Slot Addiction

Setting the Scene

Something a bit different this month, as I’m not going to look at cars, but some trackside accessories. In the time I’ve been writing this column you’ve no doubt noticed some of the home tracks and the amount of work that has gone into making them, including details like scaled-down buildings and scenery. There is literally no limit to the ways in which these can be put together if you have the right skills.

One option is to go with what is readily available from slot manufacturers. Scalextric and Carrera in particular have been producing a range of plastic trackside buildings

almost as long as they have been selling track sets. Marshal huts, overpass bridges and pit buildings have all been available over the years, usually in the style of contemporary facilities. The only drawback with these ready-to-go items is that accessorising a full track layout could end up being an expensive exercise.

There are also specialist businesses making bespoke scale kits, although most of these are for model railroad sets and smaller than the usual 1:32 or 1:24 scale of slot cars. However, with the availability of high quality printing and laser-cutting facilities for home use, a few smaller slot-building enterprises have started to emerge. Proscale Racing make a comprehensive range of laser-cut timber kits of everything from pit buildings to grandstands. They come in at pack kits that can require a high level of skill in painting and model weathering to achieve a quality appearance.

One maker that has caught my eye is GP Miniatures, the brainchild of Graham Poulton. Graham has adapted a form of model railroad scenery to the slot car world by using foamcore card. Readily available from art supply stores, foam-core is light but sturdy and can be easily shaped with a hobby knife. Model railroad hobbyist have been making and printing building textures for decades and sticking them to the outside of cardboard, but foam core is much easier to work with. Graham has adapted this concept to making full kits of famous racetrack

buildings. All you have to do is some simple cutting and glue them together. This is really appealing when you are looking for some quick solutions and their cost is very reasonable for the quality of the artwork he has produced.

I thought I’d get hold of some of Graham’s kits of famous Le Mans buildings and assemble one of them for this column – Maison Blanche (aka White House). With its rooftop Martini banner, the famous farmhouse featured in the movie Le Mans, and gave that accident-prone section of track its name. These days Maison Blanche has been bypassed in the interests of safety.

To save on assembly and postage costs, the GP Miniatures kits also come as a at packs and there are no instructions. I think as a matter of pride, Graham expects his customers have at least some basic modelling skills. Assembling the Maison Blanche kit is not too difficult, but the at foam core sides can be unconvincing, and the cut edges leave exposed white foam. These issues can be overcome using techniques borrowed from model railroaders.

The basic principle is to take those features of the building that should not be ush with the wall sides and cut them out of the card and give them depth or change their texture. Usually this means detailing the doors, windows and any external xtures such as downpipes or steps. This can all be done at low cost – the materials can come from any form of cardboard or balsa you can get your hands on to make window frames, and thin, clear plastic from packaging for the glass.You will need tools such as a steel ruler, a sharp thin hobby knife and PVA adhesive.

Graham has anticipated the at look of the printed panels and the kit comes with readymade ‘relief’ panels for the doors and windows. I started the kit by cutting out the windows and door openings, using multiple passes of the knife to work through the thickness of the foam core. Once they were separated, I dressed the openings with a le to clean up the edges that were uneven from the multiple knife passes. This left the white foam edges where the windows had been cut out, so I painted them with a red-brown paint to match the printed windows. The supplied window and door panels were then glued in behind the openings.

I then offered up the walls to each other, where it became apparent that each corner of the building would have a foam-core edge showing. To eliminate this, I created a bevel along each wall end, allowing the printed panels to meet evenly at the corner. While I was at it, I made a horizontal oor section from foam core to add strength and ensure the side of the building would be square.

Next, the roof panels were glued onto the main structure. Although the main roof joint is hidden by a printed ridge cap included in the pack, it still leaves white foam core around the edges. I searched for images of completed kits and found others had hidden these by painting grey coloured barge boards. I got hold of some strips of modellers balsa and made my own. Just to nish it off, I added a door step and a metal handle to the otherwise at door.

Card kits like these often need nishing off to hide any remaining gaps and to make them looked weathered by the environment. Marker pens, water colours and ground up pastels can all be applied or brushed on to provide natural streaks from rain effects and staining from the ground. Once again, Graham has already incorporated much of the staining into his card printing, although I did add some earth-coloured pastel for some variation.

For those looking for something with an Australian theme, you might remember Tony Di Pastena’s Melbourne slot track. Tony has been in touch and let me know about an old style Bathurst control tower he has made from old photos. Now I’m talking really old, as this was the control tower in use prior to the 1987 track rebuild, and without the bay window modi cations that sprouted from it in the 1970s. Tony drew up his own plans, cut out the parts and built it all from scratch. De nitely a labour of love.