405 replies to this topic

[Revtor]

Super track!!!

[Steve Ogilvie]

Thanks. All the sidewalls are done, track is been leveled up mostly(I am going back in September so I can do a better job with the track clean and painted). So now it is Ernie's turn to paint, braid and wire.

 

 

Took 2 loads in our Transit van to get it down to Toronto. All the Uhaul trailers were booked. Second load:

 

 

Doing the bridge side walls

 

 

[MattD]

Smooth as glass.    Doesn't look like you've lost a step!

[Steve Ogilvie]

Thanks Matt. Ernie gave me a present for our home track, 4 colour matched RTR's they look great:

 

[Gak]

Hi Steve,

will you & Ernie be able to post a video or two of the track in full race mode when done?

would certainly love to see that if possible please.

[Steve Ogilvie]

We just got back from Alberta camping. I do not know how far along Ernie is right now. He sent a couple of pics showing the track primered including the sidewalls with the screwholes filled and it looked good. When it is all running I will go down and do some sort of wrap up video. We are doing some more local camping so I won't be around much in the next couple of weeks. With my grandkids back in school now we are not able to go play on my track until we see if Covid is going to make a comeback with schools opening. 2 weeks from now we should have a good idea how that works out.

[Steve Ogilvie]

[Steve Ogilvie]

That is the King at 3:16 Raceway Wichita KS. Great job setting everything up including one of my King tracks.

[Alchemist]

Hi Steve,

 

What a fantastic tutorial, not only with detailed instructions, but with pictures and videos as well.

 

For me, this is a phenomenal contribution to the Slot Car World, and just saying "Thank you" cannot convey the gratitude and appreciation for sharing your knowledge and experience.

 

but  . . . . a big "THANK YOU STEVE" is offered just the same.

 

Know that you are valued and appreciated!

 

Thank you once again Steve!

 

Ernie

[Steve Ogilvie]

You are very welcome.

[Steve Ogilvie]

[Steve Ogilvie]

Picture above is JK Products 6 lane hillclimb. Variations of this design are my favourite style of hillclimb.

[Bill from NH]

Steve, are hillclimbs your favorite style to build or your favorite designs to run on? I fell in love with AMCR Oranges back in the late 60's & 70's. There was many of them in the northeast during that timeframe.

[Steve Ogilvie]

Back when I started building tracks I was a travelling inspector working for CSA. I got back in to slot cars by buying a couple of RTR parma brass cars that were on sale at a hobby shop in Missisipi. I had no idea where I would be able to use them, but I bought them anyway. A couple of days later I was in Dallas TX and I decided to look in the yellow pages for tracks and I found 3 raceways. After that every where I went I hunted down raceways.

 

  I raced on kings, hillclimbs, oranges,englemans, Mr Raceways tracks and other brands I can not remember anymore. I raced on a banked oval track in Rhode Island in a guys basement. He told me how to bank a turn.

 

  But the hillclimbs always fascinated me. The narrow footprint that fit against the wall, crossovers it was my favorite track. And I believe it is the best combo of long length and compact footprint=money making.

 

   They are not the easiest tracks to build. And I only built one hillclimb with crossovers because that was the one thing that most of my customers did not want.

 

  A lot of my early tracks were hillclimbs mostly because people would want to open a track in a small store and that was all that would fit. Building and designing them made me a better track builder. Are they my favourite track to race on?I think so, but probably because I have raced on so many of them that I know all the tricks to stay in the slot and avoid wrecks.

 

   One thing about the aristocrat AMCR hillclimb caught my eye when i was at Bellflower Raceway in I think Anaheim CA was the turn that led in to the lower straight. It had 2 distinct radiuses to it. You came in to it with a high bank and then you exited at a lower bank angle. At the time I thought the only reason to do that was to save space but it meant you could go really fast through that turn.

 

   Later on I got to race on a bunch of original blue kings and I noticed they did the same thing on the main bank,finger bank and the donut. It wasn't till a long time later that I incorporated that feature on my own tracks. I was hesitant, but I remembered something my dad told me when I asked him if a hillclimb we were building looked weird because the upper straight did not completely cover the lower straight. He said they are your tracks do what you want to them. Game on.

[Steve Ogilvie]

Track is being braided now. I went down and did all the leveling now that it is bolted back together. Ernie measured the track and it is about 147 feet. Neither of us had bothered to figure out the lap length while it was being built. Kind of a nice surprise. Picture was taken before I leveled it out. 

[Rotorranch]

Please explain the braid gizmo. 

 

Rotor

[Steve Ogilvie]

Ernie made that up just to make easy to unspool the braid. He braided the track in longer lengths (he doesn't plan to take the track anywhere so most of the holes I drilled are not being used) and used the 3M double sided tape instead of contact cement. Also the spools are bigger than normal so a jig like this just makes things easier. I did not do any of the braiding but now I know how to do the  tape method. 

[Zippity]

Was the braid pre-soaked/cleaned to remove the machine oil that was on it from manufacture?

[MattD]

The tape works great, but you don't want to stretch the braid at all.  Just install it with no slack.  

[Steve Ogilvie]

The braid was wiped clean with I think paint thinner to remove the oil. That is what I have always used too, but when i use contact cement I wipe it down after I have it stretched out on whatever table or pieces of plywood screwed together. Tinned copper braid is fairly clean to begin with, I have watched it being made and very little oil is used in the process. Take a white rag and wipe a sample of the braid and you can tell how much oil is involved. I need to get the part # for the 3M tape next time I talk to Ernie. 

 

    I used to buy the old style French's mustard bottles and throw away the mustard and use them as glue applicators for the braid lands but like poplar plywood those bottles are no longer being made. Empty carpenter's glue bottles work but it is really hard to get the thickness consistent with those. So I think the double sided tape is the way to go. I have no idea how it compares cost wise to contact cement.

[Steve Ogilvie]

Track # 428 sent to me by PM by the owner.

msg-7775-0-62020000-1606630525.jpeg

[Gak]

Hi Steve & all,

I have a tech question, because I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or this is how it should be.

OK using a router jig with pins to cut the lanes 1 to 4 from outside working in, I notice that by lane 3 & 4 ( highlighted with red arrows) it seems that the start of the corner cut is further back into what would be part of the straight
seems to start around 4 inches back compared to lane 1. Do i have my jig set up wrong or is this normal & isn't an issue? just wondered in case it would cause cars un-slot etc.?

 

 

[MSwiss]

That's absolutely normal.

That's how turns, turn out, routing off the edge of the track.

You are referencing off of tighter and tighter radius's.

You can modify that effect, by narrower or wider pin spacing and location of the lead pin, to the router bit, but the turns will never appear compass cut.

The turn will be easier to negotiate, than ones compass cut.

[Gak]

Thanks Mike,

thats saved me a whole load of head scratching!

Im just waiting for my premises to be built & i'll be routing away like a man possessed, after much negotiating with my dear wife,

she's let me use the whole back end of the garden so a 36ft by 17ft slotcar venue will magically appear in March / April next year   

 

[MSwiss]

You should be fine, with only doing 4 lanes, but keep in mind, if you wind up with real tight lanes, routing off the previous lane can leave you with turns like this. The good news is that little jog as no effect on how the cars run. Again, this only comes up because it's an 8 lane track, with some exceptionally tight turns, and it only shows up with the inner most lanes.

This is next turn on the track, is tight, but not as tight, so you can barely notice the jog effect.

 

My jig. Having the cam rollers, makes routing the first lane, off of the outside of turn, a lot easier.

 

 

The pin placement will dictate the shape of each subsequent turn. Closer together, will copy the previous turn, a little closer, but will provide less stability. Don't be confused by the 4 pins. You obviously only use 2 at a time. They are custom machined pieces, and my friend made extra's, so he only had to do them once.