Remember these.? All our yesterdays

[NewcastleFalcon]

This reminds me of taking the cars to bits to see how they worked. Simple little arrangement in full display...

e-bay sale item

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

There is more to be found on Minic, and an interesting short walk through of no more than a few minutes with pics I found here. The cars were 1:76 scale so small and so designed to be at the same scale as Triang's own model railway set, and the popular Hornby 00 Scale. The cars as can be seen from the previous pic were simple and robust in their design, and many are still perfectly serviceable 60 plus years on, components made of proper metal.

One thing which they did was stay in their slot. My own experience with the eventual winner in the slot-car universe Scalextric is that compared to Minic, the track is considerably more femmer, subject to warpage, the slot itself is prone to tarnishing, the pick ups on the cars with their crumpled up bits of brillo pad unconvincing, plastic throughout the build, and a penchant for the cars to fly out of the slot and leave the track at the slightest provocation at which point they break very easily as they shoot off the table.

A case of the inferior product winning, and when Scalextric and some other slot racing products were acquired under the same company, Minic Motorways bit the dust.

Worth a little read

Triang Minic Motorways-A slot too far.

https://www.classiccollectmodels.co.uk/ ... t-too-far/

More robust than a brillo pad!

Neil

[mickthemaverick]

I was never a fan of Minic, simply because they were too small to fit in with my huge collection of corgi amd dinky most of whicu were 1/32 scale. (ish)

[NewcastleFalcon]

A real car forum...like this one...surely has memories to stir within its congregation of members, of encounters with model cars trains boats planes with motors in formative years.

This is the thread for them

Neil

[myglaren]

Always thought that Scalextric was rubbish.

Here is someone I had forgotten about.

[Rp0thejester]

What has always puzzled me is why Hornby makes trains and everything in 1/76 scale, yet Airfix plane kits which is Hornby is in 1/72 scale. Seems a missed opportunity for train fans to make an airport near the the station and vice versa. BTW the TV series on Hornby was amazing, what an insight

[Hell Razor5543]

I would imagine that, when Hornby took over Airfix, they realised that if they changed the scale from 1/72 to 1/76 those people who were already Airfix fans would have issues if they were (for example) building a fleet of ships at the time of the scale change. They might (for example) end up with a 1/72 cruiser and a 1/76 battleship!

[mickthemaverick]

You have to remember that Minic Motorways was originally designed by Triang to enhance the model railway world rather than to provide model racing so the scale was governed by oo guage trains. Scalextric was designed as an electric toy racing system for youngsters so the larger scale was more practicle from both easier to engineer and less fiddly to play with. Airfix were doing there own thing to produce models of a size which made them displayable in the average room. So different objectives generated the different scales and desire for accuracy tended to enlarge models so the detail was perceptible!

[mickthemaverick]

I happen to have a few scales on display together in my study and, although in need of a clean, it is clear to see the difference in scale between the ranges!

MTMO

[Rp0thejester]

I wonder how much it would cost Hornby to reduce some Airfix items to 1/76 scale, it's all computer done, just the mould prints would cost money to make. I also recently saw something about a town diaramma that had been built using magnets to control the cars on the street, not sure what scale but was absolutely awesome to watch. Would of loved to have everything to the right scale as a child but obviously not dinosaurs as everyone knows, there massive!!!!

[mickthemaverick]

Are you referring to the awesome model which Neil highlighted in a link in this post:?
viewtopic.php?p=770424&hilit=hamburg#p770424

I am planning a trip there next summer!!

[Rp0thejester]

No I wasn't but thanks for the link though. The one I saw was by a guy who made a 1970s era town with cars and buildings at home. Had traffic lights and period cars etc all controlled by magnets and timers. If I find it again I'll post it

[MarcusMcGuinness]

A real car forum...like this one...surely has memories to stir within its congregation of members, of encounters with model cars trains boats planes with motors in formative years.

This is the thread for them

Neil

I encountered Matchbox Motorway one Christmas.
Terribly disappointing for a young lad used to racing on his best mate's Scalextric.

Mac

[Rp0thejester]

I have Scalextric digital in the loft still in the box, I refuse to let anyone play it because they send the cars flying off the the track!

[NewcastleFalcon]

A real car forum...like this one...surely has memories to stir within its congregation of members, of encounters with model cars trains boats planes with motors in formative years.

This is the thread for them

Neil

I encountered Matchbox Motorway one Christmas.
Terribly disappointing for a young lad used to racing on his best mate's Scalextric.

Mac

Fill your boots Mac, this should take you back. What a system! Couple of power houses, a rotating spring the whole length of the track, and a pin on the bottom of the cars, and quite a din.



Neil