30 replies to this topic

[marco]

Hey Guys,

Well the summer is in full swing, slot fever tends to drop a degree or two so a little something to get the pulse pounding Come September, GRID Scale Racing is bringing to North America the spectacular Formula 1 cars from pro racer and master constructor, Michael Niemas of Niemas Racecars. Now here is a reason to start that letter to Santa a little early!





Bodies and chassis are carbon fiber at true 1:24 scale. In addition to MP4/4 above the first release to North America will also include the Tyrrell 007. The chassis has also been designed to fit the modern F1 bodies at 1/24 scale that are produced by Revell. More to come after you guys shower down!

[Blake Sabo]

Awesome News, Mark! I love the look of the Modern F1 cars. This Lotus is SAWEET!!!

[MG Brown]

Mark: I don't mean to pick nits but as far as I know, there wasn't a Tyrrell "03".

The Tyrrell type that the McLaren MP4/4 would have competed with would have been the 017 and 018.

The 003 was the sports car nose Tyrrell driven by Jackie Stewart during the 1971 season.

[A4S8B7]

I want that Lotus, but I don't see the cars on their web site.

GRID Scale Racing

Are they not out yet?

[marco]

Mark: I don't mean to pick nits but as far as I know, there wasn't a Tyrrell "03".

The Tyrrell type that the McLaren MP4/4 would have competed with would have been the 017 and 018.

The 003 was the sports car nose Tyrrell driven by Jackie Stewart during the 1971 season.

Hello MG,

I believe that Niemas is laminating some personal favorites initially as opposed to matched years. There never were model kits produced for many of the F1 cars at 124 scale and I am sure Niemas has a growing list of requests for carbon lam production of some of the greats. Would love to see Niemas prepare Michael Schumacher's Benetton B195. Wonderful livery on that car.

A post that followed asked about availability . . . they will be coming in early September to the GRID shop. In the meantime I will post a preOrder on the shop site for those that want to ensure delivery as availability will be somewhat limited. More pics to come. Enjoy

[Marty Stanley]

Let me preface my comments with this statement; There probably isn't anyone that appreciates 'open wheeled' race cars like the Indy Car or Formula 1. They have all sorts of creative ideas on them - well maybe not so much with the Indy Cars anymore.

To me it is awesome to look at a slot car that is done in the manner that makes me think I am watching a true F1 or Indy Car type of race.

One thing I do not like is the running gear, motors and chassis being visible when looking at the car.

Somehow that kind of ruins the image.

Just my opinion of course.

Seems it can be done in 1/32.

[stoo23]

Yeah,..I Have to say the Prost McLaren Looks absolutely Beautiful !!!

Not so sure I can say the same of the Lotus, as it appears above, as I agree that having all the various 'Slotting Bits' hanging out and Spur gears visible etc, kinda spoils the 'Scale' appearance somewhat.

As to the Tyrrell, well it Sure Ain't the car that brought 'Wee Jackie' his 3rd Championship and it Isn't an "03", or in Tyrrell Speak, 003, as I think you will find that B&W pic with 'Uncle Ken', is a Pre Season 'Promo shot' of the 1974 007, as driven by Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler.

Stewart's Last and 3rd World Championship, was in 1973 at the Wheel of the Tyrrell 006, which was in effect an 003, with some progressive detail design changes I believe.
Stewart retired at the end of the '73 season, as he had suggested he Would do, but especially after the sad death of team mate Francois Cevert at Watkins Glen that same year.

Cheers,
Stewart

[MG Brown]

As to the Tyrrell, well it Sure Ain't the car that brought 'Wee Jackie' his 3rd Championship and it Isn't an "03", or in Tyrrell Speak, 003, as I think you will find that B&W pic with 'Uncle Ken', is a Pre Season 'Promo shot' of the 1974 007, as driven by Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler.

Yes Mark's b&w pic is the famous Tyrrell 007, which was driven most effectively by Jody Scheckter during the 1974-1976 seasons (ah for the good old days when a team would sell last years cars to fledgling drivers so they could get seat time).

The 003/004 was modeled by Tamiya in 1/12th scale; everyone that I knew who built models seemed to purchase one 'in the day", but few were completed.

It was re-released late in 2008 with bonus photo etched parts.

[stoo23]

but few were completed

Ha, Ha,..Yes,..I found some of the 'Bits' of My own "Uncompleted" 1/12th Lotus 49 the other day,..

[marco]

Yeah,..I Have to say the Prost McLaren Looks absolutely Beautiful !!!

Not so sure I can say the same of the Lotus, as it appears above, as I agree that having all the various 'Slotting Bits' hanging out and Spur gears visible etc, kinda spoils the 'Scale' appearance somewhat.

As to the Tyrrell, well it Sure Ain't the car that brought 'Wee Jackie' his 3rd Championship and it Isn't an "03", or in Tyrrell Speak, 003, as I think you will find that B&W pic with 'Uncle Ken', is a Pre Season 'Promo shot' of the 1974 007, as driven by Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler.

Stewart's Last and 3rd World Championship, was in 1973 at the Wheel of the Tyrrell 006, which was in effect an 003, with some progressive detail design changes I believe.
Stewart retired at the end of the '73 season, as he had suggested he Would do, but especially after the sad death of team mate Francois Cevert at Watkins Glen that same year.

Cheers,
Stewart

Jackie Stewart leading Francois Cevert at the 1973 Monaco GP. © Sutton Images courtesy of http://en.espnf1.com...eason/1351.html


Hi Stewart,

Thanks for the catch , I have edited my previous post. I will see the Tyrrell from Niemas when I am in Europe next month . . . to clarify if it is the 1971 003 car or the 1973 006 car come modified 003 as you put it. Either way, I am sure that Niemas will do a spectacular job given his efforts with the McLaren.

There are some limitations with hiding all of the chassis and drive train bits and pieces on a 1/24 scale F1 slot car . . . unless of course it is purpose built as some of the 1/32 scale cars . . . however I think that Niemas has done an excellent job of it with the McLaren given that the chassis has been developed to fit a range of both modern and historic F1 bodies. I also know that that the chassis plate can be custom ordered to match a particular F1 car . . . if your pocket is deep enough More to come.

[stoo23]

Ah Yes,..Wonderful Image Marco !! those were the days eh!!??,...

Would Love to be able to Race some F1 cars like that here, but fear they would probably be a bit too Much for the Hip Pocket Nerve of most of Our Local racers, let alone myself !!,..,..but it Would be Nice !!

We have recently started running F1's here in Our Local Plafit racing, but utilising a 'Generic' Lexan F1 body, which sadly IMHO looks about as Real as a 'Wompy' body to my eyes,..

Cheers

[marco]

Hello Again,

Just received a mail from Michael Niemas, the upcoming release is the Tyrrell 007 as driven by Jody Scheckter in 1974. Now that I have that properly sorted . . . I can repost this wonderful picture of Ken Tyrrell with the car.

[marco]

Ah Yes,..Wonderful Image Marco !! those were the days eh!!??,...

Would Love to be able to Race some F1 cars like that here, but fear they would probably be a bit too Much for the Hip Pocket Nerve of most of Our Local racers, let alone myself !!,..,..but it Would be Nice !!

We have recently started running F1's here in Our Local Plafit racing, but utilising a 'Generic' Lexan F1 body, which sadly IMHO looks about as Real as a 'Wompy' body to my eyes,..

Cheers

Hey Stewart,

Yeah, I am with you on that one. As the first person to bring the modern Plafit products back to North America, I had good reason took a long look at the Plafit F1 chassis . . . but I thought it fell a little short as did the top European racers. I may take a bit of flack for that comment but hey . . . not every product is going to be on top no matter who makes it.

I know that some of the Aussie racers tried to get the Plafit F1 working with a hard body and eventually set the format using lexan bodies given how the chassis is designed and performs. The lexan Ferrari above looks very good . . . but to each his own as they say . . . and many of the model car racers are looking for a little more of the real world in their scale cars.

I was also disappointed with the design of the front end of the Plafit F1 car as it uses a very large GT or LMP type wheel rim and low profile tires that can't be changed out. That seemed like a really unnecessary oversight since Plafit produces beautiful wheels and could have easily made it right? Still don't have an answer for that one.

And like the real deal, this is open wheel racing with all the thrills and spills . . . so the carbon lam bodies really hold their own here with the strength as well as the 'hard body' detail and realistic appearance. Granted all of the little aero winglets on the modern F1 cars may be a little short lived.

[MG Brown]

Glad it will be the 007, one of my personal favorites.

[sportblazer350]

Wow, can hardly wait to see these babies in person! So where can i get a lexan F-1 body now, as i already have a few plafit F-1 chassis but no bodies........

[marco]

Wow, can hardly wait to see these babies in person! So where can i get a lexan F-1 body now, as i already have a few plafit F-1 chassis but no bodies........

Here is the link to ACE HOBBIES in Australia where you can get the F1 lexan body shown in the previous post. Werner Wittsack at ACE has lots of background with the Plafit F1 chassis and will be able to help you out for sure.

[Jens Scale Racing]

Hi Guys,

this kind of Formula racing is very popular in the moment. The series of Michael Niemas is in the sixth year now and still growing.
Last year there was a German Championship, I was second, Michael third. This was my racecar:



For a big race in april this year we went to the Hockenheim racetrack, "slotracing went real racing". One of the big oldtimer races in Europe was the showdown for a brandnew wooden 6-laner - with the formula cars, CanAm big bangers and others.





But back to formula racing. The black car was built for my son 4 days before the event, Revell kit and our own chassis, of course. About 60% of the participants used this chassis.



Here you can follow a "how to..." article of setting up such a car, ok, it's german language, but the pics say more then 100 words

how to build a formular racecar

regards

Dieter

[spudboy]

Beautiful. Thank you Dieter.

[James Robertson]

Great stuff as is the norm on here!

I have just won on UK ebay a Plafit 24th scale F1 chassis (2500F)

Are Tamiya's 20th scale F1 Kits any good for this purpose or are they too big?

I like the early 90s Mclarens and Williams and I only seem to see them for reasonable money in the 20th scale from Tamiya.

Thanks

[marco]

Hi Guys,

A little more F1 excitement at 1/24 scale to wet your appetite and get the drool meter running. This is the starting grid for the 2011 FNS Formula 1 Summer Race that recently took place in Germany. I believe the majority of these cars are running either the Michael Niemas chassis or the F1 chassis from Dieter Jens who has also been kind enough to post to this thread. GRID is bringing in the Niemas chassis at the start of September . . . and with some positive response to the F1 format . . . we will also have the Jens F1 chassis in the shop. Both are top quality products and challenging one another for the podium at every race.



And here is a nice Indy car build by Chris Rönnau. This livery isn't familiar to me but someone out there might be able to fill us in.




Someone sent me a mail about the reddish color of the rear tires on these F1 cars. This is a special die lot of a PU tyre that is sanctioned for this race series in Europe so that everyone is on the same compound. The motor for the F1 series is also a handout race spec . . . one of the new low profile (smaller than a 13D can) Scaleauto SC22 motor at 37,500 rpm . . . nice and quick in these relatively light cars. More to come . . . enjoy.

Mark

[MG Brown]

Mark: I can only assume that the builder of the above Reynard Champ car substituted orange for the normal dark blue to make their model distinctive. As far as I know the Rahal racing team never raced in the orange and white scheme.



This is a model I built showing the correct colors but one season more recent markings.

[marco]

Hi MG,

Paint scheme looked unusual and definitely a little bit more creative license than normal for the Euro racers . . . however your model build is very, very nice. If we decide to do an IROC race with these F1 cars . . . I will know where to look for some building talent to help out. Trust life is treating you well.

Mark

[MG Brown]

Hi Mark:

Thanks for the complements- unfortunately my model pictured had been damaged after I loaned it to a local hobby shop for a display, I haven't gotten around to repairing it but probably should.

I am assuming that the builder in your photo used the same plastic model kit that I used which is the Revell-Monogram Reynard (but they used the optional "superspeedway" wing and nose set-up, oddly enough with the "road course" rear wing! Something that just wouldn't happen in real racing.)



This kit wasn't that popular in its day, so you'd think that there would be tons of them available on the secondary market? No such luck- I have been trying to snag a few more examples from ePay (at reasonable prices of course!) for quite a while without a trace of joy.

Now IF we could find the kits, there is a wealth of aftermarket decals for them, nearly every Champ Car of significance that raced that season... I'm sure that the irony isn't lost on you?

Note also that your group photo apparently shows 2 other Reynards- the Bryan Herta Shell livery and one of the Dan Gurney-TRD entered cars (as pictured in the box art above.) The AAR Reynards were the apparent test bed for the 997 Eagle Champ Cars, which IMHO if beauty equated to success, would have won every race in the 1999 season. IIRC there is only one 997 that survives, that being the "customer car" originally sold to Robby Gordon's Menards backed team, which had the lovely metallic blue paint covered over with John Menard's trademark garish livery.

There is quite a thread on www.F1m.com about these kits with recent input about how they were under-rated by model builders at the time.

Otherwise my scale racing activities have been limited by taking a full-time college class load; the goal being to update my professional skills so that I might someday again be a productive member of USA society and taxpayer.

I note with amusement that your friend and mine in Tacoma Washington is planning an endurance race for Scaleauto 1/24 GT cars this fall. I'd strongly urge you to consider getting a team together and participating. Really. Seriously.

[sportblazer350]

what will be the USA retail price for either the jens or the Niemas F-1 chassis? will they be complete kits or rtr??

[marco]

I thought I would post a few more pictures of the Niemas F1 chassis now that they are in the shop. This one here is being built up to go under the Revell 1:124 kit of the 'Buzzin Hornets' Jordan-Mugen-Honda EJ10 as driven by Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli in 2000.






In this next pic you can see the removable carbon tabs that are used to mound the body to the chassis.




The front RTR wheels are from Scaleauto SC-2712P and use a hardcomp sponge compound. 23.5mm OD x 13.0mm wide on 17.0mm OD rims. The resulting track clearance is 1.1mm and 1.2mm (0.050in) when the front wheels are lacquered, ground and polished. The carbon outrigger just sits proud of the front wing as protection.




The independent front wheels are fitted on carbon stub axles and two precision ball bearings per either side of each aluminum axle mount. The ball bearings are some of the very best that I have seen with almost zero resistance and excellent lateral stability. The carbon strut on the top of the axle mounts provides a realistic look to the car but more importantly it ensures that the axle mounts are completely perpendicular to the chassis plate and supported under load or impact. Very smart detailing work.




For the FNS Rule Set these cars are fitted with the new SRP Slim Can motor from MRRC producing 36,000 rpm at 12v and 8:44 gearing.



The RTR rear tires are also from Scaleauto SC-2414P with 25.5mm OD x 16.0mm wide on 17.0mm rims providing a track clearance of 1.3mm (0.55in) at the rear.



Now comes the fitting of the Revell body. It will take a little bit of grinding and fitting but that's the fun in building these cars.



I had the opportunity to drive one of these cars in Trier, Germany last year just before the finalé of the 2011 Open European Prototype Championship. It had been built and tuned by the designer Michael Niemas and it was a absolutely wonderful. The cars weigh in at approx. 130g. They are very quick, responsive and it's pretty hard to put the controller down.

More to come . . .