Cuckoo Pines, 1960's SCCA style Carrera track Options

[Brad Korando]

Excellent work Pete! The buildings look great and are just right for the era you are modeling. I really like the fencing that you can see behind the pit building. The fifth and sixth photos really capture how well you have executed the terrain along the edge of the track. Nice texture and color variation. The Cooper Monaco / King Cobra adds nicely to the pit lane as well. Is that a vintage model you scored on eBay, or did you build and paint it? Either way; it looks great!

Where did the Sprite and Tiger (I think) come from??? Terrific choices, as I'm looking for some for Prairie Ridge.

Since the issue of the pit lane / track separation has been raised, I'll jump into the topic. I think the hay bales look fine, but if I were to do something different it would be a wood guardrail rather than a wall. The hay bales are not wrong at all for the fifties. Tracks here in the States in the 1950's were rather primitive. I've seen photos of some tracks where they didn't even use hay bales - just a painted line on the ground! I've also seen photos of tracks where tires were set flat on the ground spaced about 2 meters apart. Not stacks of tires mind you: just a row of single-high tires. Just imagine cars racing three wide to the finish when the inside car clips one of those tires at speed! A solution that I plan to use at Prairie Ridge, and one that I think will complement your new structures and fencing is a simple but sturdy wood guardrail. Here's a series of achieve photos from Prairie Ridge circa 1960.





(It's really Meadowdale International Raceways - my favorite and long gone US course.)

The guardrail idea is just my opinion. You're doing terrific work Pete; go with what you think looks best. Keep up the great work and thanks for the update.
Brad

ps. Kudos to your girlfriend! I first thought that the zebra top was actually a more stylish marshal’s shirt! Just think of the pile up at the start/finish if it were!

[sealevel]

love the fences around the corner.

fantastic work

cheers

I echo the comments above and wonder if you made or purchased the corner fences.
Also, when you say Monogram buildings, is this the same as the model car manufacturer?
Do you know if the buildings are still in production?
I will check eBay and our local hobby stores.

The layout is very effective without being crowded with too much track etc. Very good looking scenery (kudos to your girlfriend, eh?) Also love the track sidelines. I gather that the brush is in the paint bottle? I am not familar with the materials you used to draw the white lines. If you could give more info it would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Cheers!

[perthor]

Great work Pete, I have just looked through your thread and your track is turning into a great piece of art
You have managed to capture the scenery and the atmosphere spot on, it is a joy to watch, and I am looking forward to many more picture updates.
You said the figures are revell/Monogram, where do you get them from?
Regards Per

[pt59]

Pete, fabulous track, I have one thing puzzling me though, You say you 'Girlfriend' helped with painting, and as we can see the good lady has done an excellent job, question is, How come you have not married this lady yet? do you now how rare it is to find girls who help with slot tracks?

[LMP]

The completed building looks great, I bet your pleased with it! Get to work on them flags

[scudbong]

Excellent work Pete! The buildings look great and are just right for the era you are modeling. I really like the fencing that you can see behind the pit building. The fifth and sixth photos really capture how well you have executed the terrain along the edge of the track. Nice texture and color variation. The Cooper Monaco / King Cobra adds nicely to the pit lane as well. Is that a vintage model you scored on eBay, or did you build and paint it? Either way; it looks great!

Where did the Sprite and Tiger (I think) come from??? Terrific choices, as I'm looking for some for Prairie Ridge

First off i'm really pleased you like it Brad it means a lot from you.
The Cooper Monaco is an old Monogram kit which i bought at an Autojumble, it has been built really nicely. I have another one in light blue as well which is also built to this standard, not sure what i am doing with it yet. I've got a lot of cars like this that i bought for my track but finding a place for them all will be difficult. The kit was designed to be built either as a Slot car or static.
The Sprite and Daimler Dart (Tiger) are both built by me. The Sprite is an Airfix body on a Reprotec Fiat 600 chassis and the Daimler Dart is a resin body which is produced by an English company called Highway 32. I will meassge you a link because they do quite a few SCCA style racers including MGA, Sprite, TR3, Tiger/Alpine and more!

Thanks for all the pictures of the fencing/guardrail, they have certainly given me something to think about. What does everyone else think? Brad, i have never heard of that track, is there a website of its history? any good links perhaps? The cars in the pictures are really cool, exactly what i like, cheers!

Also, when you say Monogram buildings, is this the same as the model car manufacturer?

The buildings were produced by Monogram in the 1960's to go with there range of beautiful slot cars. They do appear on Ebay US frequently but they are quite expensive. My friend Mike can do replicas of the pit buildings which are very good.

The fences are for a model railway and are very cheap, i paid £4.50 for the ones on the track, i need a few more though to go around the corner.

The white lines are done with a paint pen. I attached it to a wooden block and then ran the block around the track edge, it followed it perfectly and made a very neat line all the way around. It is very simple and very quick.

You said the figures are revell/Monogram, where do you get them from?

These are a mixture of original 1960's ones and repros made by MRRC which are available from all the large slot car shops or Ebay.They don't cost much either, the repro ones that is. Brad has used the same figures on his track. They are perfect for my era, i love them!

How come you have not married this lady yet

I'm trying! we are engaged and will get married in 2011 hopefully. We have just moved into aour first home together so things are nice.



I really appreciate the comments guys, it makes it all worth while. Gary I will do the flags very soon, i think they will look really good and i'm glad you suggested it.

Cheers,

Pete

Sorry if i haven't answered a question, just remind me if i haven't.

[DJ]

What a wonderful representation of a wonderful era of motor racing.
Congratulations on producing such a fantastic scenic track and a lovely collection of racing cars.

[honestjudge]

uhmm, Shame your racing skill doesn't match your modelling work.

[merkit the grof]

And another thing, I can't see the damn cuckoo anywhere.



Joel

PS: Particularly like the man with the blue shirt, well done.

[kris8583]

Superb mate, love the track, hope mine will turn out as good. Like others on here I like the flow of the track and the scenery. Great effort!

[Brad Korando]

I'm glad you liked the pictures Pete. Here's a link to the web site for Meadowdale International Raceways. The site documents the history of the venue and you will find a lot of interesting photos by clicking on "Vintage Photographs". Another site that was suggested to me was BARCBOYS. On it you'll find more good photographs of vintage race events, mostly in teh US and from the time frame we both are interested in.

Thanks for the info on the cars and the correction on the Diamler Dart. Nice work on the builds, and the finish. As you can see from the Meadowdale grid photos, you captured the simplicity of the 50's and 60's liveries quite well.

Brad

[knoath]

Hi Dick,

Thanks for your kind words, "up there with the greats" really pleased to hear YOU say that as you are one of the top "track Guru's".

Ahhh... you must have the wrong person...

Brad beat me to it with the wooden plank fence... that's exactly what I was thinking.
Your trackside detail is perfect... it's what I'm aiming for on my track.
Thanks for the close ups.

Looking forward to more updates.
Dick

*Brad, looking at those links, I see where your inspiration comes from!
I see your old bleachers in some of those main straight pics!

[olsixfour]

Great layout and effort, Brad. I'm taking notes for my track.

Regarding "sexy lady," where are guys in the infield holding up signs that say, "Show us your ... plastic!!!"

73,

Roger ...

[Porsche904]

Hi,

Just had a run through the thread for the first time, and I have to say a big WELL DONE!

There are some fabulous layouts on this forum which are a great inspiration to people such as myself (in the process of getting the scenery together on my 4-lane Scaley!) but I must say that I really, really like this one - just seems to work for me. can't quite put my finger on it, but its something about simplicity, fabulous execution and capturing the 'feel'.

Thanks for sharing it with us.

Best Regards

Chris

[Datto]

Looks like it could almost be Laguna Seca But "Tyres" is spelled wrong on the blimp. should be "TIRES" over here.