Evening all.

Anyone on here built a permanent scalextric layout for their kids themselves?

If so, what did you use as the base board material? I’m thinking plywood but what thickness?

I’m wanting to create a circuit approx 2.5m x 3.5m, this one to be exact.

My plan is to put it on a base board and when not in use it will be at floor level but when being used it will be raised up. The board will need to be thick enough not to bend when its raised up on whatever I use to support it.

Any ideas?

Ta in advance.

I was going to say 9mm ply until I saw you want to raise it without bending. Anything thicker would be really heavy, I’d be thinking about a planed softwood frame and 6mm ply, but that gets a bit dodgy if someone steps on an unsupported bit.

You could get an 8×4 sheet of celetex, and bond a sheet of 6mm plywood to it…fairly light and will be fairly resistant to being trodden on. Could put a softwood frame around it to avoid the edges getting crushed, and add to the strength.

(Edit – 2 sheets)

Its going to be on the floor but hinged around the support at one end during the raising process before the support at the other end is put in place (if that makes sense.)

Standing on it won’t be an issue as the layout I have in mind is pretty much full of track so there wouldn’t be any space to stand on it without standing on the track.

Long term I’m thing of building a cover over it, maybe in 3 or 4 sections so that things could be stored on top of it, such as bikes in a rack. The cover material would need to be thicker than the base as their would be potential for it being stood on.

If memory serves me well, back in the old days of big Scalextric and train layouts it would be a softwood frame supporting a chipboard baseboard.

Oh and that layout has no crossover so the lane lengths will be unequal.

A torsion box would let you keep it fairly light but strong and resistant to bending – examples.

Couple of thin sheets of plywood (you can get away with very thin) with a cell structure inside. IKEA use it to great effect to keep weights down but strength up.

Google “ron paulk workbench” – you could do much the same but use a much thinner inside section. Or make it similar and you’ve got handy space underneath for spare track, cars, etc.

6mm MDF, with a 2 x 1 frame underneath, will make it strong and MDF is super smooth and doesnt have sharp splinters like plywood.

Did one for the kids – 12mm ply hinged on wall alongside one of their beds. Lowers to rest on corner posts of bed frame (locks up to blocks on the wall to keep safe when they were younger).

Edged with something like 15×50 batten to stiffen and keep cars on. Curved batten to follow bends by slotting with mitre saw and then bending and glue screw (tried steam bending but didn’t work – wrong wood and lack of skills).

Cheers all. Those tips above have given me plenty of options to investigate.

@slowoldman:

Oh and that layout has no crossover so the lane lengths will be unequal.

I’ve got a few crossover sections that I’ll incorporate into the design to equalise the lane lengths.

Just remember to use an even number of crossovers 😳

Just remember to use an even number of crossovers

Just remember to go digital..

We use 8×4 sheets of marine plywood at work and they still bend if you pick them up at the ends. Not much but the do bend. They also weigh nearly 50kg.

You could get an 8×4 sheet of celetex, and bond a sheet of 6mm plywood to it…fairly light and will be fairly resistant to being trodden on. Could put a softwood frame around it to avoid the edges getting crushed, and add to the strength.[/I]

Good idea using the celotex.

We did something similar for our sons Hornby.

I was a 4×4 chipboard base and I added a 1×2 ‘edge’ above the board all the way round – to stop trains flying off if he got overenthusiastic with the speed controller.

As above it was very heavy – too heavy for him to raise and lower (it was hinged at one end) even with a sort of ‘block and tackle’ arrangement to reduce the effort required.

With scalextric bear in mind that unless the can reach the centre of the board the children will climb on it.

PErsonally I think I’d build the sort of frame you’d use for a stud partition with some triangulation etc and use a lighter weight board.