Vintage Vault

[gazza 320]

 

 

 

 

[gazza 320]

1963

[kalbfellp 85]

Had a few of them over the years, still have two Harwood Transistor controllers ( 1966) Australian made and one of the very first commercial transistor controllers.

[Malomay 40]

With all due respect for the period, I think the Stern Electronics Posi-Trol  HC-100 would have benefited from the input of a designer........or maybe they didn't exist in those days !

 

[Malomay 40]

Also, what year (thereabouts) is the Parma ad from ? Interesting that the design of this controller seems to have set the standard. Nothing much different to nowdays. The Russkit from 1969 is pretty close as well.

You guys who remember, when do you think it was that the trigger style really took over from the early thumb press style ? which seems to have been the predominant design for many years.

Edited February 15 by Malomay

[gazza 320]

2 hours ago, Malomay said:

Also, what year (thereabouts) is the Parma ad from ?

1972 for the Parma

1962 for the Strombecker

[kalbfellp 85]

Mal the Parma controller is the same case as the Russkit,the Russkit shield is still on the Parma.I assume Parma brought the moulds.

[gazza 320]

1963

[Malomay 40]

The MRRC barrel style in the above photo looks very similar (but not quite) some 3rd party controllers my Uncle bought for his Scaley set (to replace the standard Scalex controllers !).  I can't remember what brand they were, but were yellow, with electric brake terminals on the controllers as well.

[Vinno 162]

I had some of those MRRC barrel controllers years ago. We’re a step up from the standard Scalextric trigger controllers from the mid 80’s. 

[Sports Racer 123]

Interesting that most of these controllers were rated at 15 ohm or less.

 

[gazza 320]

 

[kalbfellp 85]

I remember visiting a local private track that still had some Fridge Door switches that had been used to control the cars, had to be fast on the thumb to drive using the on off controller.

[gazza 320]

1966

[big den 24]

Vintage???

Doesn't seem all that long ago that I was using an MRC 15-ohm 'thumb controller' at the Hobart tracks - a little bit before 'Malomay' joined the the group.

From memory it ended up playing havoc with the track power so I had to get me one of those newfangled Professor Motor controllers.

Going a bit further back to the late 1990s I remember using an MRRC 5-ohm controller (similar to the Cox design) in the last bracket (heat) of a 12-hour race at a commercial raceway, much to the amusement and amazement of the younger drivers present. 

After finishing my driving stint I was surprised when my teammates told me to leave it plugged in so they could have a go with the ancient controller. It survived the full 90 minutes of the bracket without overheating or any other dramas.

Den

 

[Malomay 40]

Great stories Den.....so, in your professional opinion what do you think was better ? the thumb, or the trigger ? What did you find were the advantages/disadvantages of both ?

:-)

 

 

[big den 24]

On 2/21/2022 at 8:06 AM, Malomay said:

Great stories Den.....so, in your professional opinion what do you think was better ? the thumb, or the trigger ? What did you find were the advantages/disadvantages of both ?

:-)

 

 

Now that I've had a few days to pick myself up off the floor Mal, my very AMATEUR opinion is that I always felt I had better low-speed control with the thumb-style controller. The bio-mechanics experts will probably have a different opinion and I have even heard discussions about which of your 'trigger fingers' gives you the optimum level of control.

To explain my preference it is important to note that the era when I was using thumb controllers was almost exclusively involved with 1:24 scale cars on larger tracks than we deal with in our current Tasmanian 1:32 scale racing. It must also be taken into account that the 'resistor' controllers I was using, say 20 to 25 years ago, did not have the almost infinite range of adjustments that have been incorporated into our current crop of electronic controllers.

In the end it comes down to what the individual feels comfortable with, but it is worth noting that a New Zealander, Dave Gick, had considerable international success using a thumb-style controller ... although it was probably a far different beast than the vintage models we have seen displayed in this thread.

The passing of time also affects our own personal capacities. The 30-minute driving stints in enduros that I could handle during the 1990s are long gone!

Den

 

 

[Sports Racer 123]

When did electronic controllers become available?

[Peter Gunn 107]

We used to run Parma's with 10 ohm resistors in the late 60,s early 70,s in 1/24th racing , and can remember cutting heat vents in them got a bit hot with Mura motors running the cars hard , nice controllers though , can remember using the MRRC barrel which was plastic and the resistor pole getting quite hot with Pittman 196'b even saw one melt .

Funny really always prefered a thumb controller but soon got used to a finger one when the plunger one's got obsolete .

[kalbfellp 85]

Paul My Harwood transistor controllers are from 1966, they look just like the Slotmaster controller in the advert, but we’re made in Australia.

The first Cheap “ Electronic” controller was probably the Trinity “ Slotworks” diode controller introduced here in about 1992 or 93, later to become the first Professor Motorsport controller.

 

 

[Garry J 24]

The Slotworks controller was rubbish. Wiper arm on circuit board with all the power running through it, they burnt out the board very quickly.

Probably what sent them out of business.

 

[kalbfellp 85]

I have several old boards here from these controllers.

I did manage to solder brass contacts on to a couple to repair them for racers here, PM version with brass contacts was a big improvement.