5 replies to this topic

[SlotsNZ]

For those not familiar with the background. Ninco began as a hobby slot car brand, owned by two families in the 90s, and eventually just by David Cosculluela.
Ninco had been the largest brand in Spain, and the RAID and rally cars were very popular. But after the 2008 world financial meltdown and especially the huge
unemployment in Spain, they never really recovered, and so development plans for events, digital and new moulds all went by the board. They diversified into
branding Chinese RC products and kept the company alive, but have never again been a force in slot cars.

They were swallowed by Fabricas de Juguetes, with plastic products production down in Alicante (our stamping ground in 2016/17), then Fabricas de
Juguetes was swallowed by Educa Borras, who are the largest toy, games and cardboard products company in Spain.

On our recent trip around Europe, we had a short stop in Girona and Barcelona, (fortunately we got out and down the coast on the Friday, before the riots
started the following Monday when the Catalan leaders were sentenced for sedition)
I had a meeting arranged with Educa Borras who took my to head office about 25km from Barcelona, across the road from their "card" factory, which
produces all things from jigsaw puzzles to cardboard based engineering toys.
The brand manager for slot cars is responsible for three ranges of slot cars. They produce "hot wheels"branded slot cars in something between true 1/43rd
and HO - It looks about 1:50th scale to me



From the acquisition of Fabrica de Juguetes, they inherited licensing for WRC producing 1:43rd scale track system and cars






That is now being dual branded as Ninco and WRC, with the longer term intention to market their 1:43rd solely as Ninco brand


Then they have the universal chassis and lexan bodied cars in 1:32nd


They have a couple of 1:32nd scale sets back in production, but the range is pretty limited.

The 1:43rd was interesting to me, as it uses a standard 1:32 guide and braid, and they intend to provide parts support from the 2020 production.
Something that is lacking at present. Carrera don't seem to be with Go!, and the new marketers of SCX have declared they aren't intending to offer
parts support.

So not a lot of relevance to where most of us are at in the hobby, but nice to see the brand is still alive. If anyone has any questions about them for the
future, message me, as I have an open door with Marc and Charlie, who would love to see slots back in Australasia.

I brought back enough samples to have a decent play with the product, but haven't had time to do anything with them yet.
As a matter of general interest, David Cosculluela is still around, working at Educa Borras in a wider marketing and product development role
- and he doesn't look any older than 10 years back.

Oh and, they do a small range of 1:1 scale as well

[ZeGas]

Mark,

Very interesting, Are the cars in the pictures the ones with lexan bodies, guessing not as the bodies look quite solid.

Also will they be bringing out a 1:1 version in Gulf livery?

[Wobble]

Would be good if they brought back some parts for older cars, especially the guides, regular and prorace. I've used quite a few 4-packs in the past.

[SlotsNZ]

Zegas - those 1:32 are the lexan body. They are fairly thick lexan, quite robust, you can twist and hit them - pretty hard to break in RTR racing. But they don't have realistic shaping, compared to an injected body.

Wobble - yes, I used to use and sell a lot of Prorace guides - and the Prorace screws with the phillips head. It's taken me years to find suitable substitutes.
I did actually ask about both items, but no plans to do anything in either regard.

I cant imagine Charlie driving a gulf livery car around the streets of Barcelona. - He's the brand manager, and was instrumental in the setting up of the RCT Valles club we see all the rally tracks and videos from.

[Wobble]

Mark, I just read the opening post again and I hadn't taken too much notice of this statement 1st time around.

"The 1:43rd was interesting to me, as it uses a standard 1:32 guide and braid, and they intend to provide parts support from the 2020 production."

So maybe it is possible that their standard guide might be available again and I've used this guide quite a few times as well and I think it's OK too.

Edited by Wobble, 15 November 2019 - 08:03 AM.

[SlotsNZ]

Wobble, on 15 November 2019 - 08:01 AM, said:

So maybe it is possible that their standard guide might be available again and I've used this guide quite a few times as well and I think it's OK too.

The standard N80105 Ninco guide (4 pack) is still available in limited quantities from the Ninco distributor on the island Māui fished up, 20km off the northern coast of "Mainland"

(That is different from the larger Pro-race guide, which isn't available)