Yeah some slot car stuff can get pricey but compare a decent HO slot car at $15-$20 versus a mega cheap loco for $25 or a good loco for $60. One thing that surprises me on slot cars is how much the track costs, about $5/foot versus HO code 100 at less than $1/foot though specialty track for slots doesn’t cost too much more unlike specilty rails.
I was hoping to do some tinkering with this over the weekend but it looks like I’ll be stuck working. bummer.
Just a quick reply, Aurora did make turnouts for Slot Cars. You can still find them on ebay I even figured out a way to automate them. Never tried it on a layout, but I did make a protoype and it worked fine. George
Slot car turnouts huh? You say you made one? Was it a major project? Maybe I’ll have to check Fleabay to see what these are about…
I am 60 yrs old and I have a HO train/HO slot car layout. My grandkids enjoy them and so do I. Each are controlled separately as I purchased the lifelike train/car intersection. Even though the scales do not match, I could cover up the car track with temporary track for a more realistic look with scale appropriate cars. The main focus for me is to have fun with the kids. Purists can make their layouts for adults only. Having a “kid’s heart” is more to my liking.
I use the Faller system and am very satisfied with it:http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=3688 However, you don’t really drive the cars unless you fit them with a control system like DCCar.
If you want to use slot cars on an HO layout, 1960s vintage Aurora Thunderjets are closer to HO scale than the later models are. I don’t know whether you could get better speed control with them if you used a contemporary power pack with pulse width modulation, but you might be able to, since the T-jets use a 3-pole DC motor.
Good luck, and thanks for reading MR!
Terry
Speed control is likely to be an issue mainly due to power pickup. Slots are worse than an 0-4-0t when it come to gaps in track. That’s why for starters I’ll run DC power for the slots as it’s more forgiving. But I’d love to be able to run em off my dcc system which of course allows speed matching, programable power curves, potential BEMF and wireless control among other goodies.
So what are tricks for overcoming poor power pickup and it’s effects on DCC operation? I figure tricks for small locos would be appropriate for this as well. The biggest killers are going to be the gaps at road/rail crossings as I’m figuring about an 1/8th" gap on each side of the rails in order to prevent shorting anything. Do capacitors help?
It seems like adding DCC to a slot car wouldn’t be too difficult as the frames are plastic so I just ned to insulate the pickup shoes from the motor and there’s usually plenty of space in a shell to place the decoder, a small one anyways. I wouldn’t need anyhting fancy either, motor only would be adequate.
Neat idea!
I remember thinking through how to combine AFX with model trains as a teenager and at other times through the years. The stumbling block was always how to cross railway tracks at grade. Walthers/Life Like have solved the problemfor their system, unfortunately a view of their website today, revealed that the track crossing part is out of stock with an unknown re-release date. One positive was that you can view a photo of the part and also download a pdf of instructions which shows some more close ups to aid with custom making your own crossings.
As far as making your own track goes I would suggest using polypropylene sheets of the right thickness to suit the slot car guide pins which you can then rip down to make the various road widths with a reinforcing sheet under. For the curves and other custom locations you could then rout the guide chanels using either a 1/4 inch router or a Dremel router with a 3mm or 1/8th bit [variable speed would also be very handy] and a tremel beam or guide bush set up to form the curved guide channel for the slot cars as well as the inside and outside edges of the roadway.
I would also suggest making a proof of concept module to work out the bugs in the system as well as to sharpen your skillset before making the layout roadway.
Mark
Actually I was kicking around the proof of concept idea for the grade crossings and had an AH HA! moment. As I was looking at my trains, slot cars, sections of rail and a premade grade crossing I realized that mr wheel flanges don’t exted below the surface nearly as far as the slot car guide pins do. So why couldn’t I make a full slot through the rails with just a couple small notches for the flanges?
This should handily solve the problem of the guide pins getting caught in the flangeways at a crossing and the trains shouldn’t be bothered at all. Probably make it from styrene.
Also why the reccomendation for polypropelene sheets? What advantage does it have over masonite? Where would I find it?
I need to get some styrene for building a prototype crossing since it would probably be easier to work with to do small details at the crossing.
I have to admit, this has been much better recievd than I thought. Thanks guys.
I think that making a proof of concept prototype out of styrene would be a good way to start given that you are familiar with working with it.
I suggested polypropylene sheets as they are cheaper than styrene given the estimated quantity of track required and are moisture resistant unlike Masonite. As for where to obtain the sheets I would suggest checking your local yellow pages for plastic suppliers. The poly is also more flexible than styrene for a given thickness which will make handling easier and means it will conform to your layout better.
I think that there will be a lot of interested people following your progress, myself included.
Mark
Brainslks - Welcome to trains.com! [C):-)]
Not something I’d do now, although when the sets came out with crossings to integrate slot with train, I wished I had the money.
Don’t have any suggestions or ideas that haven’t been mentioned here already.
Being able to get the wife and kid(s) involved in family activity? Priceless. Hope you can come to a workable solution. And if purists object? Tell 'em to go play in highway traffic. Blindfolded!
Walthers build a simple layout to demonstrate their product. It was in the showroom a couple of years back when I visited it. This is an interesting thread
I was way into slot cars years ago. Here is a pick of my last layout before moving to trains.
And another picture showing my homemade layout during construction. You can make your own track if you really need to although production plastic track is far easier and more reliable. The grooves were cut with a router. High nickel content MIG wire was rolled into the rail cuts using a screen spline tool. Worked pretty dang good. Nice not having any joints.
Be careful. At the velocity slot cars can exit the track they will do some serious damage to model scenery.
Wow this is getting some airtime again. I’ve got the slot car idea on the back burner for now, still working on getting the trains running.
Alan, impressive. Did you just router into the ply or is that gray something other than paint? Mig wire huh, what size? Non flux core im betting.
As for speed, well you can always dial down the power pack, though that is kinda not what I’m looking for, slow trains/fast cars ya know. But for the sake of animation running the slots fairly slow (as slow as a slot can go anyway) adds a little variety.
Just routered into the ply. Gray is latex house paint. Tires eventually left very convincing black smudges in the corners. I forget the exact wire size, too many years ago. Used wire that you had to fight to force into the 1/16" groove. I remember it was very labor intensive to press all the wire. Stayed put pretty good for the two years the layout saw service. Tore it down because wanted banked turns. Went back to plastic track.
Problem with low speed operation of slot cars is the gearing. Ring gear max diameter limited by tire diameter. If I recall correctly, 32 tooth ring and 7 tooth pinion were the lowest possible ratio. Even then cars move fast by the time you reach start voltage of motors. Maybe a DCC decoder would overcome the issue. Didn’t have decoders back in my slot car days.
Hi!
Back in the mid '60s when slot cars came out, a few of my friends tried their darndest to incorporate them with HO trains. They just couldn’t get crossings to work, leaving the racetrack totally separate of the rails. The end result was toylike, and we ended up separating them as they just didn’t go together properly.
Well, that was about 45 years ago and it appears like nothing really has changed. But it would be sooo cool if you guys could pull it off.
I think every kid that had an Aurora Model Motoring set either had a Mustang, a Camaro or a Corvette. There really wasn’t much you could do to “hop them up” back then with that pancake motor and spur gears. The later G+ cars would scream, but that’s hardly prototypical, and they came in really cool bodies; Ford GT40, Chapparal, Cheetahs.
I think that instead of trying to incorporate slot cars into your train layout, that you build him a separate slot car layout, if you have the space. I made one on a 4’x8’ sheet of plywood, complete with roll-out grass, buildings under construction. I had a blast with it until a layoff at our plant and one of my coworkers who got laid off had no money to spend on his 3 boys for Christmas. I gave it to him to give to his boys, and they LOVED it.
New Member here, love the story about donating the slotcar layout to a friend who was laid off to give to his 3 Sons for Christmas !
I have a 10 by 12 upstairs room I would like to house a HO Scale layout and my old slot car set. Have a original RR crossing, Aurora turnouts for service roads, etc. Like to incorporate DCC for the trains, and automate the RR crossing, any thoughts as to the style of layout ?
Considering either a L shaped shelf system w/ a loop @ ea. end or a layout I could walk into, w/ a 24" aisle, and 12" shelves down either side to be completely surrounded by the layout. Could even create a overhead arch and connect backdrops overhead.
Thoughts ?
Kent.