Testing Andy's digital layout

Andy has a plan for a big digital Scalextric layout.  Using digital signals means you can run up to six cars at the same time, using the same lanes and changing across those lanes.  You can also do other clever things like set some of the cars as pacers.  Andy set up a small table-top track to test out the hardware - a simple oval with a lane changer and a short pit lane.  He'd already converted 5 Metros to digital (this requires soldering in a chip between the braids and the motor) and I took along the recently built Jaguar Mk 2 that I have also converted to digital.

In the grid above, there are four pacer Metros with Andy controlling the white Metro at the back alongside my Jaguar.  Six cars on about 12 feet of track is a bit of a squeeze (as you'll see at the start of the video below) but being able to change lanes to overtake, and call a yellow flag to pause the other cars when you crash adds a new dimension to Scalextric.  I'll be sticking with analogue but I'm pleased that Andy is going down that route as our layouts will each offer something different, and double the fun.

A New Challenger

A while back I blogged about the Scalextric Challenger system I'd bought - essentially a car which learns the circuit and then drives itself, so I can have something else running around the track when I'm testing other cars.

It works really well but I wasn't keen on the car because (a) it was a bit dull being all black, and (b) it was an F1 Safety Car, and so strictly wasn't right with anything other than F1 cars, of which I have very few.

So I customised it.

First thing was to strip the car completely of all the fittings.

Then a respray in white...

Add some police decals and a couple of coats of varnish...

Paint the roof lights blue and fit them, along with the windows and the original chassis, and all the little bits I'd taken off it to start with:

I picked up another Challenger body for a tenner, this time in silver, so I can convert it back to an F1 Safety Car when I feel like it, but it's much more fun to have a police car chasing me round the circuit!

Humphrey and Ozzie in 1/32 scale

My 350Z lives under a cover, even under the car port, as the cats love to sit on the roof.  Strangely enough, black-haired cats still seem to leave almost as much mess as our white-haired ones used to.  Anyway, even though I don't like the cats on the car in real life, at least they can do it in 1/32 scale now...

Before they were painted...

New track buildings

I recently bought a load of Scalextric stuff from someone at work clearing out their loft before moving house.  It all dated back to the late Sixties and is in various states of repair, but generally pretty good.  There is room for some of it on the layout already, starting with a banner for the Start-Finish straight...

...an entrance building...

...and a Timekeeper's Hut - next to one of the new set of loudspeakers from Slot Track Scenics...

[17 November edit] The Timekeeper's Hut should have a set of boards to announce the countdown to the next race.  These were missing but I found out what they should be and recreated them in card.

And next on BBC1...

A purchase from Slot Track Scenics sees another TV crew at the carousel end of the track.

To match the BBC satellite dish on top of the pit buildings, I added BBC logos to the cameras, and BBC Sport banners around the camera tower.

The first tower also got a BBC Sport banner.

Jaguar Mk 2

The latest scratchbuilt effort is a Jaguar Mk 2 kit from Pendle Slot Racing.

The chassis was simple to construct as it's the same as a ready-to-race Jaguar XK120 from manufacturer Ninco, so everything goes together easily and I just had to cut away at some bits at each end.  The bodyshell was cast really nicely and sprayed up well, first with primer...

...and then in bright red...

I painted the driver and interior, and detailed all the chrome bits and lights on the car.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out, and it races great too - quick with lots of tail slides.

The finishing touch was to give it a set of appropriate numberplates:

Police, Camera, Action!

I came across a company called Tarn Model Foundry online and they had a stand at the Slot Car Festival back in May.  They make a range of unusual racing and rally 1:32 figures, and this one in particular caught my eye.  The quality of the resin moulding isn't great (the figure has a hand missing!) but I had to have it for comedy value - and it looks pretty good once it's painted up...

The first person to be caught by this policeman with his speed gun was James Bond in his Aston Martin DB5:

But by flicking a switch to engage one of Q's little extras, Bond will escape a ticket this time...