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7/4/06

Tracks - Don Galloway's International Thunderjet

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Hi Bob. I got my track running on Friday. Included here are two pictures. Wiring is complete and I’m up and racing. I haven’t had a running track since 2003, and had forgotten how much fun this is! A friend of mine and I raced till 1am last night, lol. Too fun!

I still need to finish the table. As you can see in the pics, all the corners of the table are rounded off. I take 1/8” masonite and curve it around the corners. I use two laminates, and then I paint it. I’ve done this with tracks I’ve had in the past, and it really works well. The two laminates, even though only ¼” thick, end up being rock hard. After painting it’s beautiful to look at, and there’s no corners to bang your hip on!

Also, as you can see there’s no scenery yet. That will change, too…eventually. In the past I’ve used a lot of plaster and rock carvings, but I’m going to experiment this time and use foam. I want the scenery to be light and flexible, because the entire table tilts to a vertical position. It’s hinged along the far edge. I wired the whole track standing up, and man was that nice!

Man, is it fun running T-Jets on this track. The joints fit perfectly, and the aprons are built in. I have. In fact I built in reversing switches. They’re located under the layout and are simple rotary type switches. There’s 1 for each lane so I can vary the polarity on each lane individually. It’s great, Bob, reversing polarity is like having two layouts! COMPLETELY different. I always had trouble reversing polarity with my sectional track layouts. I could never get them tuned to go in both directions. But it hasn’t been a problem on this layout, it’s just as smooth in either direction. It’s so much fun watching the cars drift around the corners. And the track is “liquid” smooth! All my previous tracks where commercial sectional tracks, mostly AFX. I used to sculpt my aprons by hand using water putty! If you can believe it. I’ll send you some more pictures when the table’s done, Trackmate is installed, and the scenery is complete.

Finally, I’m running using 60 Ohm Parma controllers. I see on your website that you’re selling 120 Ohm resistors. I’d like to try a couple of those, and will send you a separate e-mail for them.

Don