ARTIN 1/43 TRACK LAYOUTS
MY 1/43 LAYOUT
IN A SMALL AREA
WITH LOTS OF SCENERY
LIGHTS, BUILDINGS
Philippe Marchand
Poway, CA
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name of the track is THE SMOKEY MOUNTAIN RIDGE RUNNERS.Seperate power for both lanes.
Hi Frank and the gang.Here is some pictures of my Artin 1/43 layout .It is built on a hollow core door and is landscaped with white beaded foam,carved and painted,then detailed.It is very light and can be moved easy .I wanted to show what could be done for little money and could be stored just about anywhere.If you look close you may see some good ol' boys making the stuff that started stockcar racing.The track has been painted like Harry did on his 1/32 layout.Thanks for the contest and the Fun!!!
Rusty Hooper
Humboldt,Tenn
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Hi my name is Neil Anderson from Windsor,Ontario,Canada.
This is my latest 1/43 Artin track.It has an elevated intersection with single lane only below it in both locations.I change the track every month or so with the extra track I have.The table is 4 x 10 with a 4 x 8 wing on the side of it.Notice the Ford is beating the Chevy.Good luck to all and nice web site.
Neil
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My interest in slot cars began as a child in the 1960s, the heyday of slot
car racing. You'll see me as an 11 year old in 1965 racing on an Eldon
set in that final photo.
My racing continued through high school. By then, I was competing every
Friday evening on an 8-lane commercial track in south Seattle called
Empire Hobbies & Crafts. My racing ended when I left for college, and as
an adult I had long concluded that slot cars were all but dead.
My interest was re-kindled, however, when my girlfriend bought me an Artin
set for Christmas in 1999. It had all the jumps, loops, and other
gimmicks you could imagine, but I knew at some point I would put it on a
table.
That beautiful woman became my wife in 2000, and we then bought a house
with a small garage. I soon acquired another Artin set, and with the
extra track (and minus the gimmicks), a 4 X 8 foot table was the basis for
my first Artin layout. About this time, I discovered the Internet and I
was astonished to see a thriving world of slot car racing. I soon found
the Slot Car World site, and with Frank's assistance, I bought a four-lane
Artin set.
With all the track I now had, I would of course need a bigger table, so to
the original sheet, I added a 4 X 6 piece, making it an L-shaped layout
that was 12 feet long on the longest side. Much of the wood was left over
from various household projects, and the tables rest on two pairs of Home
Depot saw horses.
My goal was to make a track that resembles those classic 1:1 scale road
racing circuits. For that reason, I did not make a serpentine track
crammed improbably into every available corner. Nor do I have any
crossovers, bridges, or steeply banked turns. Of course there are
advantages to having those features, but since you rarely see them on real
race tracks, I decided against them.
The layout was very labor intensive, and it took about six months of
work to get it to this point. The circuit you see here has a lap length
of about 57 feet, and the configuration here was derived from the
trial-and-error method. Next, I built ramps upon which the track rests,
and these give the track varied elevation. I then added 1/4"-deep edging
around the circumference of the track, making a channel in which it lies.
This makes the track flush with the "ground." This edging was then
painted white, and at the apex of each turn I applied red paint by hand to
simulate the "rumble strip" curbing you see at real race tracks.
The next step was to make the scenery, and I began by applying Woodland
Scenic plaster cloth throughout. Spray paint (four different earth tones)
was added, interspersed with the sprinkling of Woodland Scenic grasses.
This company also supplied the material used for the gravel traps used at
the end of straightaways.
The walls are made from balsa wood, which were painted white, and I used
rub-on decals for the sponsor logos. I used scraps of plexiglass for the
lakes. By retaining the blue covering, you get a fairly realistic looking
body of water.
To create the borders, I used 1 X 8 inch pine boards along the entire
perimeter. The insides were spray painted blue to simulate the sky.
Lastly, I painted the track with flat black spray paint. I didn't want
any of those yellow markings or white lane dividers. (Artin track is
available without these, but my track came with them.)
Now that work on the track is winding down, I will begin tinkering with
the ten box-stock Artin cars I have. I'll also tinker with the power; I
use a separate pack for each lane, using the 7.5 volt, 0.8 amp
transformers that came with the four-lane set. Although the
performance is reasonably good, I am going to install a couple of power
taps, and depending on how well that works, I might then try another power
source.
Kelsi, my stepdaugther, really enjoys driving the track. In fact, she has
helped with the scenery, and we enjoy having a few folks (adults and kids)
over for racing and pizza.
Even though some might dismiss Artin products, especially in 1/43 scale, I
like to think that I have built a layout that is very fun to drive, with
an equally high degree of visual appeal. The performance level is
good, especially when you factor in the value you get from Artin products.
BEEN SLOTTING SINCE 65
Hi Frank here is my entry!
Charlie Raymond
Shoreline , Wa
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Here is my entry for the 2003-2004 Artin contest in the 1/43 scale track layout division. This is not a permanently mounted layout. It is my current favorite and “proof of concept” layout for my High Density Track Layout Project. It is called “Hi Diddle (m)”. The “(m)” is for MDF and means that it is designed to fit on a standard piece of Medium Density Fiberboard, which is 49”x97”. The layout took 128 pieces of track to build and runs 64.83 feet! Additionally, it has absolutely equal lane lengths, so neither lane has an advantage. Because it is such a dense layout, the track is nearly touching itself in some spots, which has the potential for sideswiping, which is prevented by alternating the run direction on each section of track (see the picture with direction arrows). There are actually even longer and more dense layouts possible, but they require more short straights than I can get my hands on, so this is the most practical dense track I’ve come up with.For the pictures below, I built it using yellow striped track for the banks and non-striped for the flat curves, so that people could easily tell the difference (standing on a ladder to get the view from the top no less). For more information on this track and the High Density Layout project, go to http://members.cox.net/katarr. There are a variety of layouts there along with ratings and design comments.
Thanks for considering my entry,
ROBIN.