SlotForum Nürnberg Report, Ninco N-Digital Options

[Doug]

Ninco were kind to show us around their new products. They were slightly wary to let us have a go on the digital track saying that there were still some issues to be sorted out...

We did see other guys on the track and they seemed to be having fun - although it was obvious they hadn't much expierence on slot tracks of any sort before. The cars came off quite a bit and they did stall on the LC's from time to time. Quite a bit of shunting - as expected with any digital system.

My impression is that the LC pieces are too sharp. As each LC track piece includes the sensor to actuate the flipper, it leaves even less room for the crossover. If they are after the Digital club racing market with 4 or more lanes, they will have to come up with different LC pieces to suit the faster racers.

N-Digital is:
- Lane changer for overtaking
- Universal system compatible with any kind of Ninco track (asphalt, snow & off-road)
- Up to 8 cars at once
- 2 and 4-lane circuits
- Multifunction Digital Control Unit

This is the basic lane change (LC) piece. It shows a plastic flipper (Remember Scalextric non conducting flippers in 2004?) and the track break that identifies the position of the car about to go throught the gate.




Digital Control Unit and controllers
7 race modes. Screen shows time, laps, fastest lap fuel etc. One unit for up to 8 controllers. The controllers are quite nice. Power, brake and LC functions are on the device.






Tower
The Race postition control tower shows position of up to 8 cars. It can be turned 360 degrees. This - as you can see - is just a mock-up. There wasn't a real working one available.


Track






Cars
Cars can be chipped without having to modify the chassis in any way. The digital chip sits between the guide and the motor. This system is the most like railway DCC of the other digital systems. The control commands are sent down the track and when a particular car that wishes to change lane, is sensed just before the LC, the flipper will flip. Just like DCC, the current breaks in the track allow the feedback system to determin exactly where the car is.

GT chassis




F1 chassis


Rally chassis

[Xlot]

According to SlotCenter, the release date has now slipped to "before the summer"........

Beppe

[gose]

so they didn't mention which summer?
it's a shame now i still have to wait to compare it with my scx set, begin to loose patience.......
saying you make the best system isn't bad but all these delayes, hmmm.

[RichG]

Hmm Summer often late arriving here. Anyone can make the best system on paper.

There was potentially an advantage in being last in, allowing you to evaluate the others strengths and weaknesses. However if they delay much longer a lot of those weaknesses will have been overcome, and additional parts will have been released. The world unfortunately does not stand still while you sort out your problems.

However hard they try there will still be a few problems that only the user finds. They still have that phase to go through. Their product is in danger of looking out of date before it gets here.

[scaleymatt]

When is the Analogue Ninco report going to be up??

Matt

[Jamie]

The cars came off quite a bit and they did stall on the LC's from time to time. Quite a bit of shunting - as expected with any digital system.

Its quite a technical layout with a lot of hairpins, also the cars are quick. To be honest, i'm not surprised that there were quite a few deslots. The layout would prove challenging even if it was analogue.

[Slotrace.dk]

Well, the Ninco chairs look great!!!!