TFX Reviews

This is the pancake chassis that I have been looking for. A ready to run chassis that runs great out of the package with no prep needed save a small amount of oiling in the usual places. Yes, You can adjust the shoes, prep the brushes, etc., but it’s not necessary. The chassis I have all run smooth and consistent on my 2 routed as well as AFX track. The only thing I found was that running on my AFX track, given how low the chassis sits, I had to make sure the screw I used up front sat flush in the beveled hole of the guide pin otherwise I’d experience issues at certain track joints. These chassis simply run smooth, quick and quiet. I feel this is a chassis that I can use in a club setting without scaring off newcomers. The HO scene in my neck of the woods is not good. I’ve wanted to try and get some organized racing going, but using the other pancake chassis available to-date I feel would have been challenging. Whether mass produced chassis by Auto World, or options from private manufacturers, the commonality with those offerings was that a fair bit of tuning was needed to have a smooth running chassis, let alone several equally smooth running chassis. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful for those options, and will continue to patronize them, but I feel they don’t come close to what the TFX brings in terms of a ready to run option. Well done OS3!

This is the pancake chassis that I have been looking for. A ready to run chassis that runs great out of the package with no prep needed save a small amount of oiling in the usual places. Yes, You can adjust the shoes, prep the brushes, etc., but it’s not necessary. The chassis I have all run smooth and consistent on my 2 routed as well as AFX track. The only thing I found was that running on my AFX track, given how low the chassis sits, I had to make sure the screw I used up front sat flush in the beveled hole of the guide pin otherwise I’d experience issues at certain track joints. These chassis simply run smooth, quick and quiet. I feel this is a chassis that I can use in a club setting without scaring off newcomers. The HO scene in my neck of the woods is not good. I’ve wanted to try and get some organized racing going, but using the other pancake chassis available to-date I feel would have been challenging. Whether mass produced chassis by Auto World, or options from private manufacturers, the commonality with those offerings was that a fair bit of tuning was needed to have a smooth running chassis, let alone several equally smooth running chassis. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful for those options, and will continue to patronize them, but I feel they don’t come close to what the TFX brings in terms of a ready to run option. Well done OS3!

I received my order from OS3 last week (very quick shipping, by the way), and wanted to let you know how happy I am with the new TFX and the armatures you sent.  The TFX is super smooth and very fast for a pancake type of car, right out of the package.  It runs straight and true and it’s obvious you took great pains to ensure very high manufacturing standards.  Similar comments for the armatures.  I have only tried one of the Typhoon arms so far (a 14 ohm unit that I installed in a MagnaTraction chassis), but I was also very impressed.  I did a static balance check and it only needed a slight bit taken off one of the poles.  The commutator plate looks flat and a quick Pass with my burnishing tool showed no high or low spots.  I can’t wait to try the other arms in my various pancake chassis!

I am really impressed with all the parts you sent, and wanted to make sure you knew how happy I am with the overall quality and engineering that went into them.  I will be sure to tell the other guys in my HO club here in the Detroit area about it.  We recently made your arms legal in our T-Jet and MagnaTraction race classes, so I anticipate more orders coming your way from our neck of the woods.

This is the pancake chassis that I have been looking for. A ready to run chassis that runs great out of the package with no prep needed save a small amount of oiling in the usual places. Yes, You can adjust the shoes, prep the brushes, etc., but it’s not necessary. The chassis I have all run smooth and consistent on my 2 routed as well as AFX track. The only thing I found was that running on my AFX track, given how low the chassis sits, I had to make sure the screw I used up front sat flush in the beveled hole of the guide pin otherwise I’d experience issues at certain track joints. These chassis simply run smooth, quick and quiet. I feel this is a chassis that I can use in a club setting without scaring off newcomers. The HO scene in my neck of the woods is not good. I’ve wanted to try and get some organized racing going, but using the other pancake chassis available to-date I feel would have been challenging. Whether mass produced chassis by Auto World, or options from private manufacturers, the commonality with those offerings was that a fair bit of tuning was needed to have a smooth running chassis, let alone several equally smooth running chassis. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful for those options, and will continue to patronize them, but I feel they don’t come close to what the TFX brings in terms of a ready to run option. Well done OS3!

A friend of mine invited me down to the slot club last night to try a new chassis. It was the TFX. I found out later that it was your baby. I was glad to hear you are still in the hobby and not at all surprised to know you are still making quality pieces. I have not raced HO for a long time, but I might have never stopped if the TFX existed then. Sweet driving cars, right out of the box. You have done an amazing job. You've made the perfect T-Jet. Congratulations!

These things are dynamite. I having so much fun running them on Brooklands. Once things calm down for you I will be in touch to get a couple more. They are loads of fun, quick, and handle well.

BTW, I love your TFX chassis! I love everything about it (Hence the larger order). It fits perfectly with my philosophy of promoting and utilizing cars that are reasonably priced and perform well without a major investment of time, as compared to trying to build a competitive Aurora Fray car, and the like. Your chassis' has a permanent place in my local slot car club (Springfield Slotheads), as I work to expand it. My club seeks to recruit younger enthusiasts who will, hopefully, carry-on our hobby into the future. Unlike us baby-boomers, these younger potential enthusiasts do not seem to have the desire to spend dozens of hours and to exhaust a small fortune to amass a stable of competitive cars. The TFX solves that problem, just a few tweaks, a bit of oil and a short break-in period and wow! Feel free to use my comments in any way you see fit. Thanks again for developing and bringing this awesome package to market!!!

Wow Jerry, Just amazing, what else can I say. Put 15 minutes in it and as fast as my tweaked NOS chassis. Hope clubs embrace this race chassis. Thanks for sending it to me faster than I expected! Your old race friend from Oxford.

WHAT THE??  

I almost can’t believe I’m looking at this.  I haven’t taken it from its box yet but it looks AMAZING Jerry,  I’m sorta lost for words for a few reasons.  First, I can’t thank you enough for sending me this gem.  It is soooo sexy just as it sits.  Crazy beautiful!  The pancake car has been reinvented and there’s one sitting on my coffee table!!!  WOW!!  It looks so perfectly engineered and I haven’t physically touched it yet.  From the naked eye I don’t think there’s one thou left for you to eliminate,  Well done!!  I can not wait to run it but I almost don’t want to take it from its packaging and I take everything from its packaging.
I have to say that the chassis arriving not in a tiny ziplock bag was a wonderful surprise.  The way it’s boxed is very very nice!  Raising the bar right out of the gate.  The chassis in the package screams quality, attention to detail and it’s just a beautiful little thing.  When you said you were busy you weren’t kidding.

Chassis came today, Canada Day.  This chassis has a white gear in the middle flanked by 2 reds like our flag.  If that’s what they’ll all look like, excellent.  If you change up the colours excellent.  I’ll be setting up a test track in the next day or 2 with some technical bits just to run this with a few different bodies.  Rest assured all tests will be done with my OS3 HO ALL Pro reference controller :  ). 

Sharp chassis.  Very nice work Jerry.. Bravo!!!    

(Follow-up email)

Brilliant!  Did you design this chassis top to bottom Jerry?

- The way the guide pin snaps in and out ✔️ ( i put it in and took it out a few times ) solid!
- Snipping the guide pin to length ✔️
- Gears seam to mesh better than your competitors.  It's noticeable!   ✔️
- I LOVE the dimensions of the rear wheels and the larger fronts ✔️
- Micro flanged in the front .. nice ✔️
- The way the contact tabs for the shoes sit square in the chassis with a little backboard
  to keep them from moving is a nice touch and well thought out ✔️
- The countersunk front screw,  love this!! ✔️
- I can barely get one under exacto blade under the car.  It’s pre-modified.  It’s pre-lowered.  Excellent.  There’s no room left to drop it any further!  ✔️

I slightly lowered a GTO body for this chassis to run.  I ran this car with the 19T rear end and 16.5 ohm arm it was assembled with.  I did not adjust anything nor did I oil the car yet.  I put a body on it and ran it out of the box like the last one you sent out,

Before I say how well this car handles, I’ll say it doesn’t seem cast, injection molded, printed ect..  It almost appears as if it’s been machined from a solid block of whatever material you’ve decided to go with.  It’s more precision than anything before it.. PRECISION!

This chassis is so much fun to drive, I love it.  Coming out of the corners there’s something about it I’m not sure I can explain properly, but it will fishtail a little longer and hold the track better, hammering it out of a corner.  I did a lot of this with your chassis vs other gravity cars to make sure.  It’s a driver!   You nailed this!  I love the sound or the lack of sound.  The other testers were not exaggerating nor am I.  Out of the box excellence!

I’ll experiment with the other arm and extra rear end provided.  I can only hope this chassis will be affordable and it takes the pancake world by storm.  I have a good feeling about this, to the point I have no idea how you’ll have time to assemble controllers.

Are the tires proprietary?  Your wheels seem to be of your own making?  I guess all of the parts are OS3.  
I can’t wait for this to hit the streets to see what others have to say about it.  I don’t
see any room for criticism as I think it’s on the edge of flawless.  I don’t see where you can improve on this.

Your chassis is the best pancake chassis I’ve ever laid eyes on Jerry.  I was ticketed pink looking at it sealed.  I figured it’s a special Canada day version.

It’s Brilliant!

Cheers Jerry

I did receive the TFX in the package. I have ran around 50 laps on my 70 foot MaxTrax. Very impressed!

​

The only thing I had to do to get the car to run was oil and adjust the pickup shoes. It runs very smooth, has a nice power curve, and is well balanced/great handling. The lap times on my track are only a few tenths of a second slower than a "Fray" type of car.

Once these are available to the public, I will present the chassis to our Club members at one of our races. I think it would make a great "out of the box" Class of car - no parts exchanges, just tweak the pickup shoes, slap a body on it and race.

I feel the TFX will be a nice addition to any Club that wants to promote H.O. slot car racing. A new racer can be competitive with a great performing car, without having to learn how to modify/tweek a T-jet type of car.

The TFX is a great out of the box race car.  Minor adjustment of shoes to fit your rail height, add a touch of oil and your off to the races.  It’s that easy!  The chassis is very well designed and well made.

The chassis sits much lower and is much lighter than an original tjet.  Various race ready combinations enables endless possibilities for all level of racing action.  The snap in axle and guide pin assembly are a huge plus especially for the less experienced tjet builders or the most advanced inline racers. The parts are easily identifiable which makes for the perfect spec class of cars.

Out of the package I had zero issues.  The tires were round and performed great.  Car was fast and smooth. The gears line up perfectly and whisper quiet.  The armature ohms out almost identical on each poll, even when measured to the thousands of an ohm! Commutator was nice and flat and very close to balanced right out of the package.

You can tell a lot of thought was used in every aspect of the car.  This isn’t your typical “toy” company car, it’s a race car through and through.

Jerry sent me one of his new cars for me to evaluate.  He did not give me any great detail other than it’s a new car with a pancake motor, similar to the t-jets, ready to run, but with some updates. Secondly, It will need a body and that it can be purchased with either a 15 or a 19 tooth crown gear.  It came nicely packed, so I immediately read the instructions on how to install the guide pin.  It was now ready to be placed on one of my 3.0 Dyno’s to see how fast it would run.  To my surprise it was smooth, and quiet, and registered 1.7 on my Dyno with minimal vibration.  This was faster than most tuned fray cars.  It was low to the ground and had nice silicone tires.  It had plastic gears.  I then removed the motor to take a peak and got another surprise.  It had a 3-Lam motor that measured 16.5 ohms, & is wired very neatly.  The chassis had a cut out in the bottom so that with a small screwdriver the magnets could be easily removed.  That I liked.  The rails on the top plate were low so that it would not interfere with the car body.  I then did the following:

1- Bent the pickup shoes so that they would be perfectly flat on the rails.
2- Removed the brushes and put a small line on the bottom so that they would not spin on the tensioners.
3- I oiled the gears, the bottom motor shaft, the pinion gear, & shaft.

I then placed it back on the dyno and saw that it was now running at 1.9 which was a big improvement, considering it was not even broken in yet.  Next I ran the car on the track and enjoyed racing it.  There are other little surprises to the chassis as well, but I’ll let you discover them.

That was a lot of enjoyment for the short time I spent doing those things.
It’s a Great little car. Great job Jerry!

Just received my TFX, what a well designed wicked slot car, ran great out of the box and even faster after a few minor tweaks, going to throw in a custom wound quadralam arm as this chassis will handle way more hp, Thanks again this is a Great addition to our slot car hobby, I know you mentioned being overwhelmed with the recent orders but please keep up the Great work

Wow someone finally made a ready to run bad-ass Pancake Motor chassie.  Unbelievable.  The IROC colors are intense.  They came fully assembled and ready to roll.  I adjusted the shoes to match my track and they run like a fray car. They stick like glue on my fray green track.  The snap in rear axle is a huge plus and it runs quieter then my fray cars that I have spent hours on to get there.

Thanks Jerry, this chassis ROCKS

Received your TFX chassis, ran some laps on my test track, Have to say, it’s one of the smoothest running chassis’s, I have ever seen. TY AGAIN

Received my order the other day. You guys changed everything!!!. It's so well made, the TFX. Everything fits great. Gears are true. Cant wait to try them out. I could only imagine if you made a slimline or a 4 gear chassis just how badass it would be !!. Thanx for your efforts !

Jerry, Just wanted to respond to your new chassis. Love them! You thought of everything other manufacturers haven't. Quality, attention to detail, and innovation are a standout. I haven't even put the car on the track to know you've created a whole new class of car because l don't think anything else will compete out of box! I will for sure be order more once l move and set up my track again!

Jerry - guide pins arrived today - so thanks for the quick delivery time - earlier I had earlier purchased 2 chassis and they are great - hope your creative visions for our hobby continue...

got my chassis today absolutely love it !!!!

Jerry, the TFX are amazing. beyond expectations.smooth and fast! I could feel that balanced arm on my fingers all day. I need 4 more!!!