SCX RALLY BOX

By bleep       

Our man in Picardie did give us the option of doing accessories, so I thought I'd nothing to loose At this moment in time I don't have a car that fits the bill but still wanted the opportunity to enter another review into this great competition. Feel free to chuckle or slate this review.

Most of you will have seen my recent efforts on building a wooden rally track, I said all along It would not have buildings, well not permanent ones in any case. But I did want a service area because all rally's have them. On seeing these little tents I had to give them a try. This is a brief overview of what I found.

What box contains

A plastic base with fitting holes in it, a leatherette type material canopy with pre built frame inside and a bag of parts which contains the 4 legs, 2 ramps, 2 barrels, 2 Axel Stands, 2 Advertising barriers and a small sheet of stickers. Oh! yes and some instructions. Never read them!

Measurements

Height  19cms

Depth   19 cms

Width   24 cms

Assembly 

Simply slot together. The whole thing is robust and fits together in less than five minutes. I have used the box lid as my directions but it is possible to move the ramps and axel stands to a variety of different locations around the base plate, which also has two slots in it so the cars sit flat if placed directly on it.

What to compare it against? In the Rally line there is nothing. No other manufacturer has brought out a Rally Tent. It's a shame that the pit buildings they do make don't come with all the little ramps and things as they certainly make it just that bit more fun.

Of course the Rally box would be nice on its own, but for the complete picture you must get the Rally crew that fit inside. These consist of:

The Team

_{Pierre Genon}

Man A Lies on his back and holds a hammer and red pair of pliers, he comes pre painted with "yellow" hair and facial detail isn't brilliant but would match Carrera figures for detail. You could always add to the detailing.

_{In his role as Chief Engineer – Test and Development, Pierre co-ordinates and runs development tests for the team.} 

_{Shigeo Sugaya}

Man B also lies on his back but holds a hammer and a spanner. He has black hair. I must admit I like the little fireproof suits and boots they have on. 

_{Shigeo is one of the pioneers of Subaru's motorsport efforts, and since joining the company in 1979 has worked on a wide variety of projects. Working initially as a suspension engineer, Shigeo was part of Subaru's own WRC team that contested the Safari rally of Kenya between 1980 and 1988.} 

_{Toshiya Azuma}

Man C Likes to keep his hands clean as all he has is a cloth in his hand and he stands up! Not too keen on the little base plates he stands on although I'm sure these could be removed.

_{Toshi joined Subaru in 1983, working initially in a variety of sales roles in his native Japan. He later moved into parts sales which in 1994 led to a six year secondment to Fuji Heavy Industries USA where his responsibilities included the marketing of high-performance and motorsport components.} 

_{Luis Moya}

Man D holds the pneumatic wheel brace and kneels at the exact height for it to fit to the wheel. They all have an SCX flash across their backs. I intend to change this to Subaru in time, shame that it wasn't already done as they have put Subaru on the tent. 

_{After a hugely successful 14-year WRC co-driving career, Luis enjoys a first class reputation with drivers and teams alike. As Sporting Director he works alongside Operations Director Paul Howarth dealing with driver management, event strategy, and the team's relationship with the FIA.}

_{Paul Howarth}

Man E is the the trolley man and is also standing upright with his hands in just the right position for the trolley which does come with the set. Mine arrived broken but it was only the handle which I have glued into his hands. I wasn't going to return it when a drop of glue could do the job.

_{Paul's career at Prodrive started in February 1989 when he joined as a rally technician. He progressed to senior technician and then team manager of the Subaru Allstars - Prodrive's customer rally team.} 

_{Steve Farrell}

Man F is the wheel man, again he has "yellow" hair and what looks like snow shoes but when he is in place he looks right. He comes with a spare wheel to hold which is great as it is exactly the right wheel to match the Subaru.

_{Steve joined the team in August 2002 As Director of Engineering, Steve manages all aspects of the SWRT engineering department, including leading the development and design test programmes. On a day-to-day basis Steve manages the 25-strong rally engineering operation based at the SWRT headquarters in Banbury, Oxfordshire.}

_{Also available In Red} 

_{Or Green}

On the whole the men are good value and match the pit crews for the F1 pits of Scalextric or Carrera. Though the cost would only equate to 80 percent of a Slot.it Hawaiian Tropic girl. I do love these little figures. Maurizio any chance I could do a review on your little models? It would be good to actually meet them in the flesh, either scale!

These figures are very similar in price to the SRA figures which arrive un-painted. Though I am sure that some of these “will” get repainted especially those with yellow hair! 

On Completion the whole thing really comes to life, and to make it even better there are two others to collect Red for Citroën and Green for Skoda and they both have matching Rally crews too. Which one do I get next. In fact my only criticism is that they don't do more, Peugeot, Toyota and Ford would be my suggestions to the SCX marketing people if they could hear me. 

Now which one is the real thing?

Look what arrived in the post today!

Thanks for reading my review, if you have any comments or questions I would love to hear from you.