[billyb_imp]

So I'm going to build a permanent raceway using Scalextric kit (digital) down in the shed at the bottom of the garden. The shed is heated and reasonably well insulated. It as previously been used as a workshop by myself but the call of a permanent track means all the worksop gear must be cleared away.

The photos below show the shed inside & out, but it is far from currently been a blank canvas. I will start shifting things at the weekend.

I will initially use the L shaped workbench down the left hand side and at the bottom of the shed, this is about 10 ft x 10 ft with a width of 3 ft down the left & 4 ft at the bottom end. Sometime in the future, maybe sooner than later I will extend the track down the right hand side giving me a U shaped track base.

I'm currently away from home until Saturday, without my laptop, so cannot do any design stuff right now but soon as I'm home, I will download UR & make a start. Until then lots going through my mind reading the many threads here.

Raring to go, but........

Watch this space.

sheddington-1 by Billy Binns, on Flickr

sheddington-4 by Billy Binns, on Flickr

sheddington-3 by Billy Binns, on Flickr

sheddington-5 by Billy Binns, on Flickr

sheddington-2 by Billy Binns, on Flickr

 

[Wraith]

Wow, quite the workshop, looks more like B&Q in parts.
Best of luck with the build, looking forward to seeing lots of pics.

 

[Mr Modifier]

Ahhh - a woodturner. Does your partner make lace perchance? - it looks like you are set up to make bobbins.

It would be a shame to get rid of the machinery - there must be a way of putting it along the wall opposite your "U" shaped track. It will come in very handy for making scenery if you are intending to landscape your track.

I don't have access to woodworking machinery any more - I used to enjoy making wooden plates and bowls and goblets. But I am having more fun with slotcars

 

[gus3049]

Good looking little lathe! What did you turn? Artistic stuff or purely practical?

Will watch the track development with interest.

 

[gus3049]

Ahhh - a woodturner. Does your partner make lace perchance? - it looks like you are set up to make bobbins.

It would be a shame to get rid of the machinery - there must be a way of putting it along the wall opposite your "U" shaped track. It will come in very handy for making scenery if you are intending to landscape your track.

I don't have access to woodworking machinery any more - I used to enjoy making wooden plates and bowls and goblets. But I am having more fun with slotcars

More fun? Just as much surely. There is plenty of room for both in our lives

 

[Mr Modifier]

Hi Gordon,

Sadly - not with a full time job, a young son and an infirm mother-in-law

I do enjoy making things but nowadays it has to be domestic DIY or something to do with slotcars. So little time, so many fun things to do.....

 

[billyb_imp]

Yes a bit of a woodturner, hoping to keep a small lathe and other odd bits of kit, as others have said may come in handy for scenery.

I mostly turn pens as per the photo below along with the odd small bowl / box. But the call of the slots is now stronger, the grandchildren also think the cars will be more exciting

Olivewood gunmetal omega rb & fp set-1001 by Billy Binns, on Flickr

 

[dcurzon]

Those pens are beautiful,thanks for showing

 

[Fluff]

Luckily have kept all my woodworking stuff in the garage , would not like to do it in the shed because of the dust ! Have enough trouble with that anyway . Thought of calling my track Shedingarden also a play on it's home

 

[gus3049]

Yup, they are good. never tried pens.

I have a big old lathe that will stay here but hope to get a smaller electronic one when we move. I turned full time for a couple of years after the back ops and it kept me sane as I couldn't do anything else. Provided quite reasonable income too, you get more for arty farty stuff than the practical although there is something deeply satisfying about a perfectly proportioned bowl.

Anyway, no more thread crapping, on with the track!

 

[GRUNZ]

beautiful workshop. Even better than a permanent digital track...

 

[billyb_imp]

My first attempt with UR wanting to get something laid down, UR taking some understanding and I'm still not sure exactly what to start with, maybe going with arc air and upgrade to digital air in the future. About 9 meters of track here which seems a reasonable starting point, I can expand to a U shape later & likely to elevate some of the track.

View media item 131250

 

[GRUNZ]

My suggestion would be to eliminate those silly Ss on the bottom left corner.

try R3 banked curves instead.

I would add maybe a chicane in one of the short straight to make it a bit more interesting.

 

[Mr Modifier]

It depends what sort of cars you run. Low ground clearance cars can struggle with banking so possibly consider flat R4 curves where your esses are.

I can appreciate your desire for some interesting bends so you might consider putting some twists into the track nearest you to the right of the driver stations (easier to reach despots) and maybe make the top curve a compound curve (R4-R3-R2-R1) - that certainly adds challenge.

 

[billyb_imp]

It's been a while, things are slowly moving on, the shed is almost ready to have some track layed down, just a few repairs / changes to worktops to complete so should see track down over the Easter period.

Talking of track. I now have some, picked up this lot yesterday (see photo below), one straight now cleaned up, 80 odd more pieces to go. This lot was used for a six lane oval circuit so a decent amount of track including R1 & R3 curves. There are also around 36 standard straights, likely to be far too many for me, so need to lose some of them and get in more curves.

Also included were the 10 cars, there is also a huge bag of borders, rails, power leads, controllers etc. so a good starting point for me to build on.

On with the big clean then

 

[gus3049]

Some people just like doing it the hard way

I'd rather build a track from scratch than try and clean that lot up. Looking good though, the one you've done.

 

[Mr Modifier]

Nice start!

I particularly like that you have some very short lengths and short curves - makes if so much easier to get both ends of the track to join up. And allows some variation from the parallel straight syndrome that tracks with a limited range of pieces always suffer from.

Before you join the tracks - turn the pieces over and make sure the tabs holding the rails in place are pressed down firmly. Then look end-on to each track piece and gently pinch the box end of the rails with some pliers- just enough to ensure a decent contact when you push the track pieces together. Dry joints or poor connections are annoying.

If your track space suffers extremes in temperature then the track will expand and contract and put the joints at risk of developing poor connections - once you have settled on a track you like then soldering jumper wires underneath to guarantee good power delivery is an option.

Best advice I ever had was not to jump into a permanent setup until I had tried a few layouts to see if I could live with them. Unless you are desperate to have landscaped scenery you may find yourself changing the track every couple of years to add some variety.

 

[Fluff]

Really nice to see some posts from the past , nearly gave up on you !!!

 

[billyb_imp]

The big clean up goes on, worktop replaced where needed, still lots of holes in it but that won't matter in the long run. Cleaned up around 50 bits of track so far, around another 30 to go, will have them done this weekend.

Also found out what other track pieces I need (in the short term), so need to order a few R4's, half, quarter & short straights.

Two new GT3 cars (Scalextric) also on the way to me, maybe have something to run them on in a week or so.

 

[billyb_imp]

The track cleaning is going very well, the track I have although not rusty is quite tarnished in many places, but can be saved with a little elbow grease, light abrasive pads and isopropanol.

It is very important not to uses an aggressive abrasive, you don't want to be using anything in the 80 to 320 grit range, this would likely tear away far to much metal from your track.

The light abrasive I use was meant to be used on turned small wooden or plastic items and would give a good smooth shine to these surfaces.

The pads I use are made by Chestnut and are called NyWeb and come in 4 grades off 400, 600, 1000 grit and a pad that is considered non abrasive.

NyWeb pads are a non-woven nylon webbing with an abrasive - either silicon carbide or aluminium oxide - embedded into them to give an exactly defined cut.

• The Green pads are 400 grit
• The Red pads are 600 grit
• The Orange pads are 1000 grit
• The White pads do not contain an abrasive and are thus technically non-abrasive, but the very texture of the pads gives them an incredibly fine - but immeasurable - cut.

NyWeb is long lasting and economical in use and extremely flexible, able to be moulded to pretty much any shape to get into all those awkward spaces and to not remove any sharp features. In use, as the web wears away, fresh abrasive is exposed to ensure a sharp cut every time.

When NyWeb becomes clogged with dust simply beat it against a suitable surface or use a vacuum cleaner to remove the dust.

NyWeb can be used wet or dry. Each pad is approx 15 x 21cm.

Prior to using the abrasive pads, I cleaned the track with a paper towel sprayed with Isopropanol, having tested it first on a bit of track to ensure it did not harm it.

Next I started generally with the 600 grit using a small bit of wood to form a pad roughly the same width as the metal slots, doing this ensured the abrasive pad did not come into too much contact with the black plastic. Next I used the 1000 grit, this usually did the trick removing the tarnish and leaving a bright smooth surface. Occasionally with a more heavily tarnished bit of track I might start with the 400 grit pad, before moving on progressively with the finer pads.

Then at the end the track was again cleaned with the paper towel sprayed with Isopropanol, so giving me track ready to be laid down. I will also in the near future use Inox MX3 to protect the track further.

Still around 30 bits of track to clean, I think any additional track I now get will bought new, its good to save a few bob doing things as above, but, so time consuming.......