# Got my AW Tjets today.............



## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

..........and I'll have to say,not too bad.

A few had a bit of a wobbly axle,which I fixed with the old super glue trick easily enough.And of course,I had to do the shrink tubing thing to the pu shoes.
But no screaming chatteriing gear plates,like I had on many of the JLs.I like the new wider front tires too.

But over all,they all run pretty well.Some faster then others,but no dogs.And the bodies....the truck is kind of wacky,but still cool.

LOVE the GTO.I got a red one.The finish on it makes it almost look like its die cast metal.

STill messing around with them,but they are definetly an improvement over the old Johnnies.I'll add more thoughts as I play with them more.

Ony one complaint:I wish they came with silicone tires.Not a big deal tho.

Tom Lowe:Nice first effort.I like them.I will definetly be ordering in at least one of every set that you do down the road.

Mike


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## Crimnick (May 28, 2006)

Yeah...I wasnt impressed with the tires at all...but otherwise...I was happy as well...

I know about the super glue trick...but what is the shrink tube trick?


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## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

Crimnick said:


> I know about the super glue trick...but what is the shrink tube trick?


Lucky you.Guess who got a digital camera from Santa??????? :wave: 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyways,the shrink tube trick.

Get yourself some heat shrink tubing.Radio Slack sells a little pack of assorted sizes cheap.Thats what I have.

Ok.Let me try to explain this as best I can.

The arms in the JL/AW cars are pretty hot.Which is great,except that your car will wheelie out of the slot every 2 feet,and you'll get tired of it real fast and give up and go watch tv or something.

So what we need to do is limit the travel of the pu shoe.
Look at one of your AW cars from the side.See how far below the front tire the contact part is?????? Bad.Because when you have a car thats got a lot of punch off the line,it will lift the front tires off the ground.
As long as the shoes are contacting the rails,the front tires will keep going up until the shoes lose contact with the rails.And then the dreaded de slot.


One way to limit the shoe travel is by bending the hangar.I never could get that one down.

The other way is to take a tiny piece of shrink tubing,and put it on the tops of the shoes,like this:










Now,you want to put it on so that the bottom of the shoe is barely below the tire.The smaller the gap between the shoe and the bottom of the tire,ther better.
Like this:










So now,when you kick it,you wont come put of the slot.

Works well.I did it to my AW cars before I even did a lap with them.

ANother thing.Look for posts on HT by a feller that goes by the name "mking".
Hes really put a lot of time into these chassis,and has posted a ton of great tips.He did three chassis for me to test out and I was impressed.Probably 3 of the best pancake motor cars Ive ever owned.
So impressed that I went back to strictly tjets and JL/AW stuff.

Hope that helped.ANd hope the pics are ok.I have yet to read the directions for the camera.

Mike


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## Marty (Oct 20, 1999)

Mike(^RacerX^) said:


> ..........and I'll have to say,not too bad.
> 
> A few had a bit of a wobbly axle,which I fixed with the old super glue trick easily enough.
> 
> Mike


I am not familiar with the super glue trick. Please explain.

Thanks,
Marty


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

Really pleased with both AW Tjets and Xtracs out of the box performance. Compared to the early PM/JL stuff, it's night and day. :thumbsup: rr


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## micyou03 (Apr 8, 2003)

I got one X-Traction and one T-Jet on the track last night, the blue #11 Charger and the blue #9 Camaro. I don't really see a difference in performance from other releases. I am very happy with them, but I was happy with other releases also, except for JL X-Traction release one and the ones with the big tires all around. 

As far as the bodies go I like all the ones I got which are:

T-jets - Orange Corvette, Blue #9 Camaro, White #9 Camaro, Blue Cougar, Red GTO

X-Tracts - White/Orange Camaro, Baja Bronco, 55 Chevy, Blue #11 Charger

The front of the Charger is a little too high and the rear droops.

Both cars I got out last night had oil or grease on the armature and brushes and wouldn't run good until I cleaned it off with alcohol. The Camaro T-Jet will not seem to go fast like my other T-jets. I'll have to work on it some more.


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## micyou03 (Apr 8, 2003)

I got all my T-jets running great. I oiled them up, glued ans trued all the tires. If you rub the reare with lighter fluid before truing, they tru faster and when you run them they will really grab the track. The fronts ran much smoother after gluing and truing. I put the wheel with the bigger hole on an old JL T-jet rear axle and trued the tire using my Dremmel. The other one I trued using the axle it came on. I am very pleased with these cars. 

I also got my X-Traction Camaro on the track tonight. These X-Tractions are rockets, and they are smooth. So are most of my F&F cars too, but now I think these are a bit quicker.

I gotta get more of these!!!


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## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

Good to hear some of you guys weigh in on this.So Im not imagining anything I guess.

Ive been running the hell out of my red GTO.Seems like the more I run it,the better it gets.
Im very happy with these.

Marty,a dab of super glue on the inside axle hole opposite the gear.Let it dry,and then free it gently with your fingers.It will make the axle less wobbly.

Mike


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## TK Solver (Mar 18, 2004)

I'll start by saying that I'm pleased with both the XTs and TJs in this release. But I do have a few observations...

The rear window plastic rubbed against the gear on one of my TJ Corvettes and I had to trim it. The other Corvette was fine.
The piece on the lower part of the front of the Corvettes surprised me a little. I guess I expected the body to be one piece. The interface (space) between the two pieces stands out on the orange Vette. Not a big deal.
If you reverse the guide pin on the XT Camaro, using the pin in the slot instead of the "rudder", the rudder interferes with the extra plastic behind the headlights. Not a big deal. The rudder works fine in the slot.
The XT chassis is noticeably stiffer than the Playing Mantis versions. I don't have a scale but I'd guess that it's a bit heavier as well.
The XT front axle play is significant as the hole is much larger than the axle. I've never felt that was much of a problem but some of you have commented on it in the past. Now if the rear axle play was this wild, there would be a big problem every time you accelerate.
I really like the paint/finish on most of the cars. The XT Charger is MUCH nicer than its Playing Mantis Road Runner cousin. The purple Vette could have used a little more paint on the hood.

After my usual 5 minutes of tweaking, each of the TJs timed in within the top third of my collection. The XTs were good right out of the package. They're not the fastest but they handled well. I haven't tweaked them yet.

These are nice slot cars.


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## T-Jet Man (Jul 28, 2006)

I am pretty happy with the cars Tom is coming out with myself. I have replaced the AW axles with old Aurora axles. They are a tad larger and take up most of the play. The motors are strong as are the magnets. The chassis do seem stiffer as well. Eliminate some of the side to side play in the front tires really helps in the corners. Great cars for the money. I will be buying a lot more for sure. T-Jet Man


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## dlw (Aug 17, 1999)

TK, you can use the pin-side of the guide pin in the Camaro XT. Just make sure the 'rudder is parallel with the axle.......That way it won't get caught up in the light assembly.


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## sethndaddy (Dec 4, 2004)

I can't wait to get my cars in........placed an order today for a few cars, lol....sweet


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

I replace the original flags/pins with the steel AFX style on my AW/XT chassis since I still run the plastic track. Haven't been disappointed. :thumbsup: rr


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