Australian Muscle Car – July 01, 2019

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 foam-

core 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

Settingthe Scene

S

omething 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.

with Brett Jurmann

addiction

Slot car