Building a slot car track - Part One, a good foundation

Ted Gowder, a regular visitor to this web site sent me some pictures recently of a 4-lane routed wooden HO raceway that he and several of his friends built. Most other techniques involve routing a wide pocket to fit a flat steel rail and then a thin strip of plastic wedged in next to it to hold the rail in place. The wire he used is highly magnetic, and almost black in color. A 4-lane track will require eight (8) 100 foot rolls of 16 gauge rebar tie wire. That's two rolls per lane, one for each power rail. The wire can be pressed into place using a hard wooden roller. Countersunk flathead wood screws were used to secure the routed MDF to the elevated supports. Bondo was then used to fill the screw holes prior to painting.A single tungsten high speed 1/16" router bit can be used to cut both the guide pin slot and the power rail pockets. Press the rebar wire in place to pinch the power tap wire and then solder the joint for a good electrical connection. There are a multitude of good model railroading landscaping books and web sites that can give you plenty of ideas for landscaping your wooden raceway. Rog Potter for the photos taken during the building of the Bournemouth club track which I have used for some of the illustrations on  these pages. Gowder, a regular visitor to this web site sent me some pictures recently of a 4-lane routed wooden HO raceway that he and several of his friends built. Most other techniques involve routing a wide pocket to fit a flat steel rail and then a thin strip of plastic wedged in next to it to hold the rail in place. The wire he used is highly magnetic, and almost black in color. A 4-lane track will require eight (8) 100 foot rolls of 16 gauge rebar tie wire. That's two rolls per lane, one for each power rail. The wire can be pressed into place using a hard wooden roller. Countersunk flathead wood screws were used to secure the routed MDF to the elevated supports. Bondo was then used to fill the screw holes prior to painting.A single tungsten high speed 1/16" router bit can be used to cut both the guide pin slot and the power rail pockets. Press the rebar wire in place to pinch the power tap wire and then solder the joint for a good electrical connection. There are a multitude of good model railroading landscaping books and web sites that can give you plenty of ideas for landscaping your wooden raceway. You may not wish to be as adventurous as me but the techniques and methods I have used can be applied to any size track. You'll never get it exactly right as ideas will pop into your head and friends will suggest things that you hadn't thought of, so be flexible. James Harlan Design, an avid slot car racer with one of the most amazing tracks ever built. James is a graphic artist and routinely designs tracks for a number of racers. However, that type of work while beautiful and perfect as it is, might be out of the budget of some, or a person might simply want design help prior to building the track themselves. More importantly however, is knowing the exact dimensions of the track and tables themselves. James takes these measurements and designs from the customers and begins a process that allows the customer to see not only the design, but the lane spacing, copper tape path, and overall fit to the parameters of the tables. Several variations might occur as the customer attempts to get the exact track they are hoping to create. Army, he left behind nearly half of our basement to work with. What was great about this space is that it did not have the huge "cap" that has been poured in the other areas of the basement. Space was still an issue but more than enough to create a decent and challenging course. The area is 4 by 16 feet.  Since we already had a 4 lane 5 x 16 oval in wood and a 4 lane 4 x 16 Artin plastic track we chose to only go 3 lanes. This would allow us a slightly better radius to use so things were not too tight. The above design was what we settled on. I must have penciled in 3 to 4 different plans before we came to this. You may not think so, but this can be a lot of fun. Draw one out, look at it and try another. Envisioning what you want to create.I am not much of a fan on squeeze sections, or at least drastic ones that put the cars on top of one another. However, I did want to tighten up one portion of the layout. Here we see the chicane area where we brought the lane spacing in a 1/2 inch and then bowed out the inner lane a touch. It CAN be fixed.I routed both sections outside except for about 6 inches where the track would be joined. Since we had not installed any scenery, we could still tweak the elevations easily from underneath without harming anything. Looking at the photo there is about a 1/2 inch angle from the inside to the outside. The driver on the inside (Yellow Jag) really has to let off the pedal to get through without rolling it over. Talk about an equalizer. Anyone who has raced on it knows that this ended up being the most challenging section of the course. Each car is built with a small metal post on the bottom, which slides into the slot on the track. The 1/24 slot car is the international standard, and building an appropriate track is time-consuming but achievable for anyone with basic electrical and construction skills.

• Autorama slot car track

Interest in A.C. Gilbert Slot Car Racing parts and accessories seem is gaining popularity with collectors as sets and parts become rarer with each passing year.A.C. Gilbert also produced a horse racing set, based on the Auto-Rama chassis and slot car track.

• Cars dirt track slot

I used to run lexan noses on front of the cars until I developed my own mold for the noses we run now. The new ones are styrene also and seem to hold up better than the old lexan ones. I'm glad you liked the details at the track.

• Wrp slot car chassis

Designed for both 1/8"and 3/32" axles. Works for 4" and 4 1/2" chassis. Give your drag chassis outstanding performance and straight launches.

• 132 slot car track plans

We are frequently asked for a track plan that gets the longest lap length into that space. We are frequently asked for a track plan that gets the longest lap length into that space.

• Louis vuitton 6 card slot wallet

Color : Brown. Item(s) must be in same. If this policy does not meet your expectations. Type of closure: Fold over snap. Remember they will be higher.