Multi level track

[W.Murfitt]

I've had a number of years away from Scalextric, and thought that now would be a good time to get back into it. I've joined a local slot racing club and attended my first race meet and to my supprise i was not that bad! i finished last but not too far off the 2nd to last spots, anyway time to stop yapping and get to my point.

I'm looking to make a multi-level track, with scenery (mountain range ect) then lowering into a track style circut. i've 6 tracks to use to help build this masterpiece, but i'm not 100% sure how to build it?

Any advise / guidance would be greatly appriciated.

Will

[Andy P.]

Hi There,

What are you looking for advice on?

The scenery? The track? Technical issues to look out for? What makes a good layout? Analog or digital?

[W.Murfitt]

 Sorry i maybe should have asked that..

I'm trying to find out;

• How to best raise and lower the track
• How to make it not glitchy when changing levels
• Best way to build and secure the track

I've seen wooden frames make but are they the best way to go about this?

Something like the below i'm thinking....

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[Blagard]

I don't bend any of my track but if I was to do a fixed layout , I certainly would. Plastics generaly bend easier with heat so using a hot air type paint stripper on a low setting and carefully heating the track should allow the plastic to flex. The rails however are going to buckle unless you give them relief. I would suggest the same technique as for bending timber around bay windows. lots of cuts on the back or in the case of the rails on the metail that is in the slots. If you use the right tools the cuts will also remove some material that will allow either a bend up or down. I would use my dremel with the cutting disc. The frequency of the cuts if best found by trial and error depending on how much you want to bend the track. Just be aware that a downward bend does not want the car to bottom out and the upward curve does not want the car front or back to hit the track, so gently does it would be the key. Use you long wheel base cars and long front/rear projection cars to guide you on how much to bend.

[Andy P.]

Where two pieces of track come together there is always a little bit of give. The metal pegs (I sometimes call them "male" connectors" can only be angled so much and there is no real rule as to how many degrees you can get away with.

Before putting together read up on track maintenance here: https://www.scalextric.com/uk-en/support/track-maintenance expecially about fixing the tabs.

Like Blagard says, while you can get the plastic to bend a bit the rails are a different story. I have no clue if what I am about to say is  balderdash but I feel metal has a "grain" much like wood. It twists in ine direction more flexibly than another. I coule be speaking crud though. :-)

One thing a lot of users do once they get a permanent set up in place is tape over the rails with copper tape that has conduuctive adhesive.  This smooths out the transitions and generally allows for better  conductivity. It is not 100% immune to moisture/corrsion but most heated rooms shoule be fine. The bigggest disadvantage would be of couse that once taped, it is a real hassle getting it back up again.

I personally do not race digital but I know most digital piece have sensor track before the lane switch and I am guessing that they are IR and therefore should mostly be on smooth, flat sections.  Blagard knows more about that than I do...

As far as landscaping is concerned there are literally THOUSANDs of pages, sites and forums (fora? foarae?) about landscape for train sets. the principles are exactly the same.

One last thought: Sport track is fairly smooth. You will need to sand the tires to get more grip to get up the hills and also to hold downward corners.

[W.Murfitt]

ok so maybe not the best of ideas then. Maybe a better option would be just a few bridges and tunnels, in which case what is the best way to build this up? wood or polistireen? 

[Blagard]

Regarding the metal rails, there is no grain but  there is a slenderness ratio which has impact on how the steel section responds to bending. The top part of the track rails are very stiff due to the upside down U shape and quite resistant to buckling. The bottom part in thew slot is very propone to buckling.

 

If you bend the track upwards the steel is very unforgiving and the top part will try to compress while the bottom will try and stretch. In practice it can't do either so instead the top will twist sideways and can only go in one direction and that is into the slot. Without cuts to the bottom of the slot the result will be the slot gets pinched at the top and can get tight enough to trap a guide. A similar issue occurs if you try to bend downwards but in this case the steel will actually succeed in buckling at the bottom of the slot which can trap a guide very easily. if you look into the slot and see the buckled steel pushing into the slot at intervals.

 

Cutting slots across the underside of the rails will allow the steel to easily bend upwards and the slots will open up even more in doing so. Bending downward the oppersite is allowed to happen and if slots were made with a dremel cutting disc they can close up with the bend or in the worst case the cut bits of steel in the track can slide past each other rather than buckling.

 

In both cases, slotting the track rails on the underside allows the track to be bent a little at each cut with straight unbent bit in between each cut. So you can see the more cuts the gentler and less obvious each bend is.

 

An alternative to tape at track joints is to solder flexible wire links to the track rails on the underside of the ajoining track pieces. The only down side is that  if / when you take the track apart the wire links are removed either by disconnection or wire cutters!

 

I don't actually know what the sensors are in the digital lane change track but would guess they are not IR but photo cell as I believe the LED on the underside of the car signals when you press the lane change button. The LED is probably signalling the cars ID all the time so as it passes the finish line the system knows which car passed over. The lane change sensor only needs to know one signal common to all cars, it could be as simple as a steady light on the LED.

[Richieb42]

I'm looking to do something similar I will be graduating the track upwards at 2.5 inch interval up to 10 inches at the highest point in 2 straights length to 2.5 inch. I am using MDF base then plywood for a track outline for the raised sections. This will be supported by a frame of wooden 2x1 batten and side skirts of ply this will then become a cliff edge or filled in as hills.. The biggest challenge will be the corners I think!  Any thoughts on thickness of ply required as it needs to have flex but still be strong enough