# minor banking



## ggnagy (Aug 16, 2010)

I have been working on a design for a scaled down verion of an old road course that incorporates half of a small oval. while the oval was banked, it was nowhere near as steep as the afx/tomy high banks. Has anyone tried placing shims under the outside of regular curved pieces, and if so, how much can you get away with before the pieces start to seperate?

Kastleburg raceway had vertical curves that I think were created by heating and bending track. Are there any documents out there on doing such modifications? 

I have heard life like banking is less pronounced, but I need the Tomy full selection of radii. 

Has anyone tried permanently mounting flex track, and modified the springs for better conductivity? I was thinking solder along the tops (tricky/impossible to do without melting the plastic) or perhaps copper tape?

This isn't meant to be a competition quality track so much as a historic/nostalgic recreation. 

Any thoughts or suggestions?


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## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

I know there are some HO tracks like ovals out there that have slightly elevated/banked corners that others may post here. I have done some elevations on my layout with sectional track but nothing major outside of my hi banked corner. The area around the parking lot/carnival was raised by cutting the table top and hinging sections with lower supports. It created some fun and challenging corners. The horseshoe turn in the center infield is also raised about 10°.










You can get a feel for the elevation in this shot I set up with some die cast GrandAm cars:


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## sracer56 (Mar 6, 2009)

Just as an FYI, in the 60's early 70's, there was a short oval track with steeply banked curves in Thompson, CT. Yup the oval exists today and has been modernized but back in the day the SCCA used the front straight, east oval and then the road race set up made a left halfway down the back straight and then a right around a small hill and another right down the main straight. At the end of the straight it made a 180 and paralleled the main straight till it made a sharp left to rejoin the front straight. The oval was counterclockwise but we ran the course clockwise. 

So it would be nostalgic to use the bank. It was a 1.6 mile track and would fit on a 4 x 6 or 4 x 8.

Nuts, just ripped my 4 x 8 into a 2 x 8 oval. Brought back memories when Formula Fords were in their hey day.


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## eastside johnny (May 13, 2008)

Slot V.....can you tell us about that small banked oval in the infield near the ferris wheel? I've got lots of carnival/amusement park rides behind one of my tracks, kind of a fairgrounds look, & it would be a nice addition!
Thanks


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## ggnagy (Aug 16, 2010)

sracer56 said:


> Just as an FYI, in the 60's early 70's, there was a short oval track with steeply banked curves in Thompson, CT. Yup the oval exists today and has been modernized but back in the day the SCCA used the front straight, east oval and then the road race set up made a left halfway down the back straight and then a right around a small hill and another right down the main straight. At the end of the straight it made a 180 and paralleled the main straight till it made a sharp left to rejoin the front straight. The oval was counterclockwise but we ran the course clockwise.
> 
> So it would be nostalgic to use the bank. It was a 1.6 mile track and would fit on a 4 x 6 or 4 x 8.
> 
> Nuts, just ripped my 4 x 8 into a 2 x 8 oval. Brought back memories when Formula Fords were in their hey day.



A nice Thompson would look good on a 4x12, I think, but the original track layout would be perfect for 2 2x8 sheets in an L shape. 

1959 layout

1954 (original) layout


The track I am working on is Marlboro. 
Marlboro track map

Marlboro banking


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## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

eastside johnny said:


> Slot V.....can you tell us about that small banked oval in the infield near the ferris wheel? I've got lots of carnival/amusement park rides behind one of my tracks, kind of a fairgrounds look, & it would be a nice addition!
> Thanks


That little thing was some kind of Micro Machines deal. I think it's from the early to mid 90's. I can't find anything on it. Somebody dontated it and it kind of fit the amusement park as a go kart track or ride.

EDIT: I found it- it was called "Rollin' Raceways". Looks like there is also a figure 8 out there.










http://www.puremicros.com/sc-psets-rollinraceways.html

-Scott


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## eastside johnny (May 13, 2008)

Scott, Thanks for the info. I have a couple of the old Micro Machines , a drag strip & hamburger drive in. Never saw the race tracks tho. They make a nice little decoration on the corner of the desk.
On the subject of banked turns, I remember from this board that Pete McKay did some with plastic track that involved heating them some to achieve the correct distortion but I really don't know the details.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

I heard that door shims make great bank supports for a slight bank effect.


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

*Never heated pieces myself...*

... but some guys have and they've had success with mild to moderate changes to sectional track. (check the archives)...I believe you can only go so far with any method of altering sectional track. For every brand of track and for each piece they make, you eventually reach the point of no return and render the piece useless. Either by so distorting it the rails pop or even alter the contacts pc to pc and then have continuity issues. The longer the piece, the better you can alter it (that I do know for sure). It's all about flex before you even alter a piece. The more it flexes to begin the better off you are. For non-heated changes, you can find lots of items to help you achieve elevation changes and banking at home building supply stores. Door shims like Rich suggests are great, as are slices of Owens Pink Foam Board. 

Regardless of method, as you incorporate elevation changes or banked turns, you end up altering the length of the track section you are working with. You just have to be careful you're not creating gaps in the overall layout. These types of changes in one part lead to changes in another down the road. There is no such thing as stretch with sectional pieces. You see this more once you start fastening down the track than when you do when it's loose and you're moving pieces around in the design stage. Keep a few types of cars handy to actually keep running through these sections throughout the design/build process. Also keep some small files and medium sandpaper handy too. You can address some of the joint problems with a file or folded sandpaper. If you wait until the track is all fastened down to run any cars, you might find the course difficult to run with some types of cars, so constant testing is key. 

Try some experiments, take some pics for us, post up !!! :thumbsup:

btw... I have heard that Flex-Track is more trouble than its worth and doesnt perform very well. (try an archive search for that too)


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## Tycoarm (Jan 7, 2006)

You can make your own with a little bit of cutting and patience. First you would have to start by making some cuts at the sides of the track usually where the guard rails are attached and on the inside of the piece as well and remove some of the slot area fron underneath (a dremel works fine for this of course) as well, now the piece becomes a little more flexible.

The hard part is getting the track rail to arc as they tend to want to pop out when bending the track, so I placed the piece of track on a folded towel and slowly began working the piece with a rolling pin to create the banked curve. 
I'm sure heating it a bit with a heat gun prior to rolling it would also help.

Here's the result, the standard curve and the hand made banked piece. Notice how the track has shortened due to the banking.


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

*Original Aurora Track*

Aurora used to make a bank "adapter" for 9" 1/4 curves in the old lock and joiner track. You pinned the inside part of the track to a metal adapter using the track pins. You then used plastic wedges to shim under the outside edge of the track lifting it to a "bank". It was a very shallow bank, about 15 degrees tops and the ends laid flat. Maybe that could be a start to modify modern track.

On another note, you can route your banked sections and used welding rod/bar for the rail. It conforms to the banking surface better than rail. Of course that's the hard part, you could go ahead and route the straights (easier) to get the desired layout and have a far smoother surface to race on.

Bouncin' ideas,
-Paul


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## Illinislotfan (Mar 8, 2009)

Hers's what the banked curve adapter looks like. I use a couple on my track.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Sometimes I put a book under the table for that minor bank effect.


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## ggnagy (Aug 16, 2010)

I will give door jamb shims a try first, and see if I get enough of a visual effect for the banking. I know that I will see some some changes in the degrees of the arc, but I am hoping it is small enough to be absorbed. There is not much in the way of elevation changes on the track, but what little there is (entering and leaving the oval), is abrupt. 

If I had the time and space and this was to be a final layout, I would consider routing, or at least contacting a track constructor like Bowman. 

Thanks everyone.


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