New to HO have some questions

[Secret Squirrel]

Hello. I have been a steady 1/32 and 1/24 racer for many years. About 15 years ago I boight several tomy afx track sets and cars with plans on building an HO track but never did. Since then, I have aquired a few t-jet chassis' and bodies along with a very recent afx non magnatration porsche 917 that I could not pass up on the price. My questions

1. Is tbe pancake style more popular to race then the modern rockets? I am a no mag 1/32 racer so the pancakes appeal to me. I would not mind doing both but not sure if one is more popular then another.

2. What are some good after market controllers, these standard ones are on the small size for adult hands.

3. What is a good track voltage to run at for pancake cars and the modern rockets?

4. How big is to big for an HO layout? After so many feet do I need another power tap? I am not going to use wallwarts.

5. Anyone know of clubs in south east michigan or near for HO?

6. I have seen some people mount the metal hot wheel car bodies and others make resin castings from them. Isnt tbe metal body to much for the car? This aspect of such readily available bodies for casting very much appeals to me as I can make bodies of modern cars or whatever appeals to me.

Thanks,
Steve

[RichD]

1. Pancake cars are still popular, Aurora made millions of them and until recently you could still buy new old stock T-Jet rolling chassis. There are new Johnny Lightning/Auto World T-Jet style cars as well as X-Traction cars that are clones of the Aurora Magnatraction cars. Dash also made a bunch of T-Jet clone rolling chassis. Another alternative to modern high downforce cars are the G-Jet type cars, those have weights in place of the traction magnets and are usually run at 12 volts, so they are closer in performance to Magnatraction cars.
2. For aftermarket resistor controllers the Parma Economy model has been a popular choice, Professor Motor and DS also have controllers of that sort.
3. HO tracks are normally run at 18-20 volts. G-Jet types and gravity cars are often run at 12 volts, drag strips are run at 24 volts. The voltage rating of set type power supplies is often misleading, the voltage will probably be lower when cars are running. Club type HO tracks tend to use a variable regulated power supply.
4. Many club style HO tracks are in the 50-65 foot range. I have raced on longer tracks with no extra taps. The track joints are the problem, if the joints are all good then perhaps only one set of extra taps would be needed for a long track. If there are many bad joints then a dozen taps might not be enough. I advise people to assemble their track and check the joints before they add taps.
5. Try a Google search for HO slot racing Michigan
6. Diecast bodies are heavier than plastic or resin, but not as heavy as you might expect, with diecast cars a lot of the weight is actually in the chassis. You probably would not want to run cars with diecast bodies against cars with lighter bodies however.

[sweet]

I've converted dozens of die cast cars, mostly Hot Wheels. Ninety percent of my conversions were for drag racing. I did them because of cost, a good resin body + paint and primer + decals, can cost you around $20. A HW car cost me between 0.94 -$3 (no paint or decals needed)...When you're making 20 "matched" cars, that's a big difference in cost...I've done a number of die cast for oval track racing. I really couldn't tell you the longevity, or if any overheating problems, because I usually only run them for 5-10 minutes..They do run well.

There are a lot of resin casters in HO..There's a fine line for copyright and or licensing infringement. I just never wanted to get involved with any of that, that's the main reason I've done die cast conversions.

Good Luck and have fun!

[dw5555]

Do the guys at Cloverleaf know of your secret affair with HO?
Dave

[Secret Squirrel]

[HO RacePro]

T-Jets are still a major force in HO racing. And I have known some folks go majorly nuts tweaking and tuning their T-Jet chassis. If you enjoy that kind of fiddling, go for it! I'm happier with chassis that tend to perform well without a lot of such work. I particularly like the Viper line of products. In my experience they provide reliable out-of-the-box performance. I'm not so fond of BSRT. While they make good products, availability has been a major issue.

My favorite T-Jet chassis is the Magnatraction from the 1970's, but that is on routed tracks without steel power conductors to provide downforce. That chassis has a low center of gravity that makes it handle particularly well without magnetic traction. Trouble is, on plastic track, the magnetic downforce is going to be there. Still, the Magnatraction chassis does not have the death-grip downforce of later HO chassis. You might find it a good choice.

There is a definite split among HO racers as to magnetic downforce. There are serious racers in both camps, and some who straddle the line. I myself am much more comfortable with the crowd who prefer gravity racing. I'm not going to try to justify that.

I believe that there is a limit to the benefits of a big track. I spend a lot of time tuning and practicing on my own, and long walks to replace a deslotted car can get tiresome. Large tracks can also be hard to marshal -- corners and run-off areas can be hard to reach. If you have a lot of space and an itch to fill it, I might recommend building two tracks -- one a road course and one an oval. That has worked well for me. You can build any number of decent tracks on a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. My oval is 4 x 12, which I find a comfortable size.

Motorizing die-cast cars can be rewarding. Yes, the bodies are heavy, and they cannot compete with plastic-bodied cars. Yeah, so? Race them in their own class, and have fun!

Ed Bianchi

[Secret Squirrel]

I love to fiddle and tune so the t-jet type appeal to me. However I am not againt the gravity cars either. I view them as the wing type cars of HO. I will probably do both since there seems to be interest in both. I would like to do a routed track but I do have a fair amount of plastic track so that is what's going to be set up. Not sure if I will do an oval though as I find them kinda boring and sokething I dont watch, BUT if I do hook up with a group and they do oval I will probably build 2 tracks then. My goal is to have people over to enjoy them, as I have half a basement at my disposal, approx 20'x25'

[slothead]

My play place is in the loft area of the barn - closed in, electrified, insulated, pine planked, and heated over a dozen years ago. It's 24' x 29' and was fixed up to house my first routed track - 4' x 14' 2 lane oval so I could build and race replicas of dirt modifieds. When someone on HRW suggested I build a road course I wasn't interested, till I bought a Pioneer Mustang and started collecting Trans Am cars. I now have a 6'x14' road course too, and love them both.

I buy RTR cars to race on the road course and build cars to race on the oval - and go back and forth a lot. I don't find racing on the oval boring at all and it takes even more concentration to be fast and consistent than on the road course. I have to get into the 'zone' to hit my marks and it's challenging to enter and exit corners just right for fast laps. I bet both my heart rate and blood pressure creep up a bit when trying to stay in that zone for a series of laps.

My point is consider using your plastic track for one and building the other. You'll love them both. On a routed oval you can get slideways in the corners.

[Austin]

I am put together a 4X8 tomy 2 lane track with the AFX Tri-Power Pack HO Slot Car Power Supply.. This is a direct replacement for all AFX/Tomy race sets. The Tri-Power module allows the user to adjust the voltage (8v,12v, or 22v) to suit the skill level and the type of cars that are running on the track. The Tri-Power module is rated at 1-amp. This helps reduce and eliminate power surges on the track. The three levels allow new drivers to learn the right way: one step at a time. As drivers advance, you simply flip the switch up to the next power level.


I love the t-jets without magnets, then any car without magnets while the younger kids use the magnets.

My next step is the Viper AFX track borders. CNC Machined from MDF material. These inner and outer borders work great and allow you to slide your cars around without sliding off the track. Our AFX track borders are paintable,sandable and easy to install.

I have one The Difalco Neo DD301 controller setup for the HO power and track. Everyone else uses Tomy controllers.

[model murdering]

Hopefully you have the newer AFX power supply.

Best advice I ever got? Invest in good clean power, preferably variable or at least stepped; and properly rated controllers. It's the best hop up bucks for your cars you'll ever spend, (read: all your cars). Your cars will thank you and so will your guests. Knocking the power down for novices is a frequently overlooked aspect.

Let the rest come naturally. My favorite slot car is the one I'm running at the moment. There is absolutely no reason to plant your flag in any one particular corner of the hobby, especially at the outset. Many dabble across the available offerings. Often times what I run simply depends on my mood, or what the gang wants to run. Sometimes Im back in the 1960's. Other times I want to bend light, or some point in between. Think of it as Baskin and Robbins. You WILL be back. No reason to get hung up on any particular flavor.

I always liked to buy or build cars in pairs, by model or by class; so you have similar competition to race, imaginary or not.

Keep in mind that there is vast receptacle of knowledge to be tapped. Odds are that someone has already been there and done that, so dont be afraid to ask away.

:auto-driving:

[HO RacePro]

A long time ago I was convinced that oval tracks had to be boring. Then I got to race on some. Boring? No! Thrilling? More like it!

Gravity cars can drift wide in the corners, and that can make passing an exercise in nerve and timing. Some of the most exciting racing I have experienced has been running lap after lap, inches behind another car, looking for that critical opening in which to make a clean pass. This, while trying to stay within striking range -- just far enough back to avoid colliding with that other car, lap after nerve-wracking lap!

An oval is a great asset when tuning and tweaking, especially when you have a lap timer. If you get in the rhythm you can cut laps consistent to hundreths of a second. So it becomes very obvious when you've made an improvement. A tenth of a second is a world of difference!

Ed Bianchi

[RichD]

My own track is a MaxTrax, which is sectional and can be converted from a road course to an oval. During a racing season I might host two races, one on the oval and one on the road course. Normally the track is in the road course configuration, that is usually the best choice if you are checking the handling of your cars. The oval configuration makes it easier to tune your cars for speed. When I am running by myself I find that I quickly get bored on the oval, however racing on an oval has resulted in some really great wheel to wheel action. Of course some types of cars belong on an oval while others would normally be seen on a road course.