Home Racing World

Wear and tear has taken its toll on our routed track so it is time to retape. Each of the four lanes are 90+ feet so I anticipate a major undertaking. Is it necessary to remove the old tape which will lift the paint or is it possible to lay new over the existing tape? Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.

I would peel it up and start fresh. Been there...etc, etc. What paint it lifts you will hide on re-taping.

If it's just certain areas...just go over the tops like Shotgun said.

Is this a club track that gets a lot of usage?

If so, I would propose looking at removing the tape, routing a recess and using braid.

The chances are you would never have to do it again, and there will be better power delivery and a lot less routine maintenance.

In my situation, my first track needed retaping, and it was a huge improvement and would last a long time, but the much older track I am using now (which sits on top of my old track), is giving me fits trying to keep up with the fresh, new tape I applied after painting and taping a second time.

I have a huge supply of braid, but the old track I am using now would be impossible to redo in braid without completely disassembling and re-routing, and frankly, I could design a whole new track and have less trouble.

So, I am keeping the tape, and burnishing (and sometimes supergluing the tape down in spot areas), rather than start over. I'm just too old to start over on anything but an oval I can get inside of. What I need is a 16 year old to be my monkey-man and do the climbing necessary for a new road course.

Is there scenery involved? If not, I'd peel, paint, re-tape. Just did that last year when we moved:

Peeled:


Painted:


Taped:

Yep I agree with the peel and retape.
It's a lot more work, but the end result is worth it.
If you do pull the old tape, I would consider a little sanding where the old tape was and then repaint the whole track surface before applying the new tape.
Bob

Yes, I should have mentioned, wiping down the adhesive area with lacquer thinner is very important.

If you just put a new layer of tape on top of what is already there the extra thickness might cause problems with some of your cars as has already been noted, but in addition the new tape will be more prone to damage. With two layers of tape it is more likely that the guide flags of crashed cars will catch and tear the tape. It might be better to pull up the old tape and repaint the track before you lay down new tape. We moved a couple of our tracks that had originally been taped and those were re-done with braid. Routing the gains for the braid goes quickly if you use the bit sold by Slot Car Corner. The old method of sticking down the braid with contact cement is rather a pain and is really a two man job. The new method using 3M double sided tape is much easier and can be done by one person.

I have pulled old tape off and replaced with new without painting the whole track. IF there is a problem with paint pulling out into the roadway beyond the immediate strip under the tape, just run a razor knife along the edge of the tape before you pull. Then sand and repaint only that narrow strip if you feel it is necessary to make a good bonding surface for the new tape.