The major
documentation about sts was contained in the main Exin catalogues between 1985
and 1989. These catalogues covered almost the entire Exin product range
including Scalextric. sts was covered in its own section separate from Scalextric
but referring to its parentage. I have seen all 5 Exin catalogues between 1985
and 1989 but none after that. sts was included in the 1989 catalogue; it is
possible but I think less likely that it was in the 1990 catalogue. Leaflets
accompanied the sts introduction in the 1985 Exin catalogue. Thereafter, sts
appeared in the Scalextric “Novedades” leaflets of 1986, 7 & 8 which showed
new products. sts was also listed in the Scalextric price lists where small,
monochrome illustrations of the sets from that year’s catalogue were also
shown. Prices for all the sts items except the sets were shown. Because of the
differences between sts and normal Scalextric, sts never appeared in any of the
Spanish Scalextric catalogues (or “Guia” publications). Even the “exhaustive”
list of cars produced by Exin since 1962 that was contained in the 1992 Exin
catalogue "Scalextric Guia del Scalextrista 5ª Edición" did not
include sts cars.
sts was smaller
than the usual Scalextric 1/32 scale and there is no apparent documentary
evidence of its nominal scale. Comparing the lengths of the sts track sections
with the 1/32 track (260mm to 350mm) implies a scale of 1/43. This is close to
that derived by a comparison of the lengths of the model cars with their
real-life counterparts. It is a mystery why a different scale was used as
(unlike the 1/32 TT range
from the early 1990’s which used many of the concepts of sts) it meant that a
completely different range of track sections had to be designed and
manufactured and these could not link into existing 1/32 track sections to make
larger circuits. It is however possible to run the cars on ordinary Scalextric
track so they remain popular as models even if the owner has no sts track.
The guide has
been written as a complete reference to sts. I have aimed to cover every
product with a description, a photograph or other image, how it is used and,
where appropriate, my own comments. It is laid out in three main sections, cars
(including spares), track and accessories and sets. After an introduction the
section is laid out in the order of product reference numbers. Finally there is
a section of comments and advice about using sts, a post script and appendices.
One appendix shows which catalogues held details of each product and the retail
prices of individual products from the various price lists. The second lists and
describes the illustrations used. As I have said elsewhere, if you find any
mistakes, please let me know and I will correct them.
Photographs are
available to illustrate many of the sts products written about. In some cases
the same photograph illustrates many items. This was done to save both the
photographer’s time and space on the web server. You may therefore see a
photograph you have already seen when viewing a different product. All the set
illustrations are scans of A4 pages from the catalogue. As such they are rather
large and will take some time to download. The same applies to the
illustrations of cars, spares, track and accessories from the 1989 catalogue,
which can be accessed via Appendix 2.
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