If you're like me,
and you're always looking for something extra to add more realism to your HO Scale Race Track, here's something that's sure to boggle your imagination. Miniature Photographers!! Here's a trick
that is sure to amaze your friends and fellow racers, and add more excitement to your slot car track. Imagine seeing camera "flashes" from the grandstands as the cars pass by. This is an idea that was
inspired by HO train enthusiasts, with a little extra added.
I was at a hobby shop in my area that had a train display running around the perimeter of the store. In one section, there was a push-button
on the front panel that said "PUSH". When I did, I was amazed to see a bright, miniature "flash" come from man holding a camera. I looked underneath the display and saw a black box with a
fiber optic wire running up under the man. Cool!! Then I thought, what a great idea for the racetrack.
I'm not sure of the construction techniques of this particular unit, but building one from
scratch isn't that difficult. I built a flash unit for my track, sprouting 4 to 5 fiber optic cables, going to different people in the grandstands.  The effect is multiple flashes, at fractions of a second, as the cars race past. It's really
cool! The parts aren't too difficult to locate, and construction is fairly simple. I have a 4 lane track, so I eventually will have 1 flash unit for each lane. The flash units are
detachable units for 35mm cameras that can still be found at Camera stores. Most larger camera supply stores will stock used equipment, and I found these units sell anywhere from
$10 to $20. In my case I already had a few packed away. Today's camera's have flash units built in. If you could locate some broken cameras that still have functioning flash units, you could
probably adapt them for this purpose.Here's how it works: Turn on the unit. Allow it to charge for a brief period. (Remember the old units you had to listen to while
they charged?) As the cars race past the reed switches located under the track, the cars' magnets trigger the switches, and *FLASH * FLASH * FLASH*, you have people taking pictures in  your grandstand! If you use multiple fiber optic cables for each unit, and position the fiber optic
cables in different "people" in the stands, the flashes will appear to come from many different people. By installing 4 reed switches for each lane, one car can
actually trip all 4 flash units in a row for a more realistic effect. If you wire the reed switches staggered, all 4 units will fire all of the time, no matter how many
cars are racing. With 4 or 5 fiber optic cables coming from 4 different flash units, you could end up with 16 to 20 flashes, and the effect would be really dramatic!
The hard part is running the fiber optics to the tiny people. There are a number of different photographers and people with cameras available for HO Scale train layouts. Try www.Walthers.com Even if you couldn't
locate small people holding actual cameras, you could just glue the fiber optics into small holes in the
people. The flash from the fiber optic cable is actually quite bright! You can find this clear cable at larger hobby stores with HO Train detailing products, or you can order it from Edmund Scientific.
Different lap lengths and charge times for the units will affect how many times the flashes will occur repeatedly, obviously. My track is 83 feet long, with an average lap time on a stock car of 5.75 to 6
seconds. I have found this to be perfect for the units to recharge for each lap. (The Indy cars are faster,
and it usually takes 2 laps to to charge.) Depending on battery strength, it takes from 6 to 10 seconds to recharge.
I was actually able to remove the small neon bulb from the unit, that indicates a full charge, and relocate it near the ON/OFF switch
. (* I found that the neon light will remain lit after you shut off the unit,
indicating a charged capacitor. You should trip the flash and discharge the unit before shutting down the
track. This can help save battery life also, since it appears that battery voltage will continually be drawn into the neon bulb if the charge in the capacitor is not released.) A WORD OF CAUTION!!!:
If you're not familiar with high voltage capacitors, BE VERY CAREFUL, or allow an experienced electronic person do your electrical work!! Capacitors can hold voltage for a
long time, even when the power source is removed. Coming in contact with these high voltage capacitors
can injure you or possibly be FATAL!!! The shock can throw a grown man across a room!! PLEASE use
caution if you do your own work... Do not touch the leads of the capacitor unless you are positive that the capacitor has been discharged. (If you follow the switch tap directions carefully, you really shouldn't be near the capacitor leads.)
Here's a list of parts, and a diagram of the construction for the flash units: Good Luck! |
