Hornby Apparently Derailed by Olympics Setback

Shares in Hornby lost more than a third of their value on Tuesday after the maker of model train sets issued its third profit warning of the year.

The owner of the Scalextric, Airfix and Corgi brands warned that an expected sales boost from the Olympic Games ran out of steam, as cash-strapped consumers shunned its London 2012 scale models of black taxis and double-decker buses.

Hornby, whose Olympics-related products included a £20 Team GB cycling velodrome Scalextric racing set, said: “Faced with lower-than-expected sales, major retailers resorted to deep price discounting. [read more here]

Audi A4 Slot Car Demos a Wild Ride in Toronto

Audi Canada has come up with a unique outdoor “test drive” track with Toronto agency Zulu Alpha Kilo, using a handcrafted 20-foot-long custom slot car setup, an iPad controller and a scaled-down Audi A4 Quattro slot car.

The track is located in in downtown Toronto’s financial district; the installation allows participants take the A4 slot car for a wild ride through hairpin turns, down long highway straightaways and through icy mountain passes.  Each car also includes custom in-car cameras that tie into an iPad app to allow the user to experience the view from the driver’s seat. The “race cam” footage can be shared on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. [read more here]

Waiting for the Scalextric Lola Aston Martin

As modern Le Mans prototypes are among my primary collecting and racing interests, I have been anticipating getting my hands on the new Lola Aston Martin LMP1 from Scalextric. This is the car that ran at La Sarthe in 2010, and it was initially announced that it would first be only available in a special 2-car collectors set, along with the DBR9 GT1. While I wouldn't mind having another Aston Martin DBR9 (especially since the Ninco one I recently bought is such a dog) I was glad to hear that the LMP will eventually be available by itself later this year.

PHOTO CREDITS: Scalextric

It's a great looking car - especially in the Gulf livery, and if it runs anything like the other Scalextric cars I've purchased over the years, it's bound to be a favorite.

Progress on The Schweizering Continues...

Still filling in bits and pieces...one of the items I wanted to include in the "mountain" area of the track is a (non-operable) cable car, which will go from the lower portion of the track near the grandstands up to the highest point of the track. At this lower end is a chalet-type structure which has a platform for the car; at the upper end, I will build a landing/observation platform onto the side of the "mountain" - with a line strung between the two and the car placed somewhere in-between. Yes - it would be neat to have something that actually travels between the two - but that is beyond the scope of my skills right now, and I want to focus on getting the track running again.

The upper platform will be on the "mountain on the right - on the left, I've just finished up adding a coat of Sculptamold on the last bit of hill at the turn. There's a concrete pad upon which a marshall's tower will sit later.

I tend to buy or re-use bits and pieces if it will save me time and scratch-build what I cannot find or what I need custom -- like pits or this building. This is covered in plaster stucco - I've added some bits of stained wood, some shutters I made - and a door from another toy castle I found.


Above the car platform, I added some coats of arms for some of the Swiss Cantons as decoration - the last square on the right is just a hole - the line for the cable car will exit the building through here. In any case, the building is now set into place with plaster cloth and more Sculptamold.

The clear plastic box to the right of the building is an empty chocolate box that will eventually become the cable car...

Newest Track: The Schweizering - Part Five

Progress continues on the track as we move through the holiday season. I do miss the old days when I had extra vacation time and would take the week between Christmas and New Year's off...it would have allowed me to get more done. Nevertheless, I have been making some real progress.

Most of the work, as you can see, involves painting the landscape I've created. The bridge/ramp going up into the old city is essentially finished; there's some more detailing to do -- I want to add some flags and maybe some sculptures to the bridge support posts. The brick "walkways" on either side of the road are just printed texture sheet applied to the poster board base.

I've also been painting the mountain or "hill climb" area on the other side of the track. I covered the plastic cloth with a thick mud of latex paint, Sculptamold, joint compound and some bits of sawdust I gathered from the bottom of my wet/dry vac. I've laid some light and dark washed down over the base gray and then highlighted with some off-white. I think it's not looking too bad. I'm almost ready to start applying the grass and greenery...