Hi guys, been reading for a bit and this looks like a fun crowd with a lot of knowledge.
Ive run Slots off and on since the 60's but never got serious. I now have a dedicated room that is 13 x 9 aproximately and will be starting construction of a mildly sceniced freelanced track.( the scenicing comes from my Model Railroad background...........if it isnt sceniced, it just doesnt seem finished to me ;) )

I have quite a bit of old Tycopro track that I have reconditioned, and about 20 or so slot cars ( mostly Nascars ive picked up over the last couple years along with a few JL T jet types)

I have a lot to learn................hopefully i'll find some of that help here as I venture back into the world of HO scale slots!!! :wave:

Welcome TGtycopro,
I think scenery is really cool on a racing layout, it really adds to the racing experience if done well.
As you may already know, there is a great bunch of guys here with a wealth of knowledge, so don't hesitate to ask questions!!!
By the way, maybe you should let everyone know where you live, there may be a few members in your general area.

Bob Weichbrodt
"Rawafx"
A and H Hobbies
Clemmons(Winston-Salem), NC

welcome TG, nice to have you. I too, love trains and always loved mixing the trains with the slot cars.

Thanks for the welcome guys, was a busy week for me and was informed yesterday my father passed away so will be away for a bit this week.

I have begun the cleanup process in the room mentioned and wonder what everyone thinks of an around the walls ( 3 sided walk in ) Type road course??

Perhaps an L shape would be better?

I have benchwork currently in place that I will try to describe.
Facing the back wall which is 9' 6" wide the benchwork runs out 10' on the left at 26" wide and about 9' on the left at 26" wide with a wider section at the close end ( currently there is a canyon built into this corner which will require a radius Bridge if I keep this scenic feature)
I also have several area's that are cut out for below the benchwork features like water ( stream or river etc)
Hardboard backdrops are in place that are painted skyblue and there is a shelf built above all of the benchwork that has flourescent lighting fixtures mounted underneath.

After counting up track i have well over 200 feet lots of gaurdrail, quite a few speed corners and a newer piece ( i just recieved) that was a Hot Wheels product called a racing center. Not familiar with this piece and have no instructions for it. It takes some AA Batteries and has a small LED screen. I believe it figures for fuel, tires and does a speed and best lap time.
Worth incorporating??
I am leaning towards an Indoor outdoor carpet for the bulk of the surface but working in the other scenic features like water etc and covering transition area's with some ground blending.
I also have some photo backdrops that i may try to use for added depth.

I guess thats about it................Thoughts??
Thanks for your help and opinions guys!!

First Off welcome to the board, you have come to the right place. I think you might want to consider a L shaped track in the room. and save a bit of space for display and a work area. That way your not getting thunderoil and paint all over the track. Plus there will be days you just have to have everything out.....LOL


Dave

I too a little time to lay out some track and took a few pictures.

I'm not real thrilled with the course for scenicing purposes but it is a fast challenging course and fun to drive.

These shots will give an idea of the room I have to work with.

Any suggestions , opinions, stray thoughts would be appreciated.

Or you could just pick on my background paint job :wave:

TGtycopro,

You have my sympathy regarding the passing away of your father. -- Greg :(

Thank You Greg!!
It was a roller coaster of emotions for a couple weeks there.
My father had 2 funerals...One where he was from and another where he spent most of his adult life.( I do not reccomend this for anyone, its too much ).

After a tuesday and Weds Funeral, we had 1 day of rest and then Friday had My youngest Sisters Wedding rehersal followed by a saturday wedding.

Sunday we tried to gather our collective wits so we could get back to work on Monday.........While at work on Monday I got a phone call that my Mother in law was rushed to the hospital and if I wanted to see her i needed to get there NOW!!!

After 4 agonizing hours they finally managed to stabilize her..........she is now doing fine and back at home recovering from Heart surgery.

So far, this week has been uneventful ( crossed fingers as I type that)
hopefully, it will stay that way ;)

Thanks again for your thoughts...............It is very much appreciated Greg.

Todd

Some of you may have gathered that I have taken the plunge into 1/32 scale by my new aquisition post.
After looking hard at this larger scale with its die cast quality appearance and the digital option, I have jumped into it full speed ahead. A Scalextric Set has arrived as has some extra track pieces purchased from a friendly forum member.I have removed my temporary HO layout as seen above and removed nearly all of the old benchwork.
I will be moving my workbench and this will gain me some additional length giving me a room size of around 181 inches (15' 1 ") X 7' 9" wide.

My basic 1 x 3 L girder Benchwork will then end up looking something like this photo when completed. The photo shows 4 race stations but in actuality i cant see more than 3 ever being used. 4 people will create some real visual problems............3 will be bad enough LOL

I am not giving up on HO, on the contrary I also recieved quite recently my 6 car set of Mopar Madness JL cars which are Beauty's!!
3 for me and 3 FOR ME LOL
In 1/32 digital, I now have the 2 Porsche Boxsters from the set , the Daimler Chrysler competition Viper, and On the way from Great Britain an Austin Martin DBR9 (cant wait ;) ) :thumbsup:

Work is going to pick up starting tomorrow so things will slow down as to layout work...........but I will be back at it very soon.............I feel the need for speed................and my HO tracks only been down 2 days now..............withdrawel sucks!!! :D

One other thing, I started a group for Digital Scale Racing. I am amazed at the lack of co-operative effort to develop standards for digital racing in this hobby. The Model railroad crowd has it way over the slot crowd in this respect. The group I started i hope over time can address some of these issues and determine ways to get around the manufacturers lack of uniformity. There are some smart folks out there and in the Model railroad field some of these Smart folks started cottage industries that are now quite successful..................can the same be done in Slot racing?? Only if people get involved!!!

Its a brand new group and these things take time to develop but any out there into digital racing, please check it out and join in.....the sooner we start, the sooner we see results!!
http://groups.google.com/group/Digital-Scale-Racing?lnk=li

There are lots of cottage slotcar industries out there. They're mentioned numerous times.......here's a few:

Road Race Replicas - http://www.ho-slotcars.com (http://www.ho-slotcars.com/)
JW's Speed Parts - http://www.csonline.net/vwalters
Wizzard HO Parts - http://www.wizzardho.com (http://www.wizzardho.com/)
Slottech - http://www.slottech.com (http://www.slottech.com/)

Many online hobby shops:

Jag Hobbies - http://www.jaghobbies.com (http://www.jaghobbies.com/)
MotorCityToyz - http://www.motorcitytoyz.com (http://www.motorcitytoyz.com/)
Bud's HO Cars - http://www.budsho.com (http://www.budsho.com/)

And there's also rounted track makers.....here's some:

Brad's Tracks - http://www.bradstracks.com (http://www.bradstracks.com/)
MaxTrax - http://home.eznet.net/~maxtrax

DL, Yes I am familiar with them, I guess I wasn't clear.
I am speaking about cottage industries that are specifically Digital in nature.

Example...........In Model railroading the 2 big digital providers are Lenz (Europe) And Digitrax (USA). For Digital Sound its Soundtraxx (USA)
A newer company called LOK Sound ( Europe) Started up with the programmable chips.They went around to Museums etc and did digital recordings of all of the old steam engines in existence as well as old diesels and newer diesels.
The same could be done for Race Cars, Muscle cars etc.

Hard wiring Carrerra cars for scalextric sport track (or vice versa) means an opportunity for a chip developer to manufacture Decoders so that the Scaley Sport track fan could still purchase thier favorite Muscle cars from Carrerra and run them with just a little set up work. Hard wiring decoders in locomotives was standard operating procedure for many years before plug and play became the norm.

Sound equipped Race cars would be phenomenal...............There is a huge differance when a sound comes from a moving vehicle and is synchronized to the throttle versus the normal static recordings of race sounds done in the past.
Granted, in organized racing these sound equipped cars would have to be a new class since added weight would be a factor................I would bet money that the track they were running on would steal the show at any national meet though ;)

For an idea What LOKsound is doing in the Model Railroading field
http://www.loksound.com/

Oops, ok.............misunderstood. :freak: lol

dlw, so how would you feel about a future where you could outfit a few of your racers with sychronized digital sound?

Does this sound like something that would be popular?
You are far more familiar with the pulse of the Slot crowd than I am :)

Sound cool, but for pancake racers, hearing the cars run is very important, got to listen for the dreaded 'squeal of death'....A sound made by pancake-motored cars that slows it down, and can lead to motor/chassis damage.

Nice thing about digital...............you can turn the sound off and on ;)

Of course, i dont think you would get a digital chip and speaker into a T jet.......at least not Yet!! Give them japnese a few years and they'll figure it out though :D :D :D