Alpen Rennen - Alpine Run
Aurora Model Motoring Track
This track is a on a 3.5 X 7 foot table, built to be reversable. The side shown is a Tjet track, representing a small German village in the Alps, with a Mercedes-BMW dealership and a gasoline (petrol/benzine) station. The track winds through two tunnels to reach an 8.5 inch elevation at the high frozen lake. There is a bridge over a frozen waterfall, leading to the lower frozen lake. Snow and ice cover the road, with squeeze tracks, a wiggle track and alternating 6 1/8 curves making up the slippery road surface. At the ruined castle, the snow melts away, and the road returns to the village. Model Motoring Steering wheel controllers handle the rear guide pin equipped cars. Since these photos were taken I've painted the lakes white to better represent icy lakes. This track started out 20 years ago in London. I had bought a 4 X 8 sheet of particle board, and while trying to wrestle it up the stairwell to my 2nd floor flat, I broke a big chunk out of the board. That's why it is such an odd size! I built a 4 lane AFX track on the board, and used scraps of green carpet from the Eastcote comm center to complete the landscaping. Years later in Okinawa, I decided to make a proper table for the track and it should be reversable, so that some day another layout could be built on the other side of the particle board. The track was enclosed with 1/2" X 1' boards, with 2"x3" table legs and carriage bolts holding it together. Further years later in Virginia, I had added TrakMate for lap timing/counting and color coding the lanes on the AFX track for club racing. After I retired from the Navy the plan for the unused side started to come together. After planning the layout, I laid the track on 1/4" plywood and cut out the design just as wide as the track itself. Then various 2"x4" blocks were cut to serve as elevation supports. The object was to get the most elevation change possible on such a small track. I used 2"x 2"s as supports for the three mountains. Plastic screening was laid over the mountains to form the basis for large quantities of plaster, used to form the mountains and snow drifts. The tunnels were formed from styrofoam blocks, with a HO railroad portal serving as the mouth to one of the tunnels. Clear silicone formed icecycles on the tunnels and the frozen waterfall between the sheet plastic lakes. the lower elevations are painted in earthy browns and greens, with white paint used on the track and everything else at the higher elevations. The trees all came from the Dollar Tree's Christmas craft section and most everything else from Lowe's. The only hobbyshop items are the European buildings and HO people. The power packs are external to the table, with a switch to direct power to the track in use.
January 2019: Here are some fresh pix!
I cut down the tables front wall, so that the village of Kern could be easily seen in video. Click the link below.