Sunoco Camaro

[Modlerbob]

Jules, I hope you have had some control over what your Chinese factory actually produce. In the past, in the HO model train industry, such and such company announces a new locomotive that will only be produced in limited numbers only to find out later that the factory was selling them out the back door and as you say flooding the market.

I like your products and your service but I still hesitate to pre-order anything from anybody. After seeing this one online I decided to jump on it ASAP and get one from England. I have a feeling that the US vendors will sell most of what they can get pretty fast.

One additional comment. Some of the images looked as if the yellow lettering was thin and had bleed through of the blue beneath. But after seeing the model in person it is obvious that the yellow is a darker shade than I originally expected but there is definitely no bleed through and after looking at all of the images that are readily available I think you hit it right. Great job on a terrific looking slot car.

[JULES]

Thank you Bob, I'm very pleased you like that model.

I have never heard of Chinese factories running 'lights out' to produce slot cars. They would not be able to sell them out the back door - no one to sell them to. I was referring to general over production by some makers. When they eventually reach a distributor, they are at a huge discount. This causes havoc for dealers that paid a proper trade price for early stock.

Slot car makers do not close because they are badly managed. They close because they need to make, and sell, more than the market will stand so in the final analysis the business is not viable.

Jules

[HomeRacingWorld]

The mechanics of the car are the same as the Mustang, so it should run just like it.

[Alaskaracer]

Any updates on the Legends Cars Jules? The Camaros look great!

[Modlerbob]

Well, I have put the Camaro through it's paces and as Harry pointed out since the chassis is the same as the previous Mustangs the performance is very close. First I drove it right out of it's container after only oiling the bushings. Then I performed the usual checks and trued the rear hubs and I'm glad to report there were no burrs on any of the hubs, just a slight raised ridge. There was a little more sideplay with the rear axle but I let it be for the moment and drove it again. Finally I switched the rears to Paul Gage T/A tires and ran it again. On the last run the gear disengaged due to one of the rear hubs almost sliding off. A little Shoe-Goo and I pressed the hub back on the axle and now the sideplay was gone.

I timed the laps for all three runs on our 65' mdf race course. The results in order they were run was fast laps of 7.55sec, 7.32 sec and 7.25 sec. which are almost the same as my Mustangs and a tad faster than my Scaley Camaros.

Very nice indeed.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

From what I read here tonight, I can tell you this- I'll never do a pre-order again, and I will urge everyone I have contact with to do the same. People have been warning me for over a year that this was the way things were going, and I remained faithful anyway. Fool, I suppose.

The terms have changed, for whatever reason and without our agreement, it seems and we would be fools to make an drastically unequal commitment on these terms.

From now on, the car is going to have to pass muster in a few reviews before I even consider it. If that means the manufacturer doesn't make the sale, the loss is his, and it will snowball fast. There is a reason boutique sales strategy always fails. The customer is always number one in successful business, period, full stop. Treating customers as though they were so many dogs trying to get the same piece of meat will incur the wrath of the market quickly and no one wins. This isn't hard to understand... it's as old as business itself.

[Modlerbob]

Last night I was somewhat tired and left out a couple of things I noticed. The chassis seemed a little twisted when I placed the car on my test block. I loosened the screws and heard a pop, apparently the screws were too tight and somewhere the chassis had bound up with the body. Problem solved as the chassis is now straight more or less. It might be a good idea to sand on the chassis a bit to keep it from rubbing along the sides. I also noticed that the guide flag was wobbley, maybe a brass shim would correct the problem. If I end up racing this one I may replace the guide flag as I noticed the car hunting coming out of the corners and it deslotted a couple of times due to this.

On the Scaley sport plastic track the car ran great, partially due to the strength of the magnet. With the stock tires it measured 330 on the magnet marshall and after switching to the PG tires it lowered to just at 300. The car weighs just over 80gms so using the local formula of weight plus 3X it is legal to race as is. This is also in the same ballpark as the Pioneer Mustangs and Scaley Camaros.