| December 16, 2007 Review |
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 NINCO Schelesser X826 Fox Review By Eric Cropper I’ve always wanted one of Ninco’s Raid Trucks, but never got around to getting one. When I saw this one, I knew it would be my first entry into the Raid stable. So, let’s strap in and hit the dunes, asphalt and snow covered roads and see how the X826 handles itself on these three different surfaces. Appearance:  I don’t care what your preferences are when adding to your slot stable; this is one awesome looking vehicle. I also know rally cars are not high on most sloter’s want list in the States. However, this might be the one to convert a few of you muscle car and Le Mans purist.  The Schlesser has a rolling profile from front to rear. Huge fender flairs reside up front to allow for the travel of the front suspension. The sides are flat the length of the vehicle to help when passing through brush and small trees along the trail. The cockpit is low and its roof line extends to the rear to aid in aerodynamics and weight balance. This Raid has a lower center of gravity than its Pro Truck cousins.  “Captain, we’re ready for takeoff!” The extreme fenders take on a wing appearance from the front view of the X826. Hmmm…what a tick!!! Ninco calls this the X826 and that’s what is on the barcode label on the case, but look at the white angled rectangle on the left under the bumper. Yes, it says X824. Someone at Ninco goofed. The same logo appears on the rear too. Ooops!!!  The rear end is decked out with a sturdy wing, mud flaps, and a yellow tow hook. You also get a look at the multiple vents and various sponsor logos found through out the truck.  The red painted areas house a total of 4 tail lights.  Looking down the X826…X824…whichever it is…looks like a bug. The tampo printing is typical Ninco quality. The logos are clean, crisp, and opaque. The white doesn’t have any bleed through from the blue base color. The clear coat does have some issues and orange peel was obvious in several areas of the body.  This is a monster roof vent and one of many vents on the vehicle.  The side windows each have a mirror and air vent. Below the window is the website for the truck. However, this is another tampo that isn’t exactly correct from my research. The actual website is www.schlesser-aventures.org not .com. Just FYI for those who have interest in seeing what the site is all about.  The Raid has some serious meat hooks. Knob city on silver painted rims. The edge of the rims looked chipped, but its just rubber flashing on the tires sticking out. The rear tires tuck inside the rear fenders when the suspension is compressed. The front tires have some serious fender gap, however, so does the real thing. Check out the Arabian writing in the tampo above the rear tire. Pretty cool. Performance:  The underside of the Schlesser reveals some surprises. The first, pointed out by the yellow arrows, is that there are only 2 chassis screws. Take a peek in front of the rear wheels.  Okay, I’ve removed the 2 front screws and pulled the front of the body away from the chassis. However, the rear isn’t budging. This is where your thumbnail comes into play. 1.Place thumbnail under little blue tab pointed out by the red arrow. 2.Gently pull the blue body away until it clears the black button section of the chassis pointed out by the yellow arrow. 3.Be careful not to break the yellow tow hook off while trying to do this. LOL. Mine is loose now.  Is that what I think it is? Bonus!!! 2 spare tires. Yes, they are full, real tires.  The Ninco drop down guide arm keeps the power coming to the truck as it goes over the rough off-road track and dunes.  Once we pop the top you get to see those bonus tires. They reside in their own cavity that has 4 posts to hold the tires tightly in place when the truck in raced.   Here’s a look at the suspension on these Raid vehicles. Ninco was innovated in how they designed the suspension to actually work. The center brass bushings click into the chassis, however, move up and down within a channel. The brass bushing outside the chassis support the spring shock which top end clips into the chassis. Thus, 4 wheel independent suspension on the corners. The shocks that came with the Schlesser are the soft versions. NINCO’S SHOCK GRADES RED = SOFT BLUE = MEDIUM YELLOW = HARD I don’t know how the medium and hard grade shocks affect the ride of these Raids. However, the soft ran just find on the rough off-road, snow, and asphalt track surfaces of the Ninco rally track I tested the X826 upon.  Below, I tried to find a way to animate this, but alas I’m not that proficient in that type of stuff. Above, is a side shot of the truck’s normal ride height. Below, shows just how much compression the suspension can take. Keep in mind, me pressing down is more extreme than normal running will cause on Ninco’s suspension system.   The power plant of the Schlesser is the NC-7 Raider motor. This motor is rated at 19,300 RPM and packs a ton of torque. The X826 has an in-line motor configuration with a 9 tooth pinion and 27 tooth gear. The magnet surprised me. It’s not the usual button, but instead a bag magnet. It’s located in the rear behind the motor in a removable pod. You can also see the chassis button on the rear that I was taking about earlier when removing the body. Track Time:  This is the all Ninco rally track at the local shop. It had 2 dunes along the 10 foot back stretch, however, they were removed. So, I didn’t get to run the X826 over any dunes, but I doubt it will have any trouble conquering them. TRACK FACTS 2 LANE TRACK TEST LANE = 55.2 FT. NINCO POWER NINCO CONTROLLER Click here to watch "BEST-LAP-AND-DRIFT" The Schlesser X826 surprised the hell out of me with its performance. I’ve seen Shawn run his Ninco Pro Truck and they are rollers and tippers if driven too hard in or out of a turn. The X826 will do the same, but not as readily as the Pro Truck. Also, a large part of the time I was able to get off the gas when it started to tip and it corrected itself and continued on its way down the track. RallyTime: I put the truck on the track and ran the first lap. That bar magnet had to go. Pop the body and the magnet pod. Now back to the track. I should have done this anyways. Rally cars don’t have magnets. The torque of the NC-7 gives incredible trigger response without any delay when increasing the trucks speed. The motor also provided more than ample braking power. The shocks worked wonders on the rough terrain track. Blasting down the 10 foot back stretch the wheels stuck to the track while the body rocked and rolled. I wish I was able to capture this on video. It was simply awesome and lifelike. As the truck left the off-road section and hit the transition to asphalt the knobby tires hooked up just like the real thing. On the normal Ninco track the truck took off screaming and held the turns great. Finally, the snow track came into play and the rear wheel drive X826 showed how much fun these Raids can be. Once you figure out just how much juice to give the trigger the rear end would break loose and drift right around the turn smooth as silk. Great fun!!! Click here to watch "CLOSE-UP-DRIFT" As I said earlier, there is no timing system for the track. However, after watching the video I place lap times between 10 to 12 seconds depending on whether you were smooth through the snow covered hairpin curve or not. Not bad for 52 feet of twists and turns. NOTE Testing was done entirely on Ninco brand track. The truck’s performance and characteristics will most likely change on smoother track systems. Will it be for better or worse? I don’t know. Smoother tracks I would think would be fun. Care for a lot of drifting? Judgement Day:  Those of you out there yet to get you hands on a Raid or have just written them off as novelty should be ashamed of yourselves. If you want good, clean, and honest fun these Raid vehicles are a great choice to add to you stable. They will provide hours of challenging enjoyment. They react and perform realistically on the multi-surfaced Ninco track. I waited until now to get one and wish I had picked up one of the Raid series sooner, rather than later. However, this vehicle is probably the best of the bunch from what I’ve seen and read of the others that are available. Now, I just got to wait for that yellow H2 Hummer to be released. Sadly, I’ll have to fight my daughter for it. She loves yellow Hummers more than I do. I think this is the first review car that I can honestly give a 5 out of 5. There wasn’t any damage to it out of the box, no messed up wheels, or bent axles like cars in past reviews. Besides, it was one of those cars that just made me smile when running it. It’s a WINNER all around. Period!!! Thanks again to www.CincySlots.com for the NINCO Schlesser X826 (or X824?) Fox for review. Make sure to stop by www.cincyslots.com and don’t forget to check out Bruce’s Special Section for even more great buys. As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. Eric Cropper AKA legionofone ecropper@hotmail.com |
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