30th-Apr-20, 01:19 PM
It is definitely a thought that crossed my mind - the idea of gravity helping out was excellent in theory. When I tried it out using a 90-degree ramp, there were some issues. Apart from being an affront to my aesthetic tastes, the ramp used up about 6-inches of flat shutdown space. Most cars were stopping fine on the flat. Those that weren't tended to be the non-magnet (or low magnet) pancake cars that would then slide back down the ramp, messing up their braids, or falling on their roofs. The really quick cars continued up the wall and then fell off. And the Top Fuel dragsters were too long to go up the ramp safely (they de-slotted). It was an idea, but one I rejected. It is better to keep the cars on the ground. There were other compromises that worked just fine within the space and for the range of cars I was looking at running.
Anyhow, back to the story...
I couple of years ago, Gareth and me chatted about building an HO drag strip each. We'd look at routing our own from 10mm thick black Foamex (expanded PVC) and use 1.6mm wire as rails. It would take practice to get the routing right - three pockets for each lane, the rail pockets needing to be an exact 1.3mm deep all the way down - but routing six straight lines wouldn't be a bad learning process. Gareth has the stuff, I had the issues around wonky walls to overcome. But as drag strips go, it's a good plan. At that stage, the original DOS-based Trackmate Drag Basic would have been used as a timing system. I think that's still my long-term goal. The great thing is that the lane width can be widened to give more of an authentic drag strip look and have space for either Christmas Tree lights or a flag man between the cars at the start.
But I did want a medium-term solution using plastic sectional track. I was erring towards Tyco track as the lane spacing is slightly wider, but the electrical continuity isn't great. Or stick with the marginally more reliable Tomy AFX track I used with the Auto World strip and add sensors for Drag Basic. That I was struggling to get the DOS programme working was another issue. A few weeks ago, I set up a Tyco version to play with - and from the juddering of the cars, it was clear I'd need to solder the rails at each track join to get even a half decent track. Mildly peeved, I counted up all the new 2019 'second generation' Micro Scalextric straights that I had in sets and - including the powerbases - I had just enough for the length of the shelf. I tried a couple of cars and it was sensationally smooth, quiet and quick compared to the Tyco track I'd been playing around with.
The new Micro Scalextric track is really smooth and does have excellent connections - physical and electrical. It is a lot better than any other brand of traditional HO sectional track. There were two reasons I'd not thought about it for a drag strip... First, the straights are really short - only six or three inches long, compared with the standard 15-inch HO pieces. However, the smoothness and much better connectivity of the Micro track really didn't make that a problem in practice. The second issue is the flat rails - that means only cars fitted with braids (or the HO RacePro 'Slide Guides') will run on them. As fitting braids to HO drag cars is pretty much the done thing these days, it's not a deal-breaker - indeed I'd already decided that was fine when considering another option. At one point I looked at using 1/43 scale Carrera Go track for an HO strip. It was 50% wider and had better connectivity, but the rails were just a little too close for the HO pick-ups. The Micro Scalextric track had most of the positives (apart from the width), but with perfect rail spacing for the pick-ups. Life is all about compromise.
As you can see from under the track sections, the are tabs on the rails that keep them secure in the plastic. Bend those tabs straight up and the rails drop out. They are then easy to solder power cables to and then replaced into the plastic - no risk of melting anything. If you look closely on the underside, you see where the plastic connecting lugs clip into the next piece of track - it is important not to solder to the rails and bring the wires through at that end... the track won't go together (don't ask me how I know that). You can see how I've soldered wires to short out the shut down section here...
What we have is - from right to left - a final powered section with metal lugs removed at the end; a short dead section with rails removed and strips of plastic sheet glued in their place; a short section with rails shorted out underneath and metal lugs removed towards the dead section; and finally a normal, unmodified straight. Dragster shows direction of travel. The plastic sheet is important - removing the rails leaves quite deep recesses that cars' braids will drop into and catch the edge of rails on the next piece of track. I mashed up a few braids before I made the modification. The only issue now is the plastic being a little too high and cars that sit very low (eg the Auto World Funny Cars) lifting up and de-slotting. Some further tweaking is required.
The basic padding I have at the end of the strip (a proper catch box to follow) has foam sheet glued to the wall, a gap and then another sheet which deforms back into the gap. The track goes underneath the front sheet, but stops in front of the sheet on the wall. The idea is - ideally - for the car not to stop instantaneously or for it to bounce back too far - especially with close lane spacing where one car can bounce back into the other. So some 'give', but not too much springiness. The foam I've used is not bad.
I braided up and tested cars on both 12v and 13.8v to evaluate the shutdown and the foam...
So I didn't have to use my set powerbases and to have some extra track for experimenting on, I bought some new Micro straights from Jadlams (£6.30 for six 6-inch straights, £4.40 for six 3-inch straights). This is the same decorated track as in the sets. However, Scalextric have just released a track expansion pack (£12.99 - or £11.69 from Jadlams) which I believe has plain black track - 180-degrees of corners and six 6-inch straights. The James Bond 'No Time to Die' set due in July also has the undecorated track. I might replace some of the decorated track with the black stuff in due course - but at the moment I am happy to experiment with what I have.
Anyhow, back to the story...
I couple of years ago, Gareth and me chatted about building an HO drag strip each. We'd look at routing our own from 10mm thick black Foamex (expanded PVC) and use 1.6mm wire as rails. It would take practice to get the routing right - three pockets for each lane, the rail pockets needing to be an exact 1.3mm deep all the way down - but routing six straight lines wouldn't be a bad learning process. Gareth has the stuff, I had the issues around wonky walls to overcome. But as drag strips go, it's a good plan. At that stage, the original DOS-based Trackmate Drag Basic would have been used as a timing system. I think that's still my long-term goal. The great thing is that the lane width can be widened to give more of an authentic drag strip look and have space for either Christmas Tree lights or a flag man between the cars at the start.
But I did want a medium-term solution using plastic sectional track. I was erring towards Tyco track as the lane spacing is slightly wider, but the electrical continuity isn't great. Or stick with the marginally more reliable Tomy AFX track I used with the Auto World strip and add sensors for Drag Basic. That I was struggling to get the DOS programme working was another issue. A few weeks ago, I set up a Tyco version to play with - and from the juddering of the cars, it was clear I'd need to solder the rails at each track join to get even a half decent track. Mildly peeved, I counted up all the new 2019 'second generation' Micro Scalextric straights that I had in sets and - including the powerbases - I had just enough for the length of the shelf. I tried a couple of cars and it was sensationally smooth, quiet and quick compared to the Tyco track I'd been playing around with.
The new Micro Scalextric track is really smooth and does have excellent connections - physical and electrical. It is a lot better than any other brand of traditional HO sectional track. There were two reasons I'd not thought about it for a drag strip... First, the straights are really short - only six or three inches long, compared with the standard 15-inch HO pieces. However, the smoothness and much better connectivity of the Micro track really didn't make that a problem in practice. The second issue is the flat rails - that means only cars fitted with braids (or the HO RacePro 'Slide Guides') will run on them. As fitting braids to HO drag cars is pretty much the done thing these days, it's not a deal-breaker - indeed I'd already decided that was fine when considering another option. At one point I looked at using 1/43 scale Carrera Go track for an HO strip. It was 50% wider and had better connectivity, but the rails were just a little too close for the HO pick-ups. The Micro Scalextric track had most of the positives (apart from the width), but with perfect rail spacing for the pick-ups. Life is all about compromise.
As you can see from under the track sections, the are tabs on the rails that keep them secure in the plastic. Bend those tabs straight up and the rails drop out. They are then easy to solder power cables to and then replaced into the plastic - no risk of melting anything. If you look closely on the underside, you see where the plastic connecting lugs clip into the next piece of track - it is important not to solder to the rails and bring the wires through at that end... the track won't go together (don't ask me how I know that). You can see how I've soldered wires to short out the shut down section here...
What we have is - from right to left - a final powered section with metal lugs removed at the end; a short dead section with rails removed and strips of plastic sheet glued in their place; a short section with rails shorted out underneath and metal lugs removed towards the dead section; and finally a normal, unmodified straight. Dragster shows direction of travel. The plastic sheet is important - removing the rails leaves quite deep recesses that cars' braids will drop into and catch the edge of rails on the next piece of track. I mashed up a few braids before I made the modification. The only issue now is the plastic being a little too high and cars that sit very low (eg the Auto World Funny Cars) lifting up and de-slotting. Some further tweaking is required.
The basic padding I have at the end of the strip (a proper catch box to follow) has foam sheet glued to the wall, a gap and then another sheet which deforms back into the gap. The track goes underneath the front sheet, but stops in front of the sheet on the wall. The idea is - ideally - for the car not to stop instantaneously or for it to bounce back too far - especially with close lane spacing where one car can bounce back into the other. So some 'give', but not too much springiness. The foam I've used is not bad.
I braided up and tested cars on both 12v and 13.8v to evaluate the shutdown and the foam...
- Various T-Jets (mag and non-mag) hit the end with a small bounce at 13.8v and merely ran into the foam and stopped at 12v.
- Aurora AFX Magnatractions (no traction magnet) and AW X-Tractions did pretty much the same.
- Auto World Top Fuelers (magnets, but tall tyres) 'banged & bounced' at 13.8v and hit with a slight bounce at 12v. They are 3-inches longer at the front.
- Auto World Funny Cars (magnets, but very low to the track) stopped 16-inches after the end of dead section at 13.8v and 14-inches at 12v.
- A rapid Tomy SRT (with strong magnets and tall tyres) didn't stop as quickly, hitting at 13.8v and tapping at 12v, rather like the T-Jets.
- Stock Micro Scalextric (1995 version) were stopped quickly by their magnets - 12-inches at 13.8v and about the same at 12v. Even at 15v, they were stopping well before the end.
So I didn't have to use my set powerbases and to have some extra track for experimenting on, I bought some new Micro straights from Jadlams (£6.30 for six 6-inch straights, £4.40 for six 3-inch straights). This is the same decorated track as in the sets. However, Scalextric have just released a track expansion pack (£12.99 - or £11.69 from Jadlams) which I believe has plain black track - 180-degrees of corners and six 6-inch straights. The James Bond 'No Time to Die' set due in July also has the undecorated track. I might replace some of the decorated track with the black stuff in due course - but at the moment I am happy to experiment with what I have.
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