RevellSlotTracks Tutorial

Let's take a few minutes to get a handle on using the program...

Screen areas:

screen areas

Enduro Home Raceway Track Layout

First Track Plan - Revell Enduro Home Raceway Set

Track Pieces:

  • A - R3600 straight
  • C - R3602 terminal
  • I - R3601 14" radius curve
  • N - R3617 gray fence
Enduro

Let's start by making a layout diagram of the Enduro Set. (see image)

When you initially start the program, you will see a screen like this:

screen0

Although we can start using the "New Layout" menu option, each layout "tab" is set to begin with 2 lanes and empty. So, click on the "Layout 1" tab. You will see that the layout is not yet named and a bunch of the data fields are blanked. There is also a red light - this indicates that nothing has been done yet - no track pieces have been placed.

Pick a spot on the Enduro layout image to start - a good idea is to start with the terminal track (C). Locate the 12" terminal icon in the Toolbox on the left and click on it. You can choose one with the connection tab pointing either up or down - down is best in this case. The icon will darken slightly to indicate that it is selected.

Now use the mouse to click on a spot in the large layout screen to the right of the part usage table. The track part will appear at that location with the lanes (red and green) going left-to-right.

The "save status" light will now illuminate yellow to show that a layout is in progress.

Look at the Enduro diagram and notice that the next two track pieces are standard 12 inch straights (A). Click on that icon in the toolbox on the left side. Now click anywhere on the layout screen that is blank and that piece will be added to the layout.

Now, if you click the blank layout screen again, another straight track piece will be apppended to the layout.

Notice that the first piece placed is a different color (darker) than subsequent pieces. This is to keep the starting track piece as a reference "anchor" piece.

Click on the layout screen again and one more straight will be appended but, oops, that is one too many. The next piece needed is a 14 inch radius right turn, so click that icon in the Toolbox and then click on that last straight piece. The straight piece will be replaced by the right turn piece. If you happened to chose the wrong curve, merely click on the proper icon and click on the piece that you want to replace.

Continue to choose toolbox icons and click on the layout screen until you connect to the starting "anchor" track piece.

Notice that the Enduro layout has fences on the curve pieces. Let's add those to our layout.

On the Toolbox, click the tab "Attachment Pieces - 2 Lane". This will change the grid of track piece images to show the various aprons and fences that can be "attached" to a track piece.

Scroll down on the Toolbox until the '14: gray fence' icon is visible. Click on the icon to select it. Now click on one of the curved track pieces. The fence attachment should appear.

The icon should stay selected, so continue to click on the curved track pieces (total of 8) to add all of the fences.

If you accidently click on one of the straight track pieces, you will see a pop-up warning that the attachment does not work for that track piece.

While we are thinking about it, enter the layout name, "Enduro", where "unnamed1" is located.

Your layout should look like this:

Enduro

Notice that when you mouse-over a track piece, the track part number and the current elevation will be displayed.

Mouse over the two crossing pieces in the middle of the figure 8. Both should show "R3600 elev 0.25". Since the track layout order has the crossover (upper) track after the lower was placed, this is OK.

We usually want the terminal track on the lower (ground) level, so to make sure, we can set the elevation so it is always correct. Right-click on the upper piece and select "Set Elev 2 (50%)". Mouse over again and see that it was changed.

You can do the same to the lower track and change its elevation, either higher or lower. IF set higher, notice that the lower track piece now becomes the upper piece.

Also notice, that part number usage table between the ToolBox and the layout area shows:

To save this layout, look in the upper left for the Menu bar and click on "File" (the File Menu). Then click on "Save Layout As".

A standard dialog will appear and should show the folder "trackplans". If it doesn't navigate to that folder within the disk area where this program was unzipped to.

Now double click on the "MyLayouts" folder. This folder should be empty.

Enter a name for the layout file, like, for example, "Enduro". This will save the file so that you can load it up again (see next section).

The "save status" light will now illuminate green to show that a layout has been saved.

Grand Turismo Home Raceway Track Layout

Second Track Plan - Revell Grand Turismo Home Raceway Set

Track Pieces:

  • A - R3600 straight
  • C - R3602 terminal
  • F - R3603 transition
  • I - R3601 14" radius curve
  • K - R3605 spin-out apron
Grand Turismo

The "Grand Turismo" home raceway set is quite similar to the Enduro set but has spin-out aprons rather than fences. Let's build up the GT layout next.

We are going to cheat on this one and start with the Enduro layout, so click on the "Layout 2" tab.

Look in the upper left for the Menu bar and click on "File" (the File Menu). Then click on "Open Layout File".

A standard dialog will appear and should show the folder "trackplans". Double click on the "MyLayouts" folder and select the Enturo file. The Enduro layout that you saved should be loaded into the "Layout 2" tab area.

It would be nice to just select the appropriate outside (spin-out) apron but the fences are already there. (there is currenly a bug that allows both attachments to exist at the same time)

So, right-click on one of the curved track pieces and select "Attach" from the menu that appears.

A new "Curved Track Attachments" dialog will pop up. Notice that the R3617g (gray fence) icon is already highlighted.

Click on the R3617g icon to deselect it. Then click on the R3605 spin-out apron icon to select it.

Now click "OK" - the dialog will close and the fence graphic will be replaced by the apron graphic.

Yeah, it's a little tedious, but repeat the operation for the remaining curved track pieces.

The layout should now have spin-out aprons on the curved track pieces. Now we need to add the straight transition aprons - we will do it two ways. (see the above diagram for track parts "F")

On the Toolbox, click the tab "Attachment Pieces - 2 Lane". The attachment icons will appear in the ToolBox..

Click on "RU straight trans" icon in the ToolBox (short for Right Upper straight transition apron). The icon will highlight.

Next, click on the second straight (R3600) track piece to the right of the terminal (anchor) track piece. It is next to the first curved piece with an apron. The short straight apron will appear.

It should be easy to see which of the four types of straight transition aprons (type F) is needed when the track is oriented from left-to-right.

The next short apron is a little tricky since it is "upside-down" from the track build flow. Click on the "LU straight trans" (Left Upper straight transition) icon. The icon will highlight. Notice that this one is opposite from the other "upper" short transition piece.

From the previous attachment, follow the curve around to the first straight track piece after the curve. The appropriate short transition piece should appear.

The other easy one is the terminal (R3602) track piece - it needs a short transition apron next to the end of the final cureve. Look at the ToolBox and you should see that "LL straight trans" (left lower) matches what we need. Click that icon and then click the darker terminal "anchor" piece. The short transition piece should appear.

If you accidentally click on a curved track piece with a straight transition selected, you will see a warning that the attachment doesn't work.

There is one more straight transition to add but let's leave the "LL" icon selected. Click on the straight piece at the start of the final curve and see where the transition is placed.

You can see that it didn't get placed properly which is easy to do when the track list is going right-to-left.

Right-click on that same straight piece and select "Attach". The "R3600 Straight Track Attachments" dialog will appear. Notice that the "R3603L" icon is already selected.

Well, we don't want that one but the "R3603R" icon straight across to the right. Click on the "R3603L" icon to deselect it and click on the "R3603R" icon across from it. (notice that there are two locations for the R3603R and R3603L pieces. They come in pairs.

Click "OK", the dialog disappears and the transition appears in the correct place this time.

Your layout should look like this:

Grand Turismo

Edit the layout name and save the layout file like you did for the Enduro layout.

Notice, that part number usage table between the ToolBox and the layout area shows:

Click the "Stats" tab next to the "Layout 1" tab. This table shows each layout that has been designed or loaded and the track and attachment pieces used. It can be used along with the "Inventory Manager" in the File Menu to determine if you have enough pieces to handle all the layouts.

If you click on "Hide Cell rows with zero usage", the table will contract and only show the actual pieces used.

Expanding the Grand Turismo Home Raceway Track Layout

TBD

More... TBD

Finally, click the "Exit" buttonin the lower left corner of the screen. There will be a chance to save any layouts that have not already been saved.