Sloting Plus in focus - a huge multi item review, presented by Bleep and Swissracer Options

[Swissracer]

	A joint review by Bleep (Ian) and Swissracer (Allan Wakefield)
Ian took delivery of the wheels and performance parts:
The sharp eyed amongst you will have noticed a new forum Sponsor of late, trading some rather nice looking aftermarket performance parts. Everything from superbly made and designed wheels to a fully functional pinion press/puller, axles, bearings, braid and screwdrivers.
Sloting Plus are based in La Pobla de Mafumet - Spain. "Specialising in high quality materials and using the best technology available to provide an excellent product." They have been trading for just over 18 months now and, judging from their catalogue, already have an extensive range of products to interest the Slotcar entheusiast. They already have distributors in Spain, Portugal, Andorra, France, Italy and Germany. Initially they didn't have a UK Distributer.
I saw the pictures of the wheels and wanted some! In my normal childlike way I was going to throw a tantrum with much stomping of feet, until I got some. On the day the UK distributer (Pendle Slot Racing) was announced I was on the phone to them like a flash "how much?" "do they look as good as they do in the pictures?" "when will you have them in stock? Oops hello it's Ian btw……..." The next day these arrived in the post, thanks guys...
Wheels Their range of wheels consist of three styles, three sizes (15x8.5 / 16x8.5 / 17x8.5) and three colours in each and they weigh in at 1.2 grams per wheel with an RRP of £7.50 a pair...
The available colours are: Gold, Silver and polished Aluminium. Each packet contains a pair of set screw wheels and an Allen key to save you searching your tool box...
I have been buying a few performance enhancing parts of late, tied in with my foray into slotcar tuning as I have recently started racing at a club on wooden track. I'm a total novice in this field, though even I can spot these are quality. I took the wheels down to the club before fitting them to judge the response of the other members. I can see from their response they will soon become a very popular brand to run. These are beautiful they are well machined, perfectly round, all three sets I have ran true. As well as fitting perfectly on to a 3/32 axle. More on these wheels and fitting them to cars later.
Motors Sloting Plus have 2 motors on the market, one dedicated to rally racing with 18000 rpm "Rally 1" and another for speed with 21.000 rpm "Speed 1". Both are identified with laser engraving rather than stickers, this is to avoid counterfeiting. RRP £11.50 each.
I have replaced the NC2 in my Ninco F1 'Stewart Ford' as it just did not have the top-end speed I was looking for. On the track with the "Speed 1" it is very nice, quiet, controllable, smooth with balanced torque throughout its range. The wheels may look good but this certainly feels good, it may not look as pretty as some of the motors out there, but this does what it says on the box, it performs most impressively I'm really happy with the results. Statistics for the motor can be seen in the picture above. Magnetic properties are stated by Slotting Plus as: "6,5 ums min and 8 ums max for our motors. For comparison : Team Slot is 10,5 ums max and Avant slot green is 10 ums max"
Bearings Constructed using Brass and Teflon, these are meant to replace standard bearings on many cars with 3/32 axles in addition these are self aligning similar to the bearings used in Slot.It cars. To fit these is a simple swapping job. I fitted these to my NSR Mosler, only time will tell what difference they make as the Mosler is already very fast and smooth I'm just looking for any edge I can get. It is a shame that these do not fit the Ninco axles as of all my cars that would have benefited from the self aligning the most, it's the Ninco 4x4s that are the most likely suspects. Still it's early days yet maybe in time they will produce differing diameter bushings to cover all sizes.
Pinion Press/Puller Swissracer takes over from here for awhile.
Offered in a Teflon bodied versions this tool looks promising just from the picture on their site. The tool arrived and things got even more interesting when I saw the dimensions. This press has possibilities along with being lightweight, strong and extremely well made! With a hefty RRP of £44 this is not a spur of the moment purchase but read on, it might be worth it...
For someone who has a wide interest in slotting that covers most styles and ages I have a huge variety of motors that, until now, required many more than one press. Here at last is a press for everyone, just look at the variety I managed to fit into the press...
Others such as the SCX long armature motor from 4x4 cars will also fit easily. Above are a selection of motors that range from vintage 16D, 26D, 36D sizes to all the modern ones you can think of. It will even cope with these early Scalextric style motors (I forget the name )
Take a look at this comparison picture alongside some other makes.The Aluminium bodies Ninco press in the middle of the group has been widened by myself to take vintage cans but its main weakness is the softness of the pins for extraction and attachment. This weakness is shared by the MBSlot puller...
So what do you get for your money? Three separate parts come supplied...
The unit on its own will handle 90% of pinions you need to remove or attach. The plug (top left) has a magnet built in and sits neatly over the end of the threaded bar for attachment, enabling closed armature end motors to be used...
The small fork part is used with the puller part of the unit and is specifically to cope with pinions from the likes of NSR where they utilise a small collar in the design...
As for that tricky "locating the pinion on the armature and getting it into the press without it falling off" problem...Well they have that sorted too!
Different diameter recesses in the pinion end of the unit are selectable by a twisting action. Each face clicks solidly into place for a perfect line up each time. Simply place your pinion in the correct hole and turn the selector to face the motor. The whole design is well thought out and implemented, it is smooth, robust and easy to use with the build materials more than up to the job. With all this information to digest I will return you to Ian again for more on those wheels...
I am beginning to realise that it is not just one part that makes a fast car faster, more a combination of several. Though a good quality wheel makes for a good starting place. I have mainly Slot.it and NSR parts in most of my "racing cars" (I don't know why I put that, the guys at G&LSCC will tell you I'm always last!) I figure that these are in the same league and will give discerning users another option. When it comes to testing the results it's not like testing a new motor or new tyres, these won't be measured instantly on a stopwatch. Though the car will feel more comfortable and balanced than with the original wheels, this leads to more confidence and hopefully eventually more speed (or at least that's my plan). Some of you may recall that these wheels got some flack because I should have fitted ugly plastic inserts (ED:"and rightly so Ian! Inserts rock").
So I have asked the pit crew to fit my favourite looking Sloting Plus wheels "Artic" to the NSR Clio I think they really do fit the bill and definitely no need for inserts anymore.
ED: MUCH BETTER! AND no inserts required, the boy is learning Here are the "Europa's" on the Mosler, "Mondial's" on a Lotus Europa and a Spirit 205...
A little more on the Ninco incompatability issue. As i mentioned, I'm new to the Club Racing Scene and my Ninco 4x4 was really struggling despite me chucking all sorts at it. So I got to thinking "what if" I added those new wheels? Of course it's a NINCO they run on a slightly thicker axle and my new Slotting plus wheels wouldn't fit. Quick check through my Bits Box showed me I "needed to call a friend". The next day some new axles, new gears, new pulleys arrive in the post. I fitted them all in the chassis start looking at it (as you do!) and finally noticed the real problem, the chassis itself is twisted! Time to get a car off the shelf! The boys down the club like these NINCO Peugeots lets give it ago.
Soon ripped out its internals and replaced them with these new parts ensuring this chassis was square first! Glued in the bushings added some tiny little washers just before the wheels made of slices of lolly pop stick! The other band will be added soon.The axles and gears I have used are Slot.it, the pulleys are MBslot. However the bits you can see from the outside are 'Sloting plus' and the total combination is superb. The first difference is the noise or lack of it, I like quiet cars. But then the car runs so smooth I haven't even glued the tyres yet and it's nice and fast though feels controllable.
Once glued and trued I'll have to see how it performs on the club track, but I'm feeling optimistic. Fronts are the Mondial's and on the rear I've Europa's, one day I will buy two more pairs so this can have four identical wheels, though performance is the driving force here and these perform Well! Can't wait to get down the club this week.
Final note from ED: "Europa" style needs inserts still. Amazing wheels however you regard them, the CNC design in itself is superb. How long until they do them also in black or other anodised colours??"
	copyright: Allan Wakefield, bleep and SlotForum 2008

[Ian B]

Allan,
Inserts and the Europa's I don't think so Showing my age now. I’m sure I had a 1:1 Zephyr with some “Super Slots” that looked just like those back in late 70’s

[Swissracer]

Pah!

As Clarkson is fond of saying.."Your wrong"

[Graymalkin33]

Did you find the wheels worked with all tyres? (as long as they were the right size ofcourse)

[Ian B]

Allen,
I get the picture. While I’ve found a few who, apparently, deliberately try to mislead themselves and avoid harsh truths, most are simply not looking and listening sufficiently to absorb new information..... I think they look Great.

GM,
Iv'e only tried them with what I had available Slot.it, NSR's etc but I can see no major reason why other tires wouldn't fit.

Regards

[honestjudge]

Excellent review from you both. That gear puller tool looks like quality and has steered me the next time I am in the market for one.

I have some Artics and Mondials and can only say that they look fantastic.

[slotingplus]

Many thanks for this review !

Just note please that pinion pusher/puller is only available with special plastic body 15 cm ( the metal body one was too weight and too short 13 cm for some motors but we have keeping it in our website for description purpose )

Sorry for my english

[Swissracer]

Thank you Jacques, I have amended the review.


Bleep... erm... nope! you are still wrong! see? anyone can do Clarksons job and I have no problem fitting in a Ford GT

[fw14b]

I can highly recomend the Sloting Plus puller/pusher.

[frank9129]

Jacques,
I have a small problem. I purchases several Scalectrix Slim Line Motors to find they have a 1.5m shaft. I also learned that your company markets a Pinion with a 1.5mm bore.
I have not been able to locate a web site where I can order the pinions. Can you assist me?
Thank you,
Frank : Crab Alley Speedway/Annapolis, Maryland USA

[wibbly]

I came across Sloting Plus whilst on vacation last year in Spain and treated myself to one of the pullers. It is a fantastic bit of kit

The other items are no doubt just as great a quality, and I shall certainly be returning to the little shop I found in Alicante to stock up

Thanks for the review Swiss

[Ian B]

I spent my pocket money last night, only to find that Sean has these "in stock" today Just my luck!

[Mr Croker]

Good review.

I saw Ian's (Bleep) wheels at Gainsborough a few weeks ago and now delivery has just arrived from Sean @ Pendle.

[bres3000]

Final note from ED: "Europa" style needs inserts still. Amazing wheels however you regard them, the CNC design in itself is superb.

How long until they do them also in black or other anodised colours??"

"Inserts?" Anyway.....

LINK: Color Them Yourself!

[Swissracer]

WOw!
Superb link, thank you
Off to buy the range to add to my options. I use a German acrylic paint range for most things now but the opaque red and yellow I use do not settle well on clear plastic, these look to do it well.