# NEW-Tomy/Racemasters/AFX Chassis Announced !



## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

Just announced Yesterday by Steve of Racemasters !
Steve Writes>

Well, at the iHobby show and still having a hard time getting time to get you guys an update. So I decided to just take a few minutes before I have to go back and blurt a few things out:

-We have upgraded the Mega-G chassis. The new chassis will be called the Mega G+ (I know - brilliant, right?)
-The motor will be exclusive to AFX. Called the FN20 Advanced Power Unit it is a can motor that makes about 5% less rpm but 30% more torque than the current motor while using 33% less electricity.
-The Pick Up shoes are redesigned and include a redundant circuit.
-Relocated guide pin for the long wheelbase chassis. (Many thanks to Deane for all the aid sharing experiences with his club and helping with ideas and an ear!)
-All new chassis; motor location, pinion and crown gear.
-Motor runs over 25% cooler and lasts ~ twice as long as current motor in life tests so far.

Many more details and a new controller and narrower wings on the Formula bodies (Again, thanks Deane!) but got to get back down on the floor. Hope to see some of you here.

Steve


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## RiderZ (Feb 19, 2007)

Can't wait for the new stuff to come out.Its a shame Deane "Nico" had anything to do with it though!


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

BTW- Deane also Contributed to part of the New Name, ie- Mega G "Plus" was his idea too !
Anyway, cut the guy some slack...


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## lenny (Feb 29, 2000)

RiderZ said:


> Can't wait for the new stuff to come out.Its a shame Deane "Nico" had anything to do with it though!


true dat...


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## neorules (Oct 20, 2006)

As I said on the other thread: Somewhere in England a HEAD JUST EXPLODED!


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## lenny (Feb 29, 2000)

neorules said:


> as i said on the other thread: Somewhere in england a head just exploded!


ha!!!!!


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## Crimnick (May 28, 2006)

RiderZ said:


> Can't wait for the new stuff to come out.Its a shame Deane "Nico" had anything to do with it though!


OMFG....I just threw up in my mouth a little bit...:drunk:


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

Pix and Stolen Words below...

Posted by FASTLAP on SCI...
Ok, first off, a big thanks goes to both Steve and Laurie Russell for their patience and time spent with us. Laurie took over the booth as Steve explained the changes coming to the new chassis. So, an extra BIG THANKS to Laurie for her patience!!!!!

I will try to explain the new changes to the new Mega-G Plus chassis over the MG2. If we think about this, this is the 3rd version of the Mega-G platform.

1. Can Motor - it is obvious by the photos below, the traditional Arm/magnets are replaced with a can motor. Steve stated it has slightly less top end RPM compared to the last version but much more torque. He said the torque give this puppy a tremendous "out of the hole" acceleration factor. As can be seen, a printed circuit board is added to combat the RFI of the motor. The can motor sits slightly forward compared the last configuration. Steve stated this runs much more cooler than the current configuration. This particular can motor is an exclusive made item for AFX/Racemasters.

1a. Can Motor smoothness - You cannot believe or fathom the smoothness of can motor setup when turning the rear axle. It is like there isn't a crown or pinion gear attached!!!!! Absolutely NO BIND or Chatter of the gears when turning by hand. I have never had a modified chassis turn as smooth as this one did. This included the other 3-4 can motor chassis I touch, including a short wheelbase 1.5" chassis. SMOOTH!!!!!

2. Chassis - It is basically the same but completely different. This is a tongue in cheek comment. The chassis is VERY different.

The same - 1.5" and 1.7" Wheelbase , same Nyla-tron<sp> type plastic, basic component layout.

Completely different;

- Pickup shoe design. Much wider for better contact. Also, the side of the shoes edge is chamfered up so they don't catch the track rail as the shoe rides at an angle to the rail in tight turns.
- redundant electrical system. The pickup shoes contact at their attaching point, and the pickup shoe spring contacts in a second location(can't see in the photos) with the pickup clip under the circuit board. It was said this should eliminate any arching between shoes and their attaching points. IMPORTANT NEW FEATURE!!!!!!
- Guide pin location. The guide pin sits ever so slightly in FRONT of the front axle.
- Rear axle crown gear reliefs. The inside of the rear of the chassis has reliefs for the crown gear so the rear axle can be swapped for racing in either direction. Nice touch!!!!
- Rear Traction Magnet Opening. As can be seen in the photos, the traction magnet openings are larger as they were on the MG1.
- Chassis. Although the chassis of the [email protected] look similar to the new chassis, the only parts that will swap are the front axle, guide pin, and maybe the rear axle(explained next)
- Rear Axle assy. The rear axle has all new spacers and gears. The side to side play is all but eliminated. However, the axle can be easily swapped in and out. And as stated above it is as smooth as silk no matter how many times Steve popped the axle in and out. Another nice touch!!
- Bearings/Shaft snap-in points - There are NONE!!! They are eliminated. The motor snaps in-place. the pinion gear essentially seems like it come out of the can motor. There is no main shaft that sticks out the front of the motor to speak of.

I am sure I have missed some items that were mentioned. Steve will jump in when time allows to add anything I have missed. Steve said something that really stuck out when hearing it. His goal is to make a slot car that can be taken out of the package and run for hours upon hours. He showed me several generations of this can motor setup. I didn't see any complexity in the latest version. Steve stated that replacement motors would be available in the future. Also, this new chassis will fit all the current non-open wheel bodies. It is my understanding, there will be a newer open wheel body based on the Panoz DP01 coming out for the 1.7" chassis.

Thanks again to Steve for his patience and generosity!!!!!! Thanks for the extras Steve!!!!

















The 1.7" chassis. the MG2 (left) sitting next to the "New Mega-G Plus"









New Mega-G Plus 1.7" and 1.5" chassis.The crown gear reliefs can clealy be seen on the 1.5" chassis in the 2nd picture


















Here's a pic I wasn't going to use because the flash washed most of it out. That's why the tire/wheel area is darker in the photos in the above posts. Anyhow, You can see all the chassis, pinion, crown details in the rear section. The crown gear reliefs are very clear in this photo.









And a Question from a poster, followed by a Reply from Steve of AFX-Racemasters...

Originally Posted by PPRSLOTS 
pretty cool!
looks like with that motor you have a much higher center of gravity... not good for handeling but I guess they had to do what they had to do... looks like the indy cars now most likely will look more out of scale...I think the new chassis with the higher motor will now take from the slung low look of the mega g that we all grown to love.
What I am suspicious about because I have also been into rc stuff for practically all my life also is what type of brushes are used in the new sealed can motors I know a lot of these tiny motors just use copper tabs that run on the com and they wear out vey fast and motors fail a lot and don't last long like the sealed brushed motors like in the bigger 1/32 size cars.

Steve's Reply Post-
PPRSLOTS, you've got a good eye and your view on the CG is correct - but its not accurate. Here's why:

1) Actually, the overall height of the highest point on the new can is effectively equal to the highest point on the current motor.
2) Because the new power unit runs much cooler than the current motor, we don't need the plastic finger protector (like we ever did?). So we lowered the motor roughly 1.5mm and is flush with the lowest point on the chassis - lower than the current motor.
3) The overall weight of the new power unit is less than the current motor.

Although the overall height is the same, there is more "can" and magnet higher with the new power unit than there is armature and magnet high in the current motor. There are some other pushes and pulls but overall we conclude that there is only a fractional elevation of the CG. To offset any negative handling effect we lowered the traction magnets by about 0.003". Testing so far doesn't reveal any significant difference. In fact it seems to handle a little better. So maybe we went too low on the magnets!

You are quite right that most of the micro motors use "whisker" brushes. When we first designed the Mega-G in 2006, we wanted a can motor and knew that there were a few that were small enough. But when we started evaluating them we found that they all used crap componentry like whisker brushes, cheap coms, poor winding, etc. (Few of these motors are designed for the type of constant use and loads they would see in a slot car). So we built the motor as a monocoque, knowing it would be less consistent than a can motor but would perform and last with maintenance.

Fast forward to 2014, when we were faced with needing to meet the FCC regs, we looked at can motors again. John was practically in tears anticipating the same terrible can junk we had seen last time around. Happily, we found a new supplier that is making great motors with great componentry: a high quality com and armature stack aaaand cantilever brushes with solid carbon brush material.

Unfortunately the performance wasn't good enough so we tested and modified it until it had the power we needed and gave the spec to the motor company who then produced it to our spec. Along with other elements, the motor now draws less electricity (-33%) and runs roughly 25% cooler. So not only does it perform at the level of the current motor, our preliminary life tests look like it will last two to three times longer than the current motor.

It does take much longer to break in than the current motor: about 30+ minutes vs. 5 to 10 minutes currently. But smoother, longer lasting, much more consistent with the power we need? We'll live with the longer break in.

It is true that the current formula body had to be raised about 1mm and material had to be removed to fit on the MG+. But the space conflict under the body was so minor that we were within a couple of thousandths of not needing to raise the body. But we couldn't remove anymore material without busting through the body. However, any future bodies, open wheel or otherwise, will easily maintain the type of look you are used to from Mega-G. Gary might be able to comment on this as he gave the chassis a good going over today.

Sorry for the too long answer. I'll try to do better next time.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Thanks Ralph. I hope Steve can take some time to visit us directly soon!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## slotcardan (Jun 9, 2012)

.........


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

*there is hope*

can motor technology has come a long way with the interest of the RC hobby, particularly helicopters.
entertaining manufacturers that want to support the hobbies and listen to the users and designers will result in better product.
some of us have been using tail rotor motors with resistors inline to save the motor on high voltage.
they don't have great longevity, but they are small and fast.
so, there is room for improvement.

I only know that Radio Frequency Interference can trigger my drag race systems and cause inaccurate results, so any shielding or ways to dissipate RF is a good thing.
small capacitors have been known to reduce RF too.

very interested in the next generation of HO slot cars and hopefully any/all other previous manufacturers/retailers will see the light and move up and on with the wave.

:tongue:


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## RiderZ (Feb 19, 2007)

Wonder what the purpose of the circuit board is for? What does it do? Benefits?


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## MSwaterlogged (Feb 5, 2014)

RiderZ said:


> Wonder what the purpose of the circuit board is for? What does it do? Benefits?


As far as I know, the circuit board is there to cut down the RF noise and to keep the FCC off Racemasters back. It has a number of capacitors (and I am sure other goodies). Steve has said that it does not affect the performance any, but does not enhance it either. It is strictly a noise suppressor.

Charlie


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## leonus (Dec 17, 2013)

So, does anyone know if the new FCC regulations will affect the manufacturing of the auto world pancake motor cars?
I know they aren't the greatest for quality control, but I'm glad someone is still making them at all, and would hate to see them stop. I'm afraid if they did, prices would quickly rise beyond my limited purchasing budget..&#55357;&#56848;


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## A/GS (Jul 10, 2014)

This is typical of government regulators that find problems where none exist. The so-called RF noise problem doesn't even exist. You would think the FCC with all its responsibility over the communications industry; would have enough to keep it busy than come up with nonsense like this. Obviously they don't bother dealing with the real problems; such as protecting the consumer from the cable companies ripping them off. And waste time on this instead. Slot Cars have been around since at least the 60's; and suddenly there's a problem after over 50 YEARS ???!!! You can bet this is a phony ploy that's making someone a nice chunk of change. The U.S. is bankrupt due to the Iraq war; and this is the B.S. the government wastes tax payers money on ? Truly the inmates are running the Asylum ! God protect us from the meddling fools in power. :freak:


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## A/GS (Jul 10, 2014)

MSwaterlogged said:


> As far as I know, the circuit board is there to cut down the RF noise and to keep the FCC off Racemasters back. It has a number of capacitors (and I am sure other goodies). Steve has said that it does not affect the performance any, but does not enhance it either. It is strictly a noise suppressor.
> 
> Charlie


The only noise it will suppress is that coming from the FCC. LOL :tongue:


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

The noise is real.. It's the same interference that had dear ol' Mom beating on the floor because my trains and slot cars were making the TV all messed up. I had forgotten all about it until I set up my small table (before my big one) and it caused all kinds of problems on the TV. 

I believe there's a fix for it without modifying the chassis though. Wouldn't a cap on the power supply do the same thing? Does it have to be on the chassis itself?

I agree A/GS, the Feds have more important crap that needs to be taken care of... All they care about now a days is how much lobbyist money they can scrape up and pad their pockets with, because the 180 grand a year they make ain't enough. They all need to be locked up for life!


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## leonus (Dec 17, 2013)

My wife regularly watches tv, and or computer while I run my cars, and she has yet to say anything. She's not one for complaining ( I am truly blessed), but I imagine she would have mentioned it by now..

Our house is small, and we don't have cable... If it doesn't effect us...

I think the gov't. Should regulate something that makes a difference (hopefully positive) and quit wasting time and money. 
But, as I heard a wise man say once, " stick to what you're good at.."&#55357;&#56841;


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## beast1624 (Mar 28, 2009)

Dad had a HAM radio that messed up the TV and radio more than my slot stuff...but I guess that's a different story. Only complaint dad got was from the neighbor across the street who asked him to slow down so he could read dad's code.


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## Bubba 123 (Sep 10, 2010)

beast1624 said:


> Dad had a HAM radio that messed up the TV and radio more than my slot stuff...but I guess that's a different story. Only complaint dad got was from the neighbor across the street who asked him to slow down so he could read dad's code.


there are suppressors, that plug into outlets & then U plug the "Offending" slot cars, ect..
into them.. resister/diode thingy's ....

Bubba 123 :wave:

HAM radios/CB's are transceivers, is a whole different ball of wax 4 shielding....


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## cody6268 (Oct 31, 2013)

Not interested. I like my slot cars circuit board-free. Circuit boards make repairs and maintenence a headache. And I'm pretty sure the way I drive, those wires would be broken off the circuit board soon. I can't solder well, either. 

Even though I find secondhand Aurora T-jets a little pricey, I' m pretty sure I could buy at least one Aurora or two Auto World Thunderjets for whatever these cars will sell for.


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## MSwaterlogged (Feb 5, 2014)

slotcarman12078 said:


> The noise is real..
> I believe there's a fix for it without modifying the chassis though. Wouldn't a cap on the power supply do the same thing? Does it have to be on the chassis itself?
> 
> !


According to Racemasters, there will be chokes on the power supplies and something in the controllers (I think) as well. All of these items had to be tested to verify that they meet the FCC regs. Not a cheap thing to do. BTW, am pretty sure the circuit board on the cars can be removed without much trouble (Hope the FCC does not read this :drunk.

Charlie


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

The Circuit board is not what you think it's for.... ie> "In the Racemaster car that circuit board may be for reducing voltage as these motors are designed for 1.5 to 9 volts depending on the specification. I run a 10 or 15 ohm 1/2 watt choke resistor in my Gravity racers to do that, otherwise over revving will result in a thrown wire from the stack.
Looks like a N20 motor. It is 10 mm wide,8 mm high and 15 mm long and weighs , get this, 4 grams! " >as posted by chaparrAL on SCI


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

*Ooops !?*

Possible Retraction here, from my previous post. As I received the following Private Message > "With regard to chapparAL he has two things wrong. The circuit board is not for reducing voltage and the AFX motor will be fine because it is modified compared to what he uses in his gravity cars. Your pasting of his comments makes it look you you think he is right about the voltage reduction, but he is not if we go by what Steve told me. It could be the way you have pasted it...."
___________________________________




Ralphthe3rd said:


> The Circuit board is not what you think it's for.... ie> "In the Racemaster car that circuit board may be for reducing voltage as these motors are designed for 1.5 to 9 volts depending on the specification. I run a 10 or 15 ohm 1/2 watt choke resistor in my Gravity racers to do that, otherwise over revving will result in a thrown wire from the stack.
> Looks like a N20 motor. It is 10 mm wide,8 mm high and 15 mm long and weighs , get this, 4 grams! " >as posted by chaparrAL on SCI


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## Paul R (Nov 3, 2009)

Might be better to get the facts from the manufacturing aka Steve, before you post someone's observations.


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

WHATEVER !
All I know for certain is, two things> #1) I was the one who Started this thread, because know one else was reporting the news. #2) I am Not an Inline Fan, and will never own another Tomy/Racemasters car, so all this is a mute point to me. I was just trying to Report NEWS, and inject some life back into this site, with a New Topic of Discussion...


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## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

My t-jets/AFX cars haven't messed the TV's up sine 1975!!!

What the f are they talking about!!!!

Gov is so screwed up it's pathetic. Really, makes me sick. Much like all these freaking pop ups around here lately!!!!!! Sickening!!!

In-line?!?!?! What's that?!?!?!?!


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

*Circuit Board FACTS from Steve of Racemasters...*

Quotes:

-Originally Posted by chaparrAL >
"I have been playing with these little baby motors for a couple of years. In the Racemaster car that circuit board may be for reducing voltage as these motors are designed for 1.5 to 9 volts depending on the specification. I run a 10 or 15 ohm 1/2 watt choke resistor in my Gravity racers to do that, otherwise over revving will result in a thrown wire from the stack.
Looks like a N20 motor. It is 10 mm wide,8 mm high and 15 mm long and weighs , get this, 4 grams! This is same motor I used in the LANDSHARK Dragsters, and certainly has enough torque for a modest magnet downforce car."

Steve's Reply >
"Turns out the only components on the circuit board are micro capacitors and micro inductors the purpose of which is to reduce electrical noise. You are right that the circuit board could have been used to carry components to reduce the voltage to the motor. That would be necessary for many of the mini motors we looked at. However, we have yet to find one of these motors, using very little voltage, that has components that would hold up under the loads we see. That is why we ended up with this one. And it doesn't need to have the voltage reduced.

Hope that helps!

Steve "


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

*Removal of Circuit board FACTS from Steve of AFX*

Steve Writes >
"Actually, I'm happy to report that there are no legal requirements (yet) that oblige us to take steps to force you not to remove the PCB. So you are free to take it out if you deem it worth the effort. Of course at some point there will be club rules to take into account, but that is not my area.

As I mentioned in my previous post, removing the PCB on the early iterations of the chassis was incredibly complex. However, the contact points from the hanger bracket to the PCB are press in now with one wire needing solder. I do not yet know if the contact points will also need to be soldered for the production car, we'll have to wait another couple of weeks to know that. But one way or another there will definitely be at least some soldering in assembly.

Hope that answers your questions. "


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

*One Final (note worthy)comment from Steve of AFX...*

"Appreciate the comments and glad to hear you are looking forward to getting the new stuff. Believe me, sooo - am - I!! This nonsense of not having our products available before Christmas just sucks (note: "sucks" is an engineering term we use at AFX).

Regarding the consistency of the motors, a little story: we just received two of the latest complete EP chassis/Formula bodies to check the most recent changes. One of the things we did was set up our longer test track and run the cars to break-in (takes much longer, BTW) to check gear mesh, speed and PU shoe wear and contact. After we were done with that we did lap times at Expert level on each of the samples and compared them to a broken in Mega-G. The variance between the average lap times of the two samples was a little over 4%. But here's the interesting bit. Although the Mega-G feels more powerful, even using the new controller, and the layout favors a more powerful car (oval with 10' straights and 18" radius curves) the Mega G+ cars turned faster average lap times. Almost more importantly when pushing all three cars to the limit to get the fastest times, the MG+ cars de-slotted 1 and 3 times respectively over about 30 laps while the MG came off 11 times in the same number of laps

Now for the caveats: these are engineering prototypes, not production; it is a small number of samples; the driver isn't particularly skilled (your obedient servant); but the results are consistent with previous testing. Our hypothesis is that the new system is easier to drive because the power delivery is smoother and more consistent and the torque is higher. Bottom line, the MG+ seems more fun to drive.

Cynic that I am I won't believe it until we get the final engineering proto in the next week or so. And then I still won't believe it until we get production product. But it is encouraging.

Hmmm, this is getting to be a long one. Last thing: the traction magnets will be the same level 30 neodymium with the same dimensions as before. Consistency between new magnets has generally been very good. In any case it shouldn't be different from MG. I will mention that we may adjust the height from the rail after we get the first production run and have a chance to see how car speed and grip looks over a larger sample.

Sorry for the long winded reply. "


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