49 replies to this topic

[marco]

Hi Guys,

On the heels of BMW's one-two finish in the GT Class at Sebring this year, Scaleauto has released its 1/24 scale version of the BMW M3 GT2 on the same MSC chassis that launched their PORSCHE 911 GT3 RSR last year. And the JAGUAR XKR RSR GT2 and MERCEDES BENZ SLS GT3 will be coming along in the not too distant future. And they will be producing 'short runs' of multiple liveries for each of these marques as well as white kits for everything in between that you may want to build.





So it won't be long before you will be able to put together a super grid of Scaleauto GT cars that run very well at a very reasonable cost. I think that Scaleauto is on the right track with these cars. As they come out of the box they are good... and with a few minor upgrades and a bit of time they can become VERY good. There were about 60 of the Porsche 911 GT3 cars on the track last year for the Sprint Championship at the 2010 Trier Worlds... the racing was close and the racers... both Pro and Am wanted them back again this year in Trier for 2011. That says a lot given the choices overseas of what you can race.

Here are a few pics of the BMW M3 GT2 white kit and all the bits and pieces. For $129 it really is a good value... and $159 will bring you the RTR car in the 2009 ALMS livery featured above that was released this week and making it's way to NA as we speak. For another $50 we are offering a tuning kits comprised of front and rear SC RTR sponge wheels and ball bearings to replace the bushings. And with little bit of basic blue printing... these cars will perform with a few tenths of a top end model car costing 3 times the price.

Both the BMW white kits and the pre-painted RTR cars are available online at GRID... not the only place that you will find them... but we also have best and exclusive selection of 1/24 scale model car parts from the smaller European workshops But no matter where you shop, check out these Scaleauto cars and put a series together. You won't be disappointed... and it's a great starting point for some of that more exotic carbon stuff that Nick and Fola are posting when you want to reach a little deeper into your pocket.











So my next project after I finish the Corvette that is waiting on the other thread for an interior and windscreen... will be a step-by-step build of one of these BMWs. Somehow a bright orange Jägermeister livery is just screaming out for this car. And I am sure it will build up and run just as nicely as the Scaleauto Porsche that I built up with the Red Bull livery for last year's race in Trier. By the way, here is the link to my Picasa album of the Porsche build in case you missed it.



I really have to applaud Scaleauto for what they are doing to develop real 1/24 scale model car racing in a RTR type product. I could get a little critical on a few of the bits and pieces but they are trying to hit a comfortable price point so you have to stop somewhere. The long can 13D motor provides good brake and torque and is quite a good fit for these cars. The detailing is well scaled and they look like the 1:1 cars. And the bodies have been molded out of a durable polymer and designed as slot cars to withstand some punishment. In fact very few if any of the Porsche bodies were broken at the Worlds in Trier last year... a few rear wings went by the wayside... and a little paint here and there to keep it exciting. Enjoy!

[Alchemist]

Very nice model!

Thanks for sharing.

Ernie

[68Caddy]

First of all good to have you back.

I got to get one of those BMW, do you sell decals also? Does the car come with instructions?


Nesta

[MG Brown]

The sample of the BMW that I saw at iHobby 2010 looked good. Glad that there are some additional GT cars planned also for later in the year.

These are fun cars to drive and the chassis is IMHO heads and shoulders above "certain" model racing car kits that have a mostly plastic chassis...

Pattos Place has the 2009 Rahal-Letterman ALMS, 2010 LeMans "Art Car" and a few other decal sets that are appropriate for the BMW M3's.



I am thinking that the "art car" (above) decals won't be for the faint of heart... the other decals should be relatively easy though.

[marco]

Photos courtesy of Pepcarot's Gallery

A few pics of the prepainted RTR SCALEAUTO BMW M3 GT2 car as driven by Tommy Milner and Dirk Müller for BMW RAHAL LETTERMAN RACING TEAM in the 2009 AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES. The prepainted cars are now about a week or two away from arriving at the GRID shop. Great looking rendition of this livery and the overall specs are extremely close to the PORSCHE 911 GT3 RSR... so the two cars should run very well together. Enjoy!

[Jacob Shiplet]

Do these bodies fit the SLP chassis'?

[marco]

2010 Sebring Testing - BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team

'Jacob Shiplet', on 14 Apr 2011 - 7:08 PM, said:

Do these bodies fit the SLP chassis'?

Yes. Both the BMW M3 and the PORSCHE 911 will fit the Plafit SLP1 or the Plafit EXCEL PRO chassis...for a little added performance in the hands of a good tuner. But as I have said... there is nothing to complain about with the stock Scaleauto MSC chassis and they run VERY well with a bit of blue printing and attention. Enjoy!

[68Caddy]

Great stuff, Mark, do you have pics of how the chassis mounts to the body?

Thinking about getting one for fun, how about decals for the white kit?

Nesta

[MG Brown]

My Scaleauto Porsche chassis attaches to the body quite securely with four screws. Simple and quite bulletproof.

Read post #4 above for decal info.

[marco]

'68Caddy', on 14 Apr 2011 - 10:51 PM, said:

Great stuff, Mark, do you have pics of how the chassis mounts to the body?
Thinking about getting one for fun, how about decals for the white kit?
Nesta

The conventional technique of sponge and glue mounting of model car bodies has always been a bit of an obstacle for new racers... although like anything else, once you have done a few it is not a big deal. In any event, Scaleauto did a smart thing by addressing this issue and molding a simple and familiar screw attachment into their bodies. In this first picture you can see the two mounting posts on each side of the inner body.



To stabilize the structure they include two reinforcing brackets that slide down and over.... and flush with the tops of the posts... that can be glued in place and and also to the sides of the body by 'wicking in' a little Tenax solvent cement. But don't over do the glueing, particularly to the sides of the body or you will damage the plastic. A little is all you need to bond the assembly together. This work should also be done before painting the body.



With that done on both sides the body... it is a simple mount with four hex head type cap screws that secure the body to the aluminium body mounts that are part of the chassis assembly. One of the advantages of a purpose built slot car body versus retrofitting a model kit body.



On the initial Scaleauto release of the Porsche 911 GT3 cars the aluminium body mounts were plastic... and prone to getting broken depending on your racing style. These aluminium mounts are better and they have also made the same fix to the Porsche cars that are now shipping. Enjoy!

[NDW]

Hey Guys,

Of course it wouldn't take long, here are the decals for the Art Car.

Art Car M3 decals

[68Caddy]

Thanks, Nick, have to say love that Art car and thanks for the link.

Nesta

[marco]

While we talking about the Scaleauto cars... I am not sure if this Porsche 911 GT3 RSR car has been posted before as the Flying Lizard livery got most of the attention when the cars where initially released.





This was the entry for IMSA Performance Matmut driven by Patrick Long, Richard Leitz and team owner Raymond Narac that took 1st place in GT2 at Le Mans in 2008. Only a few of these cars remain... and Scaleauto has said that they will not be re-issuing any of the prepainted cars once they are gone. FYI

[marco]

There has been a lot of mail on the arrival date for the BMW M3 cars... both the 2009 BMW Rahal Letterman ALMS livery and the white kit are now shipping from the GRID shop. Scaleauto continues to do a really first class job on molding the bodies for these cars... super details, super quality graphics and they are slot bodies... so the plastic used and design will withstand some real racing! Only minor, minor criticism would be that the mirrors on the M3 are so to scale... that they are too fragile. My recommendation would be take them off right away... and shorten up the mounting wires so that they can tuck in close to the body to stabilize them. Having said that, I may get one of our affiliated workshops in Europe to cast some replacements in flexible rubber. We also have some high quality 911 GT3 and BMW M3 water slide decals arriving soon to support the white kit builds.

As for clubs wanting to race these Scaleauto cars... check out the Rule Set on Scale Racing America. These rules were prepared and 'Race Proven' by most of the top Pros in Europe at the 2010 Trier Worlds last year. The same experienced team will make minor updates to the rules to include the BMW M3 in the next few weeks... as the BMW has been added to the grid for the 2011 OEPS Sprint Championships that will run again at the Renn-Center-Trier, Germany on September 1st and 2nd. Enjoy!

[68Caddy]

What size of hex tool do you need for this car?

Nesta

[n9949y]

Hi Marco,

Got mine last week. Time constraints allowed my making only a few changes to my BMW by way of Patto's decals, changing a 2009 out of the box car into a more or less 2011 American Le Mans Rahal BMW M3: white on green ALMS numbers and green GT markings to distinguish this year’s ALMS GT class, Crown Plaza hood decal, VP fuel decal, and other decal detailing such as the 2010 roof graphic to make mine a bit different from others. Painted the dashboard and interior walls flat black to approximate the color of the 1:1's.

Changed the driver figure which was too toy like and positioned far too forward. In the two Rahal ALMS BMW's the driver sits further aft behind a longer steering wheel shaft and new instrument panel extention. I used the more realisitic Fujimi 11004 driver kit figure which includes the full head helmet w/open visor.

[68Caddy]

Todd,

Your observations is pretty much same as mine, the driver is a joke the way he sits in it! There is room for a wet bar and dancing girls in the back seat.
I was told you need to shoe glue it for some strength, so I did it!

Next is how fast is this motor running on a track is it a dog or should I slap a NSR 40000 RPM motor in it?

Did not have a chance to run it yet, did you?

Nesta

[n9949y]

Nesta,

It runs pretty much like other fully scale, authentic RTRs. Needs some lead on chassis pan to keep it right side up.

Todd

[68Caddy]

Thanks. Todd. I'm looking forward to putting it in the slot and pulling the trigger, after that I will do whatever it takes to make it better.

Nesta

[sportblazer350]

Nesta-

I think they use a 1.5mm hex driver.

Marco-

I just picked up the Matmut Porsche. Here in NJ/USA we have been racing BRMs with foam rubber rears on commercial tracks with light spray glue. Then a few racers picked up the ScaleAuto cars, and with foam rubber rears, they are perfectly balanced and great handling cars!! So I am sure we will begin to race them very soon.

I too am very much excited about this series of 1/24 cars by Scaleauto, and i hope that they will bring real SCALE racing to the USA.

[68Caddy]

Thanks, Glenn.

I will try it out next weekend at El Cajon Raceway. I will let you know what I think about it.

Todd, where can I get the Fujimi 11004 driver kit figure? Do you have a link?

Nesta

[marco]

Glen, Nesta, Todd...

Regrets for the delay in posting. The real world has been stealing my time for a couple of weeks. Great to hear that everyone is enjoying the SC cars and I like Todd's interior mod on the M3. They really are great cars and Scaleauto has more in the pipeline to keep us happy.

Something I forgot to mention that you guys have noticed... starting with the BMW M3... all of the SC cars and white kits are shipping with ball bearings at all four corners. That's about a $20 upgrade without any change in their pricing... amazing! If you are doing a bit of blueprinting or setup on these cars, clear the pinion from the spur, give all four bearings a good shot of lighter fluid... and then take the air hose and spin the wheels out for a few seconds at turbo speed and these bearing will loosen up real nice. Just don't over do it

The SC 1/24 cars are also shipping with a new long can motor. Also an improvement without charge. The old yellow or silver can we good but the new motor has a lot more parity from car to car. SC has also started to ship and ENDURO version of the same motor. These guys are racers and they really are thinking. And this is definitely the the type of future that 1/24 'hardbody' racing needs!

Mark

[68Caddy]

Mark,

It is great to hear you bring in the points of the Scaleauto cars as they are today, and I think they are up to par with NSR in the pricing of cars of 1/32 and you are getting a nut and built chassis in 1/24 for your $ instead of a plastic chassis!
Nsr has it place in the world of scale but for the $ you get a hell of a deal.
I think this is a good venue for me because I like the realistic look of hardbodies.
Have to learn about this class of cars before I get to chatty about this!
Try and errors is my game I guess?
I heard that they have suspension parts as well? I have not received the catalog yet, but I guess I will find out.
Hopefully they will come up with this one? I read they will but it was not told what scale it was!







I'm sure you guys know what Honda this is? I sure think that the Japanese market is producing some great race cars with styling, I sure would buy this model in any scale.

Nesta

[68Caddy]

Wel,l I got the catalog from Scaleauto today and their is bunch of things that looks great to me like the suspension parts that they offer has any one of you tried it out?

Either way it's time to order parts and make a fool of my self.

Can't help it - I love hardbodies for some reason, must be because I can paint them black!

Nesta

[n9949y]

'68Caddy', on 21 Jun 2011 - 03:41 AM, said:

Todd, where can I get the Fujimi 11004 driver kit figure? Do you have a link?

Nesta,

The Fujimi 11004 driver kits are no longer produced. So keep a look out for them on eBay, or as I recently did, Google, "Fujimi 11004," which will bring up hobby stores and suppliers that may still offer the kit.