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Fly Porsche 911 Rear motor

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wixwacing
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Posts: 1871
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:22 am

Fly Porsche 911 Rear motor

Post by wixwacing »

FLY Porsche 911
Rear motor

by Phil Wicks


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Fly and I have not enjoyed a good relationship over the last few years and so in recent times I have consciously made the effort to view the products in an unbiased and fair manner. With the arrival of the Martini Lancia 037 a whole heap of fences were on the way to being mended. Previous experiences were smoothed over a bit and I looked forward to more products from fly of this quality.

I have also been a bit cynical regarding the plethora of Ferraris and Porsches on offer from the mainstream slotcar manufacturers, but with both these marques having a big presence in international motor sport it would be unbalanced not to give them their share of house room.

The Lancia, for me, made big inroads into Fly slotcar quality as it is a model which performs well on plastic AND wood with little modification. I therefore decided to give the Porsche 911 rear motor the benefit of my curiosity and conduct a subjective review of the model. I was not game to purchase this unknown quantity outright and instead graciously accepted the offer of a loan to complete this review.

Getting the model home and in front of the microscope showed it to be yet another well modelled example and the detail was concise and clear to the naked eye. Tampo was well aligned and well applied. Model detail like the interior too was excellent. Even down to the full length seat belts anchored beneath the rear screen. The driver looks like he’s bracing himself for a front ender but apart from that, interior detail like the dash gauges and floor pan detail are all there.


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Exterior detail is good too. I found this to be one of the more attractive liveries for this model probably because of the low level of sponsor decals and more emphasis on the overall colour scheme. Rear wing looks indestructible and the door mirrors are tucked into the side of the model out of harms way. Once again, the wheels are what help set the model off. I discovered today that the gold spoke inserts can actually fall out of this style of wheel! Something to watch out for after a heavy racing session!

On opening up the car I found, as expected, the previously unusual set up of mounting the engine over and behind the rear axle. The mounting was solid and didn’t appear to have any weaknesses like the Lancia 037 and the detailed underpan can only add strength to this area.


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There is a small rectangular magnet mounted in front of the rear axle. This is quite strong and contributes tot the models stability on plastic. The wires too are neatly tucked into small clips and as the drivers tray comes close to the chassis this greatly reduces the risk of trapping wires while refitting the body. There is a holder for another 8mm button magnet just behind the front axle. Unlike some of the Scalextric models, this model didn’t come with the extra magnet. The front axle is a single shaft axle with the wheels fixed to each end. This, to me, is a far better idea than their previous floppy front ends. All they need to get right now is to prevent the front wheels fouling the front wheel arches! The guide is well mounted and has minimal side and end play.


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The rear axle too has minimal end float also unlike earlier Fly models which had tyres hitting motor pinions and chassis parts out of the box. So no tedious wheel shimming for this model. Time to put the body back on and head for red lane to see what it’s all about! As always, models are tested on board tracks. This is a great leveller. Models that suffer on plastic may well have a different characteristic board and vice versa.

Straight out of the box, taking away steadily and of we go for the inaugural run. Off was the operative word here! At a steady acceleration down the rear straight the car took its own route and ended up in the soft scenery! Reslotted, we set off again, fine around the corners. Onto the straight and off again, literally!! Finally, after pussyfooting around the track, I managed an uninterrupted lap. 12.965 seconds!! (red lane record is about 7.2 secs!)

Now I don’t mean to sound surprised as it was more than half expected! The motor layout dictated this car was going to be a problem in a non magnet situation, wood or plastic. And it lived up to expectations. Several more attempts were made to get a steady lap but it was hopeless. At this time I decided to abandon the road test part of the review.

In fairness to Fly, this model has been aimed fairly and squarely at the magnet racer. I have run earlier versions of this model on plastic and it is quite drivable, to the point of being potentially competitive! It’s only shortcoming was a tendency to deslot unexpectedly on fast corner entry or hard acceleration through a bend. Not having studied it in depth, I attribute this to the lightweight front end. An extra magnet fitted in the front position would see this model no doubt fly. Something for scrutineers to watch out for!

The price of these models prohibit the replacement of the chassis or running gear for some people but it is the only fix. Scanning the forums may well already show up people that have spent well over US$200 getting these things to run well without magnets but I can’t see the point myself?
Statistics.

Weight					75 grams
Front axle/guide load			19 grams!!!
Rear axle load				56 grams
Front/rear load split			25.5% / 74.5%
Wheelbase				72 m.m.
Front Axle width			57 m.m.
Rear axle width				60.5 m.m.
Rear tyre dia.				20.5 m.m.
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Fly have obvious continued to follow their policy of emulating engine layout of 1/1 cars. In doing so with this model they have estranged non magnet racers of which there are quite a few, especially in their North American market. As for a magnet racer it is a good car but still falls short of the mark when it comes to being competitive.

Summary, “A very nice model, but not for me!”
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When I'm not racing slotcars,
I'm out in the back yard, burning food!!

When I win, it's because of my talent, not my car or my controller!
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