I've been setting up slot car tracks at my son's middle school (grades 6-8) for a few years now. Even after he moved to high school, the kids at the middle school would call me up and ask if I would come again every quarter for their school parties. It's a very popular attraction at these parties, which usually include other activities such as a musical chairs type game, crafts of various kinds, food, and even a dance in the gymnasium down the hall. The kids love the slot car track, but every time I come part of the challenge is not only finding enough tables to support the track, but also the right size and, most difficult, of matching height. I usually end up with at least one table that's above or below the rest. Whatever I have, I cover the tables in a very large tablecloth, and build a pre-designed track on that large surface. Because kids crash a lot, and even Scalextric borders and fences wouldn't keep them all on the table, I built some cheap and simple catch fences that I would literally tape down to the tablecloth at the ends of the table.
All of this worked fairly well, but building it all up and taking it all down in the time I was usually given was always a rush, plus there were other problems with this way of setting things up. I wanted to come up with something that would not rely on the tables available at the event, and was quicker and easier to put up and take down. I also wanted something that looked more professional, so that I could start looking into offering my services locally for hire, rather than free. This meant that it needed to be self contained and well constructed and great looking. But, where to begin? The best place to begin is by looking for inspiration, and there was plenty of that to be found online. There are many, but some of my favorites include:
What size? Well, that was both easy, and kind of funny. Some of you may have already heard of "Ecofoam" being used to cut borders for Sport track. It's a carpeting underlayment made from expanded polyurethane foam and happens to be the perfect height for Sport track. Unfortunately, it's only available in Canada. Last summer, my family vacationed very near to the Canadian border, and during an excursion, I was able to pick up a roll of the stuff. It comes in a pre-packaged 6x9' roll. To use the Ecofoam as efficiently as possible, I either had to make a 6x9 track, or figure out another way to cut it up and arrange it. It happens that the tracks I have been putting together for the school parties were usually 5x12', so I decided that if I cut the Ecofoam in half on the long side, I could put the pieces back together into a 4.5x12' surface. This was perfect, as it was long enough to get a good straight, and wide enough to allow some turn-backs with a little border room. This overall size also helped me decide how big my individual tables would be. I decided that four 3x4.5' tables would be ideal. Small enough to move and carry by one person, but large enough to minimize the number of pieces and provide room for pre-installed support/legs.
The next thing to figure out was how to make 3x4.5' tables without a lot of wasted wood, which comes primarily in 4x8 sheets at the local hardware store. If I wanted an uncut piece of wood for each table top, I would only be able to get ONE piece out of each sheet of wood, and the rest would be more or less wasted. I hate waste, so sat down with a grid in TrackPower and drew out how I could maximize the wood. I also didn't have a nice table saw or an easy way to cut this all myself, and had to rely on the hardware store to cut the sheets for me. I decided to have two 3x4' pieces cut from each of two sheets. The remainder from each sheet was then cut into 6" strips that I would graft to the ends of my 3x4' sheets to make them into 3x4.5' sheets. At home, using the 1x2s I got for framing, some clamps, weights, and a lot of glue, I extended each 3x4' into 3x4.5' sheets.
I used waxed paper to prevent the 1x2 from being glued to the table top. I then added framework to the underside of each table top piece. The 3' ends had the frame right at the edge, to give me something to easily attach the future walls to. The end tables had one 4.5' side with the frame at the edge, also for the walls, while the interior frame pieces were attached 6" in from the edge of the table-top to allow my section locks, whatever they may be, to have some room. All of these were glued, pre-drilled to avoid splitting, and screwed together. As you may be able to tell from the photos, I used 1/2" OSB rather than MDF or plywood. Not only is OSB very cheap, but it's also much lighter than MDF or plywood of the same thickness. It might be ugly stuff, but since it was not only going to be painted, but also completely covered up with track and Ecofoam, the appearance made no difference.
Next week: supporting the table tops.
All of this worked fairly well, but building it all up and taking it all down in the time I was usually given was always a rush, plus there were other problems with this way of setting things up. I wanted to come up with something that would not rely on the tables available at the event, and was quicker and easier to put up and take down. I also wanted something that looked more professional, so that I could start looking into offering my services locally for hire, rather than free. This meant that it needed to be self contained and well constructed and great looking. But, where to begin? The best place to begin is by looking for inspiration, and there was plenty of that to be found online. There are many, but some of my favorites include:
- Colsy's Mission Impossible !!
- Martin's Whiteparish Grand Prix
- MrModifier's Amman Valley Raceway
- SeaLevel's Scalextric Modular Digital Layout (aka analysis paralysis
- not the least, the generous feedback and ideas provided by everyone in my Track Design help request thread.
- And many more projects that weren't so close to my own[/url].
What size? Well, that was both easy, and kind of funny. Some of you may have already heard of "Ecofoam" being used to cut borders for Sport track. It's a carpeting underlayment made from expanded polyurethane foam and happens to be the perfect height for Sport track. Unfortunately, it's only available in Canada. Last summer, my family vacationed very near to the Canadian border, and during an excursion, I was able to pick up a roll of the stuff. It comes in a pre-packaged 6x9' roll. To use the Ecofoam as efficiently as possible, I either had to make a 6x9 track, or figure out another way to cut it up and arrange it. It happens that the tracks I have been putting together for the school parties were usually 5x12', so I decided that if I cut the Ecofoam in half on the long side, I could put the pieces back together into a 4.5x12' surface. This was perfect, as it was long enough to get a good straight, and wide enough to allow some turn-backs with a little border room. This overall size also helped me decide how big my individual tables would be. I decided that four 3x4.5' tables would be ideal. Small enough to move and carry by one person, but large enough to minimize the number of pieces and provide room for pre-installed support/legs.
The next thing to figure out was how to make 3x4.5' tables without a lot of wasted wood, which comes primarily in 4x8 sheets at the local hardware store. If I wanted an uncut piece of wood for each table top, I would only be able to get ONE piece out of each sheet of wood, and the rest would be more or less wasted. I hate waste, so sat down with a grid in TrackPower and drew out how I could maximize the wood. I also didn't have a nice table saw or an easy way to cut this all myself, and had to rely on the hardware store to cut the sheets for me. I decided to have two 3x4' pieces cut from each of two sheets. The remainder from each sheet was then cut into 6" strips that I would graft to the ends of my 3x4' sheets to make them into 3x4.5' sheets. At home, using the 1x2s I got for framing, some clamps, weights, and a lot of glue, I extended each 3x4' into 3x4.5' sheets.
I used waxed paper to prevent the 1x2 from being glued to the table top. I then added framework to the underside of each table top piece. The 3' ends had the frame right at the edge, to give me something to easily attach the future walls to. The end tables had one 4.5' side with the frame at the edge, also for the walls, while the interior frame pieces were attached 6" in from the edge of the table-top to allow my section locks, whatever they may be, to have some room. All of these were glued, pre-drilled to avoid splitting, and screwed together. As you may be able to tell from the photos, I used 1/2" OSB rather than MDF or plywood. Not only is OSB very cheap, but it's also much lighter than MDF or plywood of the same thickness. It might be ugly stuff, but since it was not only going to be painted, but also completely covered up with track and Ecofoam, the appearance made no difference.
Next week: supporting the table tops.