Hello Everybody: This is Tom Lowe from Auto World. Check out my website at www.autoworldslotcars.com Currently we only make 1:64 - 1:87 scale slot cars (X-Traction and Thunderjets). I am thinking about developing a 1:32 scale chassis and make 6 to 8 bodies to start with. Any advice you guys could give me would be helpful. Chassis style, magnets, motors, what to do, what not to do, etc. Thanks!

Tom Lowe
Auto World

There are many different makers in 1/32 already...
Scalextric, Ninco, Fly, Slot it, Scx, Carrera and more.
The best thing might be to find people in ther area you live in that race, hook up with them to see what they are doing and racing first hand.
And someone that you probably talk too about this is on the west coast.
The web site for his shop is http://www.132slotcar.us/ and he is a really nice guy that is dedicated to 1/32 slotcars....
His name is Alan. He also runs Slot Car Illustrated online.
http://www.slotcarillustrated.com/InTheGroove.html

Good luck,
Scott

Hi Tom,
You can't go wrong with either vintage or modern NASCAR cars. Just look at what they are going for on the Bay. We race the vintage Carrera NASCAR, Modern Scaley NASCAR, & cars based upon the generic Artin Stockers weekly. All have different characters, magnets, motors, etc. If you upscaled some of your HO offerings, Chevelle, Roadrunner, Grand National, etc. & added a tray interior I would buy them. These are cars that no one currently makes in 1:32.
Good Luck,
Greg

We need some good 1/43rd slots.

Tom,

I think it would be great if you used a similar approach to your HO product line. Provide a universal chassis with different interchangeable bodies w/ an interior tray. I am sure the Dukes of Hazzard cars would be very popular in 1/32 scale. Some important things to consider - keep the cars light, a good gear ratio is 3:1 (27t crown/9t pinion), make sure the wheels and tires are true. The Artin Stocker chassis is a very good design. Here is the link - http://www.brshobbies.com/catalog.php/BRSHobbies/pd33223

Best regards,
Brian

We need some good 1/43rd slots.

I agree 100%. Look what happened when FLY entered the 1/32 market in the late 90's. Scalextric had been trying to grow the 1/32 slot car market for years without much success. Then comes FLY into the market with some highly detailed 1/32 scale slot cars. The market took off and now there are so many manufacturers that the market is saturated. The 1/43 scale slot car market is a huge, untapped market. The 1/43 enthusiasts are starving for a good selection of nicely detailed and running slot cars. Carrera and Artin have some fairly nice 1/43 cars but no where near the selection that is found in the other scales.

Best regards,
Brian

To echo Mikyou03's point, I also feel you should consider 1/43 scale. The 1/32 slot car market suffers from an overabundance of choice. From a consumer standpoint, 1/32 is also getting pretty expensive, and the space requirements of a 1/32 track is such that most people have to get by with a layout smaller than they would like -- a 1/43 layout takes half the space of the equivalent 1/32 layout. The 1/43 scale cars are also less expensive than their 1/32 counterparts -- $7-$13 instead of the usual $50 and up price for the 1/32 cars.

On the other hand, 1/43d scale is a popular collectible scale, and has only two major competitors in the slot car area: Artin and Carrera. Lifelike and Mattel have sold a few 1/43 sets, but they have failed to catch on.

The 1/43-scale cars are cheaper than their 1/32 equivalents because they're simpler in design and construction. Instead of a guide flag, you have an fixed guide pin. Instead of photo-etched grills, full interiors, radio antennas and mirrors that can break off, etc, you have a simpler body, usually with blacked out windows, much like HO scale. Mechanically, instead of needing large, expensive magnets, you can get by with a smaller magnet. The standard of performance is not quite as high with 1/43, eliminating the need for more expensive motors, separate axle bushings, car lighting, etc. You won't need to develop different sidewinder, in-line, and front motor in-line drive trains for your cars. You also don't need to worry (at this juncture anyway) about the impact of digital on your product line.

Carrera (in their Go! 1/43 line (http://us.carrera-toys.com/15.0.html)) is growing their selection of both cars and track, recently adding additional track pieces to allow the construction of 4-lane tracks. Carrera suffers most from a limited choice of cars. The cars they have are generally well designed and detailed, but some of their cars, like Artin's, vary in scale from car-to-car more than they should. They do use tampo printing for crisp graphics (an advantage over Artin). They also have more movie-themed cars than they should, at the expense of racing-themed cars.

Carrera follows the 1/32-scale paradigm of a custom chassis for each car, which increases costs over the standard-chassis approach that Artin uses. Another strength of Carrera is that they have chosen to use a very small (but standard) motor which not only performs well, but also takes up very little room in the chassis.

Artin's (http://www.artinslotcars.com/) big problem is their lack of an established dealer channel. Artin does have a significantly wider -- but still spotty -- lineup of cars than Carrera. However, their cars often vary substantially in scale, and Artin has yet to make the move to tampo printing. Instead of the tampo printing that Carrera uses, Artin is still using primarily using stickers, with some slide-on decals to distinguish different cars.

One of the strengths of Artin is that their cars use a simple, but effective standard chassis (which comes in both narrow and wide versions) for most of their cars -- no separate chassis design per body as Carrera does, an advantage up and down the supply chain. They also use the same motor as most 1/32 scale cars -- the so-called 'S-can'. While easily available and reasonably priced, the S-can is a little large for 1/43 scale cars, limiting the types of bodies that they can fit over the motor and still retain an accurate body shape.

Yes, the market for 1/43-scale slot cars is smaller than for 1/32-scale, but there is also a lot less competition, and since the design of the cars is simpler, lower costs, and the potential for a large growth in volume.

I would suggest that you consider:
1. 'Dipping your toe into the water' with a series of 1/43 collectible cars that have a body that just happens to fit the Artin chassis. If I remember correctly, that is basically how Playing Mantis got started with slot cars, and I think it's a reasonable strategy to enter the 1/43 market.
2. Design a chassis using the same motor as the Carrera 1/43 cars. Keep the same body mounts that you used on the Artin-compatible collectible cars.
3. Offer a design with clear windows, and at least some interior detail to differentiate yourself from the existing players in this market.
3. Artin cars go for about $7, Carrera for about $13, but if you deliver a well-detailed car with equivalent (or better) performance than the competition, you could go higher in price than the competition.

That's my 2 cents worth. Good luck on your endeavour.

-- Bill

Tom,

It is great to hear you may branch out to 1/32 cars. I have just bought a couple to add to the more than 700 HO cars I have (about 300 are JL's, Thank You for making them again), and really think the best would be to go with the classics that you already make for X-traction cars. You can't miss with the Nomad, Mustang, a '55 belair,and maybe a Charger. It seem's American Iron is just now really being made by Carrera, Scalelectric, and others. I would definetly buy the Auto Word Ferrari just like the A/FX car. A 1/32 '32 duece would be great too...

Tom
A

Tom,

I would ask this question over here as there are some very knowlegable 1/32 scalers here

http://p198.ezboard.com/fhomeracingworldfrm2


Roger Corrie

Tom,
Doesn't your factory (Childford in Hong Kong) already produce some of the lower end Carrera products? I'm sure that Samuel would be happy to share his knowledge of the larger scales with you and help you grow this business.

Dan

That is great news!

There are some very highly detailed 1/32 scale slot cars out there, and they have a price tag to match. Myself personally I would like to see something that is in between the cheap toy and the super detailed super fast cars.

An adjustable chasis that would fit several wheelbases would be nice. The chassis could possibly also be used for 1/43.

Make the traction magnets adjustable and removable. Give people the choice of strong magnet downforce, weak downforce or no magnets.

Make the chassis easily upgradeable. You know there are people that just can't leave fast enough alone! There is a market for faster motors, stronger traction magnets, better tires, different wheels, selection of gear ratios, etc....

The above suggestions are also applicable to the "kit bash" segment of the hobby. People that like to take model kits and convert them to slot cars. People that like to mix and match different cars to make it their own.

There are several suggestions for HO cars people would like to see on the Hobby Talk Auto World board. The same cars would be great in 1/32.

Thanks again for all you have done for our hobby!!

Marty

I agree 100%. Look what happened when FLY entered the 1/32 market in the late 90's. Scalextric had been trying to grow the 1/32 slot car market for years without much success. Then comes FLY into the market with some highly detailed 1/32 scale slot cars. The market took off and now there are so many manufacturers that the market is saturated. The 1/43 scale slot car market is a huge, untapped market. The 1/43 enthusiasts are starving for a good selection of nicely detailed and running slot cars. Carrera and Artin have some fairly nice 1/43 cars but no where near the selection that is found in the other scales.

Best regards,
Brian
i agree,i have also recently delved into 43rd,and there is already a lot of interest based on the activity i have seen (world wide no less) on other slot car forums.i would deffinetly like to see cars with the quality of carrrera's GO!! series.some can-ams with nice wheel inserts would rock!!the size of can motors that GO uses lends itself to some VERY realistic model racing car possibilities.i am going to(attempt to) scratch build some cars myself at some point.IMHO,this size makes a great "garden scale "!

The 1/32nd market is massive and full of both heavy-hitters and cottage industry guys with very quick turnaround. I would suggest doing cars nobody else does until your confidence and knowledge grows.

As per my HO idea make the neo traction magnets so that can screw up and down in the chassis (and be removed for those that hate magnet racing, which in 1/32nd is a lot of people).Supply cheap (as in economical, not cheap-n-nasty) motors, wheels and gears but offer upgrades.

How about little posts dotted around the chassis onto which lead rings can be press fitted. At the moment a lot of 1/32nd cars (especially without magnets) are hopeless race cars until some ballast has been added, and most of the racers go about this in a variety of 'bodged' methods. Supply the weights and somewhere to place it and they will thank you for it.

Echoing what Marty says, what about copying the slot.it HRS chassis which can be adjusted for width, length and wheelbase BUT take it one stage further and make the adjustability enough that the chassis can be 1/43rd & 1/32nd scales:

http://www.slotcarplace.com/forsale/slot_it/SICH01.jpg

Regds - Deane

Hello Everybody: This is Tom Lowe from Auto World. Check out my website at www.autoworldslotcars.com Currently we only make 1:64 - 1:87 scale slot cars (X-Traction and Thunderjets). I am thinking about developing a 1:32 scale chassis and make 6 to 8 bodies to start with. Any advice you guys could give me would be helpful. Chassis style, magnets, motors, what to do, what not to do, etc. Thanks!

Tom Lowe
Auto World

I think Tom has the right idea, one chassis that has 6 or more bodys that fit it. This is what irritates me about Scalextric, Carrera etc. Sure there are some cars out there that 1 or 2 bodys share a chassis. But an entire product line would be great. It would make buying parts a whole lot easier. One thing guys complain about alot on Home Racing World is plastic wheels that are pressed on wrong or fall off. Aluminum is the way to go. A Slot-it car retails for just a few dollars more than a Scalextric. The quality is much better and guys are willing to pay the extra.

And we all know if Auto World did it they would make the Muscle Cars we all like. I`am so sick of having the same 8 (or so) American cars to choose from by the current 1/32 manufactures. The offerings of American Muscle have been about the same for the past 3 years. I sure would like a 68-70 Javelin, 68-70 AMX, 70 1/2 Z28, any GM A body, and a tri 5 chevy 2 door SEDAN.

I run my 1/32 cars no magnet, but thats not for every one. I can send you one of my Slot-it HRS chassis to check out. The tires they make are excellent. Of course you would need a chassis with a variable wheel base. When I get home I will snap some phots of my Pro Track 1/32 cars, that is a very nice chassis as well.

-- Elliot

Hello Everybody: This is Tom Lowe from Auto World. Check out my website at www.autoworldslotcars.com (http://www.autoworldslotcars.com/) Currently we only make 1:64 - 1:87 scale slot cars (X-Traction and Thunderjets). I am thinking about developing a 1:32 scale chassis and make 6 to 8 bodies to start with. Any advice you guys could give me would be helpful. Chassis style, magnets, motors, what to do, what not to do, etc. Thanks!
Tom Lowe
Auto World


Tom-

I think the idea is great!

Do you still have the adjustable chassis (wheel base, width & length) I designed and gave to you awhile ago? This chassis would allow AW to easily produce and sell complete cars as well as the racer/modeler to convert virtually any other manufactures static model kit, push car or plastic toy into a slot body with little to no modeling skills, effort or messy post gluing? It could also be scaled down for 1:43rd or 1:28th should the market be there for such a chassis.

JMHO


--------------------------
www.SlotCarJohnnies.com (http://www.slotcarjohnnies.com/)

if ya want to set the slotcar world on their ears...go with the 1/43 scale...this scale is a collectors scale mainly but if it had some good designed bodies that would interchange with one chassis...it would jump up there on the top shelf of slotcars,plus the market isn`t saturated as the other scales,the door is wide open....it`s your call!

The 1/43 may be the size to do.
And one of the biggest reasons?
The 1/43 cars will run on 1/32 track...
Could be an idea...

Hi Tom,

I'm not a slothead, but I do have a dozen or so 1/32 scale slot cars. Good luck with your venture, I'm sure you will market several 1/32 slot cars that I would buy.

Hi Tom,

I think you have a great idea! The 1/32 scale slot market has NOT been properly approached in the US. Most of the 1/32 scale producers, with the exception of Carrera, make cars that are more appropriate for other parts of the world and any that sell in the US are just gravy for them. Carrera has made some excellent 1/32 American cars and most importantly they have used the same type of chassis for these cars. Artin is a good example of someone that has been not gotten into the latest and fastest routine, instead thay have been producing affordable cars for over ten years and all of their cars have similar performance.

What I want is a series of American cars with similar performance. I don't need any gimmicks. It doesn't matter if they have strong traction magnets or no magnets at all as long as the performance is similar between cars such that they can provide entertaining racing without any modifications or tweaking. Just like the Round 2 Thunder Jet cars are not the fastest the 1/32 scale cars do not have to be the fastest.

Even if the car models have been produced by other brands previously I would buy the Round 2 verions if they have a common chassis. A good example is I have about five Can-Am cars made by various manufacturers, some new and some 60's vintage, that I would like to be able to race together. Because all have different chassis, motors, wheels, tires and most improtantly traction magnets it is not fun to race them together. I am working on converting them to a common chassis just so I can have some fun racing.

There are some pitfalls. Other companies have gotten some bad raps on the internet by the "elites" of the hobby. Carrera and Artin both got a bad rap for a few years before objective comments about their high quality products were finally accepted without criticism (or worse). Vanquish MG, a Spainish company, was only in business about a year and they made some really great Can Am race cars. The comments on the internet hurt the acceptance of their products. Only after their demise did many people finally purchase a Vanquish slot car (at a huge discount) and find out it was not a horrible product.

I hope this helps and I would be glad to help any way I can.

Rich McMahon
RMMseven@aol.com

Tom, I think it is a great idea for Auto World to get into the 1/32 scale slot car market. As others have said American iron would be a no brainer. I think you will need no more that two chassis with an adjustable wheel base for both. A narrow one for Vintage Indy, F1 and F3000, also could be used for drag racing as well. The other would be wider and suited to American Muscle cars, Vintage NASCAR, Trans-AM both vintage and modern, and Sports racing cars such as Can-AM & IMSA GTU,GTO & GTP cars.

Personally I'd love to see the Indy & F1 Cars of the 60's 70's & 80's modeled in 1/32 scale at an affordable price. I don't something so exquisite that all you want do with it is shelve it and look at it. I race my cars because I never could have raced them in real life. I want model racing cars not models to collect dust. If they are moving fast enough dust doesn't have a chance to settle on them anyway.

Street cars I would have seen running around the streets of anytown USA and Racing Cars from the era when they were not rolling advertisment for the Multinational Corporations. Let's see some Buicks Oldsmobiles Mercury's, AMC's, Fords, Chevy's, and Cadillacs.

Build a simple straight forward chassis with adjustability, and then crank out some raceable bodies we in the good ole USA can relate to. That's my .02 cent worth, thanks for asking.

Good Luck in your new venture,


David.

I agree that the US automaker body styles would be a big hit. Especialy relatively rare old bodies. Oldsmobile Cutlass', Pontiac Tempest, Mercury Montego, You get the drift (speaking of which, Drift cars are getting to be somewhat popular) Even if you dont mass produce the rare cars an easily swappable body kit sold seperately may be a good idea. Like the Hornby models that convert easily to scalextric slots. I am sure I am not the only person out there that would love to have a 1968 (not 67,69 or 70) Cutlass because it was my first car. But since it is so rare no one makes anything I can even convert to it. It also appears drag cars are only available in 1\24th. I sure would like to see a tubbed out Dodge Demon that would run on a 1\32 track.

Thanks everybody for all the great feedback. I read every comment and appreciate it very much. One of my factories will be visiting me in South Bend in September and I will discuss a lot of these ideas with them.

how about doing this car Chaparral 2J "Sucker Car saw it on a web page at a dealer in erupe was going for E80

Tom,

I too would think a good detailed 1/43 is a ripe for picking market - especially here in the US. Its a bit bigger, thus better detailed than HO cars, but small enough most people can have a sizable layout in their home. Perhaps a simple Chassis repop of the Cox superscale? That was 1/40th I believe, but it was a simple but effective design, that would work well in 1/43rd scale. As an anglewinder it lends itself to nicely detailed open cockpit cars with full interior treatment as well. An inline would make better F1 scale cars.

Thanks everybody for all the great feedback. I read every comment and appreciate it very much. One of my factories will be visiting me in South Bend in September and I will discuss a lot of these ideas with them.

How did it go TL?

In the main, I think that they 1/43rd chassis are pretty poor and the guys who race the scale have done wonders with what is to hand.
If you went for this scale you would need to at least match Carrera GO for price and quality.

hi tom

i am fairly new to this forum, and have been reviewing older posts ...

like everyone else (it seems), i figure you are in a perfect situation to capitalize on the lack of American cars available from the major manufacturers to we American (canadian!!) racers .. it seems the "hootest" product right now is the carrera '34 and '41 chevy hotrods, currently only available in 1:24 scale (darn it!!)
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k272/peteingrouard/carrerahotrodscropped.jpg

further, i want to try to (help) convince you of this idea, offered by another .. "how about little posts dotted around the chassis onto which lead rings can be press fitted" .. for those of us who race "mag-free" (a very large group actually) or on wood tracks, this would be a fabulous addition to any car!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

also, the "1:43" idea is great too .. these cars are a blast to race, and a change from 1:32 .. my scalextric "batmobile and GPD" cars - both 1:43 - are great fun!! the working roof lights on the police car look soooo cool!

one last thing .. how about a truck (half ton) .. the only ones i can find are ninco's 4X4 RAID trucks, and the parma "lexan" bodied trucks shown here ...
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k272/peteingrouard/my%20cars/lightningfastdodge.jpg

that' my two cents worth ... cheers and best of luck

the alberta clipper :jest:

Tom
Here are some things I would like to see.
Chassis: Adjustable for wheel base and track width, multiple pan choices and body mounting. Multiple fully floating motor pod choices {sidewinder,anglewinder inline, inline longstack: Boxer, NC5,6 NSR King etc.} with room for magnets both in front of, and behind the motor. Adjustable ride height. A bushing style that will alow the use of ball bearings. Light weight but stiff material that will remain straight, and will endure the punishment of competition.
Bodies: light durable, scale appearing, with good lexan interiors{with some detail}. GTPS, DPs, CanAMs, le Mans prototypes.
Light Weight set screw wheels that will accept Tyres from NSR, Slot.it, Indy Grips, etc. High quality set screw Gears.
Hollow Ground Axles. Guides like those made by Jet. Flexible Guide Wires with decent guage, for good conductivity. Good flexible copper braid, that is wide enough for good pick up.
Good strong motors, that are epoxyed and balanced, with strong magnets, with trued commutators, strong brush springs. RPMs of 20k/25k/30k/36-38k, With torque ranges of 200gm-350gm per cm. Double ended Armature shafts.
Amp draw around 500ma, or less.
This is what 1/32 needs, a serious racer.

hi tom


"how about little posts dotted around the chassis onto which lead rings can be press fitted" .. for those of us who race "mag-free" (a very large group actually) or on wood tracks, this would be a fabulous addition to any car!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


the alberta clipper :jest:

I mentioned this idea to a hardened 1/32nd racer (who races at the oldest club in the UK) and his eyes lit up!

Good for us but good for AW too, once the cost of molding the chassis with posts in has been absorbed it would be a case of profit from every brass ring sold.

I mentioned this idea to a hardened 1/32nd racer (who races at the oldest club in the UK) and his eyes lit up!

Good for us but good for AW too, once the cost of molding the chassis with posts in has been absorbed it would be a case of profit from every brass ring sold.

I want nice, flat places on the center chassis and on the pans for placing lead weight. I want to keep all lead as low as possible, for a good center of gravity.

HI TOM , From what I have seen so far in Model Car Racing magizine The first 3 bodies are perfect.....No body does a RTR Mercury Cougar that would fit perfect with the 3 you already have....Just my 2 cents.......JOE KENT

Any updates??? Please?

HI TOM , How about 3 street trucks..... FORD DODGE CHEVY....I really like the Dodge truck Eldon made but something new needs to be made......JOE KENT