Hi all,
Well, I decided to cram all this into one post so it would make it easier for me!! Some of it I may have posted before and a lot of it is newer stuff!!I'm calling it a "Newer" beginning for the most part because the last year has had some life changes for me(2nd divorce, mom passed away, a family member having terminal brain cancer...plus a few others...those were/are the bad changes and I have/am handling them the best I could/can!! The good changes that have happened and are in progress right now are exciting me and I guess that's why I'm posting this as a "Newer" Beginning with newer changes!!
In the late spring of last year I had to tear down my 3 lane wood oval for my 1/43 cars(I was soooo sad) in anticipation that in the summer/fall I would be getting my basement/slotcave waterproofed!!! I then decided that I wanted to change racing scales and move up to 1/32 scale and dabble with 1/24 scale also because the eyes are getting weaker for the smaller parts plus everything is soooo much more readily available in 1/32 and 1/24 and I just wanted to join in on the fun of the participation level of these scales here on HRW!! I had picked up those AMT 1/25 slot car kits and was also starting to buy up some Carrera 1/32 cars to...this was the "newer" beginning for me!! So, I had to shut down the slotcave for almost three months, first getting everything ready for the work to be done and then having to wait for cement to dry and then on to the revamped and remolded slotcave!! I was so excited to get this done and once it was finished I was real happy and ready to move on!! I have an 8' x13' "L" shaped table that I have always had 1/43 track on and I decided it was time to tear it all down and get with the 1/32 Carrera movement so I purchased the Carrera track and put up a layout that I really like!! I really like the flow of it(in both directions) and I'm pretty sure this will stay as it is and will be my very final plastic track layout!! Here are 2 pics that show the layout as it is and I have thrown down some scenery items just to get a feel of what I want!!! BUT...it is in a holding stage right now(I can work on that scenery stuff during the summer/fall or winter :lol: ) The pics also show my revamped slotcave with 3 walls all dry-walled and painted and everything back in place with a few newer items!!
Soooo, I decided that I wanted a routed oval track to start running my 1/32 & 1/24 cars on!! I had been ordering stuff from PG, SCC, Prof M and and others in anticipation that once I got it built I could start building cool a$$ chassis/cars like I see all over our site and hopefully participate in the proxies and races going on here!! I had built 1/43 scratch-built chassis' before I and I really liked to do that!! I had my family room available now so that is where I was going to build it!! It was pretty much empty so I started sometime in Jan. and removed the carpeting and padding and cleaned up the bare concrete floor and then layed down 2 coats of enamel floor paint and left it like that!! Next, I had to install some new lighting and went with 4' and 2' LED fixtures to brighten it up...what a difference from what I had and I added a dimmer for ambience :lol: !! Here are a few pics of the progression...all painted and new lighting!!
Now for the new 3 lane routed track...I was sooooooo excited to get started on this!! The pics go in progression from start to where I am now!! I went with kinda 2 separate tables and put them together!! I had to buy everything cut to size to fit in my Equinox except the MFD board which I swapped vehicles with my work buddy to get it home!! This was the first time I used OSB board and man does that stuff STINK until you get a coat of sealer/primer on it!! Once I had the tables all up and the MDF layed on top of it, I forgot it was on inch longer/wider than plywood sheets so I just put a 2x4 layer around the edge and all was good!! It is 4' x 16' and is painted with Behr #N520-6 Asphalt Gray. I asked a "Wise" man about the height of his track and went with the 4' height...I really like that and I will get stools to put out to sit on!! I layed 7/32" copper tape for now from Hobby Lobby and may sometime change it to SCC's braid w/tape backing!! I have the power up now with my 3 controller stations and an older power supply that won't go below 8 volts and fused @5A(not a problem)!! I have 3 corners lifted to 2" and 1 lifted to 1 1/4"...alittle banking and I like it!! The last 2 pics show I'm working on my catch walls and the plastic 6" gutter fencing from Frost King laying on the floor getting flattened out!! I've dropped 2 cars to the concrete floor so running them is on hold till I get the walls up!! So that's it and work is still in progress and I will continue to update as I go along!! No name for either plastic layout or routed layout has been picked yet although my Daughter came up with a good one but I need to think about it!! Feel free to ask questions and I hope you enjoy!! This is my 4th routed track I have done and by far went the best, especially dustless with my router/sweeper set up!! I give a lot of credit to Harry cause a lot of what I have put into my routed builds I have taken from his build write-ups and I'm vey thankful for that!!
Like I said the pics go in progression from start to where I'm at now:
A very old nut sheller with the tip bent worked perfect to drag around with sweeper and clean out the debris that collected in slot!!
Thanks for looking!!!