# slot car help



## dpb73 (Apr 1, 2007)

:wave: i got my son a set at a goodwill store. it a lifelike brand. ho is the smallest car or scale, im looking for cars on e-bay. the set came with sand paper ,  what is it for .the track has dead spots how do you clean the ele. parts of the track. :thumbsup:


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## sethndaddy (Dec 4, 2004)

you lightly rub that little sandpaper on the metal rails to get any rust, dirt, or oxidation off......(dead spots)
If you want cheap fun cars to run look at all the autworld xtraction cars on ebay. you can gat cars brand new for about 8.00 each and most guys combine shipping.


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## dpb73 (Apr 1, 2007)

i hate typing, what scale are these casrs


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## Craig Jorgensen (Nov 21, 2004)

They're HO scale cars. Stay away from the Johnny Lightning brand, bad quality control and most won't run well out of the box, unless you know how to adjust them. The Auto World ones are good tho. Bear in mind they won't be as fast or stay on the track as well as the Life Like cars because they are based on 1960's & 1970's designs.


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## bumpercar88 (Feb 6, 2005)

73
If the dead spots are where 2 pieces of track are joined, check the rail tabs you may need to pry them out a bit with a small flat head so that they make contact when joined. If your son is like mine he might not have the patience for non-magnetic cars. You can find Lifelikes on Ebay for around $10


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## bumpercar88 (Feb 6, 2005)

Since you bought your son a slot car track, you probably had one as a child. Get yourself AW Tjet. You'll see that the thrill of getting around the track as fast as possible w/o wrecking never goes away ;-)


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Dont use the sandpaper! Unless absolutely necessary. Get yourself one of those hard yellow or white rail cleaners from the hobby store and see how it goes. It's really just one of those scratchy erasers for ink pens. 

Or.... sometimes you can score them at the dollar store. Some Hobby stores think they're worth a lot of money!

Sand paper, even in the most skilled hands, can slip or slide and irreversably scratch or mar your track surface. If you must use the paper try 400 to 600 grit. Be sure to use a good little chunk of hardwood block to back the paper and keep it tight so that all you are sanding are the rails!

Unless you run pretty regular an occassional buff of the rails will be required. Some guys just rub a coin along the rails to remove the light oxidation. 

Liquid rail cleaners are basically just alcohol and work pretty good for removing light "grungous" form your rails and track surface once you've got them back into shape.

Good Luck!


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## martybauer31 (Jan 27, 2004)

Bill, is right on about the sandpaper. It can leave your rails uneven as well. I used a nickel on an old track I bought and brought the track back with a bit of elbow grease and the cars ran great.


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## dpb73 (Apr 1, 2007)

no i never had one as a kid . the kit is a lifelike brand. it has a car that (spins out). we both are having fun with it.I found a hobby store that has a big ho track, and two bigger scale tracks and a drag track. we had a blast on the ho track, crashed alot.I'm thinkig about putting a track on a 4x8. but i need some ideas.whats non -magnetic car?


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

dpb73 said:


> no i never had one as a kid . the kit is a lifelike brand. it has a car that (spins out). we both are having fun with it.I found a hobby store that has a big ho track, and two bigger scale tracks and a drag track. we had a blast on the ho track, crashed alot.I'm thinkig about putting a track on a 4x8. but i need some ideas.whats non -magnetic car?


Well they are all magnetic! LOL

The term magnet cars refers to cars with magnetic traction assist either in the early form of exposed motor magnets or the later added traction magnet and flux collector setups. The flux collector is ferrous material that redirects/concentrates the magnetic force. Many people use rare earth magnets for custom traction assist by placing them in strategic locations.

It's just slot jargon to make a distinction between the evolutionary steps of the cars. A magnet car is any car that uses redirected or added magnetism as a traction assit. 

Early cars would slide around/oversteer very realistically. 180's and 360's were part of the fun and still are today. Not much sliding available with today's high zoop traction assist cars. If you do your generally gone anyway.

To put it in a nutshell there are three camps.

1 - Old school no traction assist where magnet cars are the invention of the devil.

2 - New school "get out of my way gramps" light bender operaters with the need for speed!

3 - Guys like myself who dont care either way as long as I get to play with 'lil cars.

One exception that comes to mind is the G-Jet, which is a modern inline motor design with no traction assist. They do however have another form of traction assist in that they have a low center of gravity and superb ballance engineered from the git go.

Bottom line is that they are all fun!


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## bigun624 (May 11, 2005)

try this for track building ideas www.hoslotcarracing.com


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## grungerockjeepe (Jan 8, 2007)

Handi Tak works good for light cleaning of the track also. Its basically pliable rubber similar to an eraser, but you can mold it like clay. It gets the crud off the rails and most of the dust/lint sticks to it. Its good for a quickie cleaning of your car's tires, although liquid tire cleaner or rolling them on the sticky side of some tape is the way to do a 'deep clean'. Dipped in rubbing alcohol, its good for cleaning most all the scunge off of your chassis also. You can get it in the home office area pretty much anywhere, its like 99 cents for a small slab of it. Its been a staple of my tool box since the beginning and I consider it as essential as a dremel tool.


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## buddytime (Sep 25, 2007)

*Help, we can't keep our cars on the track!*

We have an Artin Anti-gravity Action City Storm Electric power road racing set called Deegan Heavy Hitters. We keep replacing the plastic guides on the bottom, but they keep wearing out, falling out AND even when they stay in, we can't keep the cars on the track. Any tips?


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## Hornet (Dec 1, 2005)

LOL,400 to 600 grit paper that's funny Bill,how about more along the lines of 1200 or higher grit,nothing wrong with sandpaper just get the right stuff,use Wet/Dry with at least a 1200 or higher grit rating,and you'll never hurt the track surface.
400 to 600 that is funny,might as well rub it with rocks.
Crap what Tyco used to send in their kits was even 800 grit.
I've been rubbing rails for 20 years with 1200 grit with no appreciatable wear,just vaccumn the track when your done


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*Rock smashes paper*

Snicker... I confess...I like to use the rock...cuts better, and smooths out those gnarley rail ends.  

Probably should have prefaced my post with the forgone conclusion that I was talking about removing ferrous stalagmites from rails and not periodic maintainence of already massaged pretty track.  I was and always shall be a worst case scenario sort of guy. 

Speaking as a Lock and Joiner caveman, I want the quickest cut with the least amount of strokes thereby limiting the possibility of going askew and dulling the track surface or in the worst case scenario ruining the center stripe. I've got a big box of evidence/rejects that have been overstroked by careless sandpaper zealots.  

The 600 gets those imperceptable little pocks, pits and craters that you can see if you look close, which of course is where the fuzz starts to grow back first. 1200 just glosses over these unless you grunt out several hundred more strokes. :freak: 1200 also does very little in the way of righting those toe stubbing railends that are so common in used track sections. I'd be curious to know what this magic 1200 is that wont dull/mar the track surface if you get off course with it. I'll buy it!

I'd use a bazooka but my local hobby store doesnt carry them, wont sell me dynamite either. I wonder why not?  

Hornet I do concede that 12 er 1500 is perfect for periodic maintainence, but when I'm trying to straighten out a crusty piece of otherwise good L&J; that went down on the Titanic, I'll keep my 600 for the first straight cut and polish it later. :thumbsup:

Sorry for any confusion I may have caused.


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## T-Jet Racer (Nov 16, 2006)

Hey Bill what funcusion?


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## Hornet (Dec 1, 2005)

Try an "SOS" pad,Bill,they'll cut through most of the crap that'll accumulate on old track,and the soap acts as a good lubricant,just wipe the hell outta it when your done.
Pretty well everything eventually dulls a tracks surface,even the cars tires,will create a set of dull tracks.
I'd reconmend getting or building yourself a set of rail files to smooth out those pesky rough joints,or very carefully hand filing them,then vacumn it when your done


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Thanks Hornet,
Got a great set of files at our local Harbor Freight outlet a while back. The little flat "bastards" work great for knockin' down moguls in the rail. Tedious, but well worth the time to get rid of the clickety clacks.

Been using a Mother's automotive product called "Black Back" for bringing back the factory look on dulled plastic track. Works great as long as you dont goob it on. Rubs in easily and lasts for months.


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## SplitPoster (May 16, 2006)

Bill is right on with Back to Black - works so much better than shiny Armour All on plastic that is subject to weathering/abrasion. Unfortunately it doesn't change the texture of the surface underneath, only covers it up.

Model Maker sells Micro Mesh abrasive pads and sheets ranging from 1500 to 12000 grit. (thats 12000 Bill, not the 1200 you usually use for fine work lol). Not expensive, and available in kits, can use wet or dry. This is the best stuff I have found for cleaning up or polishing painted or molded plastic. Actually, for rough clean up soft scrub works pretty well too.


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## videojimmy (Jan 12, 2006)

Hey 73.... ypu might wnat to try some Tyco cars too. They're inbetween life like's and AW cars... meaning they're fast, but they have traction magnets and are very controllable. I didn't see how old your son is, so if he's young AW might not be the best idea for him, as they de-slot easy, until you get the hand of running them... and what little kid wants to spend most of his racing time chasing down cars that flew off the track?


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## TK Solver (Mar 18, 2004)

Ah yes, the new millenium... Kids play "baseball" in leagues where they hit off tees and run slot cars with magnets so strong they can watch TV and text message while racing. But in watching the amount of time kids put into video games, I'm convinced they really do want to be challenged.


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## twolff (May 11, 2007)

I've found both the Tyco 440x2 and the LifeLike T too fast and loose for my Tomy track on Tomy wall wart power. They both launch when they let go. They like the rail height of Lifelike track and stick much better.


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## videojimmy (Jan 12, 2006)

I think Life like makes the best starter kit for kids. low maintence cars and strudy track the cars really stick to.


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## A/FX Nut (May 28, 2004)

Hornet said:


> Try an "SOS" pad,Bill,they'll cut through most of the crap that'll accumulate on old track,and the soap acts as a good lubricant,just wipe the hell outta it when your done.
> Pretty well everything eventually dulls a tracks surface,even the cars tires,will create a set of dull tracks.
> I'd reconmend getting or building yourself a set of rail files to smooth out those pesky rough joints,or very carefully hand filing them,then vacumn it when your done


NEVER USE AN SOS PAD TO CLEAN TRACK!!!!! If you don't get all of the steel strands off the track, they can get into the armature and short the motor and ruin it. Randy.


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## coach61 (Sep 6, 2004)

A/FX Nut said:


> NEVER USE AN SOS PAD TO CLEAN TRACK!!!!! If you don't get all of the steel strands off the track, they can get into the armature and short the motor and ruin it. Randy.



SOS pad? thats a womens work....


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## sethndaddy (Dec 4, 2004)

coach61 said:


> SOS pad? thats a womens work....


your just saying that cuz your wife don't read the board, lol.


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## Hornet (Dec 1, 2005)

AFXNUT:if the track pieces are in rough enough shape to require sanding with 600 grit paper,i'm hoping you are cleaning each piece individually in your "hand",and it's pretty easy to wipe and vacumn each piece as you finish cleaning it,if you're worried about steel fibres,look at it close,any steel fibre big enough to screw up a car,is gonna be pretty easy to see.
BTW:use new SOS pads,and quit using them when they start wearing,you shouldn't have a steel fibre problem.
Also,it takes one hell've sized piece of steel fibre to screw up a car, :thumbsup:


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

Back in my younger days, I actually used to use steel wool pads to clean the track, pickups and sometimes the commutator. Then use a magnet to "clean up the area". It is amazing I never blew an armature. I have since cleaned everything up and removed all traces of steel fibers. But I can remember opening up T-Jets and seeing all the little fibers gathered around the magnets. I would never advise using steel wool of any kind.

I've been using 600 grit sandpaper on my old MM track. I think I would have to work all day and night to make any appreciable dent in the steel rails.

As far as which cars are best to start, I still think the Tyco HP-7 would be best. At the proper voltage they are not too fast, will slide some and are real easy to work on. That simple design would be my vote for best starter chassis.

Joe


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