some NSR zero grip tyres for a Frod GT Mk IV as that is narower with higher profile. Trued and profiled the tyres: looks much more appropriate now.
* Replaced the known suspect pod screws with smooth shanks screws. Also fitted some of the SCC urethane washers under the head of the screws and added tape on the pod.
* Replaced the body screws with smooth shank screws.
* Final normal details: adjusted the front axle height, adjusted play on the axles, added 7g of weight on the pod, lubricated everything etc. Set up the pod and the body with a bit of float and that was it: off to the races.

And the car is a flyer! Ended up with a best lap of 6.225 seconds, which is ninth fastest of ALL my cars, including proxy cars with NSR rubber tyres. This is also 0.15 seconds quicker than my fastest Slot.it (coincidentally the car's natural running mate, a Ford GT40) and basically on par with my very quick Thunderslot Lola Mk III. Absolute treat to drive.

This is very, very impressive indeed.

Couple of criticisms:

* My car also has very noticeable mould lines.
* This is subjective but to me the nose of the car looks "off". To me it just does not look as good as the Scaley car for instance. Not sure what it is: to my eyes the front of the car look a touch more bulbous/rounded than what they ought to be. It is just not how svelte I recall a P4 looking.
* No cracked roundels on my car.
* Paint and general finish very nice indeed.

So in summary: a stunningly quick car with "normal" (for me) preparation. Some cosmetic and proportion issues but still a lovely car.

I love it!

Alwyn

[MacMoose]

"Slot.it/Policar has said they are thinking of offering a decal to make up for the paint issue."

I.m not sure what to say about that. I guess it's the thought that counts?

[Dogsbody]