Im sorry....sheesh...somebody had asked about combining the 2...and i had shown them what i had done. I dont think its out of place at all thank you. And to be honest....it really doenst matter if its not to scale...or if its not the way it should be....i built it for myself...not anybody else...i didnt build it for the "why did he do that, thats not correct, thats not prototypical" crowd!!! So what it crosses a race track...big deal!!!...the cars can go opposites directions ya know...go toward each other...like a 2 lane road. I think the most important thing here is...its fun...its something i like doing...and i was just trying to help somebody out...that is all. And to me....it is a scale railroad...maybe not to YOUR standards....but it is. I can use all the same techniques that you employ on decoration...lighting...and all. I dont think i will be posting anymore to this website. Things like this are suppose to encourage people to go their own way...do what they like to do....not to get criticized about it. Thanks alot!!
I was at the Springfield/Amherst train show today. One vendor was Minature Motor Works. He was running an automobile/truck/bus system that was using a wireless throttle controller. The vehicles looked similar to the Faller cars, although to me they looked slightly larger. They did follow a buried wire in the road, like Faller, but there was more going on. There was "bus loop" that shared the road with the others, but had photosensors (I think) to detect the bus and run it partially over a separate route.
Again, this was expensive on a per-vehicle cost basis, but if you actually had control of the vehicle in terms of speed, anyway, and it travelled at scale speed rather than race speed, it would be a significant advancement.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I remember almost 40 years ago seeing a catalog with a trainset with slot cars crossing the the tracks so the idea isn't new. I'm guessing it was TYCO. Hammacher claims they make the only such set today. Here's the webpage if your interested:
http://www.hammacher.com/Product/78893
If they are the only one, it would seem your choices are to buy their product or scratch build your own slot car grade crossing. You'll need at least two. Probably wouldn't be that difficult but I would lean toward going with Hammacher. Why reinvent the wheel.
Since you seem to have already made the decision to go with it I certainly am not going to try to talk you out of it. It's my opinion that with few exceptions, anything that moves on a model railroad other than the trains is going to look toylike. I don't think slot cars is one of those exceptions. However, as has been said many times, it's your railroad. Build what makes you happy. You don't have to justify it to anyone.
Sir Madog I am sorry, but I find this set-up to be completely out of place here. This is a slot car set-up and not a model railroad! I don´t think there is any place in the world where a railroad line crosses a race track. Again - nice toy, but no scale model railroad!
I am sorry, but I find this set-up to be completely out of place here. This is a slot car set-up and not a model railroad! I don´t think there is any place in the world where a railroad line crosses a race track.
Again - nice toy, but no scale model railroad!
Besides, my original plan was to have roadways, not just a raceway. And roads do cross tracks.
And of course the O scale guys can take advantage of 1:43 slot cars. These not only look more prototypical, they are closer to proportion, usually better detailed, and can be run at more prototypical speeds. Yes they still have the trench in the road and the wires are visible (could be chemically blackened?) But they also offer more variations in turns (degree of curve and radius) all combined it could make a pleasing model.
One could argue that modelling roads on a layout isn't prototypical at all. Other than the I-5 in LA, there's not many places where vehicles just sit stationary on the roadway for hours,days or months. If we must model roads, and many of us must, why not look into making them operable?
The question is how to animate without looking toylike? Like mentioned above it would be easier in O scale, HO slot cars would work better with S scale. The Faller system is great for HO except price and prototype.
Perhaps several loops that cars could just drone around? Disguising the slot could be done by airbrushing the oil streak down the road. If making the road from scratch (vs buying premade track) one can fine tune the slot width to make it less obtrusive, same for the power wires.
Many mrr take the time to super detail and weath their rolling stock, locos. Some do their road vehicles too. The same skills can be applied to slot cars, one just has to keep functiality in mind.
It can even make operations more realistic. Crews waiting for a train can runtraffic rather than sit around waiting to be called. Strike a train and lose you license, no driving till the next op session. Young kids may be bored with slow trains but can have fun with fast cars. Sure they'll pull a Gomez, but they also get exposed to model trains and model building. Is the tradeoff wortth it? Depends on who you are.
If its not a project you want to tackle then good for you, but those who are interested needn't be put down for it.
Modeling the Cleveland and Pittsburgh during the PennCentral era starting on the Cleveland lakefront and ending in Mingo junction
To Rude Runner Hear Hear ! Initially Aurora tried to market their cars and tracks to interoperate w/ model railroads. The story I heard was Corporate Lawyers were concerned kids would try to out run trains at the crossings, which would translate into their early driving expereinces. Worried they would be held liable in a catastrophic accident, they made the corporate decision to seperate the cars from the trains, dropping the term "model motoring, and focusing on the race aspects of slotcars.
I agree that realistic movement on a layout adds to the appeal, we've all seen Windmills, and little figures popping out of shacks when trains go by, having realistic scale, automobiles and trucks is not a unrealistic request. I'd think w/ todays technology, SOMEBODY would offer a reasonable system. Again the Faller setup comes closest, shame it is too cost prohibitive.
Some of the old Model Motoring cars I have, look pretty good once running slow enough, one tip is to remove the middle gear on the topplate, and use a small O-Ring from the armature shaft back to the pinion gear, will be exploring other ways to slow the cars down, such as pure DC (battery powered system, w/ a battery tender to keep it topped off)
The turnoffs and service road pieces can be modified w/ switch solenoid to automate the turnoffs:
http://www.modelmotorist.com/web-content/rr20001.jsp
This way several differnt circuits can be run without fear of the cars jamming up on one another, heck I'd even like to incorporate DCC technology into a couple of vehicles to vary their speed.
I guess another option is to sell off ALL the Slotcar stuff and use the money to convert to a Faller or other similar setup, but I have most everything I need to install the slotcar track now.
And for those who don't think slotcars and model motoring have a place on Model railroads, you do not have to read these posts, chose another topic of interest. Thankful to find some conversation on the integration of automobiles and trains.
Yeah, I'm cool with that. Indeed, I just recently bought some LifeLike slot car track along with two railroad crossings pieces where the train track crosses the slot car roadway. I plan to build a stock car racetrack on an unfinished area of my layout and decorate it with a train station and a grandstand
That'd be something, a race track with a railroad cutting through it. Though if you can have a railroad cut across an airport runway...(yes, that is a real thing).
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Some 3 years ago I had an AFX set (pancake motors) and had problems with power pickup so the figure 8 set eventually got put aside. I've always been into model railroads (for about 38 years) and am now pretty much a prototype modeler (rivet counter). About 5 years ago I worked with a guy that was into slot cars...the new ones, not the old slow ones. I helped him build a 4'x24' slot car track in his basement; he ran with a bunch of other guys so it was a 'professional' racing track.
I helped him wire it (10 or 12 gauge wires) and lay the track; we ripped out the factory rails, installed continuous rail, filed it down to 0.015" above the road (I made a fixture to insure consistent rail height), installed computer timing, filled in all the gaps and screwheads, filed out the grooves and painted the track. It looked great and the speeds were nothing short of incredible! If you haven't ever seen full custom slot cars, search youtube and observe the blurs! It's way more impressive in person!
When those cars left the road, they hit stuff HARD. I got a bruise exactly the size of one of his cars on my arm when it flew off the track, then burned my finger when I picked it up off the floor. Those cars drew something like 2 amps!
I built a similar 4'x16' track for an ex-girlfriend who had a young boy and included a (cheap) train set to make it interesting. Using factory crossings (from AFX or Tyco) was way easier than scratchbuilding my own.
Be prepared to do a lot of repairs to both the trains and cars. Many times the car would try to beat the loco or caboose and just miss it, but the couplers were the first casualty. No problem, we didn't need couplers on the front or back of the train (we ran it like a drone). When the young boy saw the spectacular crashes caused by a car moving at 200 scale mph smashing into the train, he started aiming for the train rather than trying to miss it. Those cars cracked every piece of rolling stock and easily knocked the HO scale F unit off the track if it got hit. Lots of rerailing...lots of repairs to couplers, wheels...everything. I was spending more time repairing and rerailing than running trains or racing. At first it was fun (when a boxcar got damaged, we just took them off, one at a time until just the loco was running. I can't imagine a slot car smashing (at any speed) into my BLI, Athearn Genesis or Proto sound equipped locos (or my Branchline rolling stock kits).
Yes, they are fun together! Yes, there will be damage! If you get the racing setup (and I really hope you do!) Please take lots of videos and post them to youtube. So much fun to watch...because I won't have to fix anything.lol
Both hobbies are awesome, for different reasons. But if you combine both, then compromises will be made to both hobbies. I learned to keep them separate. That guy gave me all his leftover track pieces, power supplies and even a broken controller (a custom one with two knobs sticking out the top)...I still set up the slot cars once in a while...on the floor. Maybe put the layout up higher (model railroads look more realistic the closer they are to eye-level) and keep the slot cars on a lower table (where it's easier to reach cars and see them better for racing...nascar spotters are on top of the grandstands for a reason).
If you run both together, on the same level, you might want to keep a cheap 'drone train' for use while racing. Maybe load them with lead or steel to help keep them from flying too far. :) Also, keep delicate scenery on the inside of the curve (cars fly towards the outside of the curves). Most of all...HAVE FUN! :)
http://delray1967.shutterfly.com/pictures/5
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