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G'day from the West Island


boleropilot

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Hi y'all, boleropilot here - a very long time ago (around 60 years actually) me and my two brothers were slot car fanatics - there were two tracks close enough to Wavell Heights (BrisVegas) to cycle to, one at Enoggera and another at Everton Park, the latter about twice as big as the former - happy days....

Aviation has always been my major hobby pursuit and I am lucky enough to have my own 200 metre 'strip for RC aircraft at our property near Boonah S E Qld.  Recently I came across a YouTube video of a 24 hour slotcar race at Le Mans, and I was amazed to see multiple vehicles racing on the same slot - I'm assuming the voltage to the track is constant and the throttle position is via radio control?  But what happens when a faster car catches the one in front???

Anyway, I am still a slotcar fan and having lived in an Old Queenslander house for 20 years, I'm fairly handy with woodworking.  I've decided I'm going to build a little track for the two young fellas that live at the top of the hill.  They have access to a garage with concrete floor and 240 volts, space is limited to around 3 metres by 2 metres.  After watching the recent Mugello (Tuscany) F1 GP I have decided on that plan, it looks like a very nice circuit.  I haven't looked at availability of cars as yet but the cars we raced were 1/24, so that's the size I'd like to use.

From all of the above I would really appreciate any advice you can give.

Cheers

BP

 

 

 

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Hi BP - was the track at Enoggera in the squash courts?

As for scale - only problem with 1/43 is the RTR cars really need a magnet to stay on the track the tyres aren't really up to non mag racing and as such need to be changed. 

Are you going to use plastic track or build a routed one? If going plastic I would recommend Carrera track the big stuff. You can run any scale on it.

If going routed and copper tape I would stick to 1/32 or 1/24 cars. The 1/43 cars really don't go that well on non mag tracks.

cheers

DM

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g'day DM, nice to hear from you - yeah the Enoggera track was at the squash courts - I preferred it to Everton Park because it was never busy and i really liked the track layout

I'm going to build a routed track, layout so far comes in at a nice 3m x 1.5m - I was thinking of using a flooring called Yellowtongue, 19mm thick, 3600x800 sheets only $42 and the yellow plastic edging down one side makes a nice fit with adjoining sheets - I was thinking about bolting the two sheets together with braces underneath so it can be taken apart easily

are there any 1/24 scale cars that are under $100?  the cars I've been looking at on the interweb thingy are all around $200, way too rich for me...and da boyz at the top of the hill

I got a huge amount of technical stuff I need to find out so run away now if you want, I'd understand!

cheers m8

BP

 

 

 

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Welcome Boleropilot.... 3 metres is really a bit small to think about running 1/24th cars.

The only ones that come close to $100 2nd hand would be Carrera, but they are pretty slow and lumbering, and they will need a fair bit of work to run well on a wood track.
There also isn't much parts support. 

1/43rd has the issues Dangermouse mentioned, and there is now very little being made. The best Japanese maker is long gone, SCX and Ninco have very little, Carrera have a bit each year. so it seems to me, a no-brainer that you should go for 1/32nd, which is where there is a wide range of cars.

Prices for the good quality hobby brands that just need a bit of tweaking and maybe a tyre change, are mostly under $100 apart from NSR and Thunderslot.

There is a wide range of historic and modern types to tickle your fancy, and parts are plentiful.
- One company called Slot.it have sort of become a defacto standard for axle diameters, and the mounting of the " pod"  or motor mount which holds the motor, rear axle bushes, gear, wheels etc. 
That means a lot of parts for Slot.it, Policar, Sideways, ScaleAuto and a few smaller brands are maybe 80% ?  inter-changeable. - you just have to choose the right gears to mate with others of other brands in some cases.

1/32nd is also where most of the tech support on this forum. 
Have a poke around the webshops of the forum sponsors, which will give you a bit of oversight on what is available in eras of cars, and the models, see what takes your fancy.
Then have a squiz in workshop to see what the maniacal are doing to scratch build and/or tune cars, that will give you a bit of an idea where the various brands sit in the hobby. 
Eventually the fog will begin to clear :)

Also have a look in the track builds area. You will see most builds are 1:32nd, and the common lane spacing will be 90mm or 100mm.
If you go 1:32nd, you can easily get away with lane spacing of 90mm, and minimum radius of an inside lane at about 15-20 cm ie a 30 to 40 cm diameter. That is as tight as you would want to go for turns. That would increase a lot for 1/24th scale, and you have limited space to play with.

Recovering Lapsed Slot Addict :ph34r:  *  Custodian of many used screws (mostly loose :rolleyes:)  *  Total kidder  *  Companion of other delusional slot addicts :lol:  

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Hi BP

Squash courts were owned by the parents of a friend from school (late 70s early 80s)- we went there to play squash and once or twice ran some cars. I wasn't really that much into slot cars in high school. I had an AFX set and an old scalextric set. I got back into slot when I saw the quality of 1/32 cars by Fly Slot Cars and then got into Ninco and Scalextric collecting.

Carrera 1/24 cars can be bought new from Armchair in Sydney for around $110 + post

( PS Mark if you know anyone selling 2nd hand Carrera 1/24s for $100 send me a message please :) ) 

I would look at 1/32 cars if you are using copper tape. If you want to go to the expense of magnet braid then you could choose to run anything magnet or non magnet.

Lots of exploring to do. I would recommend MDF over yellow tongue - the chipboard will be ok for routing the slot but I think MDF is better. My brother and I made our first routed track on a sheet of plywood with copper lead lighting tape. We made a single lane rally track. I worked well and was fun to punt some cars on. We used MDF for the next 4 tracks.

cheers

David

"see multiple vehicles racing on the same slot - I'm assuming the voltage to the track is constant and the throttle position is via radio control?  But what happens when a faster car catches the one in front???"

Digital racing - you are correct constant voltage to the track - each car has a chip in them. A couple of options an Aussie company Scorpius makes a controller /chip setup that uses wireless controllers. Other options are Carrera or Scalextric digital - and the Slot.it company now do an Oxigen digital setup.

As for what happens when a car catches another well either the faster car changes lanes at the next change point or if the driver in impolite they nerf the slow guy off the track LOL

PS

I meant to ask last time where was the track at Everton Park? Must have been gone by the time I was knocking around the area.

 

Edited by dangermouse
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I meant to ask last time where was the track at Everton Park?

It was on South Pine Road, opposite where Stafford Road ended.  It was upstairs, I just looked at Google Maps (street view) and I think it was the brick building that now has signs covering up the window.  I have fond memories of that window facing the street being open on hot nights, and if a car came off the track at the end of the straight they could fly off the banking, out the window and land on the awning over the footpath.  Fun Times.....!

cheers

BP

PS          will reply with more to you and SlotsNZ asap....

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