5th-Apr-21, 05:45 PM
Hub wrote a excellent article about his first routed track - a little 3 x 1.5 ft layout where he learned lots of lessons...
The article is in this month's Slot Car Magazine (here). Hub also makes his tracks without using a router. He uses two mdf sheets, the top one cut with jigsaw (two blades soldered together) to create the slot. It might not be what everyone else does, but it's very effective.
I routed my first 1/32 scale track 20 years ago - a 4 x 2 rally stage experiment - and my second last year - the 6 x 2 ice rink. They are gradually getting bigger! There is a lot of great info out there. The kit Greg sells is excellent. I use the BSCRA Tech site - it's a fabulous reference for track building, wiring etc.
One issue with any track that isn't 100% permanently set up is weight. Lifting an 8 x 4 board - with or without a frame - is a two-person job. The thicker the board (you'd need at least 10-12mm to route an 8mm deep slot), the heavier it becomes. The weight of the Scalextric track on top will require strong arms and backs to wrestle from the vertical onto suitably strong trestles and back again.
Personally, I'd go for a lightweight framed board (using softwood PSE timber for the frame and 3.6mm ply / 3mm hardboard for the top) to fix the Scalextric track to and then plan separate - and much smaller - routed 'practice' projects.
The article is in this month's Slot Car Magazine (here). Hub also makes his tracks without using a router. He uses two mdf sheets, the top one cut with jigsaw (two blades soldered together) to create the slot. It might not be what everyone else does, but it's very effective.
I routed my first 1/32 scale track 20 years ago - a 4 x 2 rally stage experiment - and my second last year - the 6 x 2 ice rink. They are gradually getting bigger! There is a lot of great info out there. The kit Greg sells is excellent. I use the BSCRA Tech site - it's a fabulous reference for track building, wiring etc.
One issue with any track that isn't 100% permanently set up is weight. Lifting an 8 x 4 board - with or without a frame - is a two-person job. The thicker the board (you'd need at least 10-12mm to route an 8mm deep slot), the heavier it becomes. The weight of the Scalextric track on top will require strong arms and backs to wrestle from the vertical onto suitably strong trestles and back again.
Personally, I'd go for a lightweight framed board (using softwood PSE timber for the frame and 3.6mm ply / 3mm hardboard for the top) to fix the Scalextric track to and then plan separate - and much smaller - routed 'practice' projects.
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