American Graffiti 1962 - Update finally 09/03

[Ember]

Hmmmmm.... I'd be aiming at some clear perspex/plastiglass in some areas. You might be able to get some through a local sign shop. 3mm thick will probably do the job. Perhaps chain link fencing in other areas, construction site style.

[MoparGreg]

Hi Lynne, thanks for the feedback. Perspex is my last resort. I have been trying to think of a barrier that will look realistic for the era. I was maybe thinking something like this -





Maybe perspex with some styrene around top & bottom. Maybe some metal posts to hold it up.

Or something like this. No idea how to make it strong though.





I need to stop procrastinating! & get cracking!

[Ember]

The armco option is do-able. I've a sample i was sent of some lightweight gal strip that had been rolled to profile. But armco tends to only be used along roads where there is a drop off the edge of the embankment ie) It needs to be along the road edge.

The pole version could be done with styrene tube.

Or how about some picket fence?

[MoparGreg]

Where is the gal armco from? How strong is it? I agree though it may not suit my application.

My biggest problem with whatever I choose to do is strength. Not so much for the cars sake but the kids. With the guardrail being on the edge of the track the kids will be leaning on it & grabbing cars etc. You get the point.

A picket fence, maybe. Im thinking thin pickets will break easily though

[Ember]

It was actually JohnnyFly that sent me the gal armco. From memory he said a friend that is an airconditioning contractor rolled it.

You may not actually need anything around the front of the table itself, if you run some form of catch around the road edge. I don't have anything at the front of my track and have never lost a car off the table yet. Even with a pair of 6 year old visitors buzzing on red cordial at the controls. The 'donut' at the right hand end has armco made from Scalex double split into two and remounted on spruce posts.

What you have at the moment may well be enough at the very front of the track.

[RazorJon]

you could do a wooden silhouette of a forest or cityscape from plywood on the ends

[Wolseley Hornet]

I'd go with lengths of railings like you've got the girls sitting on in the first picture.

Obviously, I don't know about America, but round tubular railings the same diameter as scaffolding tube used to be very common in UK.

You could probably get brazing rods of an appropriate size, and easily make a jig for fabricating standard lengths of railing.

Then, you could simply fit the railings in holes at the edge of the baseboard.They should be robust enough to stop cars flying off; and easily removeable for photography.


David.

[whitworthnut]

Posts with cables were very common. Weather some dowels and connect them with wound guitar strings. The "G" string is typically the smallest wound guitar string. Do not use a cotton "G" string.

[HomeRacingWorld]

I used the wooden dowels myself and I liked the outcome.



Stained them with old English furniture polish and the "cable" is the braided wire used for hanging portraits.

Having them cut at different angles is the way they looked in many cases on roads around the country. Some were uniform, some not.

Very strong and easily modeled.

[MoparGreg]

Ive got a big update on the track. It doesnt look like much but its been alot of work. So I painted & taped up the track a while ago. The paint is a flat acrylic paint. I textured the roadways with an artist sponge with different grays to get a roadway effect. Im undecided about the inside of the track where the diner will be so I have left that for now as just a flat gray. Here it is all taped.



Left side of the track showing how the lanes merge



After I taped it up I wired it up for power. Plenty of powertaps were needed as the lanes crossover each other. Alot of time was spent with the lane changers. I didnt want to re-invent the wheel with these so Im using Peco train lane changes. They have been around for years so I decided to fab those to work on my track. What I noticed with them is they are a bit temperamental. But once setup in the perfect position they work well & flawlessness. I wanted to have the lanes that go straight ahead to always go straight ahead so Im using a light spring to hold the lane changer to one side. Then when you press the lane change button the changer moves, then when the button is released the spring holds it back to the original spot. What I noticed if there is to much spring the changer was unable to move under power, not enough spring & it did not bring the changer back. There is a fine line between working & not working but they are working great now. Also for those interested I have the flippers on the lane changes live, so there is no dead spot on the actual flipper. The flipper changes polarity between positive to negative depending on its position. Its working great! Im no electronice expert so Im over the moon its working.

Switches from above



Below



Heres the controllers. Just some Parma econo with an added switch for the lane change. Im using 4 pin xlr to attach to driver stations



Power, yeah have got plenty! The track is wired up for both AC & DC. So AC works with 4 cars at once on the track via the AC2car electronics. DC I can run 2 cars on the track. The lane changes work with either AC & DC. I can swap between AC & DC via the use of XLR plugs.



So last night we ran 2 cars using both AC & DC at different times for about an hour. As well as lane changing & the system did not miss a beat. The cars changed lanes everytime for the hour over the flippers. So Im over the moon as the flippers & lane changing was the part I was worried about. Next up to modify 2 more controllers & start some scenery! I should mention that this is an analog track but I can run 2 cars in each lane by using cheap 50cent diodes. Using the track in DC no diodes are needed.

[dreinecke]

Holy cow! Now that is what I call an update!!! Wow! I'm so happy to see it all works so well.

For a guy that says he's not technical you sure blew this one away. Very impressive electrical work and the switchgear.

The entire thing looks like a quality effort !!

[MoparGreg]

Thanks for the comments.

Shotgun - Progress is slow but it is progress. Yes looking forward to scenery, it will be fun.

David R - Yeah I suprised myself with the electrical. I will say I had a few moments where I pushed the track back in the corner as it was doing my head in. After a few days relief & a bit of thought I got back into it. Im very happy with it so far. Im suprised the cars dont even make a noise going over the flippers. All you can hear is the flipper actuating with a click noise back & forth as the flipper moves. As you can tell Im stoked with those lane changers working

As a side note, there seems to be alot of Davids on the forum these days lol :)

[Ember]

Great!!!! Good to see it's moving forward.

Perhaps poured concrete rather than a bitumen/asphalt type look for the diner area.

[RazorJon]

Looks good Greg, this is going to be a cool track when its all done

[MoparGreg]

Embs - Yeah poured concrete is what I was thinking. In the centre of the track will be the diner, a garage & a hotrod shop or a used car lot. Im planning different shades of concrete throughout the different places, maybe some asphalt. Im going to wait until I start the scenery to decide the finer details like the surface. Other than the diner my plan is a little loose, so I may change things up :)

Jon - Yeah I hope so, long way to go though