[taxi]

Once upon a time I had a Scalextric track, and thought it was pretty good. Then came this new stuff called Sport track, which was a bit better.

Then I found this place called SlotForum, and discovered the concept of routed tracks. At first I thought it looked too much like hard work, but the tracks looked very impressive.

More recently, Alan (Beejay7) has been encouraging me (nagging!

) to try a routed track, so here it is!

It is only small, 28 x 40 inches! I'm quite pleased with myself because 1) it works! and 2) there are five different radii corners!

It's powered by a Scalex powerbase and wall-wart transformer, both bought on ebay for a couple of quid. This is how it looks at the moment -

I will add at least a little bit of basic scenery, but I don't think there's enough room for grandstands and things! But I'm pleased with it, and my kids love it!

cheers,

Rob

 

[tokyoracer]

Nice! Love it!

 

[gazza]

Great job ..... but be warned,it won't stop there

Gary

 

[Ian B]

Rob,
That's it you're in the groove, you are going to have to build a BIG one with your building skills I can imagine it could be fantastic, now you know its not hard but more to the point it's not expensive, com'on you know you can do it.

Ian

 

[BEEJAY7]

Fabulous Rob.......A great looking track.

How did you route the curves?, did you use fixed points or flexible strip?.

The problem is now you've tried it you won't want to go back..........

Regards

Alan....

 

[JohnP]

Yup, no turning back now Rob - great little track

 

[DagaZ]

Wood is more addictive than plastic. Consider yourself trapped with no way back.

 

[JB05]

Very good

Small but neatly made.

Thanks from,

seymour10

 

[911]

I would really like to have a go at that routing business. I bet it works out cheaper than buying track. How did you find it on your first attempt? Thanks for sharing with us

.

 

[taxi]

Thanks for all the positive comments

I really enjoyed the experience, and I'm already planning the next one! Eventually I want to replace my big track with a routed one because my sport track has suffered in the recent heat.

It was a lot easier than I expected. I drew the layout onto the board, marking and drilling the centre of each curve (you can see this in the first two pics). The router I bought came with a basic radius arm, basically a steel rod with a screw on the end. The screw dropped into the holes that I'd drilled. When I needed to change the radius I left the router in the slot and adjusted the arm. Drawing the track as accurately as possible certainly helped.

For anyone interested, the router was £20 from Argos, the bits (I bought two just in case!) were from alltooledup and the copper tape from creative glass.

cheers,

Rob

 

[MattZani]

hmm...
nice little track, must be good fun!

 

[gazza]

Routed tracks are the way to go!
You can make them as big or as tight and twisty as you like
There's no such thing as making a stuff up(you always intended to put that kink in there).
And if you do stuff up,big way,you just fill it in and go again!

Gary

e.g. here's mine http://www.slotforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16453

 

[taxi]

Nice track Gazza

I made a couple of short videos - my 6yr-old daughter showing off her driving skills!

hope you like 'em

cheers,

Rob

 

[RikoRocket]

AAAAARRGGHHH Rob! You have set a prescedent. My 6yr old daughter is going to be on my back - it looks brilliant!

 

[saleen s7]

OOO000oooo looks like fun for a small track

i might think about building one now

 

[zipp]

Very good Rob.

Like the movie clips.
About time too!!

But you do realise that you WILL build another bigger one?? and then probably another...

Anyways, glad to see your first attempt, and looking forward to see what happens next.....?

 

[taxi]

I bought four 8x4 sheets of MDF on the weekend, been kinda busy since!

If you could see my garage now...

cheers,

Rob

 

[tDI_Fahrer]

I started with a little testtrack too... seen my Petit Spa 2 track lately?

Once you tasted wood... you're addicted!!!!!

G.

 

[Ian B]

Rob,

QUOTE Bought four 8x4 sheets of MDF on the weekend, been kinda busy since!

Don't keep us in the dark for too long, keep taking photos, even if your not posting them right now, it would be great for you to have a from scratch record of what you achieve.

We all know it's going to be brilliant.

Ian

 

[taxi]

Thanks Ian

I've taken a few pics as I've been going along, here's a couple from this evening. The layout is similar to my previous track, but with a few tweaks here and there.

the hairpin...

leads up into...

down the back straight

top corner and esses

It's going to take a while to get it running, but I'm really looking forward to trying it out!

cheers,

Rob