THE TRACK AND POWER
Through friends and a couple of slot car shows, I acquired some used Tyco Command Control track and some Tyco TCR track. There are a few differences between them. The earlier 1978-82 Command Control track is molded in black plastic, has curves without center lane walls, and the terminal tracks which allow controllers to be plugged in with the polarity reversed. The later 1990-93 TCR track is molded in gray plastic, has the lane walls in the curves, and has the controller polarity set by use of alignment fins on the controller plugs. Otherwise, they are the same track.
On recommendation of www.tycotcrracing.com , I hunted down the later Tyco TCR power pack which provides more power than the Command Control pack, and found some used TCR 50 ohm controllers with the somewhat clunky lane changing steering wheels. The Command Control controllers had a less desirable 70 ohm resistor, but a superior lane changing switch.
A few cars came my way from friends and I fixed them up to get started and bought some NOS track from www.slotcarcentral.com.
Other than washing the dirt and dust off the track with water and dish washing liquid, cleaning the dirty pick up rails with a model railroad track cleaning block, and using Plege wax to wax up the insides of the track walls (DON'T get any wax on the running surface), I was ready to go. As recommended, I started out by setting up a track on the floor, but quickly found out that I'm a lot less "flexible" in my sixties than when I last regularly played on the floor. I also found out that one of my Yorkshire Terriers has a taste for Tyco track. The "tasty" curve section which was chewed on was set aside for possible later experimentation, and I moved to the kitchen bar, using poster board "walls" to keep speeding cars from "taking the plunge" to the floor. Eventually, I built a small portable layout from a sheet of extruded Styrofoam insulation board.
THE CARS
The cars were another matter. I added both used and NOS cars as time passed. Most of the used cars had seen rough service, and the bodies were scratched up badly. I cleaned the chassis just as recommended on Dan's TCR website (www.tycotcrracing.com) lubed everything up, and most of the cars ran pretty well. I bought a few NOS cars and some parts from Slot Car Central (www.slotcarcentral.com) to have a base line for comparison. After some new pick up shoes and springs, cleaning and lubrication, the used cars ran as well as the new cars! What cars I have acquired that could not be saved to run are set aside for parts.
Here are some tricks I've learned over the years that also work just as well on slotless cars:
DIRT IS THE ENEMY
Tires and pick up shoes pick it up dust, dirt, and oil, and must be kept clean. In the sixties and seventies liquid cleaners were all the rage on both home and commercial race tracks, but we eventually learned that they actually caused more problems over time. In fact some liquid cleaners actually broke down the tires (especially the "foamies") and they chunked as they got older.
Rolling the tires across a strip of tape is the way to go today, but not all tapes are created equal. Tapes like Duct tape or Gorilla tape are TOO sticky and the glue they use will sometimes pull off onto the tire when you clean them a few times. Anything sticky ATTRACTS dirt! Regular masking tape is better, as is double sided "Scotch" tape. But the blue "painter's tape" is the best. It cleans but doesn't add adhesive to the tires. Just roll the tires across a flat strip of tape a couple of times and you're back in action!
Never sand tires to clean them, it just removes rubber which shortens there life quickly.
As for pick up shoes, I use an ink pen eraser or a model railroad rail cleaning block for heavy crud, a regular pencil eraser is good for light dirt. Some of the more serious slot car racers use a rubber wheel on a Dremel or other rotary tool to clean pick ups. Never use sand paper as it creates small scratches for dirt to get into and can't easily be gotten out!
Of course keeping the track clean prevents a lot of tire and pick up cleaning! And after a LOT of running, clean the whole car to removed collected dirt, oil, and lint and hair which like to wrap around axles.
LUBRICATION IS NOT A BATH
All machinery benefits from lubrication, but you don't want to drown the car in oil as that attracts dirt and slops onto the tires and track where it can be a REAL mess! Always use a light weight, plastic compatable oil such as Labelle 108 or similar. Heavy oils don't lubricate small parts any better and their weight tend to make them "fling" better, usually onto the track or electrical parts of the car where they can mess things up the most. In recent years Tri-Flon and other teflon inclusive lubricants have gained favor. Teflon is the major ingrediant in automobile oil treatments like Slick 50 and Dura Lube.
A lot of slot car people use the special L.A.B. Oil (Light Armature Bearing Oil) because it has a teflon component AND will not gunk up the commutator the way regular oils will. While mostly used for armature bearing lubrication, it will work well on any surface. As with any lubricant with Teflon, add a few BB's or a small ball bearing to the container and shake to remix the Teflon and the oil before each use.
Do not use any type of grease! Model railroaders and some R/C car racers like Teflon grease on gears and axles. The low speeds of model trains doesn't "fling" the grease off. R/C cars have much larger surfaces to cover and are cleaned often due to where they are used. Grease is a disaster for slot and slotless cars and tracks.
A clean and lubed car is faster, and less friction and arcing from dirt put less strain on twenty year old motors!
DECORATION AND PROTECTION
If they had been real automobiles, many of the cars I got in used condition would have been put on a decent Used Car dealer's "doggie lot" out back or sent directly to the auto auction! They needed sanded and repainted and decaled. In some cases, I wanted to create special letters or number styles that I couldn't find as decals. An old trick I had used before on 1/32 scale slot cars and in model trains was to use my computer and clear address labels. Most font types of either 8 or 10 point are about as small as you can go, but they will work in HO. Try printing out the words or numbers on regular paper and match that up with your car body. Once you find a combination that fits, go ahead and print it out on clear address labels. You'll not need a full sheet, so keep the unprinted labels on the sheet to make your next batch of body decorations.
I use a regular ink jet printer, but even with stick on, rub on, or water slide decals, I coat the whole car with Testor's Gloss or the Krylon product of the same type. After the clear coat sets up for a few days, you can wax the body to make it even more protected and also more easily slip through crashes. With ink jet address labels, be SURE they are well dried and then lay the clear coat on in several thin coats so that the ink doesn't run.
RUB RAILS
Because the slotless cars slide along the wall to stay in one lane or the other, you can add "Rub Rails" to lower part of the body between the wheel openings. This is an old dirt track Stock Car trick to protect the body during the rubbing and bumping of the races. In our case it does two things: 1. Protects the paint and decals. 2. Minimizes the part of the body that contacts the wall, and therefore slightly reduces friction and increases speed.
BODY MOUNTING
The steering mechanism of the car is both the advantage and the curse of slotless cars because it tends to be somewhat fragile. To help protect the steering, you can semi permenantly attach the body to the chassis so it doesn't pop off in a bad crash. Dan uses a dab of hot glue to do this, but I use a common model railroader's glue from the hobby shop called Walther's GOO. It is well named, being gooey and stringy. It's really a super rubber cement that holds well, yet can be pealed, pried, or rubbed off later. Some silicone sealers are similar, but do NOT use silicone glues.
JAM CARS
Ideal Toy provided Jam Cars with their sets and Tyco Commnd Control sets originally came with them too. Aurora had a Road Blocker or "Zig-Zag" car to confound competitors. When Tyco returned to the slotless market early in the 1990's Jam Cars were offered only as an option. Over the years, Tyco must have made TONS of Jam Cars as they are easy to find and cheap today. Aside from their intended use, they are excellent for cleaning the pick up rails of the track before racing.
Just as with the race car, Jam Cars can benefit from chassis cleaning and lubrication as well. They grind around the track at a lower speed due to the worm gear drive arrangement, and use up their pick up shoes at a higher rate than the race cars because the "Jammers" run continuously. Inspect and lube them more often, and stock extra pick up shoes if you can.
SPEEDWAY LAYOUT BUILDING
Moving to a table top or other off the floor area will necessarily limit the size of track you can set up. While everyone naturally wants as big and imprssive track as possible, I have found that a really big track isn't really desireable. In model railroading we have a phenomna known as "The Basement Filling Empire." Most of these massive model railroads are so big and complex that they are never finished and in fact drive the builder nuts working on the railroad a lot more than running trains!
For that reason I consider an HO race track of any kind larger than would fit on a 5x9 foot Ping Pong table to be too big. Since I have VERY limited space I use the kitchen bar, and that allows me a space of only 3x 6 1/2 feet. For testing, I set up the track and taped 4" wide strips of poster board around the curves for safety. Not a good solution, but it worked for a time, and my Yorkie couldn't chew the track.
Eventually, I built a portable speedway in a rectangular track configuration not unlike the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For a layout base, I used a 2 inch thick sheet of extruded styrofoam insulation board. To keep the cars off the floor, I made a "wall" of 4" tall strips of the same material around the edges of the base.
Extruded sytrofoam is a durable, high density material, completely different from the white "bead board" strofoam used in packaging which crumbles easily. Most home improvement stores and contractor's supply stores carry extruded foam in 4x8 foot and 4x4 foot sheets, and some will even cut it to size for you, but you must buy a whole sheet. Depending on the brand (Dow's is blue) and the store, a full sheet will run you around $30.
I've been using extruded foam since 1999 to do model train display layouts to take to train shows. The extruded styrofoam is light to carry and durable enough that one of my layouts has lasted nine years so far! I keep all the cut off pieces because they make good scenery materials and extruded foam can be glued with common white glue or silicone glues. Do NOT use solvent type glues. You must use acrylic or latex paint on it too. Solvent glues or paints will dissolve the foam!
I glued the track down with silicone bathroom sealer. This allows for a flexible attachment and the track can be removed later by slipping a putty knife under it and prying gently upward. Since the speedway is stored standing on end in the back of a closet when not in use, the track must stayed attached to the styrofoam base during this, and it does with no problem.
Hollow core doors are also a good choice for portable tracks, but are heavier harder to work with, being more akin to typical layout table wood working. They come in sizes up to 3 feet by 6 1/2 feet and also start around $30.
BUILDINGS AND FENCES
I intend to build some small structures and walls to add to the scenery around the track and in the infield of this speedway. There are number of nice plastic or card stock buildings you can use, but I do some things differently, since I've been building models since I was a kid. The old speedways that I went to years ago used cheap corrugated metal sheeting for everything! Both small building walls and the fence around the track was corrugated, just like a typical junk yard fence. You can buy aluminum or plastic sheets of "corrugated metal," but they are expensive. I use card stock (3x5" or 5x7" "file cards") you can find at offiice supply or craft stores very cheap. To get the corrugation I bought a "Corrugating Tool" at a craft store for about seven dollars and "roll my own" corrugated fencing and siding! For fence posts, I use bamboo meat skewers that I got at the grocerty store; 100 for less than two bucks!
For billboards, I'm doing the same thing I did on my last 1/32 scale slot car track; use the product art on boxes or paper wrappers of the things I buy. You cut them out, glue them to card stock or thin cardboard, use the meat skewers for "poles" and set them up. If you can't find what you need in the right size, scan them into your computer and resize them, then print them out the size you need. Many times you can find good billboard "art" on websites that can be printed out for billboards.
Extra extruded foam board can be easily carved into hills with a steak knife and glued together with Elmer's or similar white glue. I've used it on train layouts to make tunnels and even carves it into brick or stone walls for buildings and rock faces. Why not try it for a race track?
WHAT NOT TO DO
I CANNOT recommend using either white styrofoam packing material or "ground foam" or "lichen" for ground coverings. The packaging styrofoam crumbles VERY easily and you'd be amazed where all those tiny white balls end up! The popular with model railroaders "ground foam" is just that; foam rubber which has been run through an industrial blender and the particles died various shades of green to represent "grass" or "weeds." Even if glued down, it tends to come loose in little bits, and like beaded styrofaom ends up in bad places. Lichen comes loose and gets tangled in armatures, axles, and gears. While very usable for model trains and dioramas, they are bad news for slot and slotless cars!
Paint the grass on the layout with green acrylic paint and use a tan color for "dirt." That way you won't be picking debris out of gears and armatures.
Through friends and a couple of slot car shows, I acquired some used Tyco Command Control track and some Tyco TCR track. There are a few differences between them. The earlier 1978-82 Command Control track is molded in black plastic, has curves without center lane walls, and the terminal tracks which allow controllers to be plugged in with the polarity reversed. The later 1990-93 TCR track is molded in gray plastic, has the lane walls in the curves, and has the controller polarity set by use of alignment fins on the controller plugs. Otherwise, they are the same track.
On recommendation of www.tycotcrracing.com , I hunted down the later Tyco TCR power pack which provides more power than the Command Control pack, and found some used TCR 50 ohm controllers with the somewhat clunky lane changing steering wheels. The Command Control controllers had a less desirable 70 ohm resistor, but a superior lane changing switch.
A few cars came my way from friends and I fixed them up to get started and bought some NOS track from www.slotcarcentral.com.
Other than washing the dirt and dust off the track with water and dish washing liquid, cleaning the dirty pick up rails with a model railroad track cleaning block, and using Plege wax to wax up the insides of the track walls (DON'T get any wax on the running surface), I was ready to go. As recommended, I started out by setting up a track on the floor, but quickly found out that I'm a lot less "flexible" in my sixties than when I last regularly played on the floor. I also found out that one of my Yorkshire Terriers has a taste for Tyco track. The "tasty" curve section which was chewed on was set aside for possible later experimentation, and I moved to the kitchen bar, using poster board "walls" to keep speeding cars from "taking the plunge" to the floor. Eventually, I built a small portable layout from a sheet of extruded Styrofoam insulation board.
THE CARS
The cars were another matter. I added both used and NOS cars as time passed. Most of the used cars had seen rough service, and the bodies were scratched up badly. I cleaned the chassis just as recommended on Dan's TCR website (www.tycotcrracing.com) lubed everything up, and most of the cars ran pretty well. I bought a few NOS cars and some parts from Slot Car Central (www.slotcarcentral.com) to have a base line for comparison. After some new pick up shoes and springs, cleaning and lubrication, the used cars ran as well as the new cars! What cars I have acquired that could not be saved to run are set aside for parts.
Here are some tricks I've learned over the years that also work just as well on slotless cars:
DIRT IS THE ENEMY
Tires and pick up shoes pick it up dust, dirt, and oil, and must be kept clean. In the sixties and seventies liquid cleaners were all the rage on both home and commercial race tracks, but we eventually learned that they actually caused more problems over time. In fact some liquid cleaners actually broke down the tires (especially the "foamies") and they chunked as they got older.
Rolling the tires across a strip of tape is the way to go today, but not all tapes are created equal. Tapes like Duct tape or Gorilla tape are TOO sticky and the glue they use will sometimes pull off onto the tire when you clean them a few times. Anything sticky ATTRACTS dirt! Regular masking tape is better, as is double sided "Scotch" tape. But the blue "painter's tape" is the best. It cleans but doesn't add adhesive to the tires. Just roll the tires across a flat strip of tape a couple of times and you're back in action!
Never sand tires to clean them, it just removes rubber which shortens there life quickly.
As for pick up shoes, I use an ink pen eraser or a model railroad rail cleaning block for heavy crud, a regular pencil eraser is good for light dirt. Some of the more serious slot car racers use a rubber wheel on a Dremel or other rotary tool to clean pick ups. Never use sand paper as it creates small scratches for dirt to get into and can't easily be gotten out!
Of course keeping the track clean prevents a lot of tire and pick up cleaning! And after a LOT of running, clean the whole car to removed collected dirt, oil, and lint and hair which like to wrap around axles.
LUBRICATION IS NOT A BATH
All machinery benefits from lubrication, but you don't want to drown the car in oil as that attracts dirt and slops onto the tires and track where it can be a REAL mess! Always use a light weight, plastic compatable oil such as Labelle 108 or similar. Heavy oils don't lubricate small parts any better and their weight tend to make them "fling" better, usually onto the track or electrical parts of the car where they can mess things up the most. In recent years Tri-Flon and other teflon inclusive lubricants have gained favor. Teflon is the major ingrediant in automobile oil treatments like Slick 50 and Dura Lube.
A lot of slot car people use the special L.A.B. Oil (Light Armature Bearing Oil) because it has a teflon component AND will not gunk up the commutator the way regular oils will. While mostly used for armature bearing lubrication, it will work well on any surface. As with any lubricant with Teflon, add a few BB's or a small ball bearing to the container and shake to remix the Teflon and the oil before each use.
Do not use any type of grease! Model railroaders and some R/C car racers like Teflon grease on gears and axles. The low speeds of model trains doesn't "fling" the grease off. R/C cars have much larger surfaces to cover and are cleaned often due to where they are used. Grease is a disaster for slot and slotless cars and tracks.
A clean and lubed car is faster, and less friction and arcing from dirt put less strain on twenty year old motors!
DECORATION AND PROTECTION
If they had been real automobiles, many of the cars I got in used condition would have been put on a decent Used Car dealer's "doggie lot" out back or sent directly to the auto auction! They needed sanded and repainted and decaled. In some cases, I wanted to create special letters or number styles that I couldn't find as decals. An old trick I had used before on 1/32 scale slot cars and in model trains was to use my computer and clear address labels. Most font types of either 8 or 10 point are about as small as you can go, but they will work in HO. Try printing out the words or numbers on regular paper and match that up with your car body. Once you find a combination that fits, go ahead and print it out on clear address labels. You'll not need a full sheet, so keep the unprinted labels on the sheet to make your next batch of body decorations.
I use a regular ink jet printer, but even with stick on, rub on, or water slide decals, I coat the whole car with Testor's Gloss or the Krylon product of the same type. After the clear coat sets up for a few days, you can wax the body to make it even more protected and also more easily slip through crashes. With ink jet address labels, be SURE they are well dried and then lay the clear coat on in several thin coats so that the ink doesn't run.
RUB RAILS
Because the slotless cars slide along the wall to stay in one lane or the other, you can add "Rub Rails" to lower part of the body between the wheel openings. This is an old dirt track Stock Car trick to protect the body during the rubbing and bumping of the races. In our case it does two things: 1. Protects the paint and decals. 2. Minimizes the part of the body that contacts the wall, and therefore slightly reduces friction and increases speed.
BODY MOUNTING
The steering mechanism of the car is both the advantage and the curse of slotless cars because it tends to be somewhat fragile. To help protect the steering, you can semi permenantly attach the body to the chassis so it doesn't pop off in a bad crash. Dan uses a dab of hot glue to do this, but I use a common model railroader's glue from the hobby shop called Walther's GOO. It is well named, being gooey and stringy. It's really a super rubber cement that holds well, yet can be pealed, pried, or rubbed off later. Some silicone sealers are similar, but do NOT use silicone glues.
JAM CARS
Ideal Toy provided Jam Cars with their sets and Tyco Commnd Control sets originally came with them too. Aurora had a Road Blocker or "Zig-Zag" car to confound competitors. When Tyco returned to the slotless market early in the 1990's Jam Cars were offered only as an option. Over the years, Tyco must have made TONS of Jam Cars as they are easy to find and cheap today. Aside from their intended use, they are excellent for cleaning the pick up rails of the track before racing.
Just as with the race car, Jam Cars can benefit from chassis cleaning and lubrication as well. They grind around the track at a lower speed due to the worm gear drive arrangement, and use up their pick up shoes at a higher rate than the race cars because the "Jammers" run continuously. Inspect and lube them more often, and stock extra pick up shoes if you can.
SPEEDWAY LAYOUT BUILDING
Moving to a table top or other off the floor area will necessarily limit the size of track you can set up. While everyone naturally wants as big and imprssive track as possible, I have found that a really big track isn't really desireable. In model railroading we have a phenomna known as "The Basement Filling Empire." Most of these massive model railroads are so big and complex that they are never finished and in fact drive the builder nuts working on the railroad a lot more than running trains!
For that reason I consider an HO race track of any kind larger than would fit on a 5x9 foot Ping Pong table to be too big. Since I have VERY limited space I use the kitchen bar, and that allows me a space of only 3x 6 1/2 feet. For testing, I set up the track and taped 4" wide strips of poster board around the curves for safety. Not a good solution, but it worked for a time, and my Yorkie couldn't chew the track.
Eventually, I built a portable speedway in a rectangular track configuration not unlike the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For a layout base, I used a 2 inch thick sheet of extruded styrofoam insulation board. To keep the cars off the floor, I made a "wall" of 4" tall strips of the same material around the edges of the base.
Extruded sytrofoam is a durable, high density material, completely different from the white "bead board" strofoam used in packaging which crumbles easily. Most home improvement stores and contractor's supply stores carry extruded foam in 4x8 foot and 4x4 foot sheets, and some will even cut it to size for you, but you must buy a whole sheet. Depending on the brand (Dow's is blue) and the store, a full sheet will run you around $30.
I've been using extruded foam since 1999 to do model train display layouts to take to train shows. The extruded styrofoam is light to carry and durable enough that one of my layouts has lasted nine years so far! I keep all the cut off pieces because they make good scenery materials and extruded foam can be glued with common white glue or silicone glues. Do NOT use solvent type glues. You must use acrylic or latex paint on it too. Solvent glues or paints will dissolve the foam!
I glued the track down with silicone bathroom sealer. This allows for a flexible attachment and the track can be removed later by slipping a putty knife under it and prying gently upward. Since the speedway is stored standing on end in the back of a closet when not in use, the track must stayed attached to the styrofoam base during this, and it does with no problem.
Hollow core doors are also a good choice for portable tracks, but are heavier harder to work with, being more akin to typical layout table wood working. They come in sizes up to 3 feet by 6 1/2 feet and also start around $30.
BUILDINGS AND FENCES
I intend to build some small structures and walls to add to the scenery around the track and in the infield of this speedway. There are number of nice plastic or card stock buildings you can use, but I do some things differently, since I've been building models since I was a kid. The old speedways that I went to years ago used cheap corrugated metal sheeting for everything! Both small building walls and the fence around the track was corrugated, just like a typical junk yard fence. You can buy aluminum or plastic sheets of "corrugated metal," but they are expensive. I use card stock (3x5" or 5x7" "file cards") you can find at offiice supply or craft stores very cheap. To get the corrugation I bought a "Corrugating Tool" at a craft store for about seven dollars and "roll my own" corrugated fencing and siding! For fence posts, I use bamboo meat skewers that I got at the grocerty store; 100 for less than two bucks!
For billboards, I'm doing the same thing I did on my last 1/32 scale slot car track; use the product art on boxes or paper wrappers of the things I buy. You cut them out, glue them to card stock or thin cardboard, use the meat skewers for "poles" and set them up. If you can't find what you need in the right size, scan them into your computer and resize them, then print them out the size you need. Many times you can find good billboard "art" on websites that can be printed out for billboards.
Extra extruded foam board can be easily carved into hills with a steak knife and glued together with Elmer's or similar white glue. I've used it on train layouts to make tunnels and even carves it into brick or stone walls for buildings and rock faces. Why not try it for a race track?
WHAT NOT TO DO
I CANNOT recommend using either white styrofoam packing material or "ground foam" or "lichen" for ground coverings. The packaging styrofoam crumbles VERY easily and you'd be amazed where all those tiny white balls end up! The popular with model railroaders "ground foam" is just that; foam rubber which has been run through an industrial blender and the particles died various shades of green to represent "grass" or "weeds." Even if glued down, it tends to come loose in little bits, and like beaded styrofaom ends up in bad places. Lichen comes loose and gets tangled in armatures, axles, and gears. While very usable for model trains and dioramas, they are bad news for slot and slotless cars!
Paint the grass on the layout with green acrylic paint and use a tan color for "dirt." That way you won't be picking debris out of gears and armatures.