After having a 4'x4' discussion going and then setting it up I've now decided to scrap that idea. I'm going to give the track and board to a friend so he can start his hobby rolling. Crimnick was nice enough to help me out by sending me some track I needed to complete the 4'x4'.

After discussing it with the wife she told me "take the downstairs room, we're not using it anyways." My jaw dropped. She was never against any of this, I was just trying to keep it small so it could be kept portable. Well that was just a silly idea or so I thought. From the 4'x4' came the birth of (hopefully) a full 12'x4'. Man this hobby is like crack. The more I get into it the more I NEED I NEED!!!!! I'm sure most of you can relate. ;)

I'm going to try to keep this from having any under/overpasses for the simple reason that I don't like how tier's work. Some of my older cars get stuck on various sections of track and I don't want that. I want a nice, smooth, flat surface so the cars can run as well as possible.

First thing I'm planning on doing is to go the home depot and start working on a table build. After that it's all good to go. I believe I'm going to go with a 2 laner for now. I don't really race with anyone else with the exception of micyou3 and this other guy I'm dragging into our hobby. :)

I'm going to do my best to make the track connections as nice & neat as possible so you can just plug & go. Thoughts anyone?

Cheers,
Xence

Build a four lane, you won't regret it, if its just a couple of you running use lanes 2-3 and let the sliding begin.. plus then you will be good to go when you start to get the odd neighbours kids and Dad wandering in to run the cars...lol.. Adictive? I could quit smoking easier then I could slots...


Dave

Man this hobby is like crack. The more I get into it the more I NEED I NEED!!!!! I'm sure most of you can relate. ;)


Yep.....my wife calls it my "obsession".

Of course, she also acknowledges that while I'm downstairs working on the table or running cars, she knows where to find me. :wave:

I should add.......SHE's been known to spend time downstairs with a controller in hand also :hat:

Good luck with your project. Let us know when you decide on a design.

Concerning design I saw someone here put an L shaped design together that looked pretty nice. What are the pro's/con's of this. I have the space for the L in this side room.

OH one thing I do need to know. Downstairs is cold. Real cold in fact. I know temperature does weird things to plastic. I can heat the room up no problem for when I want to use the track but I don't want to have to heat the thing 24x7. That would be just a massive waste of electricity.

Cheers

Good luck!! My track started at 7' x 4'..... then 9' x 4' now at 11.5' x 4.5' it can't get any bigger unless i knock out a wall. LOL My living room is the slot car room. I moved half the furniture and the TV out. Heres a link with a lot of designs (in case you didn't see it) Have fun. mj
http://ux5490.us/

I've acquired a bunch of the SG+ cars now and I'm definitely getting a penchant for those cars. They look really nice and they run like little madmen. I'm thinking that I'm going to put at least 2 if not 3 or 4 pretty decent straights with a bit of whackiness in the center. One thing I learned from making a really god awful tiny 4'x4' track was that you have to hold your hand at like a constant speed. There's no real 'driving' involved. If the cars were slower or smaller or heck any number of things then I could see putting alot of chicanes and whatnot but as it is right now I don't.

With regard to holding the controller at a constant speed, if you're still using the lousy little set controllers like I am, makes no difference large track or small. It's a matter of the limitations (fairly high ohm rating) and poor quality of the Tomy set controllers. I'm guessing that if you feel any difference at all with the larger track, it will probably only be a little.

Regarding the L table design....you can go one of two ways.....Scafremon built his by attaching two pre-made steel leg assemblies to the underside of the two ply sheets he used for table tops. The advantage here was the ability to keep it lightweight and portable for storage.

On the other hand, I wanted to build a permanent track in the space I had in my basement rec room (my jaw dropped also when my wife suggested the L design I had been ogling online.....rule of thumb I was given was "don't cut off access to the laundry room". LOL) While the concrete slab under the carpeting is fairly level, I was concerned about potentially "finding" the areas not so level after the tables were done and in place. Plus, I was not really super confident in my carpentry skills and wanted to be able to adjust for any cuts I made that wound up a little "off". Thus, my use of the rolling cart system with the tables floating on top. Not having the table tops permanently attached to the leg system allow me the opportunity to shim them if need be in order that everything be level and similar height when connected together.

The space I am using is also only heated when in use. It wasn't a condition that made me think twice about whether or not to pursue the project. To me, it just seemed to be one of those breaks. I guess when I get to the point of having track installed permanently, I may have issues to deal with, but oh well........it's the price of being an addict. :freak:

well in regards to what you have posted rudy I've elected to go the good controller route and as such am in process of acquiring 3 real good ones. Thanks to HT for that little deal because otherwise I would have never known why someone would use one of these other controllers. I've seen the light now that I've had the chance to test tehse controllers out.

well in regards to what you have posted rudy I've elected to go the good controller route and as such am in process of acquiring 3 real good ones. Thanks to HT for that little deal because otherwise I would have never known why someone would use one of these other controllers. I've seen the light now that I've had the chance to test tehse controllers out.

Parma Econo controllers are in my long term plan too. I was waiting until I had the supplies I need to hard wire the table with driver stations and all. Got some other big "to do's" before I get to that point, although the wait is killing me.

One thing to keep in mind if you go with an "L" shape track, is that you really want your driver's stations on the 'outside' of the "L", not on the 'inside'. I can't tell from Rudy's Pike Creek track if he has the long side of the "L" against the wall or not.

If you do put one or more driver stations inside the "L", the person standing there could block other's view of the track, and when you lose sight of your car, even briefly, it can make it tough.

Having said that, if your room requires that the long side of the track be against a wall, I wouldn't neccesarily toss out an "L" track design, but I would just be aware of the situation, and if possible, pair up your driver stations at the short ends of the track.

I'm not up against the wall. Have about 3 feet of room back there. But yeah, you're right. I kind of saw the probability of one guy being blocked early on in a 2-2 configuration. So needless to say, station placement has been on my mind.

Right now, the answer seems one of two things. Pairings on each short end, as you've mentioned.

OR

Three on the long side (red, white, yellow) with blue on the opposite side in the crook of the L. I figure that most times, it will be two people racing, and that usually means the middle two lanes. Self-marshalling the table with just the two of us running might be easier this way.

Dude -- knock some walls out and make that thing 16' x 8' :thumbsup:

Mixing them up like you describe sounds good. I just remember when I was planning mine, I was going to put all 4 stations on inside, never even considering how one person would block anothers' view. It was just the best use of space, until I read a post from Afxtoo at another forum that made me see the problem it would create.

I'm really looking forward to watching all these new track builds progress! Christmas last year is when I found out about slots, so now slot cars and track building is just another part of the Holiday spirit for me.

OH one thing I do need to know. Downstairs is cold. Real cold in fact. I know temperature does weird things to plastic.
Cheers

I have kept Tyco/Mattel track in a shed, enclosed in plastic tubs, for the past couple years here in the Poconos. It may not be the coldest place on Earth (although t feels like it), but it sure gets a lot colder than your basement. Bottom line is the track looks as new today as when I stored it. In the summer, the shed is in the shade almost all day; in winter, it's in the sun (whenever it decides to show up).

I'm guessing your basement is over 50 degrees even when not heated. My basement feels like the South Pole and it is over 50 degrees. Therefore you are only raising the temperature about 15 degrees, at most. So you are not making extreme temperature changes. I'm guessing you just give it time to warm up and you should be fine.

My tip if using the new design Mattel track is to spend the time to bend the rails at the 90 degree angle so it makes better contact with the adjacent rail.

Joe

Dude -- knock some walls out and make that thing 16' x 8' :thumbsup:

ROFL.....can't......my neighbor is on the other side of that wall !!!

I'm really looking forward to watching all these new track builds progress! Christmas last year is when I found out about slots, so now slot cars and track building is just another part of the Holiday spirit for me.

I know what you mean.....I really enjoy seeing the nice work everyone here at HT has done with their home tracks.

You've also said something that gave me another thought. I'm going to start a new thread in General Discussions....."Tell us your story"......a little soliloquy from everyone on how they were introduced to the hobby and why they enjoy it so much. I'd be very interested in reading the responses.

Cool Xence!

I finally have all the track I need...so I mocked up my layout in the basment...

Table is 5 x 18...track length is approx 104 feet...

Fast track...

Still have LOTS of work ahead...

No pictures yet...try and get some up soon...

4x12 is a good size. If you go with two lanes you can get a 50-60 foot running length track with a nice combination of straights, twists, and turns. Here's a few quick 12x4 tracks I threw together while munching my corn flakes:

After reading a bunch of these posts and especially the one about the L design. I am NOT going to go that route. I have a small room and although I could get an L in there I don't think I'll be able to put people on the outside of the L. People being on the outside does make sense though. So I'm probably going to stick to the 12'x4' design and go from there.

What programs do people use when designing a track? AfxToo has some form of nice setup and someone else put some real good stuff up for my original 4'x4' idea. One thing I learned about the 4'x4' idea is that if you have slow cars it would work but these SG+ and others like them.... ummm no. Doesn't work. You need enough square footage to be able to do what is needed.

Ok so on to the 12x4 build. Last night my wife says to me "honey would you bring me to the gym?" Sure.... I drop her off go straight to home depot and pick the beginning pieces of wood that I'm going to need to be able to build this thing. Cost me like $30 for everything. Hopefully by the weekend I'll have everything cleared out of the room and then on to the actual build. Should be a cool thing fer sure. :)

I want to try to make this a nice looking deal. Not sure if I can but that's what I want to do. I would also like to make a decently functional area where people can plug in. That will take some planning but I'm cool with this. Sounds like most people here are running some form of a real nice power supply as well. Variable and all of that.

Anyways those are my thoughts for the moment.

Cheers,
Xence

Sounds like a great plan. After reading this post I think I am going to add two more places to hook up controllers at either end of my table. This should improve vision and marshalling.

I did this up on "slotman"...

http://www.slotcarmanager.de/

It doesnt have the 18" radius...but it does the hairpin...and 2,4,6 and 8 lane layouts....

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/TPE.jpg

This is as close as I can get to what I actually have layed out....I have some 18"/15" curves on the layout....

But this is the general Idea...

Going the extra foot wider lets you double back another loop...and the outer loop can be converted to an oval...the outer loop is 9" and 12" banks....

I'll try and hunt down a camera this afternoon...

If you go with a 4'X12' or larger tabel, you have to do a 4 laner. Might as well get all the construction and road laying done at the same time. That way you won't have to interupt your racing later on when you decide to add on. You won't regret the 4 lanes. To steal a phrase from Field of Dreams, "if you build it they will come". :) rr

Making your layout in the L shape allows you to add a significant amount of track in a small space. The issue of having driver stations on the inside can be a bit of a hinderance when racing but you get used to it and my track had the back straights elevated which helped in seeing the track. My old house barely had room to move around so we called the back corner "blind racing". You get into a rythym when racing cars anyway so you can make it through OK without actually seeing the cars. We put a tape line on the floor for drivers to stay behind while racing, but marshalling that inside corner has its share of blocked views.

-Scott

http://planetofspeed.net/slots/raceroom.jpg

As someone else had pointed out the pro's and con's of 2 lane vs. 4 lane I believe at the present time I will be going with a simple 2 lane track. Trying to save up now for one of those real nice maxtraxx tracks. At the smallest those come with 4 lanes. I'm building this table with the thought in mind that in the future I'm hoping to have one of those tracks laying across this 12'x4' deal. That's the hope at least. I'm setting up with the AFX track in mind and plan on using that until I can, obviously, gain enough funds to be able to buy one of those tracks and use it instead.

Yesterday I went to their site and perused what they had to offer. Wow does their stuff ever make me drool. :) I get that and I'll probably never need another track again. At least that's the hope.

Yeah, those ARE really nice. To me, they are like the Lexus LS 460 that I know I'll never own. :(

Well, I can't complain with all the good fortunes that I do have in my life. So, maybe someday....

I went home yesterday afternoon and started working on clearing out the basement. After clearing/cleaning everything out to where I thought I would need to be I began looking around at what sort of space I would have. This is where I ran into a snag. In my basement, if I go the full 12'x4', I will only have approx. 1' left on either one side of the other. This gives me enough space to get into our washroom but not much. I'm going to have to remove the door in order to accomodate this as well. The other idea I had was to cut this down from 12' to 11' which will give me the needed 1' and I won't have to do much else except put the thing together. I can go wider with very little trouble if I so desired but at 4' I thought that was a real decent width for almost any track.

Thoughts/opinions?

Cheers,
Xence

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. 4x11 is still plenty to make a nice sized track, I think.

Some things you might want to consider.......if you grab the extra foot going the other way, there's the potential that you could have an even longer lap length at 5x11 than you would have had at 4x12. The extra foot in width can be used to add an extra long straight to the layout which goes the length of the table. Or, it can be used to widen the sweep of some turns, making them faster to drive through.

Well here we are again. During the weekend I began (and just about finished) construction of the table. I was able to use the full 12'x4'. I just changed one thing and all was well. Instead of using a full 12' for the footprint I made the footprint 8' instead so you have 2' hanging off of either side. The table is almost complete, all I need now is to get the plywood for the table top, clamp it or screw it down and then lay the track out.

I made 1 minor mistake which will just take me a bit of time to fix. I put the leg supports at the very bottom of the legs. I have to move this up a bit, which I'm hoping to do today, then I'll have a sturdy setup so if/when people lean on the table there's not a major problem.

I made the table 30" high instead of 36". I'm only 5'7" or so and 30" is right about where my hips are so I can then bend over the table with no problem. Absolute worst case on this, if I don't like that height I just go back down to home depot spend another $6 for a 2"x6"x12' board and make the table 36" high. Even then that's not all that big of a problem. Take me an hour or two to make that change if it's even necessary and away I go. I'll post pics once the table is fully together and I have at least a rough layout on the table.

Yeehaw, my track is gonna be fun!

Great to hear of your progress. Consider something for sound deadening. I'm not sure what you should use. I spray glued felt down on my table top. It helps, but I sure their are better things you can use.

G.T. ex Slot Cars in East Haven used like a plastic grass, It looks pretty cool.

http://www.gtexslotcars.com/trackpics/index.php

Here's a link to his main page.

http://www.gtexslotcars.com/

My 12'x4' table is now almost complete. The only thing I need to add is a shelf for the bottom. Need to just pick up a piece of plywood and nail it down to complete the bottom shelf of this otherwise this table is complete. Over the weekend I put a track up and although it's not perfect it's pretty good and I'm fairly happy with it. The thing I'm running into now is the fact that I need a bunch more 15" straights & I need at least 4 of the 18" turns. I might even need more but for right now that should get me to where I need to be. A friend of mine and I raced on it over the weekend and the one thing I did notice and will be fixed given a short bit of time is the cars whipping off the table. My buddy broke is SG+ cop car body. I was horrified but my wife is real good with the super glue so she fixed it for him. Almost as if nothing ever happened.

Just wanted to put an update out here and as I said I need to acquire alot more track to make this the coup de grace.

Cheers,
Xence

Consider using straight sections shorter than 15". Nearly all my 15" Tomy straights are bowed. Some more than others. I don't know if they came with the Super International set or from batch I bought from Racemasters. I wasn't aware of this problem and didn't check them before I used them. There's quite a few in even my modest 4x8 layout. Once I build driver stations, I'll be forced to deal with the 15" straight problem.

I would have never seen that as a problem tell you the truth twolff. That's good info though, I'll have to look around and see what I can come up with.

Next question on this project is what are most people using for the edges of their monster layouts? I went to joanne fabrics with the wife today and they had the 2" thick by 24"x36" padding and I was thinking about going this route for the edges of the table. This will keep the cars from going off the table and it will also allow the cars to hit something super soft.

Opinions on this? Is there a better way to do this?

I ran into a few bowed 15" straights too. I found that by heating them with hot water I could straighten them pretty good. A couple of them went back with time, but after straightening them a couple more times they eventually seemed pretty good.

Another problem I have seen is uneven rail heights.

Tower Hobbies has the 18" curves for a decent price.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXRPS5&P=7

I ran into a few bowed 15" straights too. I found that by heating them with hot water I could straighten them pretty good. How hot is the water you use? Tap hot? Boiling? Any tricks to doing it? I'd like to straighten out my bowed 15s, and also create one with a bit of gentle rise and fall.
-- D

I've got a new question on designing a track. I've seen several people say they are using ultimate racer 3 software to design their tracks. Is there a tutorial on this or is it just keep clicking till something works? I downloaded it from somewhere, couldn't tell you where, and installed it. The thing works but there seem to be a ton of features that I either can't use or don't know how to use. Any help would be appreciated on this.

Cheers,
Xence

I downloaded and installed Ultimate Race 3 but can't figure out how to build a 4 lane track :confused:
I've had good luck with slotman

Can you point me to a place where I can download that software AZSlot? I was just kinda toolin' around with ultimate racer 3 and it looks like a good program I'm just not familiar with this sort of software.

How hot is the water you use? Tap hot? Boiling? Any tricks to doing it? I'd like to straighten out my bowed 15s, and also create one with a bit of gentle rise and fall.
-- D


I used tap hot just a bit hotter than I could stand my hand in for more than a few seconds, in a dish pan. I emmersed the whole piece for a few seconds and then bent it past being straight and held it until it cooled. If it looked straight, I was done, if not I just kept adjusting it by dipping and trying again.

Can you point me to a place where I can download that software AZSlot? I was just kinda toolin' around with ultimate racer 3 and it looks like a good program I'm just not familiar with this sort of software.

http://www.uracerweb.org/

I was able to use enough of the track editor to document my current layout, but that's all so far.

I have now pushed ahead with this, built the table, got a whole mess of track from the bay at decent prices so I don't break the bank and am now happily running a 4 lane 12'x4' track. I don't know how to post pictures yet on here to show everyone. I added a photo of the track in my photo album. I don't know how to add it here. Take a look and give me some feedback.

found the ubb code. thanks crimnick.

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/My_track.jpg

Nice!

If you look in your gallery...this is a UBB code allready for cut and paste to post your pics...

You can click one check and put it on your clipboard...then when you have a posting window open..just right click and select paste...

easy as pie....everyone likes pie...