Just from the boxart, it seems like it might be self-steering if the track has walls round it, and the bends aren't too tight. That red thing shown top left seems to be the steering mechanism. The bumper wheel at the rear should be sprung to push in & steer the front wheels, then self-straighten.
I suggest you look at the instructions for assembling that part of it for a clue.
Wulf
I picked this model up at the flea market because it was cheap, and I thought kind of cute. All the text are in japanese. I tried to do some research on it and didn't come up with anything. It comes with a motor and hookups for batteries. There are also what appears to be "bumper wheels", which are lubricated with a tube of included grease, around the chasis. The boxart and instructions graphics imply that it is meant to be run on some kind of a racetrack, but there is no control, or steerability of any kind. It looks also you can put a piece of sandpaper on the track surface so that metal screws on the underbody will produce sparks on contact... funky!
So I am puzzled. Can anyone tell me what this thing is?
I scanned in the boxart here:
kwong (at) nbnet (dot) nb (dot) ca
on 4/21/2008 7:24 PM K. Wing Wong said the following:
Perhaps the walls of the track are supposed to be high to keep the car from flipping over it, and the red bracket keeps the body from getting banged up on the walls.
I believe in Japan there was a popular form of model car racing that was like slot car racing but more as you have described. There is a book out that is the autobiography of the guy that founded Tamiya, and he described something like that.I think Tamiya sold cars like that.
When I was stationed at Ft. Dix, NJ, the local chain hobby shop (Allied Hobbies) at the Cherry Hill, NJ mall had that type of race track set up. It sort of looked like the old Hotwheels circular/figure
8 type tracks where the cars stayed in a chute-like lane.I have a Batmobile from the 1988-89 Keaton Batman movie that is designed to run on these tracks as well. I think it was called a "Power Racer" and the kit was boxed by AMT for the movie tie-in. Here is a link to an auction of the car I have. The box art is of the standard Batmobile, but the side art showed the wheels at the front corners for the track.
Hey there Major Rob! Long time no see. How's things?
RobG (The Aussie one)
I'm doing fine, I've been a Lieutenant Colonel for over 3 years (promoted in Dec 2005). Still doing the Army thing.
RobG
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