Portable Digital Routed Track

For the electrical, I'm trying to KISS ("keep it simple"). I bought a Ninco terminal track, removed it from the plastic, and wired it up. Now some copper tape, and it works. Here's what it looks like.


So excited, I had to tape one lane just to see if it all worked. I'm using simple pressure contact points for the joins between the tables and the swapout section. Seems to work okay. Will try to finish the taping in the next couple of days.

Also, I had one last rock formation to finish off and paint. A few photos... the new formation is in the top right

Well, it's all together and taped now. But I've got to figure out a simple way to create more reliable power joins between the two tables--right now I'm just using contact points, but there's not enough reliable contact. And, I've got to get a simple catchment system in place for cars that go off the table. But the cars run pretty nicely on it.

Looks great!
(Btw, what brand are the Mini's from?)

QUOTE (Mb. @ 23 Apr 2008, 08:21) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Btw, what brand are the Mini's from?All my minis are Scalextric (although I may get some Nincos in the future). The Scaley run pretty smoothly--are the Ninco minis any good? The only problem with my minis is that they're all chipped for digital, which means they run on an analogue track but don't have brakes, which is kind of tricky on the analogue version of this track. I still haven't hooked up the digital swapout section.

QUOTE (rallyP @ 23 Apr 2008, 17:54) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Going on a rally track with no brakes is suicide.
So, who dies?

This is a super little track and I can't wait to see how Bill embellishes it, as I am sure he will. The top road was inspirational in making me change my viaduct, making it a main road with a tunnel at each end. Thanks Bill.

Bill,
Thank you very much the video is excellent, but what I'm really saying thank you for is the BRAKES comment I have recently started to race at my local club, they have an analogue track I have been borrowing a controller which I was beginning to thing was rubbish as I have no brakes! but its My fault I'd forgotten the chip takes out the brakes

So now I'm in a quandary I'll have to have two sets of cars those with chips for my track and without for racing Chip extraction begins this weekend

This is where DPR could come into it's own.

TVM

QUOTE (bleep @ 26 Apr 2008, 07:49) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Bill,
Thank you very much the video is excellent, but what I'm really saying thank you for is the BRAKES comment I have recently started to race at my local club, they have an analogue track I have been borrowing a controller which I was beginning to thing was rubbish as I have no brakes! but its My fault I'd forgotten the chip takes out the brakes

So now I'm in a quandary I'll have to have two sets of cars those with chips for my track and without for racing Chip extraction begins this weekend

This is where DPR could come into it's own.

TVM
Bleep, that's exactly what I'm doing. I have just ordered a Slot.it Porsche 956 to go analogue racing at Noviello Slot Club, reserving all my other cars for my own track.

QUOTE (bleep @ 25 Apr 2008, 23:49) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>So now I'm in a quandary I'll have to have two sets of cars those with chips for my track and without for racing
This is where DPR could come into it's own. This is where I'm at as I also belong to an analogue club. So, I've got analogue (i.e., non-chipped) cars (e.g., the Fly Porsche 906 in the video). But all my minis are chipped, and I don't want to extract the chips. In any case, this track is just an experiment in doing a portable routed track. So, I'm going to sell it, but I will be building another routed track (I see a hill climb in my future). So, eventually I'll want better solutions to the digital/analogue car issue.

QUOTE (col_de_turini @ 26 Apr 2008, 12:01) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Why not just use a digital powerbase? No lane-changing involved on this layout but you would have brakes and other stuff.Actually, as the title suggests, I did plan to have a digital section, which is why I put in the "swapout section." And, I bought the digital components to just drop into this section, as you can see in this photo. So, I could easily make it digital with lane changing, but as I don't plan to keep this track, I've decided not to actually put in the digital. So, for now, I'll just drive my limited selection of non-digital cars on the track (and also look forward to more SSD DPR cars).

I've relocated the portable track in my office at home so I can just wheel around and take a few laps. I also hooked up a small Model Power train transformer for power, which lets me dial down the power so the cars can run around at more reasonable speeds. I'm starting to put in the oasis, but still waiting for the palm trees that I got on Ebay. I used Envirotex for the water, which exhibits its usual "creep" so I'll have to correct that--perhaps with more "water" and some touch up around the edges.