Adding slot car to layout....

Hi Jim. 1/43rd scale is certainly close enough, however

i am of  the impression that Carrera slot cars are 1/32  scale. 

They are a bit large for O scale or gauge. 

But in the enjoyment  of toy trains anything is possible. 

Leroof

In the early sixties  Aurora made 0 gauge super model motoring 1/48 scale slot cars in various models. I had a set when I was a child. They looked great next to my Lionel postwar trains. Wish I still had them. They are somewhat rare and extremely pricey. Unused examples in the plastic bubbles for premium price. They never ran as slick as all the aurora HO slot cars my friends had. I think they were not that popular unless you did O gauge trains. They may have had a limited production, not as popular, but I am not certain of this. I kind of replaced those with Carrera roadsters and plan to some what incorporate them when I rebuild my post war layout this year. The 1/32 scale in a 1/48 the scale world doesn't bother me.

leroof

I was always under the impression that there was an issue with getting slot cars to run slow enough to make for a running around town realistic.   Of coarse if it's a race track scene then that is different.

Seems like slot cars and trains should be a natural.  I would love to see them incorporated in a layout.  Next to Lionel trains, slot cars were the next big love as a kid. (and now).

Ed

Carrera slot cars are available in 1/43, 1/32 and 1/24.

Just FYI.

Bill

Leroof posted:

Hi Jim. 1/43rd scale is certainly close enough, however

i am of  the impression that Carrera slot cars are 1/32  scale. 

They are a bit large for O scale or gauge. 

But in the enjoyment  of toy trains anything is possible. 

Leroof

 

That would be incorrect.  Carrera makes slot cars in 1/43, 1/32 and 1/24 scales.  

I've tinkered with the 1/43 cars before and they do not have much in the way of low end control.  I suppose you could attempt to change the gearing to a smaller pinion/larger spur combination and replace the stock tires with some silicones or urethanes, but the drive train isn't suited too well for gear changes.  Though there is a cottage industry for 1/43 parts that might have what you're looking for. 

And there's always this existing thread that might be of help:

https://ogrforum.com/...-rather-than-streets

I integrated the Carrera  1/43 into the layout. Speed control is an issue as with direction. Still can be fun though. YT? Video  is about a year old and there have been changes on the layout but you get the point.

https://youtu.be/y2JP90JWv0M

Seems like slot cars and trains should be a natural.  I would love to see them incorporated in a layout.  Next to Lionel trains, slot cars were the next big love as a kid. (and now).

Ed, My grandkid's are not interested in the trains,so I incorporated an Auto World  1:64  drag strip with cork screw turn around on the front edge of my layout.  I have my trains and they have there race cars. WIN WIN  Azgary

rboatertoo posted:

I have been wanting to add moving vehicles to my layout for a while.  I experiment with easy street, but controlling the cars and the limits on sizes of track , was  a problem.  Then I looking  into Faller Car System , which is Ho, but I was going to use the parts and put new bodies to make it O.  The problems was imbedding the wire into the road bed plus the cost of the cars $100 plus.  

Today I was picking up basa wood at Hobby Lobby and saw a  Carrera slot car set in 1:43 scale and I was thinking that could work.     I wonder if some else has done that and if so would they recommended a brand or any suggestion. 

 

 

The thought has crossed my mind to make something like the Faller car system for O gauge.  Finding mechanisms that are not light speed is difficult but I did find Tamiya tank motors on MicroMark that would work.  Wishbone steering is the next gating item.  I believe I will ultimately create some sort of background/forced perspective roadway as a solution.

Lou N

Lots of good ideas!!  I was wondering about running more than one car in the same lane, but thanks to Suzukovich I now know I can. 

Thanks for the pictures azgary, keeping the grandkids interested is a great idea. 

After coming back from San Francisco and seeing the layouts at Dollhouse Trains and more I had to up my game.   Carrera makes a bridge that looks a little like the golden gate. 

I too had the Aurora slot cars in two sizes. One was two small for O and the other was too big.  

AZGARY - That is so cool it ought to be illegal.   Really love the way you incorporated it.  Trains  and a slot cars side by side.  I better not let my grandson see this otherwise I will be faced with a layout modification.  Heck, maybe I shouldn't have looked.  I know my LHS has some nice race car sets.....

Thanks for posting the photos.  

Ed

The Faller system is difficult to scale up. It works in HO because the vehicle can be made so light the magnet will overcome the inertia of the vehicle and guide it.  HO to O scale is almost 4 times the volume so the motors and batteries are heavier not to mention the added weight of the body......what bodies are you going to use??? They need to be SUPER light. Not impossible....but much more development time and cost I'd want to spend.

Slot cars, re-geared, is the easiest and cheapest. 

I've been a o gauger for decades and am just now building a separate slot car track in another room. I think slot cars are enjoying somewhat of a resurgent. I know Ho slot cars the best. Ebay is the place for cars. hoslotcarracing the place for track and a real good website that is very informative.

The Faller Car System is truly amazing.  It's too bad it isn't made in "O" scale.  Watching the various videos, on Youtube, of the Faller System, has always made me want to try and do what LOU N has mentioned.  

rboatertoo posted:

Lots of good ideas!!  I was wondering about running more than one car in the same lane, but thanks to Suzukovich I now know I can. 

Thanks for the pictures azgary, keeping the grandkids interested is a great idea. 

After coming back from San Francisco and seeing the layouts at Dollhouse Trains and more I had to up my game.   Carrera makes a bridge that looks a little like the golden gate. 

I too had the Aurora slot cars in two sizes. One was two small for O and the other was too big.  

A couple of things. The Carrera I using is the digital, which allowed the use of one controller for all for cars or one controller per car. Carrera Go is analog.  Controller powers one lane. If I take out the passing track and the crossovers.  I can reverse the polarity of one lane and the cars will run in opposite directions. 

I have toyed with the idea of making my own track using copper tape to power the lanes. This would allow me to customize the street to more of my liking and the ability to run a street car line. That would have to be 2R to allow the cars to cross the tracks on the street. I just haven't gotten that far due to Humvee rebuild, Irma and other life issues. In fact I just finally got the layout running again just before Christmas minus the slot cars.

Another thing that is nice with the Carrera System. I can use the track that is for the 1/32-25, with the 1/43 cars since this track is wider and would look more realistic for O scale.

Neo magnets could pull off the weight issue. They can be  made strong enough to be a physical danger. (that is your safety warning against blood blisters or worse, they are no joke when strong enough)

   Possibly stop actual rear ending of two cars in a lane if used with opposing fields in a bumper for repelling collisions?

  Track mods could likely give two directions on slots. I also recall old slot cars with two guide pins, one at the front another at the rear.

Google Manco undershelf layout; and watch the trains run upsidedown!  

(hopefully still out there as the forum Dale has passed away)

   Lee, have you tried an ho powerpack to get a steady speed? I did it with my AFX/Auroras long ago because I broke my trigger control. (It was too fast, but a resistor was had from Gramps. No racing, but it kept me busy looping till a controller could be had. Older Aurora were much slower; I'mpotential the magnet quality was better during their AFX era.

    Slot cars were another reason I almost left lionel for ho long ago. 

    After decades of "wishes" and various ventures by Lionel into other toy development; Lionel slot cars in O seems like a no brainer, long overdue. It may not have cash cow fad-like potential, but seems a safer bet than many of the past failures, and at least doesn't require a heavy helium tank and batteries to operate! (google " Lionel Helios 21"  )  While the scale might have been wrong, at times I still ran mine with my trains looping right along side of them.   I would have loved a RR crossing. With cast trains, the cars would have been wrecked sooner but oh well. (prototypically leaving hardly a scratch on the cast loco if they collide  

I have a couple 1/43 Carrera GO! Sets but they are very fast and they simply will not run slowly in Stock form.

Hello saw this thread  wanted to show a pre layout build  ,once the attic is ready I will install it on the new layout . What I did was use the original  5160  dispatch station  used a aurora bleachers and I have the tyco motorcycles and others  for it . on the track are my 59 Chevys..... works pretty nice not too fast but still a night at the races (feeling) Daniel that my neighbors used to have back in the 60's ..

Gentlemen,

    I often wondered why Lionel had not engineered a proper operating car set to go with our O gauge Trains.  IMO it would have been a profitable engineering endeavor.  My race car set as a kid was way to fast to be any kind cool with our O Gauge Trains, I did engineer a few layouts with them however.  

If Lionel & MTH would Engineer a Car & Truck layout to set up with our O Gauge Trains, and be run by Legacy or DCS HHRC control, I still think it would be a money maker for Lionel.  IMO this and the remote control air craft Lionel & MTH should look at, to keep their business child friendly and modernized.

Love to have a nice road type car and Truck set up, something similar to Easy Streets but better made, and in the proper scale, to use with my O Gauge Train layouts.

PCRR/Dave

I agree, Dave.  It seems like a no brainer.  I'll bet that most modelers would jump at the chance to include autos and trucks on their layout, that were more realistic in speed and looks.  

I brought up the Faller Car System earlier in this thread.  Someone said something about the larger size might make the system difficult to engineer.  Not sure why.

Pine Creek Railroad posted:

If Lionel & MTH would Engineer a Car & Truck layout to set up with our O Gauge Trains, and be run by Legacy or DCS HHRC control, I still think it would be a money maker for Lionel...

I lamented on this exactly when Lionel came out with their ill-conceived & now deeply discounted  Mega Tracks. I mean, really, they have the NASCAR brand, they could have made race sets as well as road & road-to-rail sets with different gearing. They have a built-in customer base in the 1/43-1/48 realm as well as with the very popular 1/64(HO racing) area with the Flyonel/S folks, and the tooling for the old Power Passers is probably sitting somewhere waiting to be updated/modernized.

Power Passers, lol.    We still use the name to describe drivers weaving in and out of lanes futilely trying to cut 30 seconds off a drive time.

Adriatic posted:

Power Passers, lol.    We still use the name to describe drivers weaving in and out of lanes futilely trying to cut 30 seconds off a drive time.

 

We had a toy and hobby shop....we called Power Passers 'Junk'....got a lot of returns on them. I hope the tooling was scrapped long ago....

Back around 2010 or 2011, Jerry Calabrese hinted that a new type of command control car system was in the works. It was going to supercede SuperStreets. I read that in either OGR or CTT, can't remember which.

SuperStreets is neat - I have quite a bit of it installed - I really wanted to incorporate a RR crossing with it, but I could'nt manage the transverse space required.  

My guess is that Lionel and MTH don't like to gamble much with such items...given the O-gauge hobbiest is finicky. But, how many different types of boxcars do we need - I mean every catalog Lionel has a plethora of rolling stock, maybe that's there B&B? I'd much rather see something innovative like an upgraded Superstreets but we;re probably in the minority.

Didn't Lionel do Slot cars in the 60's? I remember seeing them and have found some tracking on the bay, possibly could go down that route

Joe L posted:

Didn't Lionel do Slot cars in the 60's? I remember seeing them and have found some tracking on the bay, possibly could go down that route

They did slot cars a lot earlier than that. Early 1900’s you might call it one of the first slot car sets.  This is my slot car set. 

https://youtu.be/4G8tPxGhU0A

Yes I have this Lionel 1/32 Buick Riv.Even has the Lionel Tires!

Even has Aurora type pick up shoes.

Very nice example you have....many did not survive!!! 

Yes it runs too!I found it at a flea market about ten years ago for five bucks.Such a deal!

   I have the some skinny tire ho Aurora and larger "wheelie" dune buggies by Revell. Those buggies would be fun for pulling off "a Dukes of Hazard" over a graded crossing....Yee haw!  

   The Lionel slots I had were always the slowest in the box. I didn't run them often. I think I traded them to one of Gramps buddies for an extra submarine and a hopper while in my early teens.

   All of the control slot systems were pretty bad. Lionel had good track, but the lane change required pumping the throttle. TRC you were stuck in the outside lane without a loooong straight. And S turns stalled you half the time from being off the power rails too long. 

  I always went back to my slotted track.

   Like three rail, you learn to live with and love the visual atrocity you see between the wheels 

I stumbled across this one a few months ago. Basically, it's R/C cars on a track with steel wires underneath to maintain the "lanes". This could scale out for O scale-compatible cars pretty easily especially if speeds were kept low.

Lionel also had a dealer display that they had running cars on that used a rubber V belt on pulleys with the cars riveted to the v belt. This might be inspiration as it would not have to be operated and would run on its own. It was Lionel D-63.

See this thread for more info:

https://ogrforum.com/...ly=42398300935292189

What is a steel wire needed if you steer the car??? 

AMCDave posted:

What is a steel wire needed if you steer the car??? 

Im thinking they are magnetic ?

AMCDave posted:

What is a steel wire needed if you steer the car??? 

At low speeds, the wire provides a magnetic "slot" for the car. Steering the car and/or increasing the speed with the remote can allow it to change "slots"  or ignore them completely. The Faller system uses magnets to steer the cars along the guide wire and they're slow and light enough that they don't deviate from the wire's route.

AGHRMatt posted:

AMCDave posted:

What is a steel wire needed if you steer the car??? 

At low speeds, the wire provides a magnetic "slot" for the car. Steering the car and/or increasing the speed with the remote can allow it to change "slots"  or ignore them completely. The Faller system uses magnets to steer the cars along the guide wire and they're slow and light enough that they don't deviate from the wire's route.

I understand the Faller system....looked at it when I was in HO.....could not figure out why a wire in track AND R/C controlled steering......so a hybrid of sorts??

With the Faller I think it allows you to program for a left or right turn at an intersection.