I had this idea for a simple display stand/case using a few pieces of 1x6 and some L&J track, of which I have a bunch that's collecting dust. So I got a buddy with a chop saw to slice me up some standard issue Lowe's pine board, and here's what I got. The sides are 4' tall, and each shelf is 18.25" (I figured if I went exactly 18, figuring for error, I might not get two 9" straights to fit on the shelf neatly end-to-end.

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/0802090133-00.jpg

I have enough wood cut to do 2, but I only put this one together so far. My goal is to mount them on something that will either roll, spin, or both. Target sells a rolling TV cart for 20 bucks. I figure I can put screws or bolts thru the bottom shelf into the top of the TV cart--that'll give me some storage in the cart, it'll raise the bottom shelf off the floor to a usable height, and it'll make the thing easy to roll around the basement and spin to see the cars on both sides. Then I got this crazy idea:

http://www.thefind.com/furniture/info-hardware-lazy-susan-bearing

If I put one of these between the display shelf and the cart, then it'll swivel around and you can see the cars on both sides.

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/0802090133-01.jpg

I figure 8 cars (Tjet size) on each 9" straight track section. 4 sections on each shelf means 32 cars/shelf, x 8 shelves, which is 256 cars on one unit.

ANd THEN... I read Gonzo's post on the track building forum about using up extra 9" curves...

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/0802090135-00.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/0802090136-00.jpg

I can get 9 Tjets on a 9" curve. So on four 9" curves, that's 36. Plus in the middle of each shelf, 2 pieces of 9" straight with 8 cars each for another 16 cars--that's 52 cars/shelf, or 416 cars/unit. Wow... thanks for the inspiration, Gonzo!

(The scary part is that all the curve tracks you see in that photo are just the broken ones that I just rescued from the trash in the garage that didn't go out yet. I didn't even tap into the good curve tracks yet...)

--rick

SSSSSWWWWWWWWEEEEETTTTT!!! :thumbsup:


Wes

Nowas that too fricken cool.. but i am going to refer to you as "Rick the garbage picker, who has a really neat display shelf"... from now on


Nice work..

Dave

aw c'mon. it was my own garbage. :D

(The scary part is that all the curve tracks you see in that photo are just the broken ones that I just rescued from the trash in the garage that didn't go out yet. I didn't even tap into the good curve tracks yet...)


That is too funny! Several years ago, I trashed 87 extra 9" curves. And none of them were broken!

Chris

Now thats a cool display case :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Another approach for the rotating display tower would be to make it free standing as follows:

Get the following materials:

- A long threaded rod long enough for the height of your tower. If you can't find one long enough, you should be able to join multiples of them together with a couple of nuts with the threads superglued.

- Enough 1/4" plywood to make a circle that will serve as a base for each track layer. The circles should be large enough to screw/nail the track to it, but should not go all the way to the outer edge of the track. Paint the wood black on both sides. Drill a hole in the center of every circle large enough for the threaded rod.

- Some large PVC drain pipe (6" or so) cut into segments that represent the spacing between layers. Paint the PVC with Krylon Fusion paint in your choice of colors.

The idea is to assemble the tower from the bottom up with the threaded rod extending through the center of each later. The first layer will be attached to the lazy susan base. Each subsequent layer will have a painted PVC pipe spacer that will both hide the threaded rod and stabilize the tower. Nuts and washers will be used to cinch down the layers on the rod. It's basically the same technique used to build a lamp, one later at a time. The threaded rod, washers, and nuts are all hidden by the painted pipe.

The top layer can be capped with a PVC drain cap or a finial of some sort.

This should produce a very interesting yet low cost display tower. The same technique would apply to those leftover 6" radius turns.

If you want to get really fancy you could embed low voltage LED lighting on the underside of the layers and have it all powered by a leftover/recycled wall wart transformer with all the wiring hidden in the PVC tubing. Would be quite slick yet easy to do.

I do like this idea Too... The only thing missing is an idea for a stable base.. Maybe a sand filled umbrella stand?? Extra Christmas tree stand may be adaptable too.. Really like the LED lighting idea too!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

I've also been tossing around the corner display concept too. Using 1/4" plywood for the backing. Trim the edges with either thin strips of pine, or even plastic paneling trim. Make 1/4 curve sized shelves. These can be spaced out about 6-7" apart. Each shelf can be scenic'ed differently. Be it a"Mels Diner", a mountain with a tunnel, a garage scene, whatever tickles your fancy.. The upper levels can be 6" curves, and the lower can graduate up to 12" or even 15" if you have them to spare. The lighting idea can carry through this concept also with LED lit street lights, buildings lit up, or what ever can be thought up.. I am pathetically out of room for my customs, and I believe it's part of my mental block.. Kind of a "if I have no place to put them, why build them" mood..

I thought about stability. Yeah, put some weight in the first vertical PVC filler segment. I'm talking the 6" wide PVC pipe, so it would provide the required gravity if sufficiently weighted.

Here is a crude model of each of the sections/layers in the "stack." The bottom disk is the plywood with track mounted on it and the vertical cylinder is the PVC pipe (or something similar). The first layer would have the mechanicals underneath for rotation and the weighting. I suppose for the base layer you could put a smaller tube for wiring and the threaded rod inside the larger tube and fill the void between the two tubes with Quickrete. That would give you a stable base.

I like the concept.

Gonzo

here's a couple pictures of mine mounted on the rolling carts. (Target had the carts on their website at $20; when I got there, they were $15 for their back-to-school dorm dweller sale. score!! :thumbsup: ) at the moment, i am not using the curve tracks, just 9" straights.

http://home.comcast.net/~rwurtz/images/stand01.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~rwurtz/images/stand02.jpg

i am working out an issue wherein one of the carts has a lot of "sway" side-to-side on the turntable/pedestal base. the other has very little... it seems that these things aren't made to the tightest manufacturing tolerances. i was looking for 4" ones at Lowe's, but the smallest they had was 6", and that's what i got. it's essentially this one:

http://www.homeandbeyond.com/prod-cd-og-1831874.html

in retrospect, i think i am much better off with the 6"; even the one without much play in it has more than i thought they would, and i'd imagine having a smaller footprint would make it worse. i would advise anyone buying these at Lowe's or wherever to check through them all and take the one/ones with the least play between top and bottom pieces...

--rick

Excellent idea and nice work! Finding a great use for trashed 9" curves.... :thumbsup: To borrow a definition:

"Bricolage, ..... refers to the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things which happen to be available, or a work created by such a process. The term is borrowed from the French word bricolage, from the verb bricoler – the core meaning in French being, "fiddle, tinker" and, by extension, "make creative and resourceful use of whatever materials are to hand (regardless of their original purpose)."

A person who engages in bricolage is a bricoleur."

Always thought about incorporating the term into a race team name... as any effort I could be involved in automatically necessitated creative use of whatever resources were available.

Tres magnifique, mon ami! I don't know how to say 'great looking slot car display unit' in French LOL.

nice idea!

I like the idea with the threaded rod. I was working on something along that line but for a different purpose. You will rember that corkscrew like orange stand from Aurora. Replace the center with a long threaded rod and the arms by old motorcycle spokes or similar. Take an considrable number of nuts and drill little holes in the side and then solder, glue or tap it screw the spokes to it.
Fix a small wooden or plastic base to the other end and put 9er track in corkscrew fashion on it.
Know you can use it as a hillclimb dragstrip or testbed or by building a second one functioning as downward track a complete race track.
Or when not in use as a display.
Quite a few possibilities here.
By the way one can try to bring upward and downward spiral into one column.
that would be neat.

Foxkilo