# Good as the Best or Bad as the Worst



## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

Hi Guys,
You put your plastic track together and do some tuning on it. Then you run cars around and tune some more.

At a certain point, you have some cars that go around the track as smoothly and quietly as you image plastic track could get, while other cars (with the same type chassis) bang around at each track joint like a jackhammer.

Which situation do you have? Is your track as good as the smoothest car, or as bad as the worst car?

Opinions?

Thanks...Joe


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## H.O. racer (Jan 21, 2008)

Check your pickup shoes. Look at the wear pattern on the shoes. Is the wear pattern even or is the wear pattern toward the front and not the back? This can be seen as a dark or shiney line on the shoe. Ideally, the "stepped" part of the shoe should lay flat/even on the rail, maximizing electrcal contact. If so, "gently" tweek the shoes with a pair of tweezers or needle nose plyers so they lay flat or slightly raised in the front when the car/chassis is in the slot. Did this solve the problem?


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Agree -- a little lift at the front of the shoe could probably help stop Hammer-time.


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## blubyu (May 4, 2008)

As good as I can make it. Track work is never ending.......


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## H.O. racer (Jan 21, 2008)

Thats just an accepted part of the hobby.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

great pic Doba!

I agree, the toe of the shoe requires some roll to keep them from clickety clacking. 

Look at the old aurora shoes they had a nice rolled forward edge...ya think that was by accident?

Most shoes have slight roll as well...the exception being AFX style shoes either as a stepped, or ski version...as found on AW-XT's. Ya gotta watch some of the after market shoes like BSRT and even the new Wizzard Big Foots. 

Just because a shoe may or may not have a rolled toe does not absolve one from ensuring that shoe to rail geometry is sympatico. In other words no amount of toe roll will prevent a shoe from digging into sectional rail breaks if the contact patch is not parrallel to the rail.


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

Bill Hall said:


> ....sympatico.


 I think Bill gets a time out for using a word above the third grade level.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Yeah, really Bill...we are talking about little kiddie toys here...:tongue: I have found the same issues here too... Some cars are so smooth you'd think its routed track, and some just hop around like their feets are on fire. Add in grade changes and dead spots are more prone with some cars, while others cruise around trouble free. I make adjustments, but the kids don't seem to understand that it is so easy to screw my adjustment up by mishandling the cars..and they do mishandle them...

UtherJoe


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## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

*hop around like their feets are on fire...*



slotcarman12078 said:


> Yeah, really Bill...we are talking about little kiddie toys here...:tongue: I have found the same issues here too... Some cars are so smooth you'd think its routed track, and some just hop around like their feets are on fire. Add in grade changes and dead spots are more prone with some cars, while others cruise around trouble free. I make adjustments, but the kids don't seem to understand that it is so easy to screw my adjustment up by mishandling the cars..and they do mishandle them...
> 
> UtherJoe


You mean your cars look like this?






:drunk::hat::freak::dude:


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

slotcarman12078 said:


> Yeah, really Bill...we are talking about little kiddie toys here...:tongue: I have found the same issues here too... Some cars are so smooth you'd think its routed track, and some just hop around like their feets are on fire. Add in grade changes and dead spots are more prone with some cars, while others cruise around trouble free. I make adjustments, but the kids don't seem to understand that it is so easy to screw my adjustment up by mishandling the cars..and they do mishandle them...
> 
> UtherJoe


Hoppy feets all the time.... or hoppy feets under acceleration and then smoothing out?


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Hoppy at certain points on the track, Bill. Mostly Xtraction pointy shoes issues.. kinda like the shoes in that wonderful video... I try to get them straightened out, and the kids shove them nose first onto the track to "warm up the motors" and then wonder why they run funny.... I also have a few goofy tracks, where I can't seem to get them to "smooth out". The rails are on the high side, and I can't grind or sand them enough to smooth out.This is due mostly to the fact they are elevated, and also at the crest of the grade, I can't do too much with them. 

I did a great job laying the train track elevations down, but due to the fact I shorted the table a foot under plan, this threw off the slot grades. So badly, in fact, that I had to relocate the "city" to the other end of the table. I'm sure the next time I build this table, it will be better planned out, and with the new found knowledge thanks to HT, it will be much better. 

Utherjoe


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Gotcha! 

A rise over run dilemma. More wasted tax dollars. 

I'd sue the municipality.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Sadly, the city government is so far into the red ink a law suit is out of the question. Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy is pretty much the norm in Stump City... Everybody's doing it...


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

One of the ways to eliminate the rails as a noise issue, or to actually hear how much noise is produced by the rail joints, is to use a MicroScalextric car with braid pickup shoes. This basically eliminates all the noise caused by the rails and leave only the noise generated by the slot joints.

Of course, with metal guide pins, like a MSCX car, you are going to get more noise than with a plastic pin. And most times (I have found) a pin will create more noise than a rotating plastic blade.

Even with some shoe tuning, there are still some cars which are far quiter and smoother than others. I'm beginning to realize that part of this is due to how the guide pin rides in the slot for each car.

As I have pointed out in other threads, Tyco/Mattel track has a large flare in the slot. Some cars tend to ride the wall of the slot (even on straights) and therefore bang around at each track joint as they follow the slot flare out and back. Other cars seem to stay more centered and are therefore less bothered by the flares.

But it still boils down to my basic question. If you have some cars which are really smooth on your track, is your track tuned about as good as it can be? Or do the cars which bang around a lot indicate that you have a lot of tuning left to do?

Thanks...Joe


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## blubyu (May 4, 2008)

Tuned good.I can usually find some tuning left to do a 4lane 75' track!


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## gonegonzo (Jan 18, 2006)

The first sentence on this post seems to be a big problem.

Putting your track together each time you use it is a handicap. Fastened down to a table or even a tuckaway board will make the track more consistant, taking away the expansion / contraction with heat and humidity.

Assembling each time is creating new high and low points.

Gone Gonzo


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

gonegonzo said:


> The first sentence on this post seems to be a big problem.
> 
> Putting your track together each time you use it is a handicap.


 I did not mean to convey that the track is assembled each time it is used. The track is assembled once and then tuned...and tuned...and tuned some more. It is permanent - or at least semi-permanent.

Joe


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