Sideways Nissan Skyline Group 5 – Review & Build

[SlotsNZ 92]

Disclaimer: - I sell these Sideways cars in NZ, but will always attempt to give a fair summary of what I like and don't

 

I have been looking forward to this car a lot. I haven’t built a new Group 5 racer for club in a long time.

Taking the car from the box, the first thing that struck me was that it looks really BIG. A closer look and comparison with my BMW M1 revealed surprises.

The wheelbase is about the same. The body width which looks huge is just 1mm wider than the BMW M1 at 66mm

The body is a little higher than the M1, but I don't expect this to change handling much.

Tampo work and paint look fine and even with no bleed.

But it has more overhang behind the rear axle.

It is longer overall, and may have a touch more guide lead.

The mechanical setup is identical to other Sideways models, fitted with a Slot.it Flat-6, 11:28 gearing, and 17.3 x 8mm alloys on the back, plastic on the front.

Guide is a CH85 Slot.it with the usual relatively stiff braid. This will need changing out for a soft braid if you are doing non magnet racing.

Standard tyres appear to be the Slot.it C1 compound. Again, for non magnet racing you will want to replace these with something suited to your track.

 

Under the base of the display box are the usual bits and pieces for altering the mechanical offset of the rear axle and mounting a digital chip.

Do not panic when you see the rear spoiler is missing on the car – that is also under the base, and just clips in place.

There is a flexible black replacement wing available separately for purchase, I will also fit that to the car for racing.

The body is very light at 18 grams and the wheel arches are open very high.

Overall weight is still a smidgen over 80 grams.

Comparing with pictures of the real car, the real car did have deep arches, but these are more open. This will make it easy getting wheels on and off,

but looks a bit off to my thinking.

 

The other thing I am not keen on, is that the BBS wheel inserts used for this model have changed from the very nice ones used on other models.

The rear inserts are a flat pan with the gold spokes just sitting proud of a black base lacking the nice chrome rim piece of other models.

 

I am going to change them. This is one option, and close to a wheel the car raced with.

The silver insert at bottom looks awful sitting there hanging down as it were, but looks good in the flesh. It has nice detail and depth.

I think I pulled them from a ScaleAuto Mercedes GT3 body kit.

But I have some nice quality gold BBS inserts ala the Sideways Capri somewhere …. I will experiment.

 

I won't go into track performance here, as these cars all handle so similarly.

 

Once I get it set up I will put something in the workshop area outlining what I have done. I am not even sure whether I will keep the angle-winder setup,

or revert to my much loved sidewinder fetish.

 

SO head over to "Workshop" where i have outlined a quick afternoon build job.

[ZeGas 61]

That rear is really long, almost moby dick like.