I am interested in designing and building a pit box for HO Scale. I am interested in opinions and ideas that you may have. Things such as...

- overall size and configuration
- number and size of compartments
- special features such as specific tools holders, shoe cleaner holder, etc.
- clasp / closer type, handle type
- any other things you might think of

Since I am a woodworker, this pit box will be built from - you guessed it - wood! I am a craftsman so I want this to be functional enough to use regularly but also a show piece. It will be set off with components such as hand cut doevtails, etc.

Please share your ideas! Once I have some responses, I will draw up a 3D model and post it back to the forum.

thanks,
Brad

One thing I could suggest is to make the compartment width only 1/4" wider than the car (use an AFX car for width referrence). The tackle boxes available now make their slots about 1/2" wider..........after 8-9 slots wide, that excess space could accomodate more cars.

My thought on the idea is that since these are quality hand-crafted pieces, most folks may use them for a slotcar 'jewelry box', not that there's nothing wrong with that.....many collectors have a decent size stash and could use such a storage device.

bb71, the wooden slot car pit box is one of the legendary fixtures in slot car racing, especially with the larger scales. The fundamental requirement for any pit box is that it provide safe and mobile storage for several cars, parts, tools, materials, and controllers. In my opinion, with wooden boxes it's less of an issue to try to find "the perfect pit box" than it is to demonstrate your craftsmanship and ability to build custom pit boxes to fit the needs of specific individuals. Wooden pit boxes are a personal statement and a reflection of the individual who uses one. They should be unique. That's not to say that you couldn't produce a "spec" wooden box that could be personalized to some extent for each customer with different trim and finish levels. You could use any one of the more common plastic pit boxes (like Plano 757) as a functional prototype for a "spec" wooden pit box design.

Custom wooden pit boxes are very special and if you build them well you will have no problem at all finding customers for them.

I was 1/24 scale racing for about a year at Thazer Raceway in Mishawaka, Indiana, and most of the guys had wooden boxes. I really liked them. A wooden H.O. scale box I'd like to see would have a top that opens like my Plano 737 and have a deep compartment (5 to 6 inches), with five pullout drawers. The top one would be for tools and about 2 1/2 inches tall. The next 3 would be for cars and 2 inches in height, and the bottom would be 3 1/2 inches tall for MTYODER'S monster trucks. Width of the box looking at it from the front would be 20 to 24 inches. And looking at it from the side 18 inches. That's my idea of what I'd like in a wooden box.