Mike(^RacerX^)
06-17-2008, 10:37 PM
It only took three years,but I am finally DONE with my 16X4 Tomy layout.
When I put it up three years ago,I was in a huge hurry to lay the track on the table and race.Had I just done it right the first time,I could have avoided a lot of work,but,in the end it was all worth it.
It seemed that whenever I would plan on working on the track,about 10 minutes into it I was running laps and neglecting to get everything done.As a result,the track became a pain to race on,crappy joints because I never ground tabs,poor electrical contacts,and no borders.
One thing I did was take out a good portion of the technical section on the far right of the track.Way too many 6"curves,I learned about those the hard way.Wasnt too bad when I was racing with my kid,but when newbies came over it was deslot city.
So I put straights in place of it all and got rid of the pesky narrow R turns.
While I had the track up,I wired jumpers from each track section to the next.I must have soldered 9 million little wires in the last three weeks.But by doing this,I eliminated all and any of the rail joints that were giving me a problem,or would in the future.
After I soldered them all dabbed good ol Gorrilla glue on each joint and wire.Those wires aint going no where EVER.
I did all of the borders with cork and a hot glue gun to each curve.Afterwards,I sanded the cork level with my DA sander,then squeeged in auto body spot putty.Sanded smooth and painted with flat black latex enamel.Came out GREAT!!!!!!! The curve sections look like they were made with the borders on them.Smooth,no cracks or bumps.Gonna be great for slidin,and some G JEts when I get my hands on 'em.
One thing that REALLY sucked was this.After all the track was laid out,I was left with about a 1.5" inch gap.Now THAT threw me for a loop.
I ended up scratch building pieces of track to join the layout together.That was a fun whole day of my life that I will never get back,but it worked great!!!!!!
I came close to just dumping the whole thing,and getting a Maxx.But rather then having my wife kick me to the curb,I set out to make a sectional plastic track that could replicate a Maxx or a Wiz track as close as I could.
I sanded and puttied my brains out.A LOT OF WORK,but well worth it.
One last thing that I did that I am very pleased with.The way that plastic track buckles,and gives you that hollow sound when you tap on it never worked for me.I did the whole thing with the little tacks and melted the heads in with a soldering iron,but still,they would pop out,and it made the track really noisy.
My thinkin' was,if the track is moving,then I am wasting motion.And if I am wasting motion with my cars,how ever slight,it is increasing my lap times,even a .01 makes a dif if you are a magnet car guy like me.
What to do I thought.
I had this great idea after seeing how Gorilla glue expands and turns into a rock hard foam.
Sooooooooooooo.......I pulled out the tacks,drilled holes where they were the size of a GG bottle aplicator.Also drilled hole in the center of a lot of the track sections.
Man,I'll tell you what,this track aint going NO WHERE!!!!!!
And I dont want it to go anywhere.Lets see,I got my first slot cars when I was one,which was back in '62.After countless years of trying different layouts,and very careful planning on my part,THIS is the layout I have always wanted.
Thats it for now.Im going to go stand in my basement and look at my track and make Tim Allen primative cave man noises.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh......now I can get back to what I love best,building motors,AND,I can finally get crack a lackin on some of the RO stuff I have kicking around in my empty skull.
Mike(Ice9)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/racerx10990/DSCF0858.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/racerx10990/DSCF0857.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/racerx10990/DSCF0856.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/racerx10990/DSCF0855.jpg
When I put it up three years ago,I was in a huge hurry to lay the track on the table and race.Had I just done it right the first time,I could have avoided a lot of work,but,in the end it was all worth it.
It seemed that whenever I would plan on working on the track,about 10 minutes into it I was running laps and neglecting to get everything done.As a result,the track became a pain to race on,crappy joints because I never ground tabs,poor electrical contacts,and no borders.
One thing I did was take out a good portion of the technical section on the far right of the track.Way too many 6"curves,I learned about those the hard way.Wasnt too bad when I was racing with my kid,but when newbies came over it was deslot city.
So I put straights in place of it all and got rid of the pesky narrow R turns.
While I had the track up,I wired jumpers from each track section to the next.I must have soldered 9 million little wires in the last three weeks.But by doing this,I eliminated all and any of the rail joints that were giving me a problem,or would in the future.
After I soldered them all dabbed good ol Gorrilla glue on each joint and wire.Those wires aint going no where EVER.
I did all of the borders with cork and a hot glue gun to each curve.Afterwards,I sanded the cork level with my DA sander,then squeeged in auto body spot putty.Sanded smooth and painted with flat black latex enamel.Came out GREAT!!!!!!! The curve sections look like they were made with the borders on them.Smooth,no cracks or bumps.Gonna be great for slidin,and some G JEts when I get my hands on 'em.
One thing that REALLY sucked was this.After all the track was laid out,I was left with about a 1.5" inch gap.Now THAT threw me for a loop.
I ended up scratch building pieces of track to join the layout together.That was a fun whole day of my life that I will never get back,but it worked great!!!!!!
I came close to just dumping the whole thing,and getting a Maxx.But rather then having my wife kick me to the curb,I set out to make a sectional plastic track that could replicate a Maxx or a Wiz track as close as I could.
I sanded and puttied my brains out.A LOT OF WORK,but well worth it.
One last thing that I did that I am very pleased with.The way that plastic track buckles,and gives you that hollow sound when you tap on it never worked for me.I did the whole thing with the little tacks and melted the heads in with a soldering iron,but still,they would pop out,and it made the track really noisy.
My thinkin' was,if the track is moving,then I am wasting motion.And if I am wasting motion with my cars,how ever slight,it is increasing my lap times,even a .01 makes a dif if you are a magnet car guy like me.
What to do I thought.
I had this great idea after seeing how Gorilla glue expands and turns into a rock hard foam.
Sooooooooooooo.......I pulled out the tacks,drilled holes where they were the size of a GG bottle aplicator.Also drilled hole in the center of a lot of the track sections.
Man,I'll tell you what,this track aint going NO WHERE!!!!!!
And I dont want it to go anywhere.Lets see,I got my first slot cars when I was one,which was back in '62.After countless years of trying different layouts,and very careful planning on my part,THIS is the layout I have always wanted.
Thats it for now.Im going to go stand in my basement and look at my track and make Tim Allen primative cave man noises.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh......now I can get back to what I love best,building motors,AND,I can finally get crack a lackin on some of the RO stuff I have kicking around in my empty skull.
Mike(Ice9)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/racerx10990/DSCF0858.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/racerx10990/DSCF0857.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/racerx10990/DSCF0856.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/racerx10990/DSCF0855.jpg