Slot Car Scenery

It may or may not be the fastest way of driving, but it is most fun when you can get the back of the car to hang out around the bends. This can only be done if you have some form of track borders. Here is how I made my own.

Out of some scraps of wood I made some spots for marshals to stand in safety.

All modern circuits are surrounded by crash barriers to stop the cars when they loose control as well as crowd safety fences mainly to stop stray wheels etc making it into the crowd. So I made some barriers to surround my circuit out of wooden mouldings and plastic mesh.

I had been thinking about a good way to make tyre walls (apart from using actual tyres), the guy sitting next to me on a course came up with a great idea. I have now made a number of stacks of tyres that look like they are covered in plastic as used on some full size circuits.

You can make your own signs to place before the bends on your track to warn the drivers of what they are approaching. Mine are made from paper signs stuck to polystyrene sheet. Click on the thumbnail for more pictures.

If you want to rally your slot cars through Keilder Forest or race them through the forests of Francorchamps you will need some trees. This is how I made some little trees from an artificial Christmas tree. I made loads from just a 3ft tree. I will have to make some palm trees if I want to race my slot cars at Monaco or at the Australian or Malaysian Grand Prix.

I want to make some trackside lights so I can race my slot cars in the dark so they can show off their lights. I took advantage of the season to obtain some cheap lights and I will make the lamp posts later.

While watching motor sport on the television I noticed at some circuits the Marshals had little structures to stand in to raise them off the ground to get a better view of the circuit and some protection from the weather. So I came up with a design for a simple marshalling post I could build from inexpensive materials.

Pit Building, with Del's, James's, Joe's and Kev's pit areas. James does not run a workshop any more so the roll down shutters on his pit area are closed. Click on the picture to find more pictures of how I made it (the words will follow).

I wanted to make a simple bridge so that the track could form a figure of 8. This is how I made it out of wooden dowel and hardboard.

I have even managed to find a house for the Smurfs that will be a nice colourful building for the outskirts of the slotcar ciruit complex. As the Smurfs are (nearly) the correct size, so is the house, even though it is not as realistic as some of the other buildings.

For Louise and Jon, here is how I made a Welsh flag to go on a Scalextric flag pole.

Spectators at outdoor events (including slot car race meets) always need food so I have made some catering outlets from Scalextric pit buildings, but without damaging them in any way. I have even found some Smurfs to cook the food and serve it.

When at Donnington I saw another design of building used to protect the marshals from the weather, and more importantly, cars and bits of cars. I thought they looked good for my marshals around my slot car circuit. Click on the thumbnail to see how I made some.