I'm down to the phase where I screw all the track down to the table, and I'm noticing that when I try to fit all the track parts together really snug, something goes out of alignment somewhere else on the track. I think the nine inch quarter turns are the culprits. I'm not sure that they're complete quarter turns, that they're maybe off a quarter inch or so.

I thought I heard someone say that there was a production run where there was problems with some of the turns. Is this true or am I hallucinating? WIll getting some 9 inch 1/8 turns solve the problem? (Im just glad I hadn't screwed everything down before I noticed.)

Any response is appreciated.

BTW for anyone wants to know, I've got the table done, catch walls up, everything painted up a real pretty shade of natural green. Note to AFXtoo, I took your suggestion and added a little more straightaway in that center section near the esses. Gonna look real sweet.

What a difference screwing the track down made. (I DID get the front straight screwed down) No click clack or nothing. My best "first string" XTraction car went down it like it was fired out of a slingshot! :thumbsup:

Trev

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Here's what happens. You test your layout before it's screwed down and everything looks great. Then you start screwing down the track, mating all the pieces as tightly as you can get them. But then you get to your last section and it's way the heck out of whack. What happens is you end up accumulating all of the slop to the last pieces that haven't been mated together yet and it's hard to close the gap.

Yep, that's pretty much how it happened, except that I caught it before I dug myself in too deep. Like I said, I'd only fastened one two lane straight. I knew the track pieces weren't perfect so I'd already factored in the "slop potential"

My method was to treat every piece beforehand by dremeling off the nubs under the locktabs and countersinking the screwholes (and what a tedious job THAT was. Tried doing the countersinking by hand, but I realized that if I kept at it that way, I wouldn't be done till Easter. so I said "I don't care what Greg Braun says, I'm using my drill.") Anyway, the idea was to put one two lane track all together first, with the other running beside it, pull it, push it and prod it till it was true as I could get it, then screw it all down as it lay.

But the chicane section and the esses leading into the 18 inchers just wouldn't line up right beside each other no matter what I did. So I'd take out a 9 inch 1/4 and put in two of the 1/8s (and put the 1/4 somewhere else) and it would nest a little better...all the while throwing a different section out of whack. Unfortunately I only have a limited number of 1/8s. Guessing I'm gonna have to get about 10 more to make this work right.

Gonna be worth it though! :hat:

PS (Posted later) Did what you tried, by just connecting 4 quarter turns together in a circle...the gap was 1/2 inch on the inside and 3/4 inches on the outside. :eek: Looks like I'm ordering some 1/8s.

Rather than start at a specific spot and screw every piece down in order, wouldn't it be better to screw down track sections at staggered intervals around the layout, then make another trip around screwing down more, and so on? Kinda like the way they tell you to tighten lug nuts in a star pattern, or to skip around when you tighten cylinder head bolts? This way the pressure (or in the case of attaching track, the "slop") is distributed evenly, and can be dealt with in very small increments at various places instead of dealing with that one big "tolerance stack" at the end...

That's just my $.02, of course... my own track is only attached in a few spread-out places, and I used model railroad nails...

--rick

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Another thing you may factor in , is filling the gaps. then paint it all to match.. that way as long as you keep the rails level small slop shouldn't show as badly. Geoff shows this methond really well on his web site..and I agree attach it like lug nuts not one after another. I had a 70 foot layout back in the day and never had a problem with it..

Dave

You could glue all your pieces together, solder all the joints, fill in all the holes and gaps, spackle and paint, scrape the paint off the rails, and so on. And you'll be laying down some really smooth laps in '07 or so when it's all finished.

No thanks. I'd decided against soldering, gluing, and all that. (just seems like overkill) The spackling and painting is gonna happen though. Not gonna worry about the small gaps at the joints as long as the slot is fairly smooth, but I do want to eliminate the space between the 2 lane sections and paint the track more of an asphalt color.

AFXtoo, its funny you mention the straights being crooked. This is one spot I'm having no trouble with at all. I clamped a metal yardstick along the edge of the main straight as a guide before I started screwing it down, and its nice and straight and snug. Had to add screws midway down the 15 inch straights to flatten them out and it worked like a charm. My Xtraction cars go down it like my old 1:24 Nastruck went down the straight on our Blue King...like a rocket.

But as I said, that 3/4 inch irregularity in the 9 inch 1/4s is too much to reconcile. They really fit THAT badly. The guys I get my track from deliver fairly quick, and 9 inch 1/8s are pretty reasonable, so I should be back on track by the weekend.

Trev

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Ahh, the joys of plastic track...
Assemble the whole layout and then jockey the peices around to give it the best fit.
A 1/4 inch gap seems like a lot, but after you distribute it across 15 track sections you hardly notice it... :rolleyes:

Keep playin' with track...
Scott

On the last track I built,I made the mistake of screwing the pieces down in order,only to have to remove all of the screws and the re-install using the "lug nut method"as described by Rick earlier.That spread everything out a lot better,and the track inconsistencies were barely noticed.

This time around,rather then bothering with screwing everything down and having to cut turn borders,I am just going to inlay the whole track right into the board.I raced on a setup like this a few months ago,and it convinced me that this was definetly the route I wanted to take on my next track.I feel it's as close I can get to having a routed track by using plastic track.
Now I just need to figure out exactly how to do it. :rolleyes:

Mike

,I am just going to inlay the whole track right into the board.I raced on a setup like this a few months ago,and it convinced me that this was definetly the route I wanted to take on my next track.I feel it's as close I can get to having a routed track by using plastic track.
Now I just need to figure out exactly how to do it. :rolleyes:
Mike

Well....
Set up you layout on the plywood. Attach it to the plywood in a few strategic areas. Outline the whole layout with a Sharpie. Remove track. Use a router set to the desired depth, cutting inside your Sharpie line. Set track back in.
Trim as necessary to get proper fit of track.....
Scott

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Actually,fI had thought about deadening the track,much the same way that you would if you were to lay down track for a model railroad.

I was going to go three layers.First would be the base layer,probably plywood,then cover the entire surface with some of those peel and stick carpet tiles,and then on top of that,some particle board,which would be routed for the track to lay into it.Sounds good in theory,should be pretty darn quiet as well.

I had thought of the foam or the sheetrock,but I'm afraid it would get dinged up too easily.

I think I know how I'll go about it,it's just a matter of buying the right tool for the job.So far,it looks as tho one of those Roto Zip tools would be the way to go.

Thanks for the tips guys.Looooooooooots of pictures will be coming from me in the next few weeks.

Mike

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I've been following this thread closely and want to thank everyone for their tips and thoughts. Definitely going to go with the "lugnut" method when I get to that point.

You know, I know some guys are worried about sound dampening, but one thing I have noticed is this: In my experience the non mag slotcars don't make that much noise. I only have my track put onto 1/2 inch chipboard, not even real plywood. The only cars I have that really make a racket are the superG+s, cuz they drag on the rails. I thought about sound dampening, then it occurred to me to ask "what for?" My wife sleeps in the next room and they don't bug her, and she doesn't sleep real heavy. (and I just use my Gpluses as rail cleaners anyway :tongue: )

I also noticed that things got a lot quieter when I screwed the track down snug to the table and then leveled the rails...cleared up a pretty good bit of that clickclacking.

May want to experiment a bit before you commit to doing three layers. It may not sound as bad as you may think. Could save yourself some work.

My tables are chip-board too and they are not even screwed down to the steel 2x4s yet. The only time I notice the sound thing is when I have 4 turbotrains ripping around it. (that is a neat sight) I like the 1/4 inch drywall idea though. Since I have to drywall a partition I framed up (with the same 2/4s) I will just pick up some 1/4 inch at the same time for the tables!
thanks guys for all the great ideas. WooHOO!

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Hey Shadow! (and other guys that can use this.
Here is an addy to a guy in italy who shows how to cut & change degrees on plastic track. He uses tyco but I am sure it will work on others. Very simple to do and could certainly fix the missing "inch" of track with the proper measurments. I will be doing it when the time comes on my perminent layout too.

www.geocities.com/ho_slotcar_italy/

If you have trouble getting there on your own, I will let you know where you can find a direct link.

Happy hacking!

joez870

Thanks for the tip Joez. I've found the page and later tonite I'll go through it.

One of the things that sorta bummed me out about HO was that all turns were either 180, 90 or 45 degree. If there was anything to make a layout look artificial, that's it. I'm pretty happy with the layout I have now but this'll be good for reference.

Thanks again
Trev

Very interesting. Thanks for the link.

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Hey hey! Got my new 9 inch 1/8s in the mail today. Put em on my tracks and everything fits handsomely!

Gonna practice my boomerang tosses off the balcony with those 1/4 turns.

Meanwhile, back to the assembly line.

(dremel dremel, drill drill, countersink, drill again, and fasten...aaaaaaand repeat. dremel dremel.......)

:hat: