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From an article I wrote in 2003!

This step will either satisfy you, or drive you completely nuts! Depending on where you live, most pavement is not pure black; it usually has shades of gray showing through. The next step was to remedy this and make the track realistic. Remember, this is me talking; each person has their own preferences!

A few words of caution: the track will be very durable, and allow you to clean it with a damp cloth. I am even able to scratch mine with no visible damage, however, do not apply masking tape to it, or you’ll take off chunks of the paint. Why the paint does this, but stands up to everything else, I believe is due to the nature of latex on plastic. There’s just not enough “tooth” for the paint to truly grab onto. Also, if you do this step while the track is apart, make sure the contacts don’t have paint on them before assembling them or you will have electrical issues!

I begin by taking a light gray latex based paint and thinning it in a container. I use plain water to do the thinning. The consistency when done is about the same as milk. I use a 1” foam brush to paint it on. I put on a thin coat, wiping the rails with a clean rag when done. The pebble surface of the track will appear as the paint dries. If the color is not to your liking, by all means put on a second coat when the first is dry. Remember that two light coats are MUCH better than 1 heavy coat! Ask me – I had to strip the first coat off several pieces as it looked very fake!



Weathering the Track

After the track is down and dry, I used Luf’s method of making it look like it’s been patched and cracked. I used a darker gray latex, not as diluted as the initial track coat, and using the foam brush again, simply painted areas to look like asphalt patching. I randomly applied these around the track. After that dried, a simple Sharpie marker was used to place cracks on the surface of the track.

Fantastic. Thanx a mill I will give your method a go on some spare track pieces I have.
One thing, I have scaley classic not sport, will the process stay the same?
Once painted I intend putting copper foil on the rails, because the contacts is quite old and does not make proper contact all round the track.

Thank you for your help.

Gavin

Gavin - If I recall, Scalextric classic is rougher track - that should help with the pebble finish using the same instructions. As for copper over the rails - that works perfectly. I did that towards the end of the life of my track. I know Bob Taylor here, among others, has done this recently and is happy with the results.

Hahaaaaaa, your giving me good news. Thanx.
Today is a public holiday here in SA, so I will go to the paint shop tomorrow or Saturday to pick up some paint.

Thanx,

Gavin

David is so right about this! From the latex paint over plastic, to the tape over the rails. Its almost, and I say again, almost as good as a wood track. There is even one more benefit. If you have kids, or Newbies racing, you can use magnet cars!


Bob

Bob
If I had any doubt, youve just convinced me to do it.
My kids is 15 and 16. My son 16 loves racing, my daughter knows how to handle a throttle and a fast car. But their freinds dont. So when the freinds come over its fun time. So I take out a couple of nc1 callaway's, ninco 1's and some slowish hornby f1's. The kids just love it. And still keeping some mag force will be great when putting on the copper foil.

Gavin

There simply is no downside to painting your track.