Braiders -- Now You Can Race On ANY Track!

[HO RacePro]

ScratchRacer,

I never offered Braiders for sale because I was not satisfied with their durability. They were far too easy to damage in spin-outs.

It's a shame, because in every other respect they were successful. I'd love to be able to offer them if I could fix the durability problem. i have a few ideas. Someday I may take another run at it.

Ed Bianchi

[RichD]

Funny that this subject just came up, I was looking at some braiders that I found in my pit box yesterday. Some of those were loose and some were attached to pickup shoes.

[ScratchRacer]

ScratchRacer,

I never offered Braiders for sale because I was not satisfied with their durability. They were far too easy to damage in spin-outs.

It's a shame, because in every other respect they were successful. I'd love to be able to offer them if I could fix the durability problem. i have a few ideas. Someday I may take another run at it.

Ed Bianchi

I'm only inquiring because I saw your YouTube video showing how to install them. Looked like a good idea. I routed an HO track when I was a kid, some 50+ years ago. Back then we would solder some fine wire to the tops of the pickup shoes and run the wires through the window and under the shoes. Worked great on copper tape tracks.

I'm nearly finished with my routed oval using 1/8" braid. Then I need to help my friend with his routed road course, also using 1/8" braid. Seems like we got inspired somehow. Thanks

[HO RacePro]

I published that wire-through-the-window trick in my two-part HO track routing article in Car Model -- in what? -- 1968? 1969? Maybe you saw that article, maybe you didn't. I have no trouble believing you invented it independently. If so, great! Props to you.

Fact is, it worked, and still works, very well on copper tape. The wires can be stiff enough to not get scrambled in a spin. You do need to know how to solder, but other than that it is a great solution.

The idea with Braiders was that no soldering was required. A significant advantage. Too bad the Braiders didn't hold up.

Ed Bianchi

[ScratchRacer]

I read those articles. That's what I inspired me to rout an HO track using copper tape when I was a teenager.

[HO RacePro]

ScratchRacer,

Well that is interesting to hear. I had hoped I'd inspire a lot of HO track routing. Here and there, but not that much.

People wanted routed HO tracks with rail conductors. It took decades for them to come on the market and they were, and remain, very expensive. Our copper taped tracks were not expensive at all, but never became popular.

In the '90's I started selling tracks with braid conductors. Still much cheaper than tracks with rails. But braid never caught fire either. Here and there.

My Slide Guides were invented to free HO from rails. Did they catch fire? Nope. Here and there.

HO seems to be cursed forever by kludgy technology that was invented almost 60 years ago. I tried. Too bad.

Ed Bianchi

[ScratchRacer]

I'm working on two routed tracks with braid, and I have a bunch of your slide guides.

[CBWho]

ScratchRacer,

Well that is interesting to hear. I had hoped I'd inspire a lot of HO track routing. Here and there, but not that much.

People wanted routed HO tracks with rail conductors. It took decades for them to come on the market and they were, and remain, very expensive. Our copper taped tracks were not expensive at all, but never became popular.

In the '90's I started selling tracks with braid conductors. Still much cheaper than tracks with rails. But braid never caught fire either. Here and there.

My Slide Guides were invented to free HO from rails. Did they catch fire? Nope. Here and there.

HO seems to be cursed forever by kludgy technology that was invented almost 60 years ago. I tried. Too bad.

Ed Bianchi

Micro Scalextric is trying to go braid in 1/64 scale. The only issue I see is the cars themselves look daft.

This battery powered set can be had for less than $50 including shipping. Wire in our other power supplies and better controllers and have a good setup? They offer power supply versions as well.

I wonder what the track dimensions are?

[RichD]

HO cars with conventional pickup shoes will not run on the latest Micro Scalextric track. The rails are spaced closer together and are flush with the surface of the track. HO cars with Slide Guides would work OK, but those will not fit in a lot of cars.
I have not seen any reports on the cars or track since the new system was announced. I expect that there is a good reason that the sets are now being sold cheaply.
I see that the Micro cars are not listed on the Scalextric US site, I had to go to the GB site to see if other than cartoon themed cars were being offered. There will be street versions of the Lamborghini Huracan and Porsche 911 Turbo later this year.

[model murdering]

Along with the disparity in conductor height, to my knowledge, and a recent search to verify; there is only one radius. The new track system is scribbled up as though a mad graffiti-st on caffeine tagged it. No doubt to appeal to the kiddies. Definite deal breakers for a stodgy old slotter like me.

Pretty sure Woodcote's UK drag race proxy runs on Micro Scalectric track. Although I dont have the rule set at my finger tips, I recollect that they require braid to be soldered to conventional T-jet style pick up shoes.

[NicoRosberg.]

Micro Scalextric is trying to go braid in 1/64 scale. The only issue I see is the cars themselves look daft.

This battery powered set can be had for less than $50 including shipping. Wire in our other power supplies and better controllers and have a good setup? They offer power supply versions as well.

I wonder what the track dimensions are?

Micro Scalextric cars went to braids about 1996, when they dumped the Marchon-inspired chassis and brought out their own.

The problem is braids and thin rails do not play nice. A marshal catches one and your race is over, the smallest movement left-right or up-down and the car will either not run or will run bad.

I assume the wide rails on the new (2019) system makes that issue less problematic, but I have always though braids fixed at one point a bad idea. I have had way more problems with them, in all scales, than shoes, despite running the former way, way less.

[HO RacePro]

Braids on HO cars goes back (at least) to the original Aurora Super II. The braids were spot-welded on the front of conventional HO pickups. And they didn't work worth a good gol-darn. One spin on the conductor rails and they were scrambled. That feature quickly disappeared from the Super II.

For braids to work you really need a guide shoe that can pivot, following the slot regardless of how much the car slides. Fitting a guide shoe to an HO car is actually pretty easy. You just need a THIN guide shoe. My Slide Guides have a plate that is only 0.025 inches (0.64mm) thick. Despite how thin that plate is it is plenty stiff enough for the job. That's a good thing, because there isn't much space under an HO chassis.

I take some satisfaction from the fact some HO scratch-builders have been installing their own versions of Slide Guides under their cars. At least a few builders have realized its a good idea. I don't mind that they've decided to roll their own. When I see one I study it closely to see if they've added something new to the design.

Ed Bianchi

[NicoRosberg.]

Right.

If the braids can pivot, and sit either side of a blade going into the slot, they are much less likely to move to a sub-optimal location.