# Looking for a more realistic Guardrail



## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

I remember reading something somewhere about modifying a TOMY/AFX guardrail to make it look more realistic. I'm throwing a bunch of ideas around, and I'd like some input. 

I received some Polystyrene from an HT Member and I'm thinking of using it as the main stay barrier around the track, however. I also picked up some foam HO road bed to create shoulders. I want to make this track more realistic, so I don't want to go with regular colored plastic guardrails. I thought I saw someone cut up the guardrails and paint them silver. They then changed the location in respect to the edge of the track to allow for a bit more drifting room. I just can't find it in my searches.

I also remember hearing that Buds HO had silver guardrails, but I can't find them on his site. Any help there?


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Yeah Tomy AFX makes their guardrail in gray now . . . keep an eye on Bud's on ePay that is where I got them. Sometimes he doesn't sell stuff for a few days and then BAM he'll list about a hundred auctions for cars, bodies, chassis, track pieces, etc. Just gotta watch for it. :wave:


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## Hornet (Dec 1, 2005)

I remember the post too Dan.
I think somebody was cutting or modifying the legs slightly then gluing them to his table instead of clipping them to the track.
I can't find the post either,but i know i seen it too,but i don't remember where
Rick


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## jamied (Dec 31, 2011)

*Guardrail Thread 2007*

May be the guardrail mod threads. Jaime

Slott V in "Guardrail Material" from 2007

"I used the factory ones, cut off the clips, drilled holes in the 1/4" plywood inlays and mounted them along the track. If you leave the upper lip of the clip it fits nice and flush at the top when installed. This piece shows how to offset them from the track in corner areas for more realism. I also offset the guard rails away from the straights @ .50" so that the track appears wider. They plywood inlay between the tracks is painted flat black at the track edge and the grass doesn't appear until the guard rail.

The factory guard rails make for an old fashioned track look though and together they are pretty wavey in appearance. The problem with doing this is that Tyco guard rails aren't consistent and the spacing between the posts are different in different year pieces so you can't make a jig for drilling or they will appear bent as you can see in the pictures. I'm guessing this is due to different shrink rates of materials used in production. "

Slott V in "Crash Barriers" from 2006

"I did the guard rails on my track with the method of snipping off the clips of Tyco guard rails, painting them white and mounting them into the ¼” inlays between the track. They are spaced @ .25” from the track edge. This allows cars racing in the outside lanes to move around a little and offers no advantage to the outside lanes. It works pretty well, but the white paint comes off since the plastic is flexible and the rails come out of the drilled holes when cars hit them. They also distort a bit when pushed into the holes in the wood. They look wavy as you look down the straight away. Good for a vintage look but not for a modern look. But it was a good way to make use of the tons of guard rails I have! Only a few turns on my track have guard rails. Most are open to avoid “rail riders" and advantages to outside lanes. Elevated sections and the pit road wall areas have walls made from painted basswood or balsa stock. Really easy.

Gravel traps are done with Woodland Scenics fine ballast and the powder epoxy that is water activated. Done correctly, it does not come up and is like sand paper. You can add rake marks for realism.

The long, tall fence along my main grandstands and other areas is from an old “Nerf” Ping-Pong game. Worked out perfectly. The hard part of making screen fences is tying the fence to the poles with tiny wire. I use twist-ties from garbage bags and strip off the paper. Then twist around the poles with needle nose pliers. It is very tedious but looks real. You could use glue but....not very realistic."

Bud's HO Cars . com with link to his Bay page


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## Boosted-Z71 (Nov 26, 2007)

Here is a shot of my track where I used 2 pieces of AFX/ Tomy guard rail stacked together, I like the way it looks, and very easy to do.

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=332306&highlight=The+Glass+Ring

Boosted


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## beast1624 (Mar 28, 2009)

On Paul's site he talks about modifying and paintng Tomy guardrails...setting them back from the track:

https://sites.google.com/site/woodrumridgeraceway2010/


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

I used an army barracade fence for a run down dirt track fence...


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

THANK YOU BEAST ! That's the article I was looking for ! ! !


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

You may be thinking of 2008's *Another Dumb Question... *thread. Posts 17, 20, and 28 describe some of my experiments and tests on setting and painting guardrails. In Post 24, Doba describes a beautiful method using Ninco 1:32 rails cut down.

There's an update in post #12 of the *Gray, Silver Guardrails* thread.

There's also a *Tire Wall - Cheap and Easy Solution* thread, which includes links to an earlier thread on tire walls.

-- D


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

plymouth71 said:


> THANK YOU BEAST ! That's the article I was looking for ! ! !


Whoops. Then maybe 








those weren't the articles you were looking for. Sorry.

-- D


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