Aurora Ho Slot Car Track

The table beneath lists all track sections currently bachelor from Tomy AFX, Life-Like and Tyco. Aurora Model Motoring (MM) rails sections are no longer manufactured but can be readily caused on eBay or in the used section at about larger hobby stores and slot auto tracks specializing in HO Slot Car Racing.

Tomy and Tyco offering a expert selection of track sections, while Similar-Like/Rokar runway is sold primarily as replacement sections for their boxed sets.

If yous are planning a new HO raceway y'all would exercise well to incorporate Tomy AFX track in your layout. The current line of AFX runway is the best bachelor. The broad choice of turns makes information technology possible to create a realistic eight-lane racing circuit. The diagram below illustrates the various turn sections available too as straight rails lengths.

I stock a full line of Tomy, Tyco/Mattel and Life-Similar rails sections. Tyco and Life-Like track sections are listed towards the end of this page.

HO Runway Dimensions

All makes of HO scale slot car track are 3″ wide. Turn radius sizes are multiples of this aforementioned 3″ modulo. Straight runway lengths also adhere to the iii″ modulo making it possible to design race tracks that tin be up to 8 lanes in width.

Aurora Model Motoring and Atlas rail is still available on the used market, but has get something of a collectors particular recently. Visit the Slot Car Auction on eBay or your local hobby shop to find this track.

Tomy AFX Rails

Tomy now offers realistic crash barriers that fit along the border of any slot car track. These race baarriers tin also be used with the turn borders sold below.

These race barriers work well to keep your precious slot cars off the floor and on the table. One fix of barriers volition protect over vii feet of track.

These barriers are made from a flexible plastic fabric that will adapt to any turn configuration your layout might have.

Tomy AFX Digital 2-Lane Lap Counter

Tomy has only released their make new stand-lone AFX Digital ii-Lane Lap Counter, merely in time for Christmas.

This unit will count laps without the demand for an expensive estimator or tablet device.

2 units tin can also be linked together to form a iv-lane lap counter arrangement using the cable included with each unit of measurement.

Races of up to 99 laps can be run with this new unit. Racers who jump the start are automatically penalized i lap!

Lane number stickers ane-4 are included for labeling your track and the Lap Counter itself.

Each Lap Counter runs on three AAA batteries (not included.) Setup is easy using the instructions printed on the packet.

View Tomy AFX Digital 2-Lane Lap Counter in Popular-Up Window Tomy AFX Digital 2-Lane Lap Counter $46.99
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Tomy AFX Holographic Pit Terminate

Tomy'southward Holographic Pit Terminate is an entirely new type of lap counter/timer.

It works with any direct section of Tomy AFX track. Two units can be combined for four-lane raceways.

A short video highlighting its operation has been produced to amend illustrate this heady new production.

View AFX Pit End Holographic Theater in Pop-Upwards Window AFX Pit End Holographic Theater $74.99
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Adapter Tracks

HO Slot Auto track from different manufacturers tin exist combined using adapter track sections. Life-Like and Tomy both make track adapters as described below. Model Motoring users, run into the notes below.

Note: Tomy AFX and Aurora A/FX track use a unlike track joining system, so to combine the older Aurora A/FX Snap-Lock rails with current-day Tomy AFX track y'all will need to purchase the Tomy AFX 3″ Aurora Adapters listed above.

Model Motoring Owners: The Tomy AFX 3″ Aurora Adaptor Pair listed in a higher place can be modified to join the original Aurora Model Motoring Lock & Joiner rail to mod Tomy AFX track.

To exercise this, cutting off the small tab on the "Aurora A/FX Snap-Lock" end of the adapter and bend the runway ends in the opposite direction and then that they volition match up with the runway ends of the original Aurora Model Motoring track sections.

This technique works best for tracks attached to a wooden table.

HO Rail Turn Borders

I'thousand now stocking MDF wooden plough borders. These CNC precision-milled borders fit whatsoever make of HO slot machine runway and can be painted, or covered with my FISA tape kit.

Precision cutting from MDF and exactly the correct height to create flush mounting plow aprons for both outside and inner turn radius sizes.

They tin can be secured to a table top using glue, nails, screws or 3M double-sided tape.

HO Rails Spotters Guide

Shown below are some of the various types of HO Slot Car track that have been manufactured over the years.

Aurora Model Motoring Lock & Joiner Track

The original Model Motoring track that started it all. This track was manufactured during the 1960'south and early into the 1970'southward. Rails sections where fastened together with steel joiner pins and small U-shaped locks made from either metallic, or subsequently on, Nylon.

The metal power track were formed into small tabs at the edge of each section. These tabs pressed against the adjoining rail's power track to grade an electrical connection betwixt track sections.

Aurora A/FX Snap-Lock Track

Aurora introduced a new and improved track system in the 1970's to replace the original Lock & Joiner system. The steel pins and U-shaped clips plant on the original Model Motoring runway were eliminated in favor of a rail that simply snapped together.

Aurora introduced this new rails system at the same time they brought out their new Aurora Factory Experimental (A/FX) chassis. This new runway had a slightly deeper slot, and an improved connecting system that snapped and locked runway sections together. The plastic tabs on these tracks often broke however, when the track was assembled and taken apart many times. Aurora Rails Repair Clips are notwithstanding available to bring together A/FX track that has broken tabs.

Track Cleaning Tips

Plastic HO Slot Automobile track needs to be cleaned from fourth dimension to time. Nether normal use oil from the cars will exist deposited on the plastic rail surface. This thin film of oil will concenter and hold dust and clay.

The best way that I have found to clean plastic HO Slot Car track is to use Formula 409 Professional Heavy Duty Cleaner. Apply the Light-green De-Greaser formulation and spray information technology on a soft, lint-free rag. Wipe the unabridged track with your dampened rag and and then follow up with a clean dry material.

The metal ability rails used in plastic HO Slot Car track oxidize with historic period. The easiest way to remove this built upwardly oxidation is by rubbing a silver coin on a pair of lane track. Press the coin firmly against a pair of lane rails and move the coin around the entire track in the aforementioned direction the cars normally race. Echo this process for each lane. A Nickel seems to work the best for this.

To slow the inevitable render of rails oxidation employ a product such as Rail Null to the lane rails one time a month. Track Nil can be found at most hobby shops in the Model Railroading Department.

Track Mounting Tips

Plastic track sections such as those manufactured by Tomy and Tyco/Mattel volition normally produce a click-clack sound when attached directly to a wood tabular array top. To avoid this toy-like sound and to produce a smother running race rails identify a sound dampening layer between the wooden tabular array top and your track.

2 materials are readily available to dampen the sound of cars running on a plastic track. When glued directly to a wooden table top they will profoundly reduce the audio normally associated with plastic HO Slot Car Rails.

Homasote, or sound lath, tin exist glued directly to a wooden table top and painted a dark green. Homasote is available in iv x 8 foot sheets at most edifice supply centers. Audio board has a tendency to collect dust though, and then brand certain you seal information technology with a adept grade of Latex® paint.

Carpeting besides makes a good sound irksome cloth, Select carpeting with a brusk, airtight weave. Indoor/Outdoor carpeting composed of a felt-like textile works about the best. Glue the carpet directly to the wooden table top and then mount your track.

Encounter the Structure section of this web site for photographs of Homasote audio board applied to a plywood table top.

For the ultimate sound damping treatment mucilage a layer of Homasote directly to your wooden table top and so glue a layer of carpet to the audio board. This makes a remarkably silent racing substrate. If you elect to go with the ii-ply sound dampening treatment you can skip painting the Homasote layer, as information technology will be covered by the carpet.

Smash plastic track sections to the table top using 1 Inch No 17 Nails with a full apartment head. Do non utilise finishing nails. Finishing nails do not have a big plenty head and will allow the track to somewhen work itself loose.

Each department of HO track has a small blast pigsty at each cease. Use each and every nail hole provided to deeply mount the track to the table height. Use a nail set to drive each nail habitation as it nears the track surface. When a boom is flush with the track's surface apply the boom ready to drive the nail in just a bit farther. Each nail head should form a small dimple were it meets the track.

Do not concern yourself with these dimples, as they will be removed in the adjacent stage of construction. When mounting the track besides make certain that there are no gaps betwixt the inner and outer track sections that brand up the width of a iv-lane layout.

With the rail firmly attached to the table you need to remove the dimples created past the previous track mounting step. To do this, utilise a small soldering iron with a pencil tip. That is, a tip that comes to a point. Do non use a flat tip with an stop like a screw driver. The tip must be round and come up to a single bespeak at its stop.

Place the heated soldering atomic number 26 tip on the elevation of each nail caput and hold it in that location until the nail caput is sufficiently heated. Equally the nail head heats up it will melt the plastic surrounding it and allow the runway section to popular back up to its normal height. This will create a perfectly countersunk blast hole and restore the rails to its normal apartment position. Repeat this process for each nail securing the track to the table height. If yous notice that you didn't drive some of the nails in deep enough use your smash set to further seat the nails before using the soldering iron.

A Permanent Black Sharpie Marking Pen can be used to "paint" the heads of the countersunk mounting nails. Coloring the boom heads blackness volition make them all just disappear and give your racing layout a very professional appearance.

Note: Utilize ane″ nails to mountain runway if you've installed Homasote over a plywood table meridian. Use 3/4″ nails for bare plywood or carpeted table tops.

Track Mounting with Screws

Tomy AFX plastic exclusive rails can also be fastened to a wooden table using small No. 3 Flat-Head Woods Screws. If y'all plan to re-configure your layout from time to fourth dimension and so attaching the runway to the table with small-scale screws will allow you to easily make changes.

Each department of Tomy AFX track is molded with a pocket-sized smash hole at either terminate. These pocket-size boom holes volition need to exist opened upward and countersunk to take a No. 3 Flat-Head Woods Screw. Use a countersinking drill fleck mounted in a mitt drill and carefully open up the hole up until the head of a No. 3 Flat-Caput Wood Screw fits affluent with the rail surface. Avoid using a power drill if possible, considering the soft plastic will make it difficult to create the proper countersunk depth.

See the Construction section of this web site for photographs of Tomy AFX track existence countersunk and mounted using No. 3 Wood Screws.

Color Coded Lanes

To add together a professional finishing touch to your HO Slot Car Track you will desire to color lawmaking the lanes. This will get in much easier to return a de-slotted car to the proper lane.

Plastic runway sections tin can easily exist color coded using Testors paint sticks. These paint sticks can be institute at most adept hobby shops and come in a variety of colors.

Select a unique color for each lane of your layout. Try to avoid using both blue and green lane markers on the same layout, equally these 2 colors are often difficult to distinguish from i some other, peculiarly by racers plagued with color blindness.

Y'all tin can use blue or green as a lane marker but try to avoid using both. If you must employ both blue and green on the same layout try to separate them from ane another by a white or xanthous lane color.

The analogy below shows a suggested color coding scheme for a 4-lane race track using Red, White, Blueish and Yellow lane markers. The sequence of lane colors shown below is the HOPRA standard for four-lane raceways.

To colour code each lane of your racing layout with Testors paint sticks start past preparing the paint stick'south tip on a spare piece of track. Testors paint sticks have a small chisel shaped tip. Place this tip flat against the center of the slot of a scrap slice of track and move it back and forth a few times to shape the tip.

Shape the tip of the pigment stick and so that a small-scale area on each side of the slot is coated with paint. The tips are made of a felt like material and will take on the shape of the slot equally the are moistened by the pigment itself. Practice on a scrap slice of track kickoff though to get the hang of information technology.

With the paint stick's tip properly shaped you can now pigment a lane on your race track. Employ the pigment in a slow fifty-fifty movement. Move around the entire circuit, painting a unmarried lane at a time. You may find that 2 thin coats will cover much better than a unmarried thick coat.

Repeat this process for each of the lanes on your HO Slot Car Track, and and then let the paint dry over dark before you race on it. If you don't permit the paint thoroughly dry before you race on it your slot car's tires will invariable ruin all of your difficult work.

With the lanes of your race track color coded y'all volition as well want to paint each of the commuter's stations in the respective lane'due south color.

Colour Coded Lane Tape

A second method of colour-coding a rails's lanes involves applying colored vinyl tape designed specifically for slot car tracks. This record has a stiff adhesive that will prevent lifting and should requite years and years of trouble-free employ.

A four-Lane Track Tape Kit includes four (four) rolls of 1/viii″ wide record. Each whorl is 108 anxiety in length. The standard HOPRA lane colors of Red, White, Blue and Yellow are provided in this like shooting fish in a barrel to apply kit. Now bachelor for $17.99.

These kits make it a elementary thing to create professional person results as shown below.

The flexible vinyl record in these kits is 1/8″ wide and can hands be applied to even the tightest of turn radius sizes without stretching or lifting. Each of the four rolls included in the kit is 108 anxiety in length, that'south enough to practice well-nigh larger raceways.

The two-lane Lap counter shown below will record upward to 25 laps per lane. It tin too be used on a 2-Lane Tomy AFX raceway past purchasing a pair of Tomy AFX 6″ Tyco/Mattel Adaptor tracks.The

Life-Like 9″ Ability Runway & Controls listed above includes 2 (2) hand controls permanently attached to the Power Track itself. But plug your DC wall pack in and y'all'll be racing once more!

Computing Lane Lengths

The table below lists the lane lengths for each of the v turn radius sizes. Use these lane lengths along with the standard straight lengths to calculate the actual running lap length for whatever HO slot motorcar rails.

Radius Inner Outer
6 Inch 2.945″ 4.123″
nine Inch 5.301″ half-dozen.479″
12 Inch 7.657″ 8.835″
fifteen Inch 10.013″ 11.191″
18 Inch 12.370″ 13.548″

All lane lengths are for 1/8 Circle turns. The formula used to calculate the lane lengths shown above is:

Circumference = ((Lane Radius × two) × 3.14159) ÷ 8

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Source: https://www.hoslotcarracing.com/track.html

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