DaveH Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 Howdy, I was watching the V8's from Adelaide when the utes came on, all 33 of them if I remember correctly, and I thought - all those cars - so many racing - that would look great on a slot car track! Anyway, I got thinking, and I'm sure this has been done many times before, but I wanted to make a few cars to go around the track 'just to get in the way'....and for a bit of fun. So I chucked a 9V battery in a car and off it went!!! All by itself!!! I thought that this would only be effective on digital tracks, where you could pass (unless you have an analogue track with lane changing), but the funny thing was, every now and then, the car would de-slot, zig-zag across the track until it found another slot to fall into - amazing (so long as you've got barriers). Anyway - it was a bit of fun which took up an evening. Here's some pics of what I did.... 1. Removed the braid from the guide - didn't want it to get power from the track 2. Super glued a small Dick Smith switch in an inconspicuous place 3. Dremmeled off the lug/post that was inside the roof - (so the battery would fit) 4. Soldered the battery clips to the plug and motor 5. Removed the magnet (bit slow otherwise) 6. Watched it go around and around and around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane Lott Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 TOP STUFF Dave!, You've given me a great inspiration to convert my Mercedes F1 "Safety" car with the flashing lights!!!! I have a 4 lanjer routed track with a couple of squeezes so it should be interesting!!!! Will post some pics when done. Regards, Shane Quote ...Click HERE to visit my Viper Valley forum thread... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted March 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 TOP STUFF Dave!, You've given me a great inspiration to convert my Mercedes F1 "Safety" car with the flashing lights!!!! I have a 4 lanjer routed track with a couple of squeezes so it should be interesting!!!! Will post some pics when done. Regards, Shane Thanks Shane, The way it handles and gets in the way, I reckon the best car to convert would be a Volvo. ...with a bowling hat on the rear shelf Cheers, DaveH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rattyslot Posted March 28, 2008 Report Share Posted March 28, 2008 does the cover fit back over the top of the car. 100th post yay.lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted March 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2008 does the cover fit back over the top of the car. 100th post yay.lol. Yep, the first photo is the finished article! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunny59 Posted April 28, 2008 Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 Great idea, Dave! Could not believe the fun I had mucking around with your idea. Even used the same Audi and, as we were were changing our smoke alarm batteries (why not? Seemed a good idea at the time), I had a ready supply of portable power. After much fun, I ended up using an elastic band on a bog standard Scaley controller to hold the trigger down to a point where the Audi (and a Police Range Rover) would circulate without deslotting. Trouble was, I think the controller didn't like the idea. Is there an easy way (like, really easy) of doing this without potentially damaging the controller? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted April 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 Great idea, Dave!Could not believe the fun I had mucking around with your idea. Even used the same Audi and, as we were were changing our smoke alarm batteries (why not? Seemed a good idea at the time), I had a ready supply of portable power. After much fun, I ended up using an elastic band on a bog standard Scaley controller to hold the trigger down to a point where the Audi (and a Police Range Rover) would circulate without deslotting. Trouble was, I think the controller didn't like the idea. Is there an easy way (like, really easy) of doing this without potentially damaging the controller? Hi Bunny59, Do you mean you are running the car using conventional power AND battery together? I have taken the braids off the guide, so no power is coming from the track to the car, so it runs exclusively on battery power. So the controller doesn't enter into it - in fact having power to the track isn't a concern :( . What it does mean though is that you can run a battery car in the slot and also a standard track powered car in the same slot without blowing your controller. Which opens up lots of new possibilities! Regards, DaveH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunny59 Posted April 30, 2008 Report Share Posted April 30, 2008 Hi Dave H, Running battery and power on the same car at the same time, hmm. Hadn't thought of that - it'd probably damage the flux capacitor 'tho and they're hard to get replacement bits for. I was mucking around with the braids removed and a battery added (just like your idea) which worked really well. Running the battery car in one slot and a normally powered in another was pretty good fun. Hadn't thought of sharing the same slot with a powered car 'tho. That'd be really interesting. Gotta have a go at that one! What I was wondering was whether there's a simple way of adjusting a controller to run at a controlled speed so that an unmodified car will go 'round and stay in it's slot consistently. An elastic band on the trigger works but probably has the potential to damage the controller. Maybe there's a little doohickey that could replace the controller? In a separate slot I would manually race another car. Anyway, it's still good fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gref Posted April 30, 2008 Report Share Posted April 30, 2008 TOP STUFF Dave!, You've given me a great inspiration to convert my Mercedes F1 "Safety" car with the flashing lights!!!! I have a 4 lanjer routed track with a couple of squeezes so it should be interesting!!!! Will post some pics when done. Regards, Shane Hey Shane, any progress with the safety car? I'm interested in doing this myself! Quote 2 x australian ego champion regards Shane Fulel racing in first track build --> https://youtu.be/nG1EyFkbJSs My second track build --> raceday - https://youtu.be/8WXYQ528iKM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted April 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2008 What I was wondering was whether there's a simple way of adjusting a controller to run at a controlled speed so that an unmodified car will go 'round and stay in it's slot consistently. An elastic band on the trigger works but probably has the potential to damage the controller. Maybe there's a little doohickey that could replace the controller? Hmmm, Better heads than me on this forum may give you an answer. You could bypass the controller altogether with some alligator clipped wires going directly from power terminal to controller terminal - but you'd probably have to reduce the volts to keep the car on the track - that's where a variable power source comes in handy I guess. Regards, DaveH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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