# track surface paint



## joegri (Feb 13, 2008)

hey all its been since august that i,ve been running on my routed mdf routed track. i,ve had some trials and tribulations but all in all its ok. i used a elephant gray sain latex for surface paint but now i,m wondering if that was the correct choice. seems the cars have ok grip but could be better also very had to clean.i,m thinking of going with an oil gloss i,m sure i can repaint it with out too much hassel but would like to hear what others used and how it grips and cleans.any takers? thanx joe g


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## eastside johnny (May 13, 2008)

I painted a Tyco 4 lane door slab plastic track with Rustolium brown primer that has worked out very well for me. The track lives stacked up in a corner of the garage and comes out for 2-3 race dates on the patio in the summer. The hardware store also had brown caulk in the exact same shade of brown which worked out pretty good to fill in around the guard rails and edges of the track. LQQKS just like mud! It's been 5 years or more and no problems so far. The cars run fine on it, but of course it's not a high speed layout. T-Jets & AW/JL Tuff ones, MagnaTraction/X-Traction, Tyco 440 pan chassis with heavy die cast dirt late model bodies & STOCK tires.............
If I paint another track I would use the same type of paint...Lt. Gray - Dk. Gray - brown - whatever.


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

eastside johnny said:


> I painted a Tyco 4 lane door slab plastic track with Rustolium brown primer that has worked out very well for me. The track lives stacked up in a corner of the garage and comes out for 2-3 race dates on the patio in the summer. The hardware store also had brown caulk in the exact same shade of brown which worked out pretty good to fill in around the guard rails and edges of the track. LQQKS just like mud! It's been 5 years or more and no problems so far. The cars run fine on it, but of course it's not a high speed layout. T-Jets & AW/JL Tuff ones, MagnaTraction/X-Traction, Tyco 440 pan chassis with heavy die cast dirt late model bodies & STOCK tires.............
> If I paint another track I would use the same type of paint...Lt. Gray - Dk. Gray - brown - whatever.


 
Go bust that thing out and shoot some pics for us! :thumbsup:


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## eastside johnny (May 13, 2008)

Here's a couple of pictures from 2 years ago...........


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## Crimnick (May 28, 2006)

cool!


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

I like it!!!


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

HELL YEAH! That is fantastic! What a great dirt track :thumbsup: There is so much coolness going on I stared at those pics for 10 minutes.l :lol:


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## Rolls (Jan 1, 2010)

Sweeeeet!!! Beautiful work!


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## rodstrguy (Feb 14, 2002)

Joe, my 1/32 routed and ho routed I used gray flat paint. I have no trouble with either one and use a swifter to clean any dust. Tape up a small 1x3 with sticky side out and clean off tires...
I think you will have trouble with oil based over latex unless you use a primer...


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## joegri (Feb 13, 2008)

thanx rodstrguy for that.i guess when i look at other pics of members tracks they look so clean and shiney and mine well looks ghetto. i clean it regularly with degreaser and windex , but the groove seems to come back and i do clean tires.seems to me that satin or flat becomes a dirt magnet and it migrates to the tires causing loose of traction and spin outs. thats why i was thinkin of gloss. amuch smoother surface.as for gloss over satin, i think the satin would act as a primer with teeth to grab the gloss.i might do 1 lane. besides its only me turning laps here.again thanx for jumpin in .


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## Tsooko (Oct 15, 2009)

Hey Joegri:wave:
On my test track I routed out of a formica topped table I used tremclad, an outdoor plastic paint. The cars with stock rubber tires (mega-g's and Srt's) got good traction that improved as rubber got wore off the tires and onto the track. Cleaning the track cleaned off the rubber and I would have to start over again, low traction improving as rubber got laid down. Then I tried silicones and they picked the rubber off the "groove" and the rubber had to be laid down again, for rubber tires to get traction.
Silicone have to be cleaned on the tape to get the dust/dirt off of them, but they stick pretty good on a clean track

When I pulled out the rebar wire that I used for power rails and put in stitching flat wire I repainted the track using chalkboard paint by Rustoleum. This stuff has a slight grit to it once dry. This grit wears down to a smooth surface after a few hundred laps and makes the track look shiny, at least in the " groove ". Here's the funny part: the traction is awesome and it doesn't matter if I use rubber tires or silicones. One does not seem to affect the other. The smooth part does not seem to change the traction for the rubber tires, and using silicones do not seem to pull the rubber off the track for when I go back to the rubber. Like you I am not into racing and do a lot of laps by myself or with a few friends
I am currently building a new larger mdf routed track and will be using the chalkboard paint on that track also. Thought I'd add more fuel to the fire.
Oh yeah, the chalkboard paint is latex based.
Cheers Ted


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## joegri (Feb 13, 2008)

tosoko very interesting. chaulkboard paint sounds crazy/cool! sounds like you did some investigating or did you just get lucky.i can go back and forth in my head smoooth or flat all day long untill i try painting another lane i,ll never know. gonna have to consider your choice for the lane expeniment. thanx for the report. joe g


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## Tsooko (Oct 15, 2009)

joegri said:


> tosoko very interesting. chaulkboard paint sounds crazy/cool! sounds like you did some investigating or did you just get lucky.i can go back and forth in my head smoooth or flat all day long untill i try painting another lane i,ll never know. gonna have to consider your choice for the lane expeniment. thanx for the report. joe g



A little of both. I like to try things out. This one worked well. Some other guys have tried it out and seemed to like it so what the hay, eh? Mine has been on for a few months and I'm still liking it. Lots of laps run on my track. You can get it in different colors and the grey seemed to be nice. I'll tell the mixer to not put so much pigment in the next time to get the "pavement" looking a little more worn.
Good luck with your project. Some pics would be nice.:thumbsup:
Cheers Ted


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Ted, you have any pics?

I used spray primer on my old oval.









It worked okay. Good on stock tires, not so good on silicones.


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## joegri (Feb 13, 2008)

ok some currant pics. as you can see the groove/dark mark is very prevalent. and that has been cleaned recently. did some landscaping using durabond 90 and adding in latex paint and spread it over some crumpled up screen.over the winter i did have some meltdowns the mdf would shrink from lack of moisture and would drive the rail out of the routed slot. the remedy was to sever the rail and lay it back in. that happened maybe 10 times. track maintenance was part of making it out of mdf. the next 1 will be made of the stuff that i've seen others have used, i just cant remember what its called. the pics are 13 foot straight. they can stretch out a lil bit. corvette bridge and lighthouse turn and a tight turn with a crash fence.this trak has just about everything a boy wants.long straights ,banked turns ,some flat turns, a bridge. and a pit area not shown.again my thoughts of a shiney surface would increase traction. and easier to clean and keep clean.


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## TjetBill (May 8, 2010)

Please send your track to me for a free 6 month evaluation.


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## Tsooko (Oct 15, 2009)

Nice tracks. Both of you 
Here are a couple of pics. the first one( lighter colored track) is the tremclad plastic paint. The darker one is the chalkboard paint. you can see the rubber " groove " getting laid down.

Cheers Ted


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

Tsooko said:


> Nice tracks. Both of you
> Here are a couple of pics. the first one( lighter colored track) is the tremclad plastic paint. The darker one is the chalkboard paint. you can see the rubber " groove " getting laid down.


Ted,

I reeeeely like the look of the layout with the grey track. What is tremclad? and how well did it work?

-- D


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## Tsooko (Oct 15, 2009)

Dslot said:


> Ted,
> 
> I reeeeely like the look of the layout with the grey track. What is tremclad? and how well did it work?
> 
> -- D


Dslot
Here's a pic.
The tremclad is a latex based plastic rust paint mostly used for painting over metal that is slightly rusty. Outdoor stuff. Good for wood too, or in my case Formica. You should be able to find it in any hardware store but you can Google it. It doesn't need the primer but I had some and used it under the regular paint.You might need to use the primer for wood tracks. It also comes in a spray bomb so you could paint a plastic track with it? . sticks like glue on glue. I used the gloss type in white and added a little black to get the gray color. You don't need much black to get grey. Just a few drops at a time and mix. You can always add more but you can't take it out. I applied it with a foam roller from a paint tray. Almost dry so paint doesn't run into the slot. 

The track was pretty slippery at first but after getting some rubber down the traction improved for rubber tires
For silicones on a clean track it was really good but pulled the rubber off which made the rubber tires slippery for a while again. I guess the trick is not to go back and forth between rubber and silicone.
Hope this helps
Cheers Ted


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## joegri (Feb 13, 2008)

man i like this forum you can get an education ! tosoko puttin it down blow by blow. thanx for that .no movement on my posible repaint. been mostly shoe tuning.still leaning towards a gloss finish.if you look at hillsides track you,ll see how nice it looks and bet its easy to clean and good grip too.


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## joegri (Feb 13, 2008)

news flash date line june here in gansett.i wuz just starting to prep the track for a repaint and started to wipe it with some thinner on a paper towel and much to my surprise every scuff and tire mark started to come off !! it kinda looks like the day i painted it. i tried a few cars and they stuck pretty good . so this has made me very happy. so if you seem to be loosing traction and the trak looks like hell maybe try what i did. it worked for me. but i still might repaint it soon. gonna wait to see what the summer humidity does to it.also let me say i,ve tried just about every spray cleaner there is. this is by far the best method of cleaning the trak to date. i wuz gonna post a pic but i just started gettin into cleaning and couldnt stop till done! o well.


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

joegri said:


> .still leaning towards a gloss finish.if you look at hillsides track you,ll see how nice it looks and bet its easy to clean and good grip too.


If you'er referring to my track, it an oil based enamel, satin finish. Flat is too dull and gloss is too much shine, IMO. I rolled it on with a small foam roller. Try and use slow strokes to keep the roller from pulling up air bubbles. As it was drying, I dry rolled it...If you have somebody else's track in mind, then nevermind  RM


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## joegri (Feb 13, 2008)

yes randy i am refering to your track. quite possibly the crown jewel of owner/opperator traks on this board! when i check out some of yer builds i spend many minutes checkin the trak out. fine trak indeed and its what i strive to have mine look like. i just now rolled out pit road with oil gloss epoxy. i had to put sunglasses on! way too shiney. back to the store for some satin.


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## joegri (Feb 13, 2008)

o.k here it is the best time to paint. my original trak was painted with a latex with a flat finish. it soon started to loose traction and seemed to get and stay dirty. it seemed i was always cleaning it. then i thought all my sucked. so i decided to repaint the surface. First I cleaned the track real good with some paint thinner and then cleaned it with some glass cleaner. Next, I found some thin tape and applied it to the rails just enough to cover them. Got a quart of some semi-gloss latex and rolled it out with a foam roller. Rolling it slowly as to not make a bunch of bubbles. Removed the tape and let it dry and in 6 hours I was turning laps on a nice smooth, fresh surface. And all is well at my 1 time dirty, slippery, chalk leavin' on tires, track. So if you are experiencing the symptoms I had, go ahead and try this, don't be scat. You can do it. How does it look to you?


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

Looks good Joe. If it's runnin good then even better!!! :thumbsup:


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## Tsooko (Oct 15, 2009)

:thumbsup: Looking good!
Cheers Ted


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## Rolls (Jan 1, 2010)

Lookin' real good, Joe. Nice work!!


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Lookin good Joe. 
I have to second you on this statement...



joegri said:


> yes randy i am refering to your track. quite possibly the crown jewel of owner/opperator traks on this board! when i check out some of yer builds i spend many minutes checkin the trak out. fine trak indeed and its what i strive to have mine look like.


It's the smoothest track I've ever run on, including some high dollar custom tracks. and is greatly detailed.


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## joegri (Feb 13, 2008)

thanx fellas i,m enjoying turning laps and buildin and customizin and just everything ho hobby wise!


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