| November 7 2004 Review |
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 Click Here To Order This Item Now Ninco Honda NSX ‘Epson’ By Shawn Smith Click here to have Genie read this review out loud to you in Microsoft Agent AUDIO! [Click here to chat about this item on our Forum] Appearance:  Ah! Sure is easy on the eyes. Sitting on its Ninco adorned base it already looks like it’s going to be fast. A sticker that calls your attention to the fact that car is equipped with Ninco’s 20,000rpm NC-5 motor also gives it away.  But before we get to how fast it is let’s get a better idea of how it looks. With its primarily white painted body, blue accents and its ‘gunmetal’ painted wheels the Epson NSX is a real looker. Helping the look is a near flawless finish with crisp sponsor graphics in an assortment of colors.  Exterior details such as the front spoiler winglets, open hood louvers and separately molded in headlight sections are just few of the many details that might catch your eye.  From the front you can also catch the sturdy side-view mirrors, the giant rear spoiler and the large engine bay air intake inlet that sits just above the NSX roofline.  From behind the giant rear wing just looks even larger. You can also see the one-piece clear red molded taillight section and the exhaust details that are molded in to the chassis pan.  Turning our attention to the interior of the NSX the cockpit is equipped with a white racing suit wearing driver figure who is sporting a bright red full-faced helmet, an extinguisher bottle, silver painted roll bar details and some printed on dash board details. Not bad detail for the thin ‘pan-style’ interior that it is. No the driver figure doesn’t have legs below the knees but you’d be hard pressed to notice.  Wheels and tires are great looking also as the Ninco Epson NSX’s contrasting wheel color really draws your attention to the rims. Behind the rims Ninco has added small brake rotor details adding that extra level of detailing many of us have grown to love.  Performance:  Flipping the Ninco NSX on its back shows you your first glimpse of the drive configuration as well as the two center-mounted equal length screws that hold the body and the chassis together. While I love the angle-winder drive train it’s the two center-mounted screws that I can do without as sometimes having only center screws like this allows a bit of chassis warping. You can see what I’m talking about in the shot above of the back of the NSX when focusing on the black exhaust section. You can also see the difference in the front wheel clearance from the left and right of the car.   With the body now removed it was interesting to see that Ninco has already taken a step to help those of you who have an interest in lighting your slot cars. The front end has open holes to the headlight sections that should make lighting up the front of the NSX a snap. In the rear the area where to mount the taillights might be a little tougher as the only open spots are where the taillight piece mounts in the body.   Getting back to the chassis we can finally get a better look at the angle-winder set up of the Ninco NSX. You can also see Ninco’s typical single button-style magnet placed just in front of the motor.  The pan itself is basically a wide and flat chassis pan, which when added to the shallow interior of the NSX, should allow for a lot of tuning possibilities. You can also see that Ninco may have anticipated some chassis flex by the criss-cross bracing molded in to the center of the chassis itself.  For the front of the chassis Ninco has added a solid front axle in the NSX. I was happy to see that this NSX possessed quite a bit less side-to-side free play than several previous Ninco releases and it was so minor in fact that I didn’t feel it required any shimming. That’s a welcome change as far as I’m concerned. You can also see how Ninco has decided to guide the motor wires where if adjusted properly can act as a self-centering mechanism for the guide itself.  Putting the power to the track is again Ninco’s 20,000 rpm NC-5 ‘Speeder’ motor. While the motor isn’t new to some of you the gearing combination might be. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen an RTR slot car come with an angled gearing combination but I’ll be the first to admit that I like it and would like to see more of it.  Brass axle bushings keep the rear axle snug in its place and a large red shim on the axle helps assure a perfect gear mesh. It sure worked well on this NSX as the gearing was quiet and smooth and power was applied to the track effectively. How effectively?  Beginning with the 118-foot road course, and running at 15 volts, the NSX was a lot more sure footed than even I expected. If you’ve ever driven a Ninco car before you will certainly be aware of the need to ‘drive’ them because of the single button-style magnet that some claim does not provide ample down force. This was not the case with my test version as I was surprised with how well the car stuck in the corners and lap times confirmed it. The NSX continually pulled off sub-eleven second laps and the fastest posted lap of the test was found in a 10.44 time. That time equals, if not beats, many of the fastest laps run in our club’s box-stock series using cars claiming to have ‘race motors’ and ‘stronger bar-style’ magnets. The chassis warping mentioned earlier seemed to have no effect and at one point I even wondered if it wasn’t done intentionally to help balance the torque of the angle-winder motor set up. Adding a new test in to the review arena our new race-place has finally completed a scale 1/32 quarter mile drag strip so you know I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for some straight line speed testing. The 1/32 scale quarter mile is comprised of roughly 40 feet of plastic home set style track and a whopping 20 volts of power. Pulling up to the starting line and waiting for the tree to go green the Ninco NSX shot off to a blistering 1.550 second quarter mile! That’s right… one and a half seconds to cover 40 feet! Believe me it was as impressive to watch as it sounds. And because this is the first time a drag time has been used in my review it might be helpful to give some comparison times. A Ninco AC Cobra, running the same stock NC-5, button magnet and stock tires, ran a slower 1.799. Since the motors are the same that ‘should’ leave tires and gearing to make the difference and whatever it is the difference was noticeable. The Final Verdict:  This car was a great surprise for many reasons. Take in to consideration that this car wasn’t even known about by the slotting public up until a few weeks ago. Add to that Ninco’s interest in developing a JGTC style GT Honda NSX, that to date has only been tried in RTR form by one other company, and to make it even better Ninco designs the Honda NSX in such a way that it performs really well in stock form and what more could you ask for? Aside from a little chassis warping the Ninco NSX is an awesome car that will secure a place in my rotation. It looks great and ran quickly and while some of you might not be fans of the button magnet the car’s level of grip just might surprise you. Pick yourself up one and see for yourself. Thanks go to the folks at Model Rectifier Corporation for providing me this new Ninco Honda NSX slot car . 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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