I can't believe nobody has posted anything about the new TJ Ultra Gs yet? I got a couple today, and they're... odd. I like them, but it's weird to have a Tjet slide like an HP2 or HP7. I got the Sand Van and the Studebaker, mainly because the El Camino was already gone when I got there and the blower thru the hood put me off the '57 Chevy. I'm kinda regretting that now, it was sweet looking otherwise... but this Stude is growing on me and I figured I'd never find an original Sand Van...

Anyway, all I did to both cars was tighten the brush springs and lube them up, and they run pretty good, but like I said... they slide weird. With a non-magnetized Tjet, you can do all kinds of gruesome powerslides and still come back, once you get used to the way the car hooks up. With these, there's a little slide, and then there's all that real estate on the other side of the guard rail. Guess I just gotta get used to the way they "let go", which is obviously more abrupt than regular Tjets...

who else has these things? anyone? thoughts?

--rick

edit: it also occurred to me that these things might help get people back into the hobby who remember them from their childhood, but forgot that you had to LEARN to drive them to keep them on the track... they definitely hang onto the track more when you're not pushing them.

Rick, I started a review on my board http://slotcars.yuku.com/topic/407 . I was really against the mag idea at first, but so far I see no real cornering advantage from it, at least not on Tomy track. The car runs unbelievably smooth, in fact it's now getting my best JL/AW T-Jet times and I still haven't taken the body off to do any major tweaks.

I'm trying to put together a race running both classes of new chassis. Unfortunately, I'm finding less racers that bother with the new stuff anymore, partly because most of the local shops got fed up with the product line and either cut way back on orders or stoppred selling AW stuff altogether. Sad irony, really, as the T-Jet chassis is now a great out of the box racer since they fixed the bouncing problem.

And yes that Chevy is sweet.....

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/62235e584d6b73b8fbeec6aa91985f5537b39fc.pjpg

I bought my first two yesterday. They bounce a little going down the track. bent axle or something out of round. But much better out of the box than the earlier releases. No gear mesh problems.

Handle much better than the nonmagnent versions. But they'll need a seperate class to run in unless the magnet is removable.

I got the red '57 Chevy (blower or not I love it.), and the blue '57 Suburban. I hope Autoworld keeps releasing both chassis in the future. I do think they have a winner with the T-Jet Ultra G, I like the T-JUG name. Randy.

The magnet is easy to remove, under the rear magnet is a small hole for a screwdriver to pop it out.

With the magnet, they run very smooth. Like a G-jet but a little slower. But remove the magnet and you'll be able to notice what rims you'll need to replace. I like 'em better without the magnet, but like you said....These will appeal to the novice driver, newbie, and kids.

As far as tweaking, you know the drill:

Check rims for out-of-roundness
Check axles, see that they're straight
Check comm brush spring for proper tension
A drop of oil anywhere metal goes through plastic
Check gears for proper mesh
Check pick shoes for proper contact with rails
A dab of grease on gears
Break-in period (both directions)

And off you go......

The magnet is easy to remove, under the rear magnet is a small hole for a screwdriver to pop it out.

With the magnet, they run very smooth. Like a G-jet but a little slower. But remove the magnet and you'll be able to notice what rims you'll need to replace. I like 'em better without the magnet, but like you said....These will appeal to the novice driver, newbie, and kids.

As far as tweaking, you know the drill:

Check rims for out-of-roundness
Check axles, see that they're straight
Check comm brush spring for proper tension
A drop of oil anywhere metal goes through plastic
Check gears for proper mesh
Check pick shoes for proper contact with rails
A dab of grease on gears
Break-in period (both directions)

And off you go......

I agree. I pulled the magnets out of all but one of the chassis. In case I get a novice driver ready to run.

I love the TJet Ultra Gs as a separate and unique class. I'd be very disappointed if AW discontinued the standard TJet500s. The TJUGs are great set cars because they deliver the plug & play experience and that's hugely important for race sets. I would have preferred that the downforce be divided across 2 traction magnets instead of only one. But overall, they are a nice addition to the mix and I would relish racing these against each other.

The XT Ultra G on the other hand should have been accomplished by either mounting stronger motor magnets in the existing chassis or coming up with a taller notched motor magnet that drops down below the cross bar (like Mattel did with the big wheel Mopars).

Variety is nice.

Man, now I know I've been under a rock too long...

AfxToo is back!

Good to see you here again... :wave:

And yeah, I had wondered if the magnet was easy to remove. Is it just held in with adhesive? So if you want to put it back in, will a drop of superglue do it?

--rick

And yeah, I had wondered if the magnet was easy to remove. Is it just held in with adhesive? So if you want to put it back in, will a drop of superglue do it?

--rick

Nope. Just stick it back in there and stays up there by itself. So no sticky fingers required. LOL

The notched magnet idea AfxToo mentioned would've been the perfect upgrade for the XT chassis. It needs to look somewhat like this- [ -. Enough of a notch to fill in the recesses you see at the rear magnets. The current magnet strength is fine. The neo-dot is nice, but the little magnet compartment jutting out of the side looks a little odd.

I like the idea! Have both notched motor mags hang slightly below the chassis closer to the rails...
That is probably all those X-Tractions really needed instead of a seperate magnet pocket.

Scott

I wonder why they didn;t make the t-jets chassis like an Xtrac and lower the motor magnets closer to the rail?

Anyway, I like them

The Thunderjet/TO chassis sit higher than an XT chassis, so the magnets wouldn't have much effect. That's where the neo-dots work ok.

Guess I'll need to take a couple out of the box and give them a spin. :eek: rr