There's a new Knight Rider toy out and it's pretty cool: the Knight Rider KITT vs KARR racing set from auto world.
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It's a little intimidating when you first open the box, but assembly was pretty quick and straight-forward. In my excitement to get things up and running I accidentally dropped one of the cardboard backdrops into the cat's water dish, but other than that things went mostly smoothly.
I was hoping to set it up on my kitchen table but it was way too big for that. Had to move the table up and start assembly on the floor.
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The cars are exterior-only, no dash. Both cars have a single reddish-orange light that turns on when the car moves but it doesn't strobe. KARR has the 3rd season paint job but a red scanner. They have teeny-tiny license plates that you can barely read but they do say KNIGHT and KARR.
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The cityscapes have some nice touches - there's a billboard for Knight Rider airing on NBC Friday nights, and Knight Rider-related graffiti.
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The lap counter has a cool voice-modulator graphic.
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The ramp before the jump.
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It has been many years since I've played with slot-car set and they still haven't worked out all the quirks. The cars re VERY difficult to control. I understand that it may take a while for the set to "wear in" a bit, but the cars still spin out of control pretty often. I still can't make a single loop without pumping the gas, creating a stuttering effect but I am noticing improvement. I should be able to do a smooth race tomorrow. Oddly enough, the jump is pretty easy - it usually lands with no problem. It's just those darn curves that create problems for now.
Unfortunately, I think I may have a bad power unit. One of the tracks has no power at all. (I swapped cars, swapped controllers, nothing.) There is a 1-800 tech help number I'll try tomorrow so hopefully they can give me a fix or send a replacement part.
You can buy it directly from
http://www.autoworldstore.com/product_p/srs306.htm but you can find it cheaper elsewhere. Let google be your friend. It may also be in your local hobby stores.
I'd say it's a surprise release as I guess many of us are waiting the super Elite Hotwheels 18th scale KITT now. Anyways, it's always nice to see new Knight Rider merchandise being released.
