Ho Slot Car Racing Com
The table below lists all track sections currently available from Tomy AFX, Life-Like and Tyco. Aurora Model Motoring (MM) track sections are no longer manufactured but can be readily caused on eBay or in the used section at most larger hobby stores and slot car tracks specializing in HO Slot Car Racing.
Tomy and Tyco offer a good selection of rails sections, while Similar-Like/Rokar track is sold primarily as replacement sections for their boxed sets.
If you are planning a new HO raceway y'all would do well to comprise Tomy AFX rails in your layout. The current line of AFX rails is the best available. The wide choice of turns makes it possible to create a realistic 8-lane racing circuit. The diagram beneath illustrates the diverse plow sections available likewise as straight rail lengths.
I stock a full line of Tomy, Tyco/Mattel and Life-Similar runway sections. Tyco and Life-Like rails sections are listed towards the end of this page.
HO Rails Dimensions
All makes of HO calibration slot car rails are 3″ broad. Turn radius sizes are multiples of this same 3″ modulo. Straight track lengths also adhere to the 3″ modulo making it possible to design race tracks that can exist upward to 8 lanes in width.
Aurora Model Motoring and Atlas runway is still available on the used marketplace, simply has get something of a collectors detail recently. Visit the Slot Auto Auction on eBay or your local hobby shop to find this track.
Tomy AFX Track
Tomy now offers realistic crash barriers that fit along the border of any slot car track. These race baarriers can also be used with the turn borders sold below.
These race barriers work well to go on your precious slot cars off the floor and on the table. One gear up of barriers will protect over 7 anxiety of runway.
These barriers are made from a flexible plastic material that will adjust to whatsoever plough configuration your layout might take.
Tomy AFX Digital ii-Lane Lap Counter
Tomy has but released their make new stand up-alone AFX Digital 2-Lane Lap Counter, but in time for Christmas.
This unit of measurement will count laps without the need for an expensive computer or tablet device.
Two units tin as well be linked together to course a 4-lane lap counter organisation using the cablevision included with each unit.
Races of up to 99 laps can be run with this new unit. Racers who bound the outset are automatically penalized 1 lap!
Lane number stickers 1-4 are included for labeling your track and the Lap Counter itself.
Each Lap Counter runs on 3 AAA batteries (not included.) Setup is easy using the instructions printed on the package.
View Tomy AFX Digital 2-Lane Lap Counter in Pop-Up Window Tomy AFX Digital 2-Lane Lap Counter $46.99
Add together Tomy AFX Digital 2-Lane Lap Counter to Shopping Cart
Tomy AFX Holographic Pit Cease
Tomy'due south Holographic Pit End is an entirely new blazon of lap counter/timer.
Information technology works with any direct section of Tomy AFX track. Two units can be combined for 4-lane raceways.
A brusk video highlighting its operation has been produced to better illustrate this exciting new product.
View AFX Pit Finish Holographic Theater in Pop-Upwardly Window AFX Pit Stop Holographic Theater $74.99
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Adapter Tracks
HO Slot Car runway from different manufacturers tin be combined using adapter track sections. Life-Similar and Tomy both make track adapters as described below. Model Motoring users, see the notes below.
Annotation: Tomy AFX and Aurora A/FX track utilize a different rails joining system, and then to combine the older Aurora A/FX Snap-Lock track with current-day Tomy AFX track you volition need to purchase the Tomy AFX three″ Aurora Adapters listed in a higher place.
Model Motoring Owners: The Tomy AFX 3″ Aurora Adaptor Pair listed higher up can be modified to join the original Aurora Model Motoring Lock & Joiner rail to modernistic Tomy AFX track.
To do this, cut off the small tab on the "Aurora A/FX Snap-Lock" end of the adapter and bend the rail ends in the opposite direction and then that they will match up with the rail ends of the original Aurora Model Motoring track sections.
This technique works best for tracks fastened to a wooden table.
HO Track Turn Borders
I'one thousand now stocking MDF wooden plow borders. These CNC precision-milled borders fit any brand of HO slot automobile rail and can be painted, or covered with my FISA record kit.
Precision cut from MDF and exactly the right height to create affluent mounting plow aprons for both outside and inner turn radius sizes.
They can be secured to a table top using gum, nails, screws or 3M double-sided tape.
HO Rails Spotters Guide
Shown below are some of the diverse types of HO Slot Machine track that have been manufactured over the years.
Aurora Model Motoring Lock & Joiner Track
The original Model Motoring track that started it all. This track was manufactured during the 1960'south and early on into the 1970's. Track sections where fastened together with steel joiner pins and small U-shaped locks made from either metallic, or later on, Nylon.
The metallic ability runway were formed into minor tabs at the edge of each section. These tabs pressed confronting the adjoining track's ability track to form an electrical connection betwixt track sections.
Aurora A/FX Snap-Lock Track
Aurora introduced a new and improved track system in the 1970's to supervene upon the original Lock & Joiner system. The steel pins and U-shaped clips institute on the original Model Motoring rail were eliminated in favor of a track that only snapped together.
Aurora introduced this new track organisation at the aforementioned time they brought out their new Aurora Factory Experimental (A/FX) chassis. This new rails had a slightly deeper slot, and an improved connecting system that snapped and locked track sections together. The plastic tabs on these tracks often bankrupt however, when the track was assembled and taken apart many times. Aurora Track Repair Clips are still available to join A/FX track that has broken tabs.
Track Cleaning Tips
Plastic HO Slot Car rail needs to be cleaned from time to time. Nether normal use oil from the cars volition be deposited on the plastic track surface. This sparse film of oil will concenter and hold dust and clay.
The best mode that I take found to clean plastic HO Slot Car track is to use Formula 409 Professional Heavy Duty Cleaner. Utilise the Light-green De-Greaser formulation and spray it on a soft, lint-free rag. Wipe the entire track with your dampened rag and and so follow up with a make clean dry textile.
The metallic ability rails used in plastic HO Slot Car track oxidize with age. The easiest mode to remove this congenital upwardly oxidation is by rubbing a silverish money on a pair of lane rails. Printing the coin firmly confronting a pair of lane rails and move the money around the entire track in the aforementioned direction the cars normally race. Repeat this process for each lane. A Nickel seems to work the best for this.
To tedious the inevitable return of track oxidation utilise a product such as Track Cipher to the lane rails once a month. Runway Zip can exist found at most hobby shops in the Model Railroading Department.
Rails Mounting Tips
Plastic track sections such every bit those manufactured by Tomy and Tyco/Mattel will normally produce a click-ballyhoo audio when fastened direct to a wood table height. To avoid this toy-similar audio and to produce a smother running race runway place a audio dampening layer between the wooden table top and your runway.
Two materials are readily available to dampen the audio of cars running on a plastic runway. When glued directly to a wooden table peak they volition greatly reduce the sound unremarkably associated with plastic HO Slot Car Runway.
Homasote, or sound board, tin be glued direct to a wooden table meridian and painted a dark light-green. Homasote is available in 4 10 8 foot sheets at about building supply centers. Sound board has a tendency to collect dust though, so make sure you seal it with a good grade of Latex® paint.
Carpeting also makes a good sound deadening fabric, Select carpet with a short, closed weave. Indoor/Outdoor carpet equanimous of a felt-similar fabric works about the all-time. Gum the carpet direct to the wooden tabular array top and so mountain your rails.
See the Construction section of this web site for photographs of Homasote sound board applied to a plywood tabular array tiptop.
For the ultimate sound damping treatment glue a layer of Homasote directly to your wooden table top then gum a layer of carpet to the sound board. This makes a remarkably silent racing substrate. If y'all elect to go with the two-ply audio dampening handling yous can skip painting the Homasote layer, as information technology will be covered past the carpeting.
Nail plastic rails sections to the table superlative using ane Inch No 17 Nails with a total apartment head. Practise not use finishing nails. Finishing nails do not have a big enough caput and will allow the track to somewhen work itself loose.
Each section of HO track has a small blast hole at each terminate. Employ each and every nail hole provided to securely mount the track to the tabular array top. Use a nail prepare to drive each nail home as it nears the runway surface. When a boom is flush with the rails'south surface use the boom fix to drive the nail in just a bit further. Each nail head should form a small dimple were it meets the track.
Do not concern yourself with these dimples, as they volition exist removed in the next phase of construction. When mounting the track also make sure that at that place are no gaps between the inner and outer track sections that make upward the width of a 4-lane layout.
With the track firmly fastened to the table you need to remove the dimples created by the previous rail mounting footstep. To do this, utilize a small soldering iron with a pencil tip. That is, a tip that comes to a betoken. Do not apply a flat tip with an finish like a screw driver. The tip must be round and come to a unmarried point at its terminate.
Place the heated soldering iron tip on the top of each nail head and agree it there until the nail head is sufficiently heated. Every bit the nail head heats upwards it will cook the plastic surrounding it and let the track section to pop back up to its normal meridian. This will create a perfectly countersunk nail hole and restore the track to its normal flat position. Repeat this process for each nail securing the rail to the table top. If you find that y'all didn't bulldoze some of the nails in deep enough use your nail set to further seat the nails before using the soldering iron.
A Permanent Black Sharpie Marking Pen tin can be used to "paint" the heads of the countersunk mounting nails. Coloring the nail heads black will brand them all merely disappear and give your racing layout a very professional advent.
Annotation: Use 1″ nails to mount runway if you've installed Homasote over a plywood tabular array top. Apply 3/4″ nails for bare plywood or carpeted table tops.
Track Mounting with Screws
Tomy AFX plastic sectional track tin besides exist fastened to a wooden table using small No. 3 Flat-Head Wood Screws. If you plan to re-configure your layout from time to time and so attaching the track to the tabular array with minor screws will allow you to easily make changes.
Each section of Tomy AFX rail is molded with a small nail hole at either end. These small nail holes volition need to exist opened up and countersunk to take a No. 3 Apartment-Head Woods Screw. Use a countersinking drill bit mounted in a hand drill and carefully open the hole up until the caput of a No. 3 Flat-Head Forest Screw fits flush with the track surface. Avoid using a power drill if possible, because the soft plastic volition make it difficult to create the proper countersunk depth.
See the Construction section of this spider web site for photographs of Tomy AFX track beingness countersunk and mounted using No. 3 Wood Screws.
Color Coded Lanes
To add a professional person finishing bear on to your HO Slot Machine Track you lot will want to color code the lanes. This volition make information technology much easier to return a de-slotted automobile to the proper lane.
Plastic track sections can hands be colour coded using Testors pigment sticks. These paint sticks can be establish at most good hobby shops and come in a multifariousness of colors.
Select a unique color for each lane of your layout. Endeavour to avoid using both blue and green lane markers on the same layout, equally these ii colors are often hard to distinguish from i another, especially by racers plagued with colour blindness.
You lot can employ blue or green every bit a lane marking but try to avoid using both. If you lot must utilise both blue and greenish on the same layout try to separate them from i another past a white or yellow lane color.
The illustration below shows a suggested color coding scheme for a 4-lane race rails using Blood-red, White, Bluish and Yellow lane markers. The sequence of lane colors shown beneath is the HOPRA standard for 4-lane raceways.
To color code each lane of your racing layout with Testors pigment sticks start by preparing the paint stick'south tip on a spare piece of track. Testors paint sticks have a modest chisel shaped tip. Identify this tip flat against the center of the slot of a scrap piece of rails and move information technology back and along a few times to shape the tip.
Shape the tip of the paint stick and so that a small surface area on each side of the slot is coated with paint. The tips are made of a felt like material and volition take on the shape of the slot as the are moistened by the paint itself. Practice on a chip slice of track showtime though to go the hang of it.
With the paint stick'south tip properly shaped you can now paint a lane on your race track. Apply the paint in a slow fifty-fifty motion. Motility around the unabridged excursion, painting a unmarried lane at a time. You lot may find that two sparse coats will cover much ameliorate than a single thick coat.
Repeat this process for each of the lanes on your HO Slot Car Rail, and then let the paint dry over night before you race on it. If you don't let the paint thoroughly dry out before you race on information technology your slot car's tires will changeless ruin all of your hard work.
With the lanes of your race rails color coded you lot will besides desire to paint each of the driver's stations in the corresponding lane'south color.
Color Coded Lane Record
A second method of colour-coding a track's lanes involves applying colored vinyl record designed specifically for slot auto tracks. This record has a strong adhesive that will forestall lifting and should requite years and years of trouble-free use.
A four-Lane Track Tape Kit includes four (4) rolls of 1/8″ wide record. Each roll is 108 feet in length. The standard HOPRA lane colors of Red, White, Blue and Yellowish are provided in this easy to employ kit. Now available for $17.99.
These kits go far a elementary affair to create professional results as shown below.
The flexible vinyl record in these kits is 1/8″ wide and can easily exist applied to even the tightest of plow radius sizes without stretching or lifting. Each of the four rolls included in the kit is 108 anxiety in length, that'southward enough to practice nearly larger raceways.
The 2-lane Lap counter shown beneath will record up to 25 laps per lane. It tin can also be used on a two-Lane Tomy AFX raceway by purchasing a pair of Tomy AFX 6″ Tyco/Mattel Adaptor tracks.The
Life-Similar 9″ Power Track & Controls listed in a higher place includes two (2) hand controls permanently attached to the Power Track itself. But plug your DC wall pack in and you'll be racing again!
Calculating Lane Lengths
The tabular array below lists the lane lengths for each of the v plow radius sizes. Utilise these lane lengths along with the standard straight lengths to calculate the bodily running lap length for any HO slot automobile track.
Radius Inner Outer
half-dozen Inch 2.945″ 4.123″
9 Inch 5.301″ 6.479″
12 Inch 7.657″ 8.835″
15 Inch 10.013″ 11.191″
18 Inch 12.370″ thirteen.548″
All lane lengths are for one/8 Circumvolve turns. The formula used to summate the lane lengths shown in a higher place is:
Circumference = ((Lane Radius × 2) × iii.14159) ÷ 8
Source: https://www.hoslotcarracing.com/track.html
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