6 replies to this topic

[ruedy1]

Very informative stuff on this blog.
 
Need help... my boy twins, soon to be six, have gotten into slot cars. We have some cool tracks near us. We live in Northern NJ. Anyone know someone that builds tracks for the home? We want to get one. So looking for a track builder.

[Racer36]

Chris Dadds in Indiana builds excellent tracks, and will tailor a design to whatever space you have available. He did my track and it was perfect.

[Brian Czeiner]

Building a simple designed track (a Windsor, over and under figure 8 or oval) isn't that complicated. It doesn't require many tools or a great deal of woodworking knowledge.  There is a thread here on Slotblog from a track building legend that takes you through the process step by step.  He shows many of the tricks to the trade that would have made my first build much easier. Knowing the process will also aid you when repairs become necessary. Not to mention the value of "father and sons time" building it together

 

http://slotblog.net/...lot-car-tracks/

 

I favor the windsor since it isn't too complicated for smaller kids or beginners.

 

 

 

 

[Bill Seitz]

Not to be discouraging, but the soaring cost of building materials has impacted wood slot car tracks. Depending on number of lanes, the cost is likely going to be around $100/ft. for a 3 to 4 lane home track.

 

I'm not aware of any builders closer to you in the Northeast than Chris Dadds (chrisdaddstrackbuilder.com) already mentioned. Gary Gerding (gerdingfasttracks.com) also builds home tracks as well as the large raceway tracks, but he's in Omaha, NE. Bob Scott (find him on Facebook) builds mostly smaller 3 and 4 lane tracks for homes and entertainment businesses, but he is in Arizona (actually close to me, and he built my home track). I do know Bob has built small tracks and shipped them to customers in other parts of the US, and I'm sure the other builders may do likewise, but then there's some additional shipping expenses.

 

Wood tracks are certainly desirable, but unless your sons are heavily committed to raceway-style slot cars, you may wish to consider plastic track purchased either separately or as part of a slot racing set with controllers and cars. While a plastic track as sophisticated as a wood one can cost nearly the same, the plastic track does offer a path to start simple and grow, offers the ability to change and grow layouts, and offers an advantage in storage, maintenance, and repairs.
 
Slot car tracks small and large are often available used as is the plastic track. Some tracks for sale are listed on Slotblog, but many more tend to show up on Facebook. "Slot Car Tracks 4 Sale" offers both wood tracks of various sizes and used plastic track.

[Paul Menkens]

Here's a "handy man special:"

 

https://newyork.crai...7709403751.html

[Paul Menkens]

Maybe you could bribe the seller to come help set it up for you/

[MrFlippant]

Unfortunately, his site is no longer on line, but Luf Linkert, aka Old Slot Racer, was a prolific builder and helper for those who wanted their own wood routed slot car track. He developed some very easy to use tools to make building it easy, and produced a great video on the entire process, from design to landscaping. It was easy to waste literal weeks looking through all the photos people shared of their tracks on his site. The Internet Wayback Machine still has some of it online, though it can take a lot of time to find a good backup with photos to look through. If you google for "OldSlotRacer wood track routing tools", you can probably find something useful.