| April 30 2006 Review |
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 NINCO Mosler MT900R 'Xavex' Review By Shawn Smith [Click here to chat about this item on our Forum] Appearance:  Can we call it the 'Silver Bullit'? I'm not trying to give any performance secrets away too early however the nickname is certainly fitting. The new NINCO Mosler MT900R is one brand new model that is sure to please in more than just the looks department but for now let's stick with the visual appeal.  Long and sleek would also be a fitting description of the NINCO Mosler as the cars shape reminds me a little of another good looking past NINCO release, the Mercedes CLK GTR. Starting at the front the smooth wedge shaped nose transitions in to gently rolling front fenders with flush mounted headlamp lenses. A small red tow hook, actually attached to the chassis protrudes through the center lower grill opening and open vents both between the head lights and behind the front wheels help cap off the car's front details.   At the rear the NINCO Mosler is low and wide carrying a large and sturdy rear wing, yet another red tow hook and tail light styling traits that might almost cause you to mistake this car for a modified Corvette. Much like the front of the Mosler the rear also is modeled with an abundance of louvers found covering the rear window and just to the inside of each of the car's rear wheels.   Interior design and details are typical NINCO, with a silver painted roll cage mounted to the half tray-syle interior, blue driver figure, a red fire bottle and nicely detailed dash board on which the speedometer actually reads that the car is going two miles per hour. Perhaps its supposed to read two hundred instead of two but in any case not many of you will be looking hard enough to read the number on the dash anyway.  Rims for the NINCO Mosler 'Xavex' are their popular BBS style design and the front wheels wear a lower profile, and more narrow tire, than the larger and wider tire worn by the back wheels.  Other notable details include high mounted and sturdy feeling side view mirrors that should hold up well during crashes while racing. Paint is of course well done, again typical NINCO, with no signs of imperfections and no visable problems with any of the tampo printed graphics covering the model.  Performance::  Time to open the hood! Three screws help hold the body and chassis together, one single screw at the back of the chassis and two additional screws keeping things together up front.  Chassis and body now apart we get to see the underside of the Mosler's interior section, the wide and flat Mosler chassis and the angle-winder motor set up that has been quickly gaining NINCO new fans thanks to the power and speed shown by this set up in cars like the NINCO Toyota Supra, NINCO BMW M3 and NINCO Honda NSX.   Up front the solid axle has a reduced amount of up and down play that various other NINCO other models have been known to have and while our test car does have a small amount of side to side front axle free play it too is within a range that I personally do not consider as being excessive.  Magnetic traction is again provided by NINCO's cylindrical button-style magnet placed close to the center of the chassis just ahead of the motor. This set up provides for decent downforce without making the car feel too stuck to the track and requires that you be mindful of how much power you send through the motor at any given corner on the track.  Interestingly enough one thing I did expect to see was not built in to the NINCO Mosler design and that feature is NINCO's spring assisted guide blade. Found in other recent releases like the earlier mentioned Supra, NSX, BMW M3 and others the spring equipped guide does not make an appearance here. Performance wise the non-sprung guide works just as good as the more traditional sprung version and because the car sits so low to the track surface I can understand why designers might have felt it wasn't needed.   And speaking of how low the car sits that might also help explain why the car runs so darn good. In past NINCO reviews I've tried to offer comparison fastest lap times from similar NINCO models but in the case of this NINCO Mosler it might be in need of some new running mates. Plain and simple the new NINCO Mosler isn't playing nice with its NINCO cousins setting a fastest lap for a NINCO RTR car on my test track of a 5.653 seconds. Fastest lap for a stock NINCO angle-winder BMW M3? 5.967. How about a stock angle-winder NINCO Renault Megane? 5.895. Certainly the fastest laps for a stock NINCO angle-winder NSX or Supra would be closer right? Closer yes but still not quite there with the NSX having a fastest test lap at 5.869 seconds and the Supra's quickest being a 5.838. All fast NINCO cars to be certain but none of them have run the time the Mosler has turned in. Maybe I got lucky, turned that 'magical lap' drivers have once in a while or maybe the Mosler really is that quick... The Final Verdict:  What we have here folks is pretty simple. The new NINCO Mosler MT900R is just a very nice NINCO car. I like it because its a model of a race car not widely produced by any other large manufacturer, I like it because NINCO did a great job in making it, I like it because it looks good and runs smoothly and best of all the car is pretty quick. No it might not be the magnet 'missle' made by some other companies but in the NINCO line up this new Mosler just might be king! Thanks go to the folks at MRC – Model Rectifier Corp for providing the new NINCO Mosler MT900R 'Xavex'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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