# Cheap Track Details



## SCJ (Jul 15, 1999)

*Cheap/Free Track Detail*

Hello fellow Slot Car fans.......:wave:

Several of you have expressed interest in low or no cost track details.....well I have found some of both today.

Stores have already started selling Christmas decorations (Big Lots, Hobby Lobby, Michael's to name a few) and if you look at the smaller items they have, I saw complete villages made of ceramic, wood, paper mache or 3 dimensional flat stock cut outs of villages/buildings ($7.99 ~ $49.00). They also have both working street lights, people, benches etc depending on your scale.....but the items I liked best were snow covered and non snow covered pine trees ($3.99 for 8 small, $4.99 for two Med, $5.99 for one large) mounted on little wood disks. A quick twist of the base and tree (in opposite directions) and the tree is removed from the base. If one were to drill a few small holes in their layout add a small drop of hot glue and insert the tree base, two bags of small tree's could easily create a forest of HO pines. These should be fairly durable as well, they are made like a 1:1 fake Christmas tree, wire trunk, plastic needles.Was also poking around for a few E gifts and found this site........http://www.papertoys.com they may not be the best in dimensional detail/realism, but they are free!!!


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www.SlotCarJohnnies.com


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

In the past, I've seen the little Christmas village trees and been disappointed that they always seem to be covered with snow. But this year Dollar Tree has a set called Cobblestone Corners, and there are 5 different varieties of trees... one is a set of 2 pine trees with no snow on them. I bought 3 packages of the snowless trees so far (all I could find in the 3 stores I've visited) and I'll pick up a few more as I see them. 

Great tip SCJ, I'm gonna hit the Christmas decoration section of Wal-Mart next chance I get... and any other department-type store I happen to be in, for that matter...

--rick


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

I checked out my Wally world yesterday and found some decent LED battery powered Xmas lights. 15 LEDs on a string powered by 2 AA batteries. I am currently looking into the attachment method this company used as they are clean, small and seem to be completely solder-less connections. The batteries can be bypassed with a 3 Volt power supply, and for the $3.00 price, I just might have to go back and clean out the rack!! They also have a nice big decorated tree (about 8" tall) for $4.00.. The LEDs can be used for more than Xmas. They can be party lights for a single wide (year round) :lol:, lounge lighting at the track clubhouse, lighting for that used car dealership on the table, and lighting up that outdoor party area at a casino (Zilla).


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

slotcarman12078 said:


> I checked out my Wally world yesterday and found some decent LED battery powered Xmas lights. 15 LEDs on a string powered by 2 AA batteries. I am currently looking into the attachment method this company used as they are clean, small and seem to be completely solder-less connections. The batteries can be bypassed with a 3 Volt power supply, and for the $3.00 price, I just might have to go back and clean out the rack!! They also have a nice big decorated tree (about 8" tall) for $4.00.. The LEDs can be used for more than Xmas. They can be party lights for a single wide (year round) :lol:, lounge lighting at the track clubhouse, lighting for that used car dealership on the table, and lighting up that outdoor party area at a casino (Zilla).


How small LED's are we talking? That's just the sort of thing that the Freezee's Ice Cream on my layout could use...

--rick


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

*For $3.00 what the hey!!*

Here's a few details on the LED light strings. The overall light section length is about 13.5". There is about a 6" lead from the battery box to the first LED. The LEDs are of the 3mm variety. Hard to tell color in the pics. They go red, yellow, green.




















There's a 1/2 Volt 4.7 Ohm resistor in line. A 3.0 volt power source with that resistor in line and you should be good to go. You can use other power sources for these, but the bigger the voltage you start with, the bigger resistor you will need to make the set up work. By the time you get up to 18 volts you need a huge 3 Volt high ohm resistor, so I would try to hook them up to something low power.


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

*You brighten my day, you showed me the way, to carry on...*

Casino....oh yeah! I was thinking about this earlier this week and need to get out and buy those lights. I have a Casino that could use some lights inside!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey thanks for the tree tips also. Las Vegas is going to be Palm Tree all the way for me but, others here will Shirly use this one SCJ.

Bob...you light up my Casino, you give me hope, to carry on...zilla


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

slotcarman12078 said:


> I checked out my Wally world yesterday and found some decent LED battery powered Xmas lights. 15 LEDs on a string powered by 2 AA batteries. I am currently looking into the attachment method this company used as they are clean, small and seem to be completely solder-less connections. The batteries can be bypassed with a 3 Volt power supply, and for the $3.00 price, I just might have to go back and clean out the rack!! They also have a nice big decorated tree (about 8" tall) for $4.00.. The LEDs can be used for more than Xmas. They can be party lights for a single wide (year round) :lol:, lounge lighting at the track clubhouse, lighting for that used car dealership on the table, and lighting up that outdoor party area at a casino (Zilla).


Or... they can be year-round lighting for that Freezee Ice Cream stand you've been meaning to find a place for on your layout...



















they're not on permanently or anything, this is just what i whipped together for a pic in about 30 seconds after I took them out of the package. very neat little set. thanks for the tip!

--rick


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Hey, I did the same thing to my off table display just for fun!!! They're a cool little set for the price!


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

*One waffle cone please...Mmmmmmmmmmmm ice cream!!*

Rick,

I am digging that Freeze Ice Cream stand alot! :hat:

Bob...I scream, you scream, we all scream...zilla


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## SCJ (Jul 15, 1999)

I was out and about again this weekend and found the following line called cobble stone corner at Dollar Tree....gotta love this place, it's one of the few dollar stores where everything is still just $1.00. :thumbsup:




























The first two are Approx. 1:32 but some pieces could be used for HO....and the trees are either, but closer to HO.

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www.SlotCarJohnnies.com


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

My Dollar Tree will be visited in the near future.. Since my next table will be mostly Fall/Winter, most of those trees will work!! For the bare trees, a small day trip to the woods may produce what I'll be looking for. Walmart has some similar items, but not for that price! :thumbsup:


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## SCJ (Jul 15, 1999)

I was out again this weekend....Home Depot has the same pine trees pictured above but you get 21 of them for $7.00 bucks. Various sizes, with or w/ out snow...instant forest!

Lowe's has some very cool 1:32 (or there about) old school looking street lights complete with a rod iron fence thingy (and a row of cobble stone around that) like you see in big city's. These woud look awesome on a detailed 1:32 track....not bad at $7.00 per pack.

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www.Slotcarjohnnies.com


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## Tycoarm (Jan 7, 2006)

slotcarman12078 said:


> Here's a few details on the LED light strings. The overall light section length is about 13.5". There is about a 6" lead from the battery box to the first LED. The LEDs are of the 3mm variety. Hard to tell color in the pics. They go red, yellow, green.


These would be great for go, caution and red flag markers boxes attached to fenced area's around the track. 

Where did you find these sets?


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## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

I haven't done much with my track since last winter but still browse through here from week to week. I had to reply to this topic about the LED's.

Hey another Freezee! You don't see these often. I put a mini flourescent light on mine: 










Those mini colored LED's are also made by 'Lemax'. You can find this stuff at Ace Hardware and probably other outlet stores around this time of the year. Their website is a little hard to get around but there are tons of cool LED lights that can be adapted to HO slot car layouts. Last year I nabbed a bunch for carnival rides and other parts of the layout. They also make mini LED spot lights that could be perfect for over head lights.

Here is a link to the Lemax lights page. Surf around the site for other LED lighting accessories:

http://www.lemaxcollection.com/Showproducts.aspx?deptID=463&p=0

Here is the link to a similar old thread I started last winter when I was adding some LED and flourescents lights to my track. Hope to get back to it soon: 

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=242061

-Scott V.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Tycoarm said:


> These would be great for go, caution and red flag markers boxes attached to fenced area's around the track.
> 
> Where did you find these sets?


Walmart Christmas stuff. I went back to mine and they were sold out. I'm hoping they restock right before Xmas so I can load up on them half price!! I like the connector they use on these LEDs, but I haven't tried to pull one apart to see if they will snap back on tightly. These sets are wired red yellow green and in a continuous string, so I'm not sure if it'll work for what you're thinking.


That Lomax link is pretty cool, but they only sell to retail outlets... Sad really, as some of the stuff is cool!!


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Slott V said:


> Hey another Freezee! You don't see these often. I put a mini flourescent light on mine:


w00t for freezee's! :thumbsup: i see the umbrellas are busted off your tables too... 

hey, slotcarman said that site sells only to retail outlets... you say they have it at Ace Hardware? wonder if you could bring the stock numbers and such to an Ace and see if they'd order it for you...

i like that fluorescent, too. wonder if I could use one of those...

--rick


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## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

Tycoarm said:


> These would be great for go, caution and red flag markers boxes attached to fenced area's around the track.
> 
> Where did you find these sets?


These could be adapted to that purpose with a little work. I found these with the same miniature village stuff at Ace last year. Look around stores or tell the wife to keep an eye out.


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