[Phil T]

Subjective I know, but I am having to be really careful how many more cars I add to my collection so briefly if I could only buy one of the available RS200s (not counting the 'old' ones, which is best and why? PS, I only race for fun and do have some shelf queens...

Thanks for the opinions and expertise.

 

[ferraif40]

Hi Phil,

I am guessing you are considering either the Scalextric or the MSC version? Well, I'm reviewing both for the latest issue of Slot Racer Magazine, and after testing, my choice has to be the MSC car. It looks spot on, size wise, to me, where the Scalextric car looks a little narrow. Performance is superb, handling is very good a forgiving, but can slide if you want it to. Straight line speed is phenominal, the whole car is really lightweight, and 21k's push it along.

So, my advice would be to pay that little extra, and go MSC

 

[Julian_Boolean]

I must be the only person who thinks the MSC car doesn't look quite right around the cockpit area, to me it doesn't look like the real car, IMO the old SCX RS200 looks more like the 1:1 car than either the new Scalextric or the MSC, but it's a long time since I saw a 1:1 RS200, certainly over 20 years.
If it were me I'd buy an old RS200 and an MSC Monte Carlo chassis kit.

 

[Mr.M]

You're not the only one, Julian.

The MSC looks awful - it's way too fat, but that's not unusual from the so called "performance brands", and the sides bow out between the wheels so much that the wheels look to be disappearing from certain angles.

 

[Wankel Ickx]

No expertise here, just opinion.

I think the MSC is awful - to look at. Here's a photo from The Cornbury Rally Show earlier this year:



See how slim and svelte she is?

What I don't understand is how they can have reproduced so well, the admittedly very ugly, 6R4 and yet have this one so very wrong. Very wrong. If I were Ford, I'd sue.

I lurve the SCX RS. I have them all, I believe. All bar the Metal 5 livery, I think it is. I love their shape, their motor, their stickers. Hell, I even like the feel of the plastic the non-Altaya ones are made of. The Scaley one looks good, too.

The thing is, and this is the thing to many folk, the MSC runs like a dream. Very smooth. I've played with one. I loved the way it ran. I just despised the way it looked. Even though it was the sexy Belga one. I think a tear came to my eye.

Now there's that Marlboro livery. I hear them. They call to me in the night as I close my eyes to sleep. They call to me from Pendle's shelves up north. I think I can resist... I think.

 

[Julian_Boolean]

The thing is, if you're happy with to run a car that looks wrong, why bother running a model of a car at all, why not just run a coloured lexan wedge on a brilliant chassis that drives like a dream?

 

[driver#8]

QUOTE (Julian_Boolean @ 22 Sep 2011, 10:34) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The thing is, if you're happy with to run a car that looks wrong, why bother running a model of a car at all, why not just run a coloured lexan wedge on a brilliant chassis that drives like a dream?

Ordinarily I'd agree. Every fibre of my being screams out that this is the right and virtuous way to slot.

And yet...

Shuffles feet and looks at the floor...

I got an NSR Ford Mk.IV and it's fantastic. Utterly and absolutely wrong, but a work of evil genius. So smooth! So fast! So sideways!

And watching MSCs honking round our track broadside is like... well... like getting a lapdance from Jennifer Aniston on the day you get back from honeymoon. You know that you shouldn't be enjoying it, but at the same time...

 

[Julian_Boolean]

I've raced Lexan blobs with magnets, it's really good fun, I've also got a couple of squashed toad Ninco rally cars, they're good fun as well, but they aren't scale model cars that you can race but racing slot cars, it just depends what you want.

 

[Wankel Ickx]

Driver No.8 you're just boasting again. Say 'Hello' to Jenny for me, by the way. Or Jen-Jens, as she likes to be called.

But you hit the nail on the head; there are some higher-end players out there with cars that seem to just melt their way around the track in a smooth flow that seduce and leave you, in despite of view, pleased to dote.

Truth is, rather like that lap dance (I imagine!), once the motion has stopped and you look again, you recoil a little, kinda screw your eyes up and think, 'Oh. Oh, no. No thank you'.

The MSC RS200 and Jennifer Aniston: both dubious choices.

 

[driver#8]

QUOTE (Wankel Ickx @ 22 Sep 2011, 10:57) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The MSC RS200 and Jennifer Aniston: both dubious choices.

Exactly. That's why Brad's an SCX guy. I asked for his guidance on this one and he said 'no brainer, dude... get the prehistoric Spanish one, it'll be nice.'

 

[Julian_Boolean]

QUOTE (Wankel Ickx @ 22 Sep 2011, 09:57) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Jennifer Aniston: both dubious choices.

Yeah, but think of how many slot cars she could buy you, she could even get you a 1:1 RS200.

 

[Phil T]

Guys, thanks! I have a few of the Old Scaley ones and they were fine untill I saw new ones! In the same way I was happy with the Mk 1 Escort. I still like the old ones but the new tooling, tampo...

I take all your points on board with thanks. I am not a great racer, nor a great modeller but am competant at both. If any kind person perhaps QUOTE ferraif40QUOTE has both and a digital camera then side by side shots might help more than just me? My lack of skill as a racer would probably negate a significant degree of speed...

 

[speedyroadster]

I have both the MSC and new Scaley RS200 (no I'm not boasting - there are plenty of you out there with more 'toys' than me!).

I much prefer the look of the Scaley, the MSC is faster and that's my problem - it's too fast for me! I've decided to use the Scaley one this weekend in the Slot Rally GB so it will be interesting to see how it goes (especially as it's only 2WD). Will Jen be there too?

 

[Julian_Boolean]

QUOTE (speedyroadster @ 22 Sep 2011, 12:42) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Will Jen be there too?

Yep, she's doing lap dances for a good cause.

Surprised the new Scaley RS200 is 2wd, they seem to stick a belt on everything else.

 

[Scorpus Flex]

i dont see how you can say the msc rs200 doesnt look like an rs200. possibly i dont have a tape measure that goes into a tenth of a mm but i cant tell the difference looking at a real car then looking at the msc.

i would say the msc version could have done better with the detail on the rear window, and the scaley version could have done better with the air intake pods, but both are significantly better than the old scaley/scx ones that just look like toys with stickers on. yes they might be more scale accurate to the rivet counters but the details are pretty awful the drivers look like blobs and the wheels look like too plasticky. so out of the 3 i'd say it is the old one that is closest to driving a coloured blob around the track.

id be very interested to see jons article and the picture of the cars next to each other.

 

[Savage]

QUOTE (ironman @ 24 Sep 2011, 11:32) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>i dont see how you can say the msc rs200 doesnt look like an rs200. possibly i dont have a tape measure that goes into a tenth of a mm but i cant tell the difference looking at a real car then looking at the msc.

It just doesn't. You don't need a tape measure just eyes !!!
Maybe you just have to be enough of lover of the real car to notice ?
I still would take the Scaley despite the fact it won't perform anywere near as well, as its looks so much closer to the real car than that blob of an MSC thingie

PS not having a go at ironman, just calling as I see it

 

[Julian_Boolean]

QUOTE (ironman @ 24 Sep 2011, 10:32) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>i dont see how you can say the msc rs200 doesnt look like an rs200.

Have you actually seen a 1:1 RS200, the whole cockpit area of the MSC one is wrong, the roof is too high, god knows why because you'd think a low roof would make a better handling car.

 

[Wankel Ickx]

Um? I would say that you need to cut some bigger slits in your mask to see out of, Ironman; to view the photos and the typed word better. Nobody said the MSC doesn't look like the RS200. Some of us just think it looks like a pretty rough attempt at modelling one, with too many little bits slightly out of whack. All a bit bulbous to me.

The thing with the Spanish cars is that they clearly show they were of their time: no tampo and a bit plasticky, for sure. I do kinda love 'em for that. But then, I'm pretty much old skool and a few stickers short of an Exin.

 

[Scorpus Flex]

just spent the last 20 minutes comparing pictures of an rs200 to pictures of the msc rs200 i think the windscreen might possibly look too high but then most of the real cars have vinyl on making the windscreens look smaller. my lass cant see the difference either.

 

[Savage]

QUOTE (ironman @ 24 Sep 2011, 16:41) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>my lass cant see the difference either.

Since when has 99.9% of womankind been able to tell you anything about a car, apart from if they like the colour

Seriously, the proportions on the MSC are all wrong, take our word for it !