Thank you for the heads up on contacting AutoWorld. I've gotten some cars that just ran slow. But I put in new chassis or tweak them here or there. And just deal with it.
Well that gave me some flashbacks ... ... decals, are still the same today? We used to buy them in 3-ish x 5-ish cards, containing assorted "sponsors", then we would cut out what we wanted, soak in a water dish, then spend an hour trying to find them after they floated away, then the tweezers, then trying to precision align on the body, then goofing that up and using your thumb to squish and align, finally go buy a new pack to redo it because too many got torn/lost/ etc. I found too many decals stuck to my forearm. ... Aurora Hop-Up kits (including decals) were OK but parts were generic/bland, if you wanted the good stuff, you had to pay more ... e.g. if you wanted the brushes with the 'V' groove, or threaded axles, or shoes that have that dimple to help hold springs in place ... or .... or . FLASHBACKS ---- AHHHHHH! (60 year ago memory may have some of that wrong ... but it feels right.) And I still have a closet (buried) full of my original Aurora tracks, cars, controllers, etc. but it so much easier just to watch these videos then dig that stuff out (maybe someday).
Back in the day,....when Aurora Thunder-Jet 500 slot car production moved to Hong Kong, it was noticed, and noted in magazines, that the Hong Kong cars performed a little better. The armatures seemed to be a little "Hotter" and the magnets a little stronger. That being said, I was more interested in being a crew chief than being a racer. My cars always outperformed my buddies cars. I could take their slowest car and make it their fastest car. Cleaning electrical contact points on the pick-up shoes and the armature commutators with a Pink Pearl rubber pencil eraser, bending the pick-up shoes so they contacted the rails in the track better, cleaning pet hairs off the axles and gears, lightly lubricating the axles, gears, and the ends of the armature shaft, cleaning the motor brushes by rubbing both sides against a sheet of paper, and making fine adjustments to the motor brush spring tension were the first steps to take. After that, there was gear polishing, magnet shimming, gear tooth thinning, and even shaving the chassis so the magnets could come closer to the armature. To me, this was all tweaking. Upgrading the rear tires and lowering the body on the chassis were design changes. Does anyone these days solder jumper wires to connect the pick-up shoes to the chassis? The loose mechanical connection at the back of the pick-up shoes was not a good electrical connection at all. You can see how dirty they get from the arcing. Also, does anyone add a bead of solder on the top surface of the pick-up shoes to weight them down to increase the contact pressure with the rails? You can't always just increase the spring pressure if your car is already trying to do wheelies.
@eugenepolan1750 All of that tweaking and tuning is a challenging & rewarding part of our hobby. I’ve had a lot fun doing that stuff. I don’t feel like I’m NOT the expert on ultimate tuning of either the new or old chassis but I muddle through it. Great comments.
Autoworld has cool slots! Yes have had a disappointing purchase or two yet keep on buying! Just tweak them & usually great. Run some magnet upgrades & you'll see unimaginable pancake motor performance! Have a few that speed parallels g plus!!!
The one real main thing make the difference in those two is the much stronger motor magnets once you remove the bottom dot neo magnet from an AW Ultra G or even older fist ones including the Johnny Lightning Playing Mantis. For fun and comparison, Put much stronger magnets in the AFX and it will be pretty much the same as the AW or vice versa, depending on the parts match of the AFX as some things can affect those greatly when it come to tuning. All parts back then were made a bit different as they were from different molds (including many different type chassis molds once you begin to look and compare them closely) and made in the millions compared to only many thousands lets say for lack of production facts of the AW cars and all pretty much the same size and fit and looser tolerances.
Thank you for the heads up on contacting AutoWorld. I've gotten some cars that just ran slow. But I put in new chassis or tweak them here or there. And just deal with it.
great video
Well that gave me some flashbacks ...
... decals, are still the same today? We used to buy them in 3-ish x 5-ish cards, containing assorted "sponsors", then we would cut out what we wanted, soak in a water dish, then spend an hour trying to find them after they floated away, then the tweezers, then trying to precision align on the body, then goofing that up and using your thumb to squish and align, finally go buy a new pack to redo it because too many got torn/lost/ etc. I found too many decals stuck to my forearm.
... Aurora Hop-Up kits (including decals) were OK but parts were generic/bland, if you wanted the good stuff, you had to pay more ... e.g. if you wanted the brushes with the 'V' groove, or threaded axles, or shoes that have that dimple to help hold springs in place ... or .... or .
FLASHBACKS ---- AHHHHHH! (60 year ago memory may have some of that wrong ... but it feels right.)
And I still have a closet (buried) full of my original Aurora tracks, cars, controllers, etc. but it so much easier just to watch these videos then dig that stuff out (maybe someday).
Back in the day,....when Aurora Thunder-Jet 500 slot car production moved to Hong Kong, it was noticed, and noted in magazines, that the Hong Kong cars performed a little better. The armatures seemed to be a little "Hotter" and the magnets a little stronger. That being said, I was more interested in being a crew chief than being a racer. My cars always outperformed my buddies cars. I could take their slowest car and make it their fastest car. Cleaning electrical contact points on the pick-up shoes and the armature commutators with a Pink Pearl rubber pencil eraser, bending the pick-up shoes so they contacted the rails in the track better, cleaning pet hairs off the axles and gears, lightly lubricating the axles, gears, and the ends of the armature shaft, cleaning the motor brushes by rubbing both sides against a sheet of paper, and making fine adjustments to the motor brush spring tension were the first steps to take. After that, there was gear polishing, magnet shimming, gear tooth thinning, and even shaving the chassis so the magnets could come closer to the armature. To me, this was all tweaking. Upgrading the rear tires and lowering the body on the chassis were design changes. Does anyone these days solder jumper wires to connect the pick-up shoes to the chassis? The loose mechanical connection at the back of the pick-up shoes was not a good electrical connection at all. You can see how dirty they get from the arcing. Also, does anyone add a bead of solder on the top surface of the pick-up shoes to weight them down to increase the contact pressure with the rails? You can't always just increase the spring pressure if your car is already trying to do wheelies.
@eugenepolan1750 All of that tweaking and tuning is a challenging & rewarding part of our hobby. I’ve had a lot fun doing that stuff. I don’t feel like I’m NOT the expert on ultimate tuning of either the new or old chassis but I muddle through it. Great comments.
Autoworld has cool slots! Yes have had a disappointing purchase or two yet keep on buying! Just tweak them & usually great. Run some magnet upgrades & you'll see unimaginable pancake motor performance! Have a few that speed parallels g plus!!!
Awesome
I have had decent luck with aw cars
Yes and you are comparing the Ultra Gs to Aurora. There is even a larger difference when comparing an Xtraction to Aurora.
The one real main thing make the difference in those two is the much stronger motor magnets once you remove the bottom dot neo magnet from an AW Ultra G or even older fist ones including the Johnny Lightning Playing Mantis. For fun and comparison, Put much stronger magnets in the AFX and it will be pretty much the same as the AW or vice versa, depending on the parts match of the AFX as some things can affect those greatly when it come to tuning. All parts back then were made a bit different as they were from different molds (including many different type chassis molds once you begin to look and compare them closely) and made in the millions compared to only many thousands lets say for lack of production facts of the AW cars and all pretty much the same size and fit and looser tolerances.