| March 17, 2007 Review |
|
 NINCO 911 SC 'Danone' Review By Shawn Smith Appearance:  The latest edition of the NINCO 911 SC is now in stores and thanks to Model Rectifier Corporation this bright red 'Danone' version showed up at the garage for a look over. As this body and chassis style is not new to the NINCO product line many of you have no doubt already added one of these to your stables however for the slot car 'newbie' these NINCO Porsche 911 SC's can prove to be an interesting model.  Fit and finish wise there is nothing about this car to complain about. The body comes molded in it's red color and is covered with a variety of sponsorship graphics that are all well done and evenly applied.  Up front separatly applied items such as the hard rubber bumber, turn lamp details, headlights and the hood mounted rack of 'simulated' rally lights all fit well although a few details do have some flashing that stands out upon close inspection. Something I would love to see NINCO attempt, now that they have started adding lights to certain models, would be to model one of these with a clear light cover and find a way to make the hood lights shine!  Interior details are always good in these NINCO rally-type cars. Both driver and co-pilot are seated firmly within the bright blue roll cage and our co-pilot has his clip-board showing detailed driving instructions to be passed along to the driver.  Checking the 'Danone' 911 out from the side I found a detail that was ammusing to me. Notice here on the driver's door that the side-view mirror is a black rectangular design.   Oddly enough if you turn the car to the other side the mirror is totally different being a silver painted more rounded design than found on the driver's side. As of this review the NINCO.com website has not yet been updated to show this model so I have to assume the different mirrors was an intentional change.   Now looking at the back more separately applied hard rubber bumbers are found on other side of the car. Because they are rubber some flexing of the material can cause these pieces to not always sit evenly as you can probably see by the left side bumper looking slightly twisted. Under the rear of the NINCO 911 SC you will find engine detailing mounted to the bottom of the 911's chassis.   Rims for this 911 'Danone' are a classic five-spoke design with a black rim being detailed in silver. The tires themselves are all four grooved rubber and are stamped with the patented NINCO sidewall letting.   To take the body off of the NINCO 911 SC two screws must first be removed with one being slightly hidden by the guide assembly and the other being in the back through the rear angine detailing.   Body now out of the way you get a look at the 911's basic inline motor configuration with the 20,000 RPM NINCO NC-5 motor is mounted just slightly behind mid chassis.  The NC-5 motor is fitted with a brass pinion gear that spins a black plastic axle gear which turns the axle through 'doubled' bushings both front and back.  Of course these double bushings are used as a way to connect one of the 911 SC's most interesting features, suspension. Fitted both front and back are NINCO's 'medium' blue shocks although NINCO also offers red and yellow versions to either soften or stiffen the Porsches ride.  On track performance will prove this car to be one of the closest things to non-magnet racing with a magnet actually in the car. The button style magnet is mounted closer to the front of the car than the back and because of this set up it makes these cars a real tail sliding joy to drive. Even with the wide rear tires the torque of the NC-5 easily over powers the rubber and you will no doubt find the back end stepping out around each and every turn of the track.  Now for those who aren't sold on the handling benefits of the suspension you can negate the effect simply by gluing the bushings in to their chassis mounts. As it comes stock the chassis mounts are enlarged allowing a small amount of up and down freeplay for the rear axle, something that is really more designed to negotiate the rougher texture of the NINCO Off Road track.  Something else that helps on the rougher Off Road track, but also helps on smooth tracks as well, is NINCO's use of a sprung guide flag that helps to keep the guide pressed down in to the slot. For those of you with track other than NINCO fattening the stock braids and pulling them away fron each other at the ends will help with eletrical pick up and I also turn my ends downward toward the track surface a bit to assure the best running. The Final Verdict:  Buttoned back up and on the track the NINCO 911 SC 'Danone' is another good addition to the 911 line up. Again remember that these cars are in no way intended to be magnet missles so if you get one expect a lot of drifting action. The NC-5 motor makes ample power and provides for good braking but it will require some active use of the trigger to get around the more challenging sections of any track. Sand the rear tires to take off the 'edges' and let the rally racing fun begin! Special thanks to MRC – Model Rectifier Corp for providing the new NINCO 911 SC 'Danone' for review. As always, feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions and I will be happy to answer anything that I can. Happy Slotting! Shawn Smith SJSlots@hotmail.com |
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