I used to have a lot of slot cars as a kid but we lived in a small apartment and it used to drive my mom nuts having that stuff underfoot. I wasn't able to hang on to the sets. Here I am 50 some years later and the bug has got me again. I started out with a 4 lane set and have been adding (length) to it. It is still evolving, I have more track on the way. Eventually I will have proper supports under the raised sections but just to get things going I had to improvise a bit, that's why it looks a bit sloppy. Here's what came out of the box, in the second picture I added a bit of extra track (and a banner on the wall).
I don't know how it happened but the track grew some more. I got bitten by the HO bug. I bought two banked curve sets, criss cross and squeeze tracks and extended the table. Now I am hoping to find some Buick HO car bodies that will work with what I have.
Here is a place that makes Buick HO scale bodies . M.E.V. Originals tjet slotcars http://www.tjets.com/ Loren@65GS.com
This brings back memories! I had an HO track back when the first cars ran on AC, in '63. My dad built a road course and put in an HO train, complete with a crossing, low mountains, etc. By then, the HO cars were DC powered, though.
Nice set up. Funny how things like that kind of 'snowball' isn't it? Hours of fun there. A good friend of mine had a huge H.O. set up that he built in the 70s. It took a room in his home. Since he passed away, his brother has all of it. Last I knew, he hadn't set it up. I'd like to catch up with him and see what his plans are for it.
Cool........I love slot car racing. Would much rather goof with a bud racing on one of these than some video game slaying an imaginary dragon
I am planning on having some friends over on Tuesday evenings for a little good old fashioned road racing. Not much in the way of responses yet but we will see...
Water on the tires, you started early with your burn outs! That made me laugh! We had a bunch of folks over Tuesday evening and the fun went on for hours. I didn't get to bed until almost 1:30 am.... It seems that the "Track Elves" were at work again. The layout has grown some more. I have a lot of extra track that just begs to be incorporated into the existing layout. Then there is "Pit Row" where the number of cars keeps multiplying. Four stools, automotive style wire organizers and cup hooks to keep the controllers tidy. After the evenings races my home made card board tunnels and bridges were looking sad, they took a beating. I was looking into a website called H.O.T.rack and saw some creative bridges they had. Being a D I Y'er I hunted around and found a bunch of erector set girders and will be building new bridges and tunnels from metal parts. They might even look like real bridges when I get done. Here's a few more pics. The double decker twister was the most recent addition.
Have you considered upgrading to an adjustable DC power supply? A 30 volt supply would work best. The older T-Jets like about 20-22 volts while the new Tomy cars like 12. Plus if you have little kids over, you can turn down the voltage so the cars don't fly off the track even when the controller is pegged. I had a Samlex PSA-305. There's one on Ebay right now Also, the one supplied transformer isn't going to cut it with such a large track. Your going to need to solder in at least 2 or 3 power points to maintain the voltage around the whole track
I appreciate the information! The set I purchased came with two transformers that have three voltage levels, beginner, intermediate and expert. We have been using the intermediate level because expert is just too fast. Even with the addition of extra track footage the voltage levels seem adequate and I still have the option of bumping the transformers to the expert level. I did purchase some of the older cars and they do need the extra voltage. The newer AFX cars (Mega G and Mega G Plus) seem to be very energy efficient and require little power to get them going. The older cars seem to have a higher resistance/voltage threshold that is necessary to overcome before the car will start moving. The result is that the older cars have little to no slow speed ability and the newer cars do. One exception is a used Life-Like brand car that I have with what is known as a "T" type chassis, this car is faster than the rest and has decent low speed response.
http://www.tjets.com/ $44 for just a GS body...I think I bought the entire AFX set back in the day for less than that. Grumble, grumble. Lee, that's a cool set up!
Thanks! It has grown a bit more since the last photo's. Yes, those bodies are very pricey. New AFX cars average about $30 and they come with a working chassis.
