Stanbridges Hobby Shop
Shop in Stirling

In 1952 a insignificant company called Minimodels Limited introduced a range of metal bodied model racing cars which contained a unique type of clockwork motor. The inventor of these cars was Mr B Francis and the trade mark known as scale. Whilst witnessing a demonstration of electrically operated cars running on a track Francis instantly recognized the potential for his own products and modified his cars to take an electric motor. He also devised a rubber based track system with two parallel grooves in which metal rails carried electric stylish thus guiding the cars by means of a gimbals wheel suspended beneath them. The variable speed hand throttle replaced the ingenious 'dapper' type controller and the construction of new track sections and buildings enabled sincere reproductions of actual race tracks to be launched. Significant change in 1963 from rubber to polyethylene track, allowing it to be molded in the factory rather than buying it from a contract rubber supplier and reducing production costs considerably. By this time there were 18 different cars, two motorcycle combinations, and a new purpose built factory designed to accommodate the swift developments taking place. The cars were met with popular approval and Scalextric was swiftly back on the road to recovery. Progress continued steadily and deliberately throughout the 1970's until the instant appeal of the home computer in the early 1980's began to undermine sales. The victory and continued appeal of Scalextric is undoubtedly a tribute to the foresight of its originator. An overnight sensation, the orders flowed in, exhausting the company's production capacity to such an extent that in 1958 Francis chose to sell Minimodels to a company with greater resources. Such developments led to the 1964 advertising slogan the maximum whole model motor racing system in the world Champion driver Jim Clark was retained to maintain the Scalextric momentum. In 1970 a fresh product designed to increase steering flexibility was launched known as You Steer.