Powered Model Cars
Though most car models are static display items, individual model builders have sometimes powered their vehicles in various ways, including rubber bands, springs, inertia mechanisms, electric motors, internal combustion engines, air engines and steam engines. In order to make them less fragile, powered models are often somewhat simplified and not as detailed as the best static models. For this reason, some modelers dismiss nearly all powered miniature cars as toys; however many individual efforts and commercial products are sufficiently well-scaled and detailed that they deserve to be called models. The main types of commercially-produced powered car models include:
Uncontrolled powered models, which were developed in the 1930s and were common until the 1960s. Often guided by a rail between the wheels, or by a tether staked to the center of a circular course, most of these cars use small internal combustion glow plug engines and are known as tether cars.
Electrically powered slot cars which draw power from the track. They became extremely popular in the 1960s, but commercial slot car racing experienced a rapid decline in popularity late in the decade. By the end of the 1970s, the slot car hobby had diminished significantly, especially public tracks operating larger scale cars, and modeling in general was on the decline (HO Slot Car Racing 1999-2011). One website attributes the weakening of the pastime to both the ageing of the baby-boomers along with the fragile economics of the slot car industry and the closing of many commercial slot car tracks perhaps as toy companies offered smaller sets to be used at home (Slotblog 2007). A wide variety of electrically powered vehicles, however are available today - in various forms.
Spring-powered or "clockwork" car models, that are wound with a key or by a friction mechanism. These were common until slot cars largely replaced them in the 1960s. In fact, the first commercially successful slot cars, the Scalextric 1/32 line (originally 1:30) which debuted in 1957, were simply motorized versions of the earlier Scalex clockwork racers.
Radio-controlled cars, which can be bought assembled or built from kits. These are usually powered by electric motors or glow plug engines. Drivers can control the speed and steering of these cars remotely by a radio signal.
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