Track Cleaning
What do you guys use to clean your tracks. Mine being in my garage has allowed it to collect a lot of dust as well as graphite that comes off the cars.
I was thinking something like Windex and some old socks to get the bulk of the grime off and then a soft towel after that to dry it off.
Discussion
@ Chris Thanks for posting this info for us to watch. This helped out a lot as Im in the process of a Drag Track build in my basement. I was starting to read up on how to clean the track without killing it..
Hey all,
Yes Elevation does do a great job at cleaning his track! A great video to highlight Chris! I recall Dale may have also done one on his DXP channel.
Yes the garage is a dirty place to keep a track! I know!
If you want accurate and more consistant test results from your cars, one needs to clean the track often! It only takes one grain of sand at 400 scale mph to see a car do a massive hop, or what you don't see is the dirt/soil, etc that can potentially get onto your axles, wheel hubs.....That is until you ask yourself why has this car slowed?!
As well as the great video, some other great "house keeping" practices help.
Things l (try) and do include;
1. Keeping the garage door down when not in use.
2. Regular sweeping or using the blower to remove dust/dirt from garage.
3.I have tried to cover the track at times over the years, but never really found a good method.
4. Clean track and surrounds before use. Many items are useful for this. Including a new 4 inch paint brush, baby wipes, qtips cotton buds, microfibre towels, clean rags etc. Then there are also many products one can wipe the track down with for a final clean and polish. Just make sure whatever you use, is fit for purpose!
Cheers !
- Difficult to imagine the additional work needed when there's an intricate diorama to also get ready for the cameras!! — Chris_Hood
- spritz type matte hairspray is what I "dust" dioramas with, just melts the dust into the tree,lol — dr_dodge
Great info everyone! My track needs a thorough cleaning before the next race!! Now I know how to do it effectively!!
Wow. I was amazed by how much dust came off the track when I cleaned it. Having chicks growing up in there is not helping, But they are moving outside next week. I will clean the track again before the tournament on the 19th.
Since I don't own a "permanent" track, I usually clean each individual track piece during assembly and then once every 2 days after it's laid out. I prefer using an aerosol foam glass cleaner. It seems to break up the accumulated graphite a bit bettter than standard windex. But, yea, rolling these little cars on a dusty track is like a full-sized cars running on gravel...it can have a huge impact on ETs.
Elevation Diecast put up a video outlining his maintenance regimen once, very involved and thorough for his dragstrip course. It even included cotton swabs to get into crevices between the "flat" and "walls" of his seamless orange track. Microfibre towels will carry you a long ways, finish up with baby wipes. For a dragstrip that gets a lot of use and trades on consistent runs, getting that spent graphite and dust off the course regularly appears to be key! No doubt "Dad" himself will see this post and link directly to that video in the thread
Oh, I found this one of his that I watched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMVH1mo6ueA