# getting very frustrated



## jmorris (Jan 21, 2010)

Hello all, Just wanted some input from someone who might know whats going on. Well I changed my Tomy 4ln track and was quite pleased with it,then I got a wild hair and decided to paint it grey. I love the looks of a grey track,anyways, started with a test piece,Krylon grey primer, seemed very durable and looked good,now for the real deal.Took up sections to paint,then reinstall them,move on to the next,cleaned the rails,connections,ect.no matter what I do,the cars hesitate or stall on the painted track,I also notice a big difference in performance around the whole track, just like I have the power supply on 15v instead of 18.I am about 1/4 of the way done,I think I screwed up by doing this, I hope not. Thanks in advance. Jim


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

How are you cleaning the tops of the rails? I used a razor blade and dragged it across both power rails at a time and had no issues. Of course this was on a smaller oval - I'm not sure if that makes a difference vs. a longer track or not.

Sounds like there is added resistance in the power somewhere.


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## tossedman (Mar 19, 2006)

How much paint did you put on? Is it thick enough to make your rails a few thousandths of an inch lower than they were before? Maybe your pickup shoes are no longer making good contact as the rails are too low. Just a thought. Try some smaller diameter tires and see if that makes a difference. Or can you bend you pickup shoes a bit?

Todd


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

I had a Tomy oval I painted with primer. I didn't cover the rails, painted over them.
I had to put in a few extra hours of polishing the rails for it to run right again.
I used fine sandpaper and a chemical cleaner(cant remember if it was mineral spirits or thinner).
It's a pain, but the paint is an insolator, and any residue left will stop a car, or cause arching.
That grey primer is hard to see with the naked eye on that silver rail, its easy to miss.
Use at least 800 grit, anything rougher will just harm the rail, and miss the paint.

good luck


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Did you clean off the contacts at the ends of the rails where the current transfers from track to rack?


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

*Woodrum Ridge Raceway*

I used a 1/4" wide flat file to clean the rails after I painted and clear-coated the track. Never have had an issue with electrical or paint wanting to lift back off the track. I used Wal-Mart gray primer and a dull coat clear acrylic to seal it all in. The file was used to clean up the electricals and did take some time. I have 2 tracks, a 54 foot road course and 44 foot oval. Both are painted and work great. They have both been up and running since 2007 and the paint and clear coat are still intact.

-Paul


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## jmorris (Jan 21, 2010)

Thanks guys, I called a freind and found that a coin rubbed along the rails works good, a nickle to be exact. Its alot better.I will press on and make sure the shoes on the cars are clean as well. I found some cars are worse than others.


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## jmorris (Jan 21, 2010)

Well, I just came back from installing the next straits I painted, I will tell you Im done! This has been such a pain.I cant get the cars to run properly at all. The Life likes run good but the others dont. Im afraid I made a big mistake. Now Im looking at replacing the track I painted and keep it as is. This could get expensive. Im sooo P Oed that I tried this. As much as I cleaned and polished the rails,still no good. I think the paint thickness is causing this,as some worn PU shoes dont run well at all on the painted track.


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## [email protected] (Jan 31, 2010)

Maybe the guide rail is full of paint causing more drag on the guide?


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## Shadowracer (Sep 11, 2004)

If it makes you feel better, the same thing happened to me when I built my first track. I painted with thinned down primer paint and then skimmed the rails with a carpet knife blade. (like a razor blade) I had taken care to not get any paint on the connecting parts too.

After that my track, not to say it didn't work, but it didn't work as well as it had. I had to clean it more often than I had for it to run well.

I always assumed I had either used the wrong kind of paint and buggered the rails, or I had scraped the rails too hard and damaged them somehow. But....I used the right paint, and I pretty sure I didn't skim the rails too hard. Unfortunately, life got in the way and I never did get to the bottom of it. 

But my thought now is to take a closer look at the advice Hilltop gave you. Your symptoms are exactly what mine were. If you go with what he said, and it is just little bits of paint causing a lot of arcing, it'll make your rails dirty a lot faster and make the cars run like tanks. Using a nickel on the rails will help clean the crap left behind by an arcing slot car, but wouldn't fix the initial problem. (and using a nickel as a rail cleaner is debatable too - it'll do in a pinch, but there's probably a better way.) 

Unfortunately, that advice means using some elbow grease, and that sucks....but I don't think there's a shortcut. I'd get that 800 grit sandpaper, and after you're done with that, polish those rails up....go over it piece by piece. Look them over with a magnifying glass as you go and make sure you get all that paint. I bet it will help.

A side question to the general track builder public here: What are the visual characteristics of a rail that has been harmed by excessive scraping or sanding?

I only ask because I too love the look of a grey track and once mine's up, I'll be trying the grey paintjob again.


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## jobobvideo (Jan 8, 2010)

I think Lifelike track has the highest rails. Because your Lifelike cars ran good, so maybe a little taller tire will help other cars???? I know I have to use a little taller tire on the older TYCO's to get them to run well on my lifelike track. I don't think the paint would make the rails push up, but worth trying...i guess.


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## TK Solver (Mar 18, 2004)

There are numerous posts about AFX track rail height on various forums. The AFX rails are barely high enough out of the box, so doing anything to raise the relative height of the track is asking for trouble. I've read that AFX is evaluating their track tooling so maybe this will be addressed.


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

*Question for those who painted successfully...*

Did you first assemble, putty, sand, and fill before paint went down ?... Also, among the successful, who soldered their connections ?


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## Gear Head (Mar 22, 2005)

I did the same exact thing with my tomy track. From my experience, do NOT use a coin, a file, or a razor blade, instead, go over rails with a solid sanding block with 400 grit and then 600 grit in order to get that rail shine back. I did have to push up a rail on one section from underneath but other than that, it turned out better than factory. Be patient....


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## Hotrodzz3 (Apr 5, 2011)

Hard to believe that no one has suggested using a honing stone to clean the tops of the rails and you can do two lanes at a time. I started putting my track back up last night (Tyco) after sitting for 7 years and spent maybe 10 minutes cleaning the rails before the cars started running decent. Just remember to vacuum off the track before you start running cars or they will pick it up for you and then you'll have to clean the bottom of the car up. If your worried about rail height use a depth gauge to find out how high they really are. If you want consistent rail heights wrap a shim of the desired height on each end of the stone. Also try putting a power tap every 10 feet or so, that should help a lot.
Bob


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## smokinHOs (May 30, 2006)

*Rails..*

I refinished a damaged Bianchi track and taped the lanes colors down with a lane tape kits. Comes with all three colors, etc. Once I was done with the first lane I tested it. Come to find out the lane tape and the braid were exactly the same height and the cars stalled and gave me fits. I finally had to pull the lane tape up. Never thought about it. Thankfully, I only did one lane. Moral of the story is what someone else says. That paint can get thick fast, maybe it IS doing the same thing my tape did.

-Marc and marcus


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

When I built Woodrum Ridge Raceway I took several years of track building experience to a new level of OCD. After I painted the track and cleaned the rails, I set the rail height to .015" to the track surface. Once set, I epoxied the rails from the bottom surface of track with JB Weld. Since 2007 they have held in place, running everything form T-Jets to Unrestricted magnet cars. I also have multiple power taps (roughly every 10 feet) and use a separate power supply per lane (18 Volts at 5 Amps). The track gets cleaned with 800 grit sandpaper and a damp cloth to get any dust or sanded debris. I've only clear-coated once, but fully expect to re-apply the clear in the future, to keep the track surface as is.

-Paul


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## tossedman (Mar 19, 2006)

Any of your cars work when you take off the front tires?


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## downtowndeco (Aug 12, 2011)

I painted my Tomy Little Le Mans track w/latex paint & at first I had the same issues. Go get one of those model rr cleaning abrasive erasers. They work good because they sort of bend around the rail top & get the sides of them a bit too. Clean the rails, run a car. Clean the shoes on the car, run it again. Clean the rails again then clean the shoes. I wiped my down w/a rag too that had a few drops of rubbing alcohol on it & just kept repeating until it ran good. Don't forget to keep cleaning the shoes during this process!!! This is important or you'll clean the rails & try & run a car w/dirty shoes on it & it will stall. The shoes will keep picking up the paint until every speck is gone.

This will work unless you got the connector tabs painted then youo'll have to clean those as well.


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## jmorris (Jan 21, 2010)

Thanks so much guys! I will say I ordered some new track and am going back to natural black. I love the looks of grey,it maks the cars pop, but I just dont want to be di$%ing with a problem or problems. I do want to add grass and some small landscaping items to this layout, but thats another topic.BTW the layout I chose is the Riviera(spelling?)35 from hoslotcarracing.com. Only mine is a 11ft instead of 8ft. It has a slight elevation change on the back side. I will post pictures when I learn how.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Dang, it's too late as you ordered track already.. You might be able to strip the paint off the painted track by plopping them in a bucket of straight Pine Sol. Depending on the type of paint and how well you prepped the track, it might peel off easily enough. Still might be able to salvage them in case you decide to expand or remodel the layout down the road. Sorry this didn't occur to me sooner!!


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Here's one of the few pics I have of my track with the painted oval around the outside.










I took it down, not because it didn't run good, but because the track was too wide to 
marshall with the table up against the wall. The table was 4.5 ft wide, and I cut it
down to 40in, much easier to marshall. So, out went the oval, and I expanded road 
coarse in the middle. I needed more track for that. I stripped it in Pinsol.










It didn't strip too well. The bulk of it came off, but I would try something else.
I wouldn't say you ruined your track, might be good for a small table top oval.
New track is always good.


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