30th-Jan-21, 04:48 PM
If you're going to replicate the vertical rails it's quite an advanced skill. This is what you're looking at...
That's three slots per lane, with excellent accuracy required in terms of distance of the rail pockets from the guide slot all the way round and a consistent rail pocket depth. Otherwise your cars' pick-ups will lose contact with the rail and stop.
And then there's choosing your rail material - ideally something that can transition from the standard HO track to your routed section and back again. It's easier to produce a 100% routed track using something easy like round rebar (tying) wire, than to replicate actual HO track. Using expanded closed-cell PVC board (eg Foamex, Sintra etc) is easier to route than mdf or plywood - you can do it with a Dremel and appropriate plunge routing guide and 1.6mm straight routing bit. Both me and Gareth have the kit and materials to route HO dragstrips from Sintra and tying wire... just neither of us have done it yet.
Because you're not providing a pro-racing environment for ultra-picky pro-racers, then you could get away with something more basic. Probably the easiest would be routing the guide slot and then using adhesive copper tape at the correct distance either side (you'd need to add braid to your cars' pick-ups) or glue a tinned copper braid to the track surface. The latter would give you a little height (about 1mm) for the cars' pick-ups to work. Both would mean zero magnatraction - which might make it interesting... or impossible to drive.
There are some tutorials on YouTube for both traditional HO routed tracks and copper tape versions.
That's three slots per lane, with excellent accuracy required in terms of distance of the rail pockets from the guide slot all the way round and a consistent rail pocket depth. Otherwise your cars' pick-ups will lose contact with the rail and stop.
And then there's choosing your rail material - ideally something that can transition from the standard HO track to your routed section and back again. It's easier to produce a 100% routed track using something easy like round rebar (tying) wire, than to replicate actual HO track. Using expanded closed-cell PVC board (eg Foamex, Sintra etc) is easier to route than mdf or plywood - you can do it with a Dremel and appropriate plunge routing guide and 1.6mm straight routing bit. Both me and Gareth have the kit and materials to route HO dragstrips from Sintra and tying wire... just neither of us have done it yet.
Because you're not providing a pro-racing environment for ultra-picky pro-racers, then you could get away with something more basic. Probably the easiest would be routing the guide slot and then using adhesive copper tape at the correct distance either side (you'd need to add braid to your cars' pick-ups) or glue a tinned copper braid to the track surface. The latter would give you a little height (about 1mm) for the cars' pick-ups to work. Both would mean zero magnatraction - which might make it interesting... or impossible to drive.
There are some tutorials on YouTube for both traditional HO routed tracks and copper tape versions.
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