[Gaugemaster Controls]

Okay, this thread has one purpose, and I would appreciate it if we could try to keep to the subject. If you have had problems with Fly, Spirit, Pink Kar, Bumslot or Cartrix, I need you to post it here. I don't want to hear opinions on size, colour, etc, but things that have fallen off/broken/been missing/badly printed type problems. I also need to know if you have done anything about it yourself, or via your retailer, and what the end result was and whether you were happy with the result. If you don't want to mention specific retailers, then post the story here but email me the retailer okay?

I have been doing my best to help you so far on this forum, but now I will need your help, and this sort of information is another way I can try and improve the situation in the future for you.

Aaron

 

[tDI_Fahrer]

BMW 3,5 CLS trouble

A month ago I purchased the white version of the car on friday together with my 365 GTB4, and I let the motors run on a testbank. On saturday I planned on racing them, but after ten rounds the front left wheel of the CSL broke off while driving down the straight line... the thingy where the little front axles goes in, was split open... but the piece was still there...

On tuesday I went back to my retailer (http://www.freezslot.be, very good store, very friendly and helpfull), but the man said he couldn't do anything about it... execpt for glueing it. He said he would give me a new chassis, but there were'nt any available yet, because the model was so new...

So he glued it back together... I went home and tried the car out... I had lots of fun with it. But yesterday the front right wheel broke off... it was also the thingy where the little front axles goes in that was broken off... again on the straight line...

And now I haven't found the time to fix the car... but now I'll glue it back together myself...

If you want, I'll take a picture of the fracture and post it here...

Greetz

Gunther

 

[Pendleslot]

Aaron, interesting topic and one which is extremely frustrating as we have been 'banging on' about problems for years. Perhaps airing our views in public will recieve the back up from the end users and have more clout when you tackle the manufacturers.
I'm sure your dealers will have given you feedback on the failings of most manufacturers and a quick inspection of your returns bin will highlight the most common problems.
Personally we have complained frequently about Fly cars which are undrivable on the track due to front tyres catching the body work, something which still happens on the very latest releases. Roof aerials break on expensive special edition cars because the boxes are too shallow. Crown gears strip on rear axles, especially on front engined cars and trucks.
Biggest problem with Cartrix is the lack of availability of spare parts. Why advertise them if they are not available. Is it down to lack of supply from the manufacturer or distributor?
Bumslot..............hmmm. No comment

Sean

 

[Gaugemaster Controls]

Gunther, the Fly part number you would need would be 79195, but I suggest that you have a faulty one there and it should be changed over. If neccessary, contact your country's distributor and he should be able to give you an idea of when they will be in stock, but I really think that you should get a replacement chassis.

Aaron

 

[fast lucky]

Gunther,

We've got the same dealer ! An excellent one indeed ! We could meet someday !

Following Gaugemaster's advice (contact the importator), I guess you know that it is LESCARS in Belgium ?

Luc

 

[AnthonyS]

I recently purchased a Fly Classic 917K. While the car is absolutely amazing to look at with a great body and paintwork the running gear is terrible. One of the rear wheels is cracked at the hub and both are out of round. The rear motor mount / subframe assembly does not sit in the car squarely but cockeyed. The rear axle assembly is loose in the bushings and has about 1/8" play side to side so it rubs the body in many locations. The rear assembly being cockeyed caused one of the tires to actually rub the motor shaft next to the pinion. The front wheels are not held in place to well either. One of them rubs the top of the fender.

This car will need a new rear subframe / motor mount assembly new wheels, new axles and new bushings to be driveable. Right now it is a great looking static display with an electric motor in it.

I also recently purchased a ProSlot Toyota. It needed a new pinion as the inexpensive very thin plastic one broke either in transit or the first few seconds the car was on track. It now has a Slot It brass pinion.

 

[Gaugemaster Controls]

Sean, all good points an all noted.

Anthony, why did you not return the model to your supplier? Where was it purchased from? Was it new or second hand?

Aaron

 

[Intergrali]

QUOTE Fly, Spirit, Pink Kar, Bumslot or Cartrix just to remind me

Fly, wheels fell off 3.5 because of the sillily short axle on it
viper, vette, capri, marcos and M3 have all popped the motor shafts.
911 GT1 evo and 512

917 is a tricky begger to get running but once you get it it's quick. the tyres on 3.5 and capri are good once warmed up a little

Spirit, no problems at all a little noisy to begin with but a little toothpaste on the gears and some running soon sorted it out, nice finish too

cartrix, wheels fell off the hyundai and stripped the rear gear, so replaced with a slot it axle eventually!
still waiting for my nsx.. I think it's stuck in customs

Rob

edit - just remembered what I had to go though to get a new gear for my porsche racer. it stripped like many peoples I have spoken to, so thought this isnt on, I've paid a substancial amount for this car and it's bascially failed. I did however get a uprated crown gear of the same specification and this has now fixed the issue, but I went though hell to get that because 1 the retailer was being tight and trying to lay the blame onto me for racing it, it's a race car!!!! any my point? racer gears are too soft

 

[Doug]

Aaron, very brave of you to launch this topic.

A point in question: Front engine placement. I quite like front engines in cars that have them in 1:1. Why doesn't Fly go down the road the Revell has and bring the motor back behing the front axel? Look at this photo of the GS Corvette to see what I mean.

 

[Difflock]

Nothing major (to me anyway):-

Cartrix NSX - quite a noisy mesh despite having plastic crownwheel. Jim Borwn cast his experienced eye over it and neither of us could see anything out of true, so he suggested give it some track time (I might try a bit of toothpaste on it too). However, whilst examining the car I found that Cartrix have knurled/splined the axles similar to Carrera, so that if a crownwheel was faulty, ti could not easily be removed - the bearings stick on the ends of the axle. Note that I haven't actually dragged the bearings off the axle because I am very pleased with their close tolerances

Any news on the proposed TX-5 motor yet?

FLY Lola T70 - quite a bit of side-to-side play on the rear axle (sidewinder arrangement), but seeing as Slot Tech sell small plastic spacer washers I soon cured it. Body doesn't quite sit properly at the rear - still under investigation. One rear wheel hub split. The tyres are a devil to get trued - they tend to overheat and melt VERY easily.

FLY Zakspeed Capris - propshaft bearing popped out. One of the cars lunched its crownwheel. Both cars' problems easily solved.

Many thanks for this thread Aaron.

Mark.

 

[fast lucky]

Regarding the Reynards done by Spirit :

My dealer had already sold out the latest two (Barbour) when I paid a visit to him.

Quite amazingly, one of them had three front wheels and one rear wheel !

My Telefonica one has a brake disc missing on one front wheel.

Much often, the driver doesn't have a nice fit in the car.

I think Spirit make a great choice with their models but they have a serious problem with their quality control ...

 

[Mo55man]

I had a minor problem with a Fly Saleen last year where one of the bonnet clips was missing, but after a phone call to the retailer that I bought it from he managed to obtain one for me and therefore I could replace it.

I don't wish to knock detail as I am a great fan of all the detail, but with all the current cars these days (not just from Fly), you need to give them a long hard inspection now, especially if you collect them to find anything missing.

Apart from that I would like to say that sometimes the lacquer finish on some Fly cars do have dust particles on them. Does this annoy anybody else, or am I being too finicky (I think that's how you spell it).

M

 

[Gaugemaster Controls]

No mo55man, you are not being finnicky. Paintwork on cars is a major issue, and so information like this and the messages posted on this thread are so very important.

The problem is that you guys and gals carry far more weight than you think in the eyes of the manufacturers. As the distributors, we can help guide your gripes to the right place and try and get them followed through, so it really is a joint venture. Keep posting here, as each time I read another problem I amcontacting the manufacturer for their comments on any particular problem. I will report back to this thread with any info.

Aaron

 

[fast lucky]

The dust issue in Fly cars is well known. It depends on the place of the factory where the cars are painted.

 

[Mo55man]

Another minor thing which I have just thought about, is that, in the past I have had to re-connect the spring inside the Fly BMW M3 GTR's, which connects from the base of the interior to the side rear window. I assume it is to represent an air hose of some kind. On a couple of occasions the spring has been rattling around loose inside the car. I think the problem arises if the spring is not pushed firmly into the resess in the bottom, it seems to jar loose during shipment. Although easy to fix with a pair of tweezers carefully angled through the open front windows. It can be a pain in the you know what.

M

 

[astro]

Posted this before, not sure if it got missed by accident,

both my fly GT40s have seriously off centre tyre decals on all wheels. This looks more unsightly to me than a couple of specks of dust in the paint, something which I have not noticed on any of my (8 or 9) Fly cars.

Other problems encountered above, - wheel slop on Porsche 917k (all 3 of them), Ferreari 512 and lola T70. Not too bothered 'cos a few wheel spacers cures it.

Oh - and with the new Fly GT40 chassis that GC kindly supplied, there was the incompatibility problem with the old rear axle, the knurled bit ending up in the wrong place.

But generally, love the things. - Oh my mate got a Fly Panoz LMP, and we were both astonished 'cos it ran brilliantly straight out of the box! Very nice car

 

[Pendleslot]

A familiar problem with many of the sidewinder chassis on Fly cars (Porsche 917, 917 Spyder, Chevron in particular) is excess sideways movement in the rear axle. This doesn't always cause a problem unless the wheels/tyres are enclosed within the bodywork. Cars will drive fine until they come to a corner, the axle moves sideways and the tyre rubs the inside of the body work. To most racers this is a minor problem easily solved by packing the rear axle with nylon spacers. To little Johnny who doesn't have this knowledge it may make the difference between buying another Fly car or choosing another make.
Sean

 

[Brian Schindler]

Other than the obvious problems (at least I'll admit it)...and I'll make it short...

Fly 1/2 axles in front motor mounted cars (bmw CSL, Lister, Marcos, C5 Corvette, Ferrari 512 and so on) allowing wheels/tires to flop.

Motor placement for above noted configurations (move it back and put in a straight axle)

GT-40 old chassis swapped for new and associated rear axle.

Assorted peices flying off...uh, no...that's more due to my agressive driving style on occasion...nevermind.

Like I said...short, hardly painless.

 

[ewanmcken]

I have found the graphics on some Fly cars poor lately, misaligned and bits missing. Collecting rather than running the recent additions so paintwork is important to me. Might just have been unlucky but I am convinced finish is not as good as it used to be. And not as good as it should be considering the price premium compared to other makes.

 

[taxi]

Aaron, you are a brave man. Really most of my Fly problems have been minor, but still frustrating.

Saleen - rear axle bearings sloppy fit in chassis
Marcos - weak motor, driveshaft popped out
Capri, Corvettes,Panoz, Listers - floppy front wheels, driveshafts popped out
on one of my Listers one of the chrome headlights came loose and rattles around inside the lense - how do I repair that?
BMW M3 - delicate (as in broken now!) mirrors and wing (are printed/painted replacements available?)
Lola B98 - chassis rear axle mount cracked when I removed the rear axle (I know, I shouldn't have taken the axle out, but surely Fly expect some of us to take our cars apart?
Trucks - all needed modifications before they ran acceptably. (Mainly mods to the front end to get the guide to sit fully in the slot).

Majority of cars needed spacers on the rear axle to stop it moving side to side - but this is true with most cars I've biught, regardless of manufacturer.
No paint or print flaws on any of my cars, but very little clearcoat on any either. Why do they produce these wonderful liveries and then not protect them?

As I said, all minor problems, all easily sorted. Although I remain a big fan of Fly (about a dozen on the wish list at the moment!), a lot of these are things which shouldn't have happened in the first place.

Thanks for giving us an appropriate place to vent.

Rob