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A new beginning If you've spent a few minutes perusing the write up on the "old" PDR, you'll see that I've wanted a wood, routed track for a long time. When I got into 1:32 slot cars, I was unsure if I'd like a wood track, or if I'd be able to do it. Silly, silly thoughts. I've since overcome this fear and after having a wood oval, just had to have a wood road course. As I recently completed my "Man-Cave", I figured it was now or never. I've drawn countless designs over the years and finally settled on one. Then, after laying out the bench work for it, decided that I needed a major revision or I'd be cramped in my small basement. The funny thing is that I actually like the one I hastily threw together better than the one I thought I'd settled on a long time ago. Moral of the story: I tend to obsess and over-think things. Or, do I...? Choices Choosing to build a permanent track raises several interesting questions. What kind of cars do you like to run? What type of look or era do you like? What area of the world is this track supposedly in? Is this a track you can live with for a long time?
Bench work Construction A major consideration in building a permanent layout is it's size. I’ve seen many smaller layouts that were very effective and high in driving fun. In my case, I have a small, basement that I’ve been able to use about half of. The old PDR was 5 x18', but took up most of the available room. This time I wanted a painted backdrop for the scenery, so it had to be against the wall. In order to ensure I could touch every inch of the track, the bench work needed to be a max of 3' wide, except where I can get around it. I incorporated areas where the track comes out to 7' wide, but again, I can get around that side of the table and am able to reach everywhere. Bench work Construction (click to enlarge)
Design work This is my design on paper that I created once the table footprints were determined. (click to enlarge) One of the challenges when designing a wood, routed slot car track is getting what is in your head onto paper and then onto wood. Some racers instinctively build amazing tracks without ever going through this process, however, some need to see something more concrete before committing to building it. Enter James Harlan Design, an avid slot car racer with one of the most amazing tracks ever built. James is a graphic artist and routinely designs tracks for a number of racers. His work can be seen on the AC2Car website among others. James' usual design service provides finished CAD files that allow one to have their track CNC routed. However, that type of work while beautiful and perfect as it is, might be out of the budget of some, or a person might simply want design help prior to building the track themselves. For this person, James now offers his design services and provides templates for you to route your own track! Beginning with a design on paper seems easy enough. More importantly however, is knowing the exact dimensions of the track and tables themselves. James takes these measurements and designs from the customers and begins a process that allows the customer to see not only the design, but the lane spacing, copper tape path, and overall fit to the parameters of the tables. It is an invaluable service to one that wants to ensure that there is a solid design prior to firing up a router for the first time. After several emails or calls between James and the customer, a plan emerges. Several variations might occur as the customer attempts to get the exact track they are hoping to create. If the track calls for different lane spacing, squeezes, cross-overs, or functional pit lanes, James is able to work with all of these elements. Initial Track Design (click to enlarge)
As you can see in the final design phase below, several of the squeeze sections have moved around a bit, a few more passing areas have opened up, the inner and outer lanes now cross over and back, and the pits are completely changed. After looking at the original design, I realized how tight the pit road entrance was going to be. In addition, with the pit buildings I want to build, I would have had virtually no paddock area to work with for scenery. So, it has been changed to a 1950's-1960's LeMans or Spa-style pit right off the straight. There are three functional pit "boxes" that will allow the driver to come in for repairs or fuel. Final Track Design and Copper Tape Layout Design (click to enlarge)
Once the design is solidified and agreed upon, James "cuts" the track up into parts that utilize as much of an 4' x 8' sheet of MDF as possible and prints out sheets that are glued to the MDF as a template. The templates are then delivered in a large Postal tube and are ready for use. Completed Track Templates (click to enlarge)
Once the templates have arrived, the customer simply glues them to each sheet of MDF using 3M Super 77 Adhesive. This adhesive is available in most hardware stores such as Home Depot. A light coating of glue is all that is needed for the templates to stick to the MDF. The light coating ensures the templates can be routed, even when having to move the routing fence repeatedly, and still be easy to peel off when completed. Each template shows the line for the slot that needs to be routed as well as the edges of the "roadbed" that needs to be cut out when the routing is complete. A nice feature of the templates is the extra 2 inches of slot that overlaps the edge of the roadbed. This ensures the parts match up when assembled. Below are a series of pictures that visually explain the process. After spraying a light coat of the 3M glue, use a smooth tool like a plastic Bondo spatula to spread and smooth the paper. This is best done by two people, but I managed it myself with very few wrinkles. Any small wrinkles that did occur happened outside of the track area. Installing the Templates (click to enlarge)
I've received a number of emails requesting how to contact James Harlan and how much this process cost for my track. James can be reached at the following: Email: jmghf1@gmail.com or through his Website at: http://wlf1ring.blogspot.com/ The total cost for my design as shown would be $300 and includes the design services, James' customer service, the templates, and shipping. Your cost will vary depending on the size of the layout, design elements, lanes, etc. - figure approximately two hundred dollars to as nuts as you wish to be! For the builder that simply wants a 4'x8' 2-lane oval, this is not a cost-effective method, but for a larger and more complex layout, I found the service invaluable! Routing Not having done this before, I'd gotten Luf Linkert's slot car routing track kit. It comes with a router base, flexible strip and a DVD of how to route a complete track. It is very informative and I highly recommend getting it if you're a first-time track router like myself. It can be found at www.oldslotracer.com along with some very nice pictures of the tracks Luf and his customers have made. The slowest part of the entire process until you get a system going is positioning the strip for routing. I basically start lining the router up where the beginning of a slot line is at the joint and then align it every 2 nails in the fence after that. I then go back and put in the nails that are missing. It takes about 10 minutes per lane to do that, or at least that is how fast I got on the last part I did. The first line took me 45 minutes! I did have to move the strip to complete the lanes on P2 (as seen in the above drawing) as they were longer than the strip. I did a good job though and you can't even tell where that occurred. I was able to stay on the line almost perfectly throughout the routing, but I did go off about a 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch in two places. Again, not even noticeable. Router Alignment (click to enlarge)
I was only able to get P8 & P9 completed and about 90% of P2 completed. I say 90%, because just as I was manipulating the strip around to the sharpest inner corner, the strip broke into 4 parts. Right about the time my brain clicked and said "maybe this is too tight", it snapped in 4 parts. It is not Luf's fault, it was mine for attempting to bend the router strip or fence too tight. The funny thing was that I'd just done a tighter curve with it. As a fix to this issue locally, I found what is called a PVC "blind stop" in the trim aisle at Lowes. It is 5//" x 5/8" and fairly flexible. I measured it off in 2 inch increments and drilled holes to take 6d trim nails as I had those on-hand. It works pretty well, but can only stand being flexed to extremes a few times before it snaps too. It took me three of these to finish routing all three lanes of the entire track. Routing Progress (click to enlarge)
The template paper simply peels off when you're done. Of course there are some mistakes to fix, and Luf's great DVD shows you how. I have a few areas to file a bit smoother where the router bit wasn't properly aligned and I have to fill the holes and attach the track parts, but this gives you an idea of where it sits today! (click to enlarge) Routed Sections (click to enlarge)
Pit-Lane Switching I have wanted functional pit lanes ever since I was a kid. Thanks to Bryan Thomas, I was able to get a fantastic set of his CNC'd aluminum flippers, the templates and DVD he offers. His system makes it incredibly easy to route a perfect lane switch. The flippers use an HO railroad switch to function. My pits are bi-directional and have flippers at both the entry and exit if I ever want to run the track the opposite direction. The really cool thing is that James worked with Bryan to get the exact dimensions of the flippers and the templates and he incorporated those into my design perfectly! Aluminum Flippers (click to enlarge)
Lane Switching Templates & Routed Switch (click to enlarge)
Fixing Routing Mistakes In the event of a problem while routing, such as going off-course, it is easy to re-do a few areas by filling the original routed line with Bondo. Then, simply use the strip and lay in a new line. This solved the problems I had in a few areas that I decided needed to be fixed. I finished cutting out all of the parts and fitting them to ensure everything lines up properly - which they do perfectly! Backdrop Painting One thing I knew I wanted from the beginning was a painted backdrop. One of the uses of my track is as a backdrop for my resin slot car business. I was always limited on the original PDR by the lack of a decent backdrop for these purposes. Additionally, a backdrop lends itself to the overall feel and look of a well executed track. The realism factor is heightened when cars are whizzing by hills and trees and not flat, gray, concrete. After a great deal of research, I decided to keep my backdrop simple - not heavily detailed with individual trees and not simply a blue wall with a sun and happy clouds painted upon it. I did explore the idea of model railroad backdrops that are printed out and installed like wallpaper, but that option ran to over $500 for the ones I was looking at! Building a track on a budget, I decided that was NOT the way for me to go. I settled on different "layers" of hills and mountains with a bit of sky. I figured that would look good when the cars were at speed and give some depth to the scenery I plan to install along the back of the layout against the wall. I sketched a quick idea on paper and began to think about colors. Backdrop Painting Design (click to enlarge)
Being arid in nature, Colorado's greens are a subdued color - certainly not bright green such as on the east coast or what you'd see at Road America in Wisconsin. With that in mind, I picked three shades of green that were in the same family and are predominantly based on olive greens. They match fairly well to what my eye sees when I look towards our foothills and mountains. A quick trip to the local hardware store netted the three colors and a nice shade of light blue. Paint Colors (click to enlarge)
I masked the wall off, primed it, and penciled in my design. I'm extremely happy with my choice of design as it was simple to do, quick to paint, and really adds to the layout. I spent less than three hours on the entire project. I simply started top down - sky first and then each of the greens from lightest to darkest. The other benefit is that this project cost only $40 in paint and supplies - FAR better than the amount a pre-made backdrop would have cost me! Stages of Backdrop Painting (click to enlarge)
Assembly, Elevations, and Paint-prep To assemble the track, I laid it out roughly the way the parts fit together. Starting with the pit section, I simply re-used 1x4 from the old PDR that I cut to the width of the roadbed and attached both sides of the roadbed to it. I used 1" screws that were self-countersinking, so that made the job a snap. The only real issue is making sure that the routed slots all line up perfectly with each other. I had 3 that were off by about 1/16". I simply used the Dremel with a bit to clean them up and make the transition smooth. Afterwards, I used a large emery board to further clean up the slots where they met. In all, about 15 minutes worth of work. At this point, let me tell you one of the best tools I had for this work - I used an old Carrera Stock Car and removed the motor from it so the wheels would freewheel. This allowed me to push the car along and get a feel for the smoothness of the track as well as any areas that needed a quick hit with the emery. This turned out to be a great method for finding and tuning the sections. In addition, it was wicked-cool to shove the car hard enough to get it to travel the entire back stretch and around the corner into the corkscrew - that's roughly 35' - the track is that smooth. A few pictures of the track sections assembled (click to enlarge)
Once all of the parts were together, I used boxes of various sizes to play with the elevation changes I wanted. As the track pays homage to the corkscrew at Laguna Seca, I needed at least 12" in height on that end of the track. In addition to that, I wanted virtually nothing to be at the same level...after all, this is the foothills of Colorado, not the Cleveland Airport tarmac. If you see original pictures of the Continental Divide Raceway, the track had constant changes in elevation, something I wanted to emulate. I re-used the old "T" sections that I'd used on the PDR for this part. A few pictures of the track sections elevated (click to enlarge) Most real road courses have banking or camber in each corner. It is rare that they are perfectly flat. I wanted some camber in each corner, so I simply moved the top of each "T" in an appropriate manner to give me what I wanted. This isn't Talladega, so I only needed a small amount, not 30 degrees. I did this on each corner including the corkscrew and was able to get the exact look I was looking for. A nice bonus of this is that the cars "plant" better in the corners. I was able to test this with my roller-car and it worked very well! A few pictures of the track banking (click to enlarge)
Filling the joints and the many nail and screw holes was simple: I used joint compound and scraped it flat so it was flush with the top of the track. A few areas I ran a sanding block over just to ensure they were smooth and flat. Again, the roller-car helped in this area. One other important thing to think about is if you run your track in both directions is that it is smooth both ways. I found several joints that ran smooth one way, but not the other. I used the emery to clean these areas up and retested them with the roller-car. Some track builders don't fill the nail holes from using the flexible strip and say that the paint covers them just fine. I figured that I was better off safe than sorry and did them anyway. The labor was minimal and the holes are now smooth. Filling the section joints (click to enlarge)
And finally, a few pictures of the entire track ready for paint (click to enlarge)
Track Paint Being a scenery fan, I've always thought that the
track surface should be as real as possible. To that end, I was
looking for a method to paint the "pebbled" look most roads
and tracks have due to the crushed rock base they contain. My
good friend, Lee, experimented with this as well and hit upon a great
way to get the look without using an airbrush or rattle cans of
paint. I began by painting the track with a base of gray interior flat latex paint. As I have a major box store near me,
I selected the Glidden paints they stock. I used a brush
to paint the slots and then a 4" foam roller to lay the
paint. I painted two coats to ensure even coating of the track
and made a few observations: Base Painting completed (click to enlarge)
Following Lee's suggestions, I picked up two $1 plastic spray bottles at the local Wal-Mart and some cheap, bottles of white and black hobby acrylic paint. I mixed each color in a bottle and diluted it with water to the consistency of milk. I sprayed a mist of black paint on the track, followed by a mist of white. let it sit for a minute and used an old terry-cloth towel to dab it. Once this is done, you can see the areas that are "flashing" due to the spray pattern of the paint. So, I simply shot another fine spray of white over it, and using the same towel, simply toweled it off. If left it in a lighter color and really looks pretty good in my opinion. I've gotten numerous comments on the surface, so it must look alright. The patches are various shades of black and gray - after all, patches are newer than the faded asphalt. I used a sharpie pen to outline these as the black goo that you usually find around them looks similar. Surface Detail in progress - from left to right - black spray, white mist, dabbing paint (click to enlarge)
Surface Detail completed (click to enlarge)
Track Taping and Taps Several years ago I'd built a four-lane oval a friend routed for me. I had two rolls of 1/4" copper tape left over that I wanted to put towards the new track. I purchased four more rolls based on my calculations accounting for lap length and the pit lanes. I'd thought about buying or making a knock-off of Luf's taping tool, but ended up doing it by hand. Why? Because I like doing things the hard way. It took me about 3 hours to lay the first lane including wiring the jumpers across the cross-overs, but by the last lane I had it down to an hour. I have one almost-hairpin that was difficult do nicely, but by taking my time it turned out good. I use an dead 9-volt battery to burnish the tape to the track - how's that for recycling? In order to hook up the wiring and make the many jumpers needed to power the lanes at the cross-overs, I simply drilled countersunk holes into the track where the tape was going to go for each lane, inserted a brass flat-headed screw and then taped over that. This allowed me to use a spade connector and a nut on the bottom to connect each wire. I used an X-Acto blade to puncture a few minor holes for connectivity and then burnished this too. Taps for Wiring (click to enlarge)
Track Taping Completed (click to enlarge)
Track Power At first, I'd planned on powering the track with both AC & DC power. I'd experimented with the AC on my old track and liked the control it gave me. So, following the guidance on the AC2Car.org website I purchased a Lionel #1033 90 Watt, transformer. I also planned to use my Pyramid adjustable power supply just in case someone didn't like the AC power. When I completed taping the first lane, I was anxious to try it out, so I used my Pyramid and didn't hook up any brakes. While I had a great time, some of the cars were almost unmanageable on the front side, particularly the near-hairpin. Still great fun, but out of control. I began to wonder if I'd made a mistake with the design - I was sure I was going to begin hating the front section after awhile. I pulled out the Lionel, cobbled up the wiring and....wow! I was completely amazed! Those AC2Car guys know what the heck they're talking about! On the wood track it totally sells itself. The cars are so much more manageable. The speed is still there, but it accelerates different than on DC. You can hang the tail and get wheel-spin, but you're not going to be shooting all over the place wildly. The other bonus is that since I can take the corners more realistically due to the power control, I can really get it around the track faster now than when it was DC. Weird, but true. The AC growl is completely cool too! As this is an AC Powered track, I needed to use a diode as directed by the AC2Car.org website. The one they recommend and that I purchased at a local Radio Shack is the 1N4004. I soldered this inline as directed on the AC2Car website and then covered it with heat/shrink wrap. Diodes and Driver's Stations (click to enlarge)
To finish off the driver's stations, I used an electrical box cover and drilled it for two screws. I painted the washers and the bolts the appropriate colors needed. I then purchased some really nice holders for each controller from http://www.slotcarcorner.com/ These aluminum holders really do a nice job keeping the controllers off the ground and look sharp! At $10.99 each, they are a steal! In addition, their service was extremely fast - I had these two days after ordering! Controller Holders (click to enlarge)
Track Changes Before starting the scenery, I needed to make two
changes to the track: I wanted to adjust the elevations and I had to
remove the crossovers. The elevation changes were simply a
matter of playing with the height of the "T" parts under the
track. I wanted the hillclimb to be higher, and the corkscrew to
be lower. Part of this is due to issues I was having with the
crossovers. They were a little too shallow and certain brands of
cars liked to de-slot or change lanes if going anything less than
full-tilt. One of the neighbor kids actually broke one of the new
Scalextric guides on a Camaro, simply because they were going slowly
and the tail wasn't sliding. It hit the point of the cross-over and
broke the flag. Elevation Changes (click to enlarge)
After setting up the new elevations, it was time to fix the crossovers. It would have been easy to do this while everything was together, but even using a shop-vac makes a mess when routing, and I didn't want that all over the basement. So, out to the garage we went to fire up the router! Re-Routing (click to enlarge)
I lost the crossovers I really liked, but breaking guides on the one section wasn't worth it. I kept it tight as I liked the squeezes, and that has been good enough for me. Everyone that has driven the track really likes the two new sections, and I'm pleased with the overall result! Track Scenery After almost a year, I've slowly started to do the scenery. Very slowly. Glacially, in fact. After thinking about various methods I could use to cover ground, I've gone back to my old staple - aluminum window screen and Sculptamold. This is not the only way to do this, but it is one that I’m familiar with, and is easy to do. I only use the screen where I’m covering the openings caused by the elevation changes, or from the table surface to the sides. I lay the screen out how I think the slope of the land should look and staple it down. I also place objects, such as blocks of wood underneath the screen to cause hills, bumps, etc to be created. Those are removed after the coat of plaster is dry. Following the directions
on the bag, I mix the Sculptamold and use my hands or a common dinner
fork to spread it over the screen.
I try to vary the texture as I place it.
It goes on in a fairly thick coat and dries completely within a
day. When dry, the
Sculptamold can be sanded, cut, and shaped.
The screen has no problems holding its shape as the Sculptamold
dries very hard. Scenic Base (click to enlarge)
For my rock outcroppings, I purchased several different Woodland scenic rock molds. I use the Sculptamold to cast these. These dry enough to handle within a ½ hour, so once I make about 6 of these, I’ll place them while drying another batch in the molds. To place them, simply “glue” them onto either bare screen with Sculptamold or place them over an area already covered with Sculptamold. I blend them in to the background and each other by manipulating the plaster with my fingers. To give the rock outcroppings variety, I often break the casts into smaller pieces or turn them at different angles. This keeps any repetitive rocks from appearing. Here, you will notice the rocks are painted black - I decided to try the black base and dry brush method on these. It worked well and you'll see the results in a few moments. Rocks (click to enlarge)
For my turf, I painted the base with latex interior paint from the "oops" section at a local hardware store that matched the approximate color I wanted. While it was wet, I sprinkled a sanded tile grout over it. Once dry, I wet this and using a static grass applicator, applied some 2mm tall fall colored grass. It looks great, but I'm going to add some 6mm grass to some areas to make it stand out a bit more in places. Turf (click to enlarge)
Painted Rocks (click to enlarge)
As my track is an homage to the old Continental Divide Raceway, I wanted something that was unique to it on my track. The concrete bleachers there are a perfect fit. I made these simply by stacking balsa wood and gluing them together. a quick wash with a brush, and it looked pretty close. Concrete Stands (click to enlarge)
Concrete Stands now populated and fenced (click to enlarge) I've added a small fence to protect a corner worker and some trees. I've decided to try and model the fall season. NOT an easy thing to do. I'm still not sure I'm happy with the colors! Early Scenery (click to enlarge)
I'm a bit of a realist...even though I'm playing with small cars. I like figures that are reasonably scale and look like a person. With a layout this size, I need a large number of figures so that it doesn't look like an abandoned race track after a zombie apocalypse. I use Revell Monogram track officials and pit crews as well as the MRRC news crew. For spectators, I'd started with the Scalextric figures but found them to be over-scale and not very well done. I switched to the newer Carrera ones, but they are extremely expensive. I found numerous sellers on eBay that have a reasonable number of figures you can buy in bulk both painted and non-painted. I picked up 130 pre-painted figures for under $100 shipped. Multiple poses are available, and some children are included. In the lot I purchased, there were 10 girls about 4 years old with pigtails clutching a teddy bear. Not on my layout! To the trash with those. The rest of the poses were just fine though. If I had to pick nits, the paint jobs these came with are not very good but are reasonably realistic for the tiny cars screaming by. I'll be repainting some to break up the crowd and make it a tad more diverse as 90% of them have black hair. The last issue with the paint jobs is that there is no detail on the faces - again, not too much of a big deal, but I think the next order I place will be for the unpainted figures - I can do those while watching a movie some evening. Figures in bulk (click to enlarge)
Colorado has some nice wild flowers that grow. The fields around the old Continental Divide Raceway was covered in wild sunflowers. I found that Busch H.O. Scale sunflowers are the perfect size for replicating these. They aren't cheap at $12 for 60 of them, but I like the way they look! They are made of plastic and are extremely easy to assemble. To install them, I just used a pin to poke a hole in the turf, put a dab of glue on the end of the stem and stuck them in. Busch HO Scale Sunflowers (click to enlarge)
As I am modeling the fall season, I wanted a large deciduous tree that was in fall colors towards the front of my layout to help give depth perspective to the track. I found my local railroad store had packages of 2 large (11" or so) fall trees. The trunks appear to be made from tumbleweed and have canopy stretched over them and then the fall colors applied. This is the first one I've planted, and I really think it makes the corner look great. Fall Trees (click to enlarge)
So, that's it to this point. Only a million things left to do! Please feel free to email me with any questions you might have. I'm always happy to help others! |
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