Old Taz has been very busy and very creative with some of his N scale model cars.
Watch the video and try not to smile!
“I would like to dedicate this portion of my track to my dad. One of the things that he did well was build and race, what they called, back then, stockcars, which they now call jalopies.
Believe it or, not my mother bought this car for him on his birthday, without a motor. The motor was built in the kitchen of the garage we lived in that winter.
This is the car that I learned to drive shift and double clutch on the gravel roads outside of town.
I remember there was a hook on the dash to lock it in second gear when he was racing. I hope you enjoy it as much as I had building it.
There are more things that I’d like to do to it like, detailing the cars out a little more, and the scenery is not complete.
My best friend (little R) down the street and I were having coffee. I told him what my next idea was and he had to come up with those words that mean a challenge to me. Wouldn’t it be neat if you could make the cars move. (CHALLENGE)
After probably a week of laying awake in bed, working this out in my head, I decided it may be possible. After doing and redoing, changing this and that few, and more sleepless nights, this is what I came up with, and hope you like it.
Take a look at what I’ve done and ask your questions I will do another post trying to answer your questions and show you some pictures of how it’s been put together.
Note that the root beer truck is not only carrying root beer, and yes it does have some of the “good” stuff. The story behind that is the county decided we couldn’t sell beer at the track because there was too many accidents and racing going on before and after our race.
We made a deal with them that if we ran a bus from the blue star to the track and back, they would let us sell beer. The bus starts out in front of the blue front (we’ll get to the blue front later) and leaves 1/2 an hour before the race. And then makes its run back to the blue front after the races. If you feel that you can’t drive your own car the bus is free. There’s no alcohol allowed on the infield. One of the corner marshals is a sheriff’s deputy.
In one of the pictures, you’ll see a lady just coming out of the bathroom. She was brought to the races thinking she was going out for the night, and then ended up at the dirty racetrack.
The gentleman at the green 40 Ford coupe has agreed to give her a ride. What kind of a ride, I don’t know. Notice there’s three gentlemen standing in front of the white dingy Ford coupe with the hood up. These are our hot rodders here in town.
The one standing in front of the car, end’s up designing cars for Hot Wheels. One of them is now an engineer on a fast freight to California.
The third one works in our round house changing tires and cleaning flues. The dingy blue Chevy station wagon with primer on the side is our ambulance. It can make it from here to the hospital faster than any ambulance on the road.
The #5 car sitting in the center of the infield is lining up for the next heat. You probably can’t see them but there’s two kids sitting up in the tree on #2 corner.
Sorry about the shaky video are we standing on this guy’s pick up and he kept yelling at me.
Have a great day and keep the shiny side up!
Old Taz”
A huge big thanks for Old Taz sharing his N scale model cars. I think they look amazing.
But what I really love about this layout is how he has picked a theme, and it’s also one that is personal to him.
It’s so easy and enjoyable to get lost in a layout when it means something to you.
One that springs to mind when it comes to themes is John’s. He used to holiday with his late wife in Bermuda, so that’s what he based his model train theme on. Beautiful.
I know I’m always banging on about making a start, but a close second to that is picking a theme.
Over the years, it’s clear to me that the layouts that stand out have had a theme in mind from day one.
You can see more of Old Taz’s posts on his Hall of Fame page.
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.
Fantastic!!!
Hard to beat for adding realism…!!
Well done Taz, I think your race track is fantastic especially for ‘n’ scale. Nice to see how the cars ‘drift’ in the corners.
Brian – the HOn3 guy in Knysna RSA
Taz, it would be interesting to hear or see how you powered the race cars on your track.
Brian – the HOn3 guy in Knysna RSA
Amazing and fun! The track reminds me of an old race track my dad used to take me to when I was a kid. Like everyone else here, how does he make the cars race around the track??
Great work, especially in N-Scale!. Well done!!!
Brilliant Taz,
Looks like the tail end of the cars are drifting out, takes me back 60 years to when all my family went to our local stock car stadium on a Saturday night! We had some great times, sadly it’s long gone now!
Happy modeling.
Keith (UK)
What a TERRIFIC SCENE! I have to ask, HOW did you do it? What mechanism did you use to power the magnets below the cars (If it is magnets of course). I would love to use your idea for other movement on mine. ANY tips you can give are appreciated!
Hello Taz
What a great innovation, a track layout within a track layout. Excellent job on achieving reality in N scale.
The race track brings back fond memories of my early twenties having asphalt and dirt tracks close by.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful creation.
Cary B aka cbgadget on YouTube,New Market MD
That’s too cool , you are a talented man sir. I teally enjoyed that … I grew up watching those old jalopies racing also , what a throwback and thank you for the nostalgia .
My money is on the blue car .
Taz what you created is so cool! It looks like so many race tracks that used to exist back in the day. Excellent use of space and a real signature scene. Well done!
Your story took me right back to the hot rod stock car days gone now, when anyone could afford, with hard work, mechanical skills and guts to go racing on the weekend. Then to see every detail you wrote about on your layout , beautifully executed in N, was delightful in itself. Then I pushed the reload button and got the video to download, and it came to life! Unbelievable! The animation of those tiny cars is masterful, I only hope to someday develop a bit of your ingenuity and add it to my N scale work. I’m pretty good at the scenery and especially duplicating existing groups of buildings and downsizing reality to layout size, but what you have done here has me baffled. I can’t wait for future installments!
Taz
I love what you did.
When I started my first S scale layout I was obsessed with having moving people and vehicles along with the trains. That hindered the train development because of the complexities of moving people and vehicles. A Faller truck and bus system was bought, which was out of scale, and I thought I could create my own S scale vehicles which never materialized. I researched the Magnorial system which to me was way too expensive for what you get and vehicles going round and round didnt do it for me because I was prejudiced about what the Faller concept did which can stop at lights, turn left or right, go both ways or cross, and the bus stops at the stop.
If you install a Faller system in an HO layout, and you can afford 4 figure numbers, the realism is beyond awesome. Add a small Magnorial system for people and cute bicycles and that would be the cats meow.
I am presently designing a small Magnorial like system for people going around a building and this is at the expense of train modeling. I say its got a 60% chance of happening.
Very cool. What a great Idea
Taz…..great scene with a story behind it……I have watch your video a few times trying to figure out how you did that. My educated guess is that all the cars are in a fixed position on the track and it is the track that is moving around in a oval shape. Would be nice to know how you did it…..especially in N gauge.
Pretty neat, I hope mine comes out that good.
Wonderful Taz. Reminded my of my college days when we would head south to Selinsgrove Speedway (central PA) for the big 88. An 88 lap final race on a dirt track. The cars were like yours, Taz, called Super Modified. Lots of corners with only 3 wheels on the ground, and some went over the wall.
Wonderful realism. Thanks for sharing
MN Dan
Great job. Have to ask if this is Faller or Magnorail. We have Magnorail on our N layout at the club. Also did you weight the rear of the cars to cause the drifting?
Nicely done! How about an article on how you make the cars move.
I raced stock cars in the 60’s, had a great time.
The problem was not teaching these little guys how to drive the big problem was keeping him on the track they’re all over my layout
Taz this brings back many memories for me because we had a dirt track just outside of town here Selma, CA where my neighbor had a jaloby and I at a very young age would go down to his house and help get it ready for Saturday nights race. So good that you brought this to life.
Fantastic! It is such a good and wonderful thing to do, to memorialize things from our past to models on our train layouts. They are points of interest that allow us to relive those times and those moments, and the people we love and loved. Nostalgia is alive and well on Your layout, and on mine. Without the people, places and objects of the past, my layout would be just a boring track running around in circles. Thank You so much!
Joseph from Milwaukee.
LOLOLOLOL Now that was cool man, made my day. Thanks for sharing
I am so fortunate to live only 4 blocks away from Oldtaz ’cause I get to see everything in person, and there is so much to see.
Little r
Brilliant Taz – very, very creative! Premier league imagination, ingenuity, creativity and modelling skills.
Best to all.
Brian, Wokingham, UK
Amazing, Just Amazing.
I would love to see how you got the cars to move.
Best,
John
While there is a proprietary method available for making the cars move, if you are able to power a belt around some pulleys and attach magnets to the belt, while attaching either a magnet or a piece of metal to the bottoms of the cars, they should follow the path of the belt around a circuit. Just make sure that the “road” is not too thick as to interfere with the attraction of the vehicles to the magnets.
i like it. looks really good. when i was a lid i put a real race car set on mine.
Love it!
Priceless, so many excellent models. The entire scene sure reminds me of those NJ dirt track days and Ryder truck rental sponsorship.
Regards, R
Wow, a dirt track raceway. That is original. I love it. Rob
Reminds me of the old Flemington Racetrack, before it got turned into a Lowes and Walmart. Great work, thanks for sharing.
That’s freaking sweet!!!
Taz….I remember this…. and you explained the working of the track. Great job.
Awesome race track Taz, I would be interested in how you got the cars running around the track. Wow so many cars !!!!!!
The race track is a gas. No pun intended.
Great job Taz! I would like to know how you worked to make the cars move around the track. I raced one season at a local track before being drafted into the Army. Had a great time.