Here's some pictures
of the very first wooden track that my brother and I, and half the kids in
our neighbourhood built (under the watchful eye and guidance from my
father) in the mid 60's. The photo's were taken with a brownie box camera
(high tech at the time), but obviously not able to compete with todays
technology.
I was born and grew up in Zimbabwe, and for Christmas of 1963 my Brother
and I were given our first slotcar set. It was a standard figure 8 which we
set up on the living room floor, and there it stayed for about four months,
until my mother couldn't take it lying out any longer. My father then got
the idea of building a wooden track on our front verandah at home. The
track was made with what we call Masonite and copper tape. We used a
jig-saw to cut the slots, parted the Masonite about 3mm and then braced the
track from the underside with 25mmx25mm batons. The track surface was
painted black and then covered with very fine granite dust while still wet.
Gave a very realistic road surface, but was like sandpaper and ate tyres at
an alarming rate. Landscaping was done with fencing wire covered with old
bed sheets soaked in plaster. Grass was wood saw-dust dyed green/yellow and
the rocks were exactly that, taken from the garden.
of the very first wooden track that my brother and I, and half the kids in
our neighbourhood built (under the watchful eye and guidance from my
father) in the mid 60's. The photo's were taken with a brownie box camera
(high tech at the time), but obviously not able to compete with todays
technology.
I was born and grew up in Zimbabwe, and for Christmas of 1963 my Brother
and I were given our first slotcar set. It was a standard figure 8 which we
set up on the living room floor, and there it stayed for about four months,
until my mother couldn't take it lying out any longer. My father then got
the idea of building a wooden track on our front verandah at home. The
track was made with what we call Masonite and copper tape. We used a
jig-saw to cut the slots, parted the Masonite about 3mm and then braced the
track from the underside with 25mmx25mm batons. The track surface was
painted black and then covered with very fine granite dust while still wet.
Gave a very realistic road surface, but was like sandpaper and ate tyres at
an alarming rate. Landscaping was done with fencing wire covered with old
bed sheets soaked in plaster. Grass was wood saw-dust dyed green/yellow and
the rocks were exactly that, taken from the garden.
Please contact ">Alan McNab with any questions or comments
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