Going the way of the wood

[bamdogg]

Finally jumping into the ocean and going into the wood world from plastic. After much debating in my head and doing some racing at the local track, its finally going to be full steam ahead. Its going to be a bit of a lengthy process for now due to financial constrains, but I'm going to do it. Hoping to be laying down the MDF and routing as soon as next weekend and let it go from there.

Already had a 6x14 table for my plastic set in the basement, and I'm working on making it a little stronger for the 1/2 MDF that will lay over it and just tiding up a few uneven spots. Going to be a 3 or 4 lane oval, I want 3, my son wants 4, so who knows what it'll end up. I personally want 3 since I want some room in the infield, plus it would be me and him racing 99% of the time. He wants 4 cause he's 5 years old and already an architect in his eyes, so we'll see.

Will find a way to get a picture at least of the table/blank canvas up at some point, not sure the easiest way on that.

Been a lurker here for the longest time and really haven't posted much, learning so much just by reading, and reading, and reading.

[buspor63]

Just make sure the lane spacing accommodates 1/25th scale. And good luck!

[HomeRacingWorld]

Welcome to the Jungle :)

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Ah, the day that a plastic track guy rises to wood and uses magnets for sticking notes on the fridge, never in slot cars. Always a pleasure to see. Congrats. You are going to loooove this.

You and your son can both have it your way. Just make a chicane at one end and set the lanes everywhere else for a 4 inch space between lanes. You get four lanes, serious fun at the demolition end of the track, and lots of space at the other end for hangin' way out. Perfect. Just make sure you don't put the chicane at the end of the track that doesn't have a wall.

[bamdogg]

Shadows of the night as Pat Benetar once said :music-rockout:

Anyway played around a little with the old router I have. Just made a small 8" pass on my plywood with a 2x4 as a guide just for test purposes. Was using a 1/4 bit since it didn't come with a 1/8 and it worked fine. Tested a Carrera 1/32 and it passed the depth test just fine (just wide that's all).

[strangebrew]

WOOO HOOO..............another oval :banana-dance:

[SpeedyNH]

excellent.
agree with waytoomuch, put in a chicane. you can go all the way down to like an inch apart, and it also helps make the outside lane not so far around, especially it they cut in early. the 4th inside lane you might even turn into a pitlane, and you don't even have to use it.
consider leaving some extra space outside, so the fenders don't Darlington the outside wall, and a dead car against the wall can be passed. or not; my favorite old bank didn't have that room, and it was fine. larger, faster tracks seem to need it or one gets car-nage.
speedy

[chappy]

I never use the magnets on the fridge Rob.
I put them on my adjustable work light and hang screwdrivers and grub wrenches and even xacto knives from them.
All very handy.
Bob

[dreinecke]

Welcome and have fun building the track!!!

[Nor Cal Mike]

That will make a nice sized oval. You are not going to use that 1/4" router bit for the track too are you? If so I strongly recommend that you spring for a 1/8", double fluted, carbide bit. It'll run you about $20 bucks but will be worth every penny. Good Luck!

[HomeRacingWorld]

I am sending him the one I just used.

[bamdogg]

Harry is the man, enough said.

The 1/4 was just for testing purposes as that was all that was with the set. Still making a few practice passes on some scrap, I'm getting better, though I'm 100% sure the track will be seeing bondo/Durham's sponsorship from mistakes :lol:

I'm probably going to bump my lane spacing to allow for 1/24th, even though I only have one older Parma 1/24 car. Want to start getting late models or modifieds (I have two paper modified cars now on Artin chassis) maybe on the 1/24th side. I really like the older Carrera Nascar cars, but would love to see maybe a Truck Series set come out (know it'll never happen but one can only wish).

Next weekend hopefully I'll start making some progress on this. Just wondering how long it took everyone here to rout their tracks. I'd love to be able to rout my track in a day, was seeing if that is feasible. Once I start going on something, I have a tendency not to stop until I'm completely finished.

[bamdogg]

[Broman62]

Welcome aboard Bam!!!! You will thoroughly enjoy the wood experience...nothing compared to the plastic track running...keep us updated with pics!!

[bamdogg]

Been a few days since I have updated here. Anyway, purchased the MDF today and already cut to size and on my table. Drew the lines up for part of the straights on both sides, now just have to make a radius jig for the, well, radius.

Going with 3 3/4 lane spacing (not sure if that's cutting it too tight in case I'd want to do 1/24 in the future. Four lanes total in case my son and I want to try different lines out, and the lane closest to the wall will be 5 inches (seems like plenty of room).

Working some OT tomorrow to save up cash for a power source, so not sure what else I'll do this weekend. Best bet is I get my jig set up and can possibly start routing on Sunday, pending how much snow Mother Nature will grace us with.

Big thanks again to Harry for the router bit which came in the mail today! Everyone here is awesome to say the least for the support.