News

09-01-15 Well that is Christmas and New Year done. Had a good rest and a great time, hope you had the same. Looking at my tummy (not an image you need but ah well) I am having a food baby. So a little diet might be called for, trouble is there is still a lot of chocolate to get through. I have not been idle over the break, as it does give me time to research future projects and gather information. Mainly on more 50s GP cars (more on these later) and a Ferrari 625 LM car, I like the shape of that one. Hopefully we will keep up our high standard. I have actually made a list for this year but I doubt I will keep to it. This first week has been good, I must admit I am glad to be back at work. Doing all the eating and drinking over Christmas is very nice but I miss making stuff. Now the batteries are recharged and we are off. The Chapparral Daytona is ready to mould and the 2nd Maserati 250F (German GP) is also ready to mould. It has a different nose, exhausts and louvres to the Monaco car. I must admit I am very please with the 250F, it bares some resemblance to the real car which is more than can be said for that skanky looking thing one of the major manufacturers make (you know the one, the one with scalextric in the name.) All those facilities, computers and clever people and they make something like that. And heres me, an old scruffy bloke with a file, pointed stick and a rule (not a ruler). I have a lot of admiration for all the scratch builders who make models in their sheds out of wood and bits of plastic. Some surprisingly nice models get turned out and I am always happy to see them and I am always happy to see them. As you know I do not have any secrets and will give advice when I can. Scratch building seems to be a dying art. Lots of people think you press a button on a computer and out pops a model, no. Along with the Maserati 250F I have made a Ferrari 801 to compliment it. This will be in short and long nose form plus various mods. The 801 should be moulded in the next few days and I think it looks pretty good next to the 250F. I have also started the Ferrari 625 GP and the 555. January will see the Maseratis, Ferrari, Chap Daytona and the wide E-type in full production. Not bad for the first month of the year. As mentioned in the last news the Mk. 7 is to make a come back. The body casting has been lightened from 40 grams down to 28 grams (not bad eh?). It will also now fit on the RM laser cut chassis as used by the Galaxie, so it will be a bit lower and the rally version is also to return. So what did I get for Christmas I hear you ask. Well obviously socks and underpants, good presents. No self respecting bloke actually enjoys shopping for such items and I wouldnt know which ones to buy if anyway. A new wallet to put all my money in (HAH) and also a couple of cookbooks. I enjoy cooking and dare I say I am not a bad cook. I also got an SRC Capri 2600, as I like Capris (Essex Bloke). It is a very nice model, will need a bit of work to make it run on our track but I like it. This year we hope to do more work on getting our track and club up and running properly. We have struggled to get our timing equipment working correctly but I think we are getting there. Getting new members is not easy, we cannot rely on members from others clubs popping in now and again even though they are always welcome. It would be good to find some old slot racers from the MRD and wonderlands days. There must be some still about and local. It is a bit disconcerting being there on a Thursday night and one person turns up and the people start emailing (not to me), saying I am disrespectful to cancel the next club night (which was on my Birthday). I cant wait around all evening in the hope that someone may turn up. So we have people moaning already . I guess we wont see them again. We do have two new members though, both are very helpful and enthusiastic and of course Richard and Cesar who have helped me alot in getting started. So there we have it, very little interest and people moaning already. That said, we are committed, we are in the process of lengthening the track and hopefully we are going to make a small wood routed rally track, which should be fun. But that is for later in the year. I would like to organise some Sunday open race meetings or perhaps 50s sports cars to start. We will see. **JE SUIS CHARLIE**