HO Slotcars

[Wild one]

I haven't played little toy race cars in about a dozen years .Ran into a bunch of local guys who are just getting into the hobby,and they convinced me to clean off my old track and join them.Then i decided to go looking to see if i could find the group of guys i used to race with years ago,and be dammed if they aren't still racing. There's a short little 45 second video posted on this page for anybody who wants to check it out.
Anybody in the southern Alberta area who wants to join in,they're always looking for more guys
There's tracks in High River / Okotoks / Beiseker / Airdrie / Carseland

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The fan cars are some of my favorites,no traction magnets,and just air pressure from the propeller to propel them around the track,means it takes some skill to get them through the corners,lol

 

[CanuckRam1313]

Absolutely Epic!

I miss slot cars a lot..we would have a ton of fun back in the day with these.

Then we got to our informative mid-teenage years when we started operating/racing them while under the influence of liquid and smoke. It made the get togethers much more entertaining!

 

[Wild one]

Absolutely Epic!

I miss slot cars a lot..we would have a ton of fun back in the day with these.

Then we got to our informative mid-teenage years when we started operating/racing them while under the influence of liquid and smoke. It made the get togethers much more entertaining!

The guys i used to race with still meet on Friday evenings,and trust me,they still party like they're 20,lol.I don't smoke the good stuff or drink anymore,but they still do

The b^st^rds actually get faster the more they've drank and smoked

Next Saturday a few of them are coming to my place in Airdrie for some racing,i still haven't informed my wife yet

 

[JHoward]

When I lived in Japan back in the late '60's early '71( my father was USAF E-9), my two older brothers and me would go over to Camp Drake on Saturdays where there was a large slot car track(8-10 lanes?)and race 1/24 scale model cars? with the local enlisted folks and other kids ...

I received for my birthday, a brand new hand held rheostat controller and a 1/24? scale replica 1967 Dodge Charger Fastback ... I cracked it up on its maiden race ... parts went everywhere, I searched all around the track for the remainder of the time we were there, managed to only find the rear tail light section ... I never understood where the rest of my car went ...

I'm sure and for certain, those Army GI's helped themselves to my unfortunate dilemma, as I was only seven to ten years old during those years and to them just another stupid AF brat that shouldn't have been there!

I'm not sure if this hobby exists anymore on the 1/24 scale? race track.

 

[Skydog73]

I've never had a set or collected but really want to. Maybe if i have grandkids someday might get into it.

Or hell just do it anyway.

Some of the larger scale cars have such great detail. Especially the MOPARs.

 

[Wild one]

When I lived in Japan back in the late '60's early '71( my father was USAF E-9), my two older brothers and me would go over to Camp Drake on Saturdays where there was a large slot car track(8-10 lanes?)and race 1/24 scale model cars? with the local enlisted folks and other kids ...

I received for my birthday, a brand new hand held rheostat controller and a 1/24? scale replica 1967 Dodge Charger Fastback ... I cracked it up on its maiden race ... parts went everywhere, I searched all around the track for the remainder of the time we were there, managed to only find the rear tail light section ... I never understood where the rest of my car went ...

I'm sure and for certain, those Army GI's helped themselves to my unfortunate dilemma, as I was only seven to ten years old during those years and to them just another stupid AF brat that shouldn't have been there!

I'm not sure if this hobby exists anymore on the 1/24 scale? race track.

I'm not sure how big the 1/24th scale is these days,but there's a pile of guys racing 1/32nd all over the planet.
Some of the 1/32nd tracks are pretty elaborate,and huge

 

[Gwerner74]

I've started looking into slot cars again, looking forward to when my grandson is old enough for it. Maybe another year.

 

[Ritchie_Rich]

Never have seen prop driven slot cars. Mine were electric with no traction aids.

 

[Mojo88]

This is the place I used to go to; in Swansea, MA. He had four tracks, with the big one at 350 feet long, it was awesome.

 

[Wild one]

Never have seen prop driven slot cars. Mine were electric with no traction aids.

They're a riot,as they take some talent to make a corner at decent speed,lol.
I built them about 15 years ago,and there was a pile of experimenting to get them right.
I built a jig to cut the props all to the same length after i finally figured out what length was optimal.You can't buy the props in the right length,so you have to mod a longer 3 blade prop by cutting about 3" off the blades.
Then it took a bit to finally figure out the angle i needed to mount the motors on.The motors need to be angled down,so the props air pressure puts some weight on the front ends to keep the guide pin in the tracks guide pin groove.If you mount the motors level with the track,they'll actually take enough weight off the front end when you pin the throttle,that the guide pin will lift out of the slot,leading to an instant deslot. Now if you were good with a computor you could probably map everything out,but when i built them,it was alot of trial and error and a whole bunch of head scratching to get around some of their inherent problems
They're actually faster then you think,if you're into the hobby and have heard of "Fray" T-jets,they'll easily beat a Fray T-jet down the straights,but with nothing to slow them down,you really have to plan for the corner at the end of a straight,as they like to coast forever,lol.
They use older Tomy Turbo can motors to run the prop,with some lead weights glued into the bottom,so they're not as top heavy
My track is wired for directional switches,so if you're on the ball,you can throw the prop into reverse,and they'll slow down then,lol

 

[Wild one]

I've started looking into slot cars again, looking forward to when my grandson is old enough for it. Maybe another year.

Depending on your budget,you might want to consider going to a routed sectional track,they blow the old school plastic sectional tracks into the weeds.
There's several outfits building them if you google HO tracks.
MaxTrack / Viper Tracks / W i l l y Musgrove are a couple of the bigger outfits building the routed sectional tracks.

MaxTrax Scale Racing

For some reason i can't find Dans/Viper's website at the moment,but here's a link to his facebook page

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See posts, photos and more on Facebook.

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[Ritchie_Rich]

They're a riot,as they take some talent to make a corner at decent speed,lol.
I built them about 15 years ago,and there was a pile of experimenting to get them right.
I built a jig to cut the props all to the same length after i finally figured out what length was optimal.You can't buy the props in the right length,so you have to mod a longer 3 blade prop by cutting about 3" off the blades
They're actually faster then you think,if you're into the hobby and have heard of "Fray" T-jets,they'll easily beat a Fray T-jet down the straights,but with nothing to slow them down,you really have to plan for the corner at the end of a straight,as they like to coast forever,lol.
They use older Tomy Turbo can motors to run the prop,with some lead weights glued into the bottom,so they're not as top heavy
My track is wired for directional switches,so if you're on the ball,you can throw the prop into reverse,and they'll slow down then,lol

Very cool.

 

[Wild one]

I've started looking into slot cars again, looking forward to when my grandson is old enough for it. Maybe another year.

If it's been many years since you played with them,the timing systems have progressed alot,lol. My Track Mate system is 15 years old,and it's outdated now.It times down to the thousandth,and gives you the scale mph,and also runs the track,but the newer trackmate systems do even more

 

[CanuckRam1313]

Next Saturday a few of them are coming to my place in Airdrie for some racing,i still haven't informed my wife yet

 

[Wild one]

View attachment 578888

She's got some stuff coming from Amazon,i'll wait till it shows up and she's in a good mood then tell her
After 40 years,i've learned to wait till she's in a real good mood to tell her what i'm planning

 

[CanuckRam1313]

She's got some stuff coming from Amazon,i'll wait till it shows up and she's in a good mood then tell her
After 40 years,i've learned to wait till she's in a real good mood to tell her what i'm planning

Wiser words never spoken, Brother!

Us men have to be supportive and nurturing to our Managers moods and needs, so we can ultimately be forgiven for whatever it is we did, or are going to do!

 

[MrBonez]

Never have seen prop driven slot cars. Mine were electric with no traction aids.

Same here.
Cool stuff indeed!

The prop part reminds me of remote contolled cars with Cox engines on them. Got one of those engines somewhere myself with a prop from a airplane setup.
I could build a prop driven one if I really wanted to but having a place to run it is another thing but I do have room for a track at least if I ever did.

 

[Wild one]

Same here.
Cool stuff indeed!

The prop part reminds me of remote contolled cars with Cox engines on them. Got one of those engines somewhere myself with a prop from a airplane setup.
I could build a prop driven one if I really wanted to but having a place to run it is another thing but I do have room for a track at least if I ever did.

When i built them,i hardly ever used the fan cars,but now that i'm 15 years older and dug them back out,i gotta admit i really enjoy the little buggers now.I was into the real fast stuff back then,and found them rather boring,but now that my eyes are 15 years older,and don't work as good at keeping track of the "blur" cars,these are good,as they're easy to keep track of,and they require virtually no maintence,lol. They're also great for blowing the dust off the track,cuts down the track vacumming by alot . Downside is you need to run them on a really smooth track,they don't really care for the cheap plastic sectional tracks like Tyco/Tomy/AFX/Aurora etc.,but they work good on the routed sectional tracks aka MaxTrack/Viper track etc.,or a fully routed track like mine.

 

[Tominator223]

Might still have some. High side air foil bodies. And the track owner let us use sticky traction additive on the tires. Couple drops on the rear tires almost never had to lift in the turns. Sure was god times

 

[Rebel Guy]

I've been racing 1/24 scale most of my life. 70 now and still going strong. Run a series at tracks in CT,MA,NY called NERR (New England Retro Racing) and Friday nights at the local track. Also compete in some bigger national races were we get guys from all over the country, Canada,Japan ,England ,South America. Met alot of great people through the years. Favorite part is painting the clear lexan bodies.