What's Up with Parts?

[Aptosc6]

I'm guessing this has been addressed here but can someone shed light on why basic 1/32 parts (pinions, gears, tires, etc.) seem to be "out of stock" everywhere? Also, does anyone know when this might end?

[Mikeinclover]

What brand are you looking for? Slot it have been dried up for quite awhile now and some parts have been out of stock for over 6 months. Now NSR is still available with plenty of stock.

[Billy boy]

ive been wondering the same thing. is it a materials or labor related issue in china? maybe dave k or others could shed some light

[LegOutOfBed]

Parts are flowing freely from both those companies mentioned above to the New Zealand market.
I would thus suggest that the issue is related to USA distributors, or their retailers.

[Starfighter Ace]

Slot.it parts are in the US, just waiting for Hornby in the UK and US to get their ducks in a row. I am told after my conversation they will be released any day now. I haven't seen a pair of the new G25 tires yet. The last new "part" was the CH85b. Cars have shown up, thankfully. Just no parts.

[lance]

what are you looking for?. i can usually find what i need in 2 or 3 online shops.

[Aptosc6]

Lance, a bunch of us pool orders to get free shipping. A lot of Slot It stuff has dried up, 11 tooth x 6.5mm pinions for one. I have also noticed some FC130 motors in short supply. These are just a couple of the items.

[Billy boy]

im not a big fan of ordering from a bunch of different company's either.excess shipping costs. im sure it will get straightened out soon.

[Modlerbob]

According to a you tube video the problem is on the west coast of the USA. Dock workers out due to covid19 restrictions. Containers aren't getting offloaded so ships are waiting in the harbors fully loaded. Also since many US factories aren't running at full capacity containers are sitting empty here in the US and ports in the far east don't have enough inbound containers to handle the load creating an additional bottleneck.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Actually it is simply that our "distributors" do not order enough. Been an issue for many moons.
When DaveK and another worked at SUSA things did improve. Now it is back to the same old issue. It's what happens when you only have ONE source.
We know what parts we need...sales show that. Yet they simply continue to not fill this need. Other parts sources suffer the same. Luckily we have alternate sources for some brands now and they have improved.

[GearHead36]

Not ordering enough parts sounds like a great way to work yourself to obscurity. UK vendors can get stuff into my hands for about the same cost as US vendors. Shipping is a little higher, but if my order is $100 or more, the total cost is about the same. I prefer to use US vendors, but if they won't cater to my needs, I'll go where I can get the parts.

[Fathead59]

Safe to say that there are many reasons why there is a parts shortage , I would say that that main reason is the Pandemic , lower work force , not as much material , factories running a half capacity maybe even lower . Safe to say that no one was prepared for what happened

[War Eagle River]

I wouldn’t know😉.

[Fathead59]

My dad grew up during the depression , and he saved everything . I guess you could have called him a hoarder . In his mind set was you never know if you will need it someday . So I do the same thing with slot car parts . I guess it is better to have it and not need it , than to need it and not have it

[Barc 1]

I seldom use slotcar specific parts. Pinions, spurs etc are all bought in bulk on ebay. This was through necessity when scratch building 1/43 scale cars, but I continued this as I got more involved in 132 scale. Not of the quality of slot it or NSR, but readily available. So if you want to build a slot car, and are not concerned about running it in a competitive environment there are very inexpensive alternatives. I.e a bag full(20) of 34 tooth nylon gears can be purchased for about $5.00.

On a home layout the performance difference between these cars and those running more expensive gear is almost negligible.