What is everyones thoughts on Fly Cars

[raggededgeracecars]

What is everyones thoughts on Fly Cars especially the Marcos LM 600's and C5R Corvettes?

[slothead]

Just a quick comment since I know nothing about the newer models you mentioned.

All my Fly cars are replicas of cars from mid 60's to mid 70's, the golden ea of Le Mans and Can Am racing. Initially I hated them for having so many mechanical flaws. But they are among my best looking cars so I've kept buying them. Their #59 Porsche 917/10 is a beautiful car and a dream to drive.

[valie]

They are nice to look at! Useless racing cars and very noisy.

[Eric P]

The C5 looks a bit big, maybe the wrong scale even. However, Fly cars are usually really close to accurate, maybe it's just a big car, both are front engined. Don't let those things scare you away though. They are no Slot.it killers, but can be made to run decently with some work.
I've made the Lola T70 and Ferrari 512 CL run nice with just tuning, no aftermarket wheels or axles. The independent front ends usually get replaced with a solid axle though.
My brother has a Marcos thats nice. He moved the motor to the back for better weight distribution. He also took a Porsche 935 K3 and moved the motor from behind the rear axle to just ahead of it. Both cars run really good with other plastic wheeled 18K motor cars now.
So, they look great and run good with some work.

[RichD]

The front motored Fly cars are the most difficult ones to make competitive. I guess that it was Fly's policy to place the motor where it would be in the 1:1 car. The front motor in the Corvette is very far forward, so the car's weight is in the wrong place and the front stub axles wobble to the extent that the front tires can rub on the body. Since my club's rules allow it I just put the Fly body on a Slot.it HRS chassis.
I did look up the dimensions of the Corvette C5 street car and convert them to 1/32nd scale. Those are L 5.62", W 2.30" and WB 3.27" VS L 5.66", W 2.43 " and WB 3.26" for the Fly C5R version. The C5R has a front splitter that would make it a little longer than the street version and the C5R has running boards that would make it wider as well. In any case the car is close enough to scale to satisfy most people.



Eventually I got a Fly Marcos as a race prize and I put an Olifer 3D printed chassis under that.



The Fly sidewinders are the ones that are closer in performance to other makes.

[Mitch58]

Fly cars out of the box are basically toys, but they are very tunable and can be made to run very well. Most Fly cars come with the same FC130 can black stripe motor that Scalextric uses.

Here in the Portland area our local group that we call the "Le Mans" class. We created it for the cars we all owned but didn't/couldn't compete in the other classes. It is open to Stock but tuned Fly, Spirit, Ninco, Scalextric, Carrera, ect. cars. We can sand the tires rubber or urethane, change the wheels if needed, We can also change out the noisy gears but must maintain the same ratio, but they all must use the black stripe motor.
While it is open to all of these brands most of the racers have ended up using Fly cars due to the tunability. The Porsche 908s and the Ferrari 512s have become very popular.
This has also turned into the closest most competitive class that we run.

[williamg]

For the home plastic track racer Fly cars are hit-or-miss if they will run out of the box properly.
Sometimes it's an easy fix, a light sand or tire change.

BUT
I find many times they need a gear change and front axle or guide work.

If you like to tinker Fly cars are a fast home track car. Many are "heavy" with the magnet.

If you want out of the box enjoyment steer clear. Or find a dealer who will tweak the car for you upon purchase.

[RichD]

I looked up the C5R on Wikipedia and to scale a C5R would be L 5.71", W 2.46" and WB 3.27".

[Brumos RSR]

I LOVE after a chassis change. Either a Changing Gearz or Olifer and they become quite the runner with GREAT detail and looks.

[Pappy]

Years ago when Fly first came out we put O rings on the front wheels. They look just like tires from the outside but made the car handle much better. But I haven't even tried a Fly car in 15 years.

[SuperSlab]

I have many Flys that run extremely well without wholesale parts replacement. Just take some care with tyres (selection and preparation) and general blueprinting and they can run beautifully. As mentioned, the front motored cars are much harder to tune but the Classics (Ford GT40, Lola T70 Mk III, Porsche 906, 908, 917, Ferrari 512 etc) are all fantastic.

I love them!

[PetesLightKits]

Their models are very nice looking and they offer (or did offer) some unique models. Depending on what you put into them, they can be made to run very well. They are known for having a high rate of cracked pinions, out of round crown/spur gears, cracked wheels and some poor design choices (stub front axles and front-motors). The front-motor models do require a little more work just because the physics of a front motor slot car are very different than that of their real road and track-going counterparts.

This Panoz Esperante was changed from inline front engine to sidewinder configuration and runs very well against Scalextric GT cars.







Peter

[32lbking]

Hey Pete... was just relocating and gluing the motor to the chassis, along with changing to a solid front axle all that you did to this car?
Randy

[PetesLightKits]

Randy... that was pretty much it, as well as ball bearings, new rear wheels and lights. I did cut a hole in the chassis so the motor sat down flush with the bottom of the chassis. The stock front axle blocks have the wheels/tires at the perfect height so I didn't do anything more with the front axle. I don't remember if I added some weight to the front after testing.

[chappyman66]

Cross posted from another thread....

Pete did say it involves many factors. But I have to take issue with the whole "full replacement" idea. Fly cars have several known issues. How much you put in depends on what you want.

1) sloppy bearings causing hop. Use the "super glue trick" and in less than 5 min your can eliminate the slop.

2) Poorly molded wheels causing hop. Use a utility knife blade as a scraper while running the car on break in box with tires removed. In 30 seconds a side you will have reasonable round wheels. Use a file or sandpaper if you prefer.

3) Loose independent fronts. Either put in a solid front axle or sleeve with plastic or brass tube. Again, cheap and relatively easy. You can true the fronts while you have them off, too.

4) Poor guides with limited travel. Flatten the bottom of the guide blade with a nail file or sandpaper. Glue a strip of .063"wide styrene on the bottom of the guide. Use a round file or knife to remove a small semi circle of plastic on the chassis at the limits of guide travel.

5) Body float. Sand around the chassis perimeter where it touches the body so you can barely see space between them. Dremel makes quick work of this.

In a hour, for under $10 you can fix most of the issues and have a pretty decent running good looking car. The gear mesh will probably still be loud. There was a full tuning tutorial on the old site.....not sure if it made the move but one of the admins can probably pull it over if not.

I spend a couple hours and do a few more things, but they are nice to have, not necessities. As Alwyn says, the stock gear is good enough for all but high level racing.

Now....
Can you spend more and rebuild the entire rear end? Sure. Can you build a brass chassis? Sure. Can you buy a 3D chassis (presuming you don't have a printer) and do a full replacement? Sure. It's all about what you want to put in to the tuning. Just don't think that fixing a Fly means big bucks unless that's what you want to do. I don't fault folks that want to do that. I just choose not to, and still have pretty fast Flys.

As for the Marcos.....if you change the spring for a tube on the driveshaft, it will help. But the real solution is to make it rear motored. Then it's a bullet.
Never been a Vette fan....

[RichD]

Here is an article about tuning cars to run without magnets: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzL...ew?usp=sharing

[War Eagle River]

Suppose I’ll chime in. We race the Fly Classics here consistently. You can do whatever you want to these cars. My favorite class of cars to race, hands down. The most diverse models across the board of any manufacture, IMHO. As a matter of fact, our group is racing them today! Thats all I have to say.