Anyone bought a scalextric set for Xmas?

ROOG

If so, was it fun or a one minute wonder? Never had one as a kid, too expensive, now I'm a big kid I could get one. Also torn over big traditional scale and the new tiddly one?

jd0272

What?????

jd0272

No, I mean really, what?

ROOG

jd0272 said:

What?????

Typo in title!

jd0272

ROOG said:

jd0272 said:

What?????

Typo in title!

Aye I guessed, just workin' meself  

I loved them as a kid, got our lot one two year ago, lost interest after the 25th. Obv not 'dynamic' enough.

I thought about buying Meccano for the lads, but thought, no point, iPads kill everything else. Shame   Wife's fault too.

Sambostar

Dude.  You HAVE to buy a Scalextric set if you never had one as a kid.

I am on a full on regression.  I've started with mid 90's hi fi.  Soon I will approaching the mid 80's.

Scalextric was cool, AT-AT's were cool, Action Men were cool, BMX were cool, home made go karts were cool, model  ww2 Airfix fighters and tanks were cool, digging holes in the forest was cool, even train sets were cool.  IPads do not substitute any of these things.

I feel that with toys, like anything else we reached a point as a civilisation where things were as good as they were gonna get.  These days everything depends on IPads and tablets, from your house heating and lighting to banking, to finding out which way you are going to driving and to games, 'Exercise' and leisure activities.  Even people walking down the street have them special wristbands on, telling them of they have walked far enough for their digital master.

You know what?  If you want to get fit and lose weight, why don't you throw that digital crap away, chop up your credit card and go for a run, a swim, a cycle and keep going when your body tells you to stop.  You won't lose weight looking at a Tablet with marketing cookies chasing you around, although you will feel very busy and very important and actually probably feel like you are, which is the sad part about it.

Scalextric all the way man!

ROOG

My kids (20 something's!) have been pestering me too. They recon it will be a good alternative to everyone clumping around the TV?

Sambostar

What about some Ardino or cheap Chinese modules and breadboards?  I'm getting into this myself, which is weird considering I completely lost the will to live with A level physics electronics at the time. 

Start by giving them some cooker wire and tell them to push it into the mains socket.

You could also experiment with household chemicals.  Combined with Scalextric, you could adapt certain cars so that they exploded with the right signal from a mobile phone and you can practice your artistic abilities by painting scenic background canvas's.

thumpingrug

I had one as a kid.  Well actually my dad had it but my brother and I had access to it.  It was huge.  He pretty much set up the entire loft area of a decent sized house for it and would pick up extra bits of track wherever he could. He also had a model railway running all over it so the scalextric was part of the overall layout.  Wish I had pictures cos it was great.  

Due to the size and verity of straights and different bends it needed a lot of concentration to maintain decent speed and not throw the cars off the track.  I spent hours and hours and weeks and months and years perfecting a good lap time.

Great fun, but I suspect the size gave it a longevity that a simple layout might not.

ROOG

I can see it taking over the lounge, then the missus will get grumpy and tell us to pack it away!

jd0272

ROOG said:

I can see it taking over the lounge, then the missus will get grumpy and tell us to pack it away!

This is why the phrase "Fuck off" exists, really.

Neil

I wouldn't get too excited, I had one as a kid, with Vanwalls!!

I bought one for my kids years later and it was just as boring. 

stickyfiddle

I loved it as a kid and still have my old Batman set somewhere. Suspect it may not be the top toy as far as today's kids are concerned though.

boogieman

My stepson still has his set stashed up in the loft here. Seriously tempted to break it out and see if it's still as much fun as I remember. Think I might be sadly disappointed though.

VimFuego

had one as a kid, great fun. Would get one now, but I think I'd prefer a train set (though I get the feeling that could be a very expensive hobby)

ROOG

VimFuego said:

had one as a kid, great fun. Would get one now, but I think I'd prefer a train set (though I get the feeling that could be a very expensive hobby)

I always fancied the idea of one of those tiny gauge train sets, built into a glass box table

underdog

I wish they had the ones that changed lanes when I was a kid.

strumjoughlamps

have tried many times over the years to get into Scalextric but never could.. last time I tried was about 18 months ago with a swanky digital set but neither me or my 2 lads were interested..

RC cars/planes/copters... that is a different story.

holnrew

I'm going to get a train set one day.

Sambostar

Yeah you could built a shit dump actuator and a camera on to a cheap ebay drone. operated by a magic button on your handset and upgrade the rf unit.  That way you could remotely patrol the skies over the town centre from your armchair and dump dog faeces on random people at any given moment, then fly back home and reload.

Lol, I'd love to see the Sky News headline of you got away with it for a week. 'Faeces Terror From the Skies!'

Hootsmon

^ starring 40s actor Turd Slaughter