Random "pic a day" thread!

[Hepcat]

I wonder what constructing the wooden sets would be like?

In the heyday of the slot car boom from 1963-67, tracks could be ordered from companies such as American Model Raceways, Mr. Raceways and Revell Raceways.



The tracks would be pre-assembled in sections at a production plant and then shipped to the hobby shop/slot car emporium for final assembly. By late 1965 more than 5500 had been installed in hobby shops and dedicated slot car raceways in North America!

But the mass commercial producers are long gone and these days woodworking skills are definitely a necessity. Here by way of example are some work-in-progress pictures as a track is constructed:

What the underside looks like?  Some kind of electric rail, yes?)

The electrical rails are on top. They're the silvery grey braids on either side of the grooves/slots:





The wiring is on the underside of the track:

I am so jealous that this is guy-territory.

You're largely correct. Although there are some exceptions, for whatever reasons very few girls/women participate in slot car racing.







I don't understand it though. Why would a woman not want to run one of these little gems:











In a venue such as this one?









Worse yet slot car racing at dedicated slot car emporiums has become an old guy thing. Very few youngsters seem to graduate from home sets these days to full fledged racing at slot car raceways. Part of the reason is that it's really tough to draw youngsters away from their TV sets and video games for very long. The other part of the reason is that in this day and age of helicopter parenting, free range kids who would be allowed to walk, bike or take the bus several miles to their local slot car raceway are a thing of the past. So sad.

[long live kong]

[Flower]

[Hepcat]

[Flower]

[Hepcat]

The Gottlieb 2001 pinball machine from 1971:

[Flower]

[Hepcat]

I've always loved the big boxy Seeburg jukeboxes from the sixties and the seventies such as this Sunstar STD3 from 1977 or so:

[Hepcat]

Here's a neat piece by the incomparable Jack Davis:

[ChristineBCW]

Hep, thank you very much for that exhaustive photo-essay on the slot car tracks.  I really appreciated the undersides but I'd never considered these tracks would have been manufactured by a few companies.  Then I realized that made perfect sense.  If there were national or regional competitions, the tracks would need to have at least semi-standardized curves and banking, guard-rail settings, so all contestants would be familiar with those details.

And from a manufacturing standpoint, the curvature of rails and wooden tracks require a precision that would be so expensive and time-consuming unless it was done with pre-existing molds and tools.  You just couldn't keep recreating the wheel, so to speak.

I've enjoyed the Dave & Buster type racetracks (large, multi-screen, side-by-side drivers) but, compared to go-kart racing, in person, or even on jet-ski's - videogames won't get my quarters.  I wonder how I'd have reacted to the constant 'cars flying off track-rails' issue?

[Hepcat]

I really appreciated the undersides but I'd never considered these tracks would have been manufactured by a few companies.

Those companies. e.g. American Model Raceways, Mr. Raceways and Revell Raceways, all disappeared in the late sixties though. Any "new" track since is either a refurbished old track or newly custom built.

If there were national or regional competitions, the tracks would need to have at least semi-standardized curves and banking, guard-rail settings, so all contestants would be familiar with those details.

Actually about the only thing that's standardized from track to track is the ordering of the lane colours: red, white, green, orange, blue, yellow, purple and finally black.

I've enjoyed the Dave & Buster type racetracks (large, multi-screen, side-by-side drivers)....

I wonder how many other posters had to Google Dave & Buster's?

[Hepcat]

I can't believe I ate the whole thing.



Oh I think I'm going to die.

[Hepcat]

I had some highlights put in for a big do tonight:

[Hepcat]

[Hepcat]

Mmmmmmm, PEZ!