| March 15 2005 Review |
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 Click Here To Order This Item Now Ninco ‘Snow Curve’ & Peugeot ‘Snow Effect’ 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] The Track:  You might have heard the song ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland’ but now it’s time to drive in one. The new Ninco Snow Curve is here and ready to be tested and by the looks of the box we’re in for some slippery driving. Or are we?  With the release of this new ‘snow track’ Ninco now has three distinctly different track surfaces to appeal to almost everyone. The traditional black Ninco road surface is a long time favorite of many and was joined not quite a year ago by the fun to play with ‘Off Road’ track sections. The ‘Snow Curve’ looks to be yet another interesting addition to the line up offering Ninco customers a unique experience not offered by several other manufacturers.  Sandwiching the newest snow track between the previous two track surfaces gives you an idea of exactly how different they are. The off road section on the right is molded to represent more of a bumpy dirt road that comes with rock and dirt obstacles than can be used to make driving on it more of a challenge. The traditional black surface on the far left is Ninco’s more ‘asphalt’ like surface created by thousands of tiny triangular shaped spikes that make it probably the most different track surface currently available today.  The new ‘Snow’ surface is a completely different experience from either of the previous two as it has a bit of a ‘wave’ to the texture to simulate icy or snowy conditions but overall the surface is very smooth and almost shiny. Around the edges of the snow track are thin raised areas modeling a higher area of snow and ice build up commonly found near the edges of a snow-covered road. Will it provide a realistic snow driving experience? First we need to assemble it!  Adding the Ninco ‘Snow Curve’ is a simple matter as it connects just like the other types of Ninco track currently available. The Ninco track clips are by far some of the easiest to work with out of all other available brands and installation is a simple matter of aligning two pieces and snapping down the built in tabs.  One interesting thing that caught my attention was the abrupt appearance changes created by slipping in the snow track sections with the traditional track. Unlike the ‘Off Road’ track sections offered by Ninco the ‘Snow Curve’ track pieces do not include a ‘transitional’ piece where the black blends in with the white to give the impression of a more gradual change. The Off Road track does a much better job with this as you can see below.  The Car: Now before we can effectively try out the new track our good friends at MRC decided it might be helpful to include a great match for the new snow track surface. With the ‘Snow Curve’ came the WRC Peugeot all wheel drive ‘snow effect’ rally car to help us tie in the entire ‘driving in the snow’ experience.  As you can clearly see the two make a perfect pair for having some snow condition driving fun. The new Peugeot comes pre-weathered with simulated snow and ice plastered all over the lower half of the body and wheels. And in case you didn’t guess I had been waiting eagerly for my first simulated ‘snow track’ and ‘snow car’ what with all of the snow covered scenery trees I had lying around! Looks like all of the left over model railroading supplies are finally paying off!  Staying with the car for a moment I can’t help but like this car. It has many of the typical Ninco features such as the separately applied roof scoop and antenna details, nice tampo-graphics and an overall high level of fit and finish. Granted the simulated snow clouds most of the bodywork but come on… it’s supposed to!  Inside the Ninco snow Peugeot ride our ‘nerves like ice’ driver and our ‘cold-blooded’ co-pilot are decorated in warm red colored racing suits. Other details such as the roll-cage and co-pilot’s driving instructions are all included and well represented inside of the interior tray.   Tires and wheels are also nicely done although after some hard laps you might begin to notice a bit of the weathering beginning to wear off. Honestly if this doesn’t happen you need to drive the car faster… go ahead, it can take it!  Opening up the Peugeot is a simple matter of removing two screws as highlighted in green above. While I’m not the biggest fan of center-mounted screws I was pleased with the body to chassis alignment on this model. Everything fit well on the Peugeot so no worries there.  Fans of Ninco rally cars should be very familiar with the chassis view above. While Ninco continues to provide some of the smoothest drive-belt drive-lines available they are also making them faster these days thanks to the addition of the Ninco NC-5 Speeder motor. This means that the Peugeot has the ability to hang with the likes of the latest NSX and McLaren releases, both of which are powered by the exact same motor.  What the Peugeot has over its non-rally cousins is a four-wheel Pro-Shock system and special ‘knobby’ off road tires. Both the shocks and tires are similar in function and pattern as those found in the Ninco RAID series trucks. The shocks have been changed however in the manner in which they attach to the chassis so if you have any of the spare shocks Ninco made available to tune their previous suspension equipped cars you’ll find that they will not transfer over to this release.   Performance:  Now comes the part where we finally get to slip and slide through the Ninco ‘Snow Curve’ right? Well… not exactly, no. While the box art shows a Ninco Subaru, all wheel drive slot car, gliding sideways through the ‘Snow Curve’ you might actually find that it’s not such an easy task to recreate yourself. What do I mean by that? For starters I found the smooth surface to provide for some exceptionally good traction even for cars wearing the Ninco off road tire patterns.  The grip was so good in fact that I found most Ninco cars ran just as well, if not better, than they do on the traditional Ninco road surface. While I could easily force a car to slide through the ‘Snow Curve’ I could force the same cars to slide on the normal track sections with the exact same effort. Some cars, cars like the Ninco McLaren just tested, actually seemed to prefer the grip of the ‘Snow Curve’ instead of the regular surface. Not nearly what I was expecting from the testing I assure you.  Because the grip is so good what you really end up with is a white-colored corner of track with reducing lane spacing making it a passing obstacle. Almost ironically I found the tan Ninco ‘Off Road’ corner caused more sliding because of its higher textured surface creating tire hop and consequently reducing traction.  There is one issue to address also. While the ‘Snow Curve’ provides far better grip than I ever imagined it did have an issue pertaining to the isolated rail Ninco is famous for. In the picture above its painfully obvious that the slot spacing drastically decreases the closer you get to a track joint. By far the worst areas are located where the widest spacing decreases before the turn causing the inside plastic to pinch down on the cars guide. It wasn’t an issue with only the Peugeot as just about any manufactures car I sent through the turn at slow speeds would catch at the same points of the turn. The Final Verdict:  I think by now I’ve made it perfectly clear that the new ‘Snow Curve’ from Ninco was not what I was expecting. I love the uniqueness of the varying surfaces between the ‘Snow’ track, ‘Off Road’ track and Ninco’s traditional track yet ironically I have to admit that I like this new ‘Snow’ surface best of all. It’s smooth, provides nice grip and even works well with cars wearing silicone tire replacements. The only potential low spot is the problem of the slots pinching down at track joints. If you find this to be the case with your new set try to open the areas a little with the help of a small screwdriver. Revisiting the Ninco Peugeot I also was pleased with the handling and performance of the car. The NC-5 might be a little too much motor for some as lap times on the local 118-foot road course were only tenths of a second different from the Ninco McLaren (13.38). Even with the all wheel drive system and ‘knobby’ tires it was surprisingly quick and sure footed and when pushed to the edge of traction it could be made to slide with the best of them… snow track section or not! While the box art might lead you to believe this new track surface is all about sliding you can take my word that it won’t be as effortless as it looks. If you’re a rally racer who likes to pull your magnets out you’ll find the ‘Snow Curve’ to be right up your alley, but no more so than Ninco’s traditional track sections. Combining both the track and the ‘snow effect’ car makes for a great effect though and gives those who love to model scenery yet another option to spice up their Ninco home racing circuits. Thanks go to the folks at MRC – Model Rectifier Corp for providing me this new Ninco Snow Curve and Peugeot ‘Snow Effect’ 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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