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This has kept me busy for the last few weeks. I had built the table tops a few years back and not finished the project, so with having not much else to do I got on and got it done:
I wanted a small test track and had decided to use the concept of the "Race of Champions" tracks, where two cars run the same route but half a lap apart and you only really know who is ahead when the cars cross the finish line. My tabletops provide a 6 foot by 4 foot area split in half along the 6-foot side:
I marked out the design I wanted after looking at lots of different ROC tracks from various stadiums around the world. I decided not to build a bridge, just a cross-over, so I had to make sure the cars would arrive there at fairly different times:
I used a small Bosch trim router for the slots and braid recesses, it's powerful enough to handle the MDF and its small size makes it easy to work with on a small table. I also hooked up my shop vac with lots of duct tape to control the dust, and that worked really well.
The braid recesses were easily done with the excellent Slot Car Corner router bit, it works a charm.
For the surface paint I used a product called UMA (urethane-modified acrylic). It's what I have on my big track and it works really well for lots of different tire types. It's a little on the expensive side, and has to be tinted, but IMO, it is worth it. I used a little squirt bottle and a paint brush to get down into the slots. The surface got two coats with a short nap roller.
I wanted a small test track and had decided to use the concept of the "Race of Champions" tracks, where two cars run the same route but half a lap apart and you only really know who is ahead when the cars cross the finish line. My tabletops provide a 6 foot by 4 foot area split in half along the 6-foot side:
I marked out the design I wanted after looking at lots of different ROC tracks from various stadiums around the world. I decided not to build a bridge, just a cross-over, so I had to make sure the cars would arrive there at fairly different times:
I used a small Bosch trim router for the slots and braid recesses, it's powerful enough to handle the MDF and its small size makes it easy to work with on a small table. I also hooked up my shop vac with lots of duct tape to control the dust, and that worked really well.
The braid recesses were easily done with the excellent Slot Car Corner router bit, it works a charm.
For the surface paint I used a product called UMA (urethane-modified acrylic). It's what I have on my big track and it works really well for lots of different tire types. It's a little on the expensive side, and has to be tinted, but IMO, it is worth it. I used a little squirt bottle and a paint brush to get down into the slots. The surface got two coats with a short nap roller.
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