1st attempt - Wood Track

2244 Views 14 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Ade, Mar 26, 2020

81972a

Discussion Starter · Mar 21, 2020

I started this project a few months ago to make a test track for my son so that he could get some much needed practice between meetings (me to, truth be told), as will these things it go as far as the picture shows and then put to one side.

With things that are going on and the new emergency roster at work, I think I might actually get to finish it.

Already from making this small version I know of a few things I would do different on the next one and I am glad I started small otherwise the errors would really annoy on a full scale lol

Thought I would share the state its in now and update you if I get any further,

Any recommendations on paint for the surface?

Asphalt Road surface Grey Plant Rectangle

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longdog

· #2 · Mar 21, 2020

Acrylic is a decent surface, but for the club track that we built, we used grey acrylic rollered on followed by semi-matt polyurethane again applied by roller. This gave a very grippy and hard wearing surface.

MrFlippant

· #3 · Mar 21, 2020

If you're meaning to practice for club racing, I'd ask the club what surface their track is, so that you can replicate it. While their track may have a lot more rubber from years of racing, yours will start out bare, but you might as well start from a place that will give you the club performance eventually.

Otherwise, most people just go with plain old emulsion (latex), aka interior house paint. Matte or low gloss, usually. Sometimes you can get a nice color for cheap if you keep an eye on the "errors" shelf.

longdog

· #4 · Mar 21, 2020 (Edited by Moderator)

Take a look at post #57 on the track build thread here, https://www.slotforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=119994

RichD

· #5 · Mar 21, 2020

I always recommend that a person that wants to route his own track start with a small practice track. It looks like yours came out well, I have seen tracks with a lot of wobble in the slots that ran well. All of our home built tracks are finished with flat emulsion paint, a couple of those have places that were topped off with satin polyurethane for extra grip. Since the emulsion paint is water based applying it to MDF can cause tiny wood fibers to pop up. Some people like to sand the surface lightly and apply a second coat. I have run on several tracks with a two part epoxy finish, that does not seem to give a better grip than plain emulsion paint.

A new track will certainly need running in.

81972a

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 21, 2020

RichD said:
I always recommend that a person that wants to route his own track start with a small practice track. It looks like yours came out well, I have seen tracks with a lot of wobble in the slots that ran well. All of our home built tracks are finished with flat emulsion paint, a couple of those have places that were topped off with satin polyurethane for extra grip. Since the emulsion paint is water based applying it to MDF can cause tiny wood fibers to pop up. Some people like to sand the surface lightly and apply a second coat. I have run on several tracks with a two part epoxy finish, that does not seem to give a better grip than plain emulsion paint.

A new track will certainly need running in.

I have learnt so much from this first go, and that's before I get to taping and wiring lol.

A few things that looking back were obvious. Most of the grooves are nice an smooth, save for a planning error that saw me going completely by eye lol.

The club I believe have used sandtex that they then sanded after. I will go for that option and after a bit of running, will hopefully have something similar. If nothing else, just the practice of throttle control is something.

Lloyd.L

· #7 · Mar 21, 2020

I paint all of my tracks with cheap grey emulsion wall paint, known as latex in some other countries. Gives excellent grip and covers well.

Regards, Lloyd

Ade

· #8 · Mar 21, 2020 (Edited by Moderator)

2

Hi

always good practice to vacum the routed slots out first off and then seal the slot with a rattle can of black aerosol paint, mdf constantly leaches out dust and it's really fine and gets into places you don't want it.

No need to mask up as you can just sand flat after and it's quicker than masking everything up, just invert the can, looks better as well imho

Regards paint, grey is the most popular colour but the type you use depends on how much grip you want from the outset, cheapo emulsion will require the most running in to get rubber down to aid grip, I can't remember the exact paint I used last time but acrylic gloss springs to mind, the grip appeared very quickly after one race meeting, my first track was cheapo emulsion and it took a few meetings for the grip to appear, urethane tyres are the best option although when the grip does appear we got good results with stock Scalextric tyres, just avoid like the plague silicone tyres, they just hoover up all the rubber

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300SLR

· #9 · Mar 21, 2020

What paint finish works well depends on what sort of tyres you are using.

Polyurethane or oil based paints work pretty well with any type of tyre. Latex / emulsion paints are fine with some .sorts of tyre but are far from ideal with others.

MrFlippant said:
If you're meaning to practice for club racing, I'd ask the club what surface their track is, so that you can replicate it.

Sound advice if you want to practice driving and particularly important for testing cars for club use.

munter

· #10 · Mar 21, 2020

I have built four tracks and used gloss oil based enamel each time. You dont need texture to get grip.

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81972a

Discussion Starter · #11 · Mar 26, 2020 (Edited by Moderator)

Nice weather, made use of it before heading to work for night shift.

A little progress made, used what paint I could find in the garage as nowhere open.

Turns out I hate doing corners/bends with tape lol

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mickey thumbs

· #12 · Mar 26, 2020

Welcome to the I hate taping turns club. I had good luck with using a latex floor paint. I am hoping that it holds up better over time than latex wall paint.

MrFlippant

· #13 · Mar 26, 2020

A taping tool helps. I sell one, but there are plenty of DIY versions out there, and they're not terribly hard to make. They sure speed up the process and save your fingers from getting cut up.

Track looking great! I'm sure you're dying to get a car going around.

Did you put a car on and make it go that short way with a 9v battery to the tape? Well... I bet you will now. ;-)

RichD

· #14 · Mar 26, 2020

Don't expect that you can get the tape around corners without wrinkles. Never try to put tension on the tape to avoid wrinkles, it will be much more likely to develop cracks later on. You can burnish the tape using something with a rounded surface, like a glass bottle, to flatten the wrinkles.

For a club style track that may see very heavy use braid is a better option, but you need to cut recesses for that. Doing the recesses is easy if you have a special router bit that is made for that purpose. Laying braid is a lot easier than laying tape if you use 3M double sided tape to stick the braid down. The recesses need to be painted or the tape would not stick properly. The Slot Car Corner website has more information on using that technique.

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Ade

· #15 · Mar 26, 2020 (Edited by Moderator)

Hi

taping tools are great if your using the right tape, the thicker Venture tape is ok but if you try to use one with the thinner conductive backed tape it snaps very easily..

Best option for taping tools is the above mentioned Venture tape and use the conductive backed stuff if suffer a break while taping and use it to create a patch

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