Digital Diary of the Well Mountain Mad Man, The PB-PRO adventure of how it should have been :-) Options

[sealevel]

That last pic looks like a variation on something from oldslotracer himself. I have seen a couple of routed layouts that have the inside lane crossover to the outside and the other two lanes move in one. These mods are very interesting but more complex than the earlier racing line "esses" om post #1.

Keep up the good work and show us your progress... you are truly taking us into new territory!

Cheers!

[PSRRFH]

I'll do the bold statement that anybody can do "Shauns S-ses" as I call them, two cuts with an electric pendulum saw,......(the ones you hold in your hand and the blade goes up and down)
(in Denmark we call it the rabbits naughty parts).....andBob's your uncle.

With the collective thinking going on at the moment, maybe I should start taking orders from people ??

cheers and thanks for watching

[PSRRFH]

Well, life goes on.

Here is what I ended up with after tonights cutting.


2 lane to 3 lane entrance


3 lane to 2 lane exit


You do not need to use it for a 180-degree curve since it can also serve as a starting piece and end piece to a 3 track section.
That is why I use the 2 half standard R2 curves, so it can be separated for each 22.5 degree.

And now I'll see if I can manage to get some more Hot glue or I'll have to wait until Monday, if so..... some rally cars will get a good trashing around

Kind Regards
Lars
You do not have to be crazy to be here, but it helps.

[rallyP]

Hi Lars, do not know how could I have missed this new adventure of yours! Very interesting cut and paste constructions, almost total freedom!!

How is the digital thingy going for you?

[duncanb]

Wow...... Im watching very closely to see what you do next. Suddenly, having previously been happy with my layout, I have now decided that a few of my corners are a little boring.... Lets hope I still have enough fingers to type tomorrow!

[PSRRFH]

Hi Lars, do not know how could I have missed this new adventure of yours! Very interesting cut and paste constructions, almost total freedom!!

How is the digital thingy going for you?

Well I've been rug racing on and off with digital for a couple of years but only with a 4-car base which is not very powerfull IMHO, the cars lack topspeed and punch.
It's OK fun though, for a two car persuit on my shopping mall :-)
But with the PB-Pro upgrade it's very close to the analog power and it's a funny sensation when you start a race and the car feels real heavy and slow, and then lab by lab you can feel the car getting faster and faster, due to fuel consumption.
So lots of new stuff that will take some time to get used to and lots of enhancements to the driving experience and gaming aspect.
Of course sector timing would be sweet aswell, and I think it can be done with some kind of program . And that way my Mountain and my Shopping Mall can be included in various ways.

The second thing is a thing that I think all manufactures have got wrong and the reason for cutting up my 3 curve lane changers and 2 X-overs:

The trackpieces available does not create interesting or real racing lines, which leads to a kinda dull sensation IMHO

ex. The esses that ShaunBMX came up with would be so easy for Scalextric to produce (I mean it's based on there own footprint!!!!!)
Yesterday I discovered that the rather expensive leftovers from making one of the esses(the In to Out ends) makes for an exelent bottleneck into a parabolica(I think it's called) singel lane section.
The R3 curve with R4 racing curve inlays like I've done would also be easy to make based on there existing footprint.
A longer X-over, and a variation piece with a 2 lane to 3 lane extension like shown above.
Generally I'm missing track pieces that creates oppertunities instead of blocking options.
Entry and exit flippers with power should be mandatory(Something that I still need to learn), so you had bi-directional driving.
And sensors for triggering the flippers should be made as butten connectors so that you could click them on under any trackpiece prior to the Flipper.
Finally I think there should be a guide where you could mount the incar diode right infront of the guideBlade(Thats another MOD) to ensure that sliding cars would still trigger flippers.

So what do I think of digital ???

Well the PB-PRO saves the day on the control, Power & Gaming side of things, and with some heavy Slice 'n' Dice you can make some pretty interesting moves.
Give it 10 more years and I'll guess that we'll see some pretty amazing stuff.

Wow...... Im watching very closely to see what you do next. Suddenly, having previously been happy with my layout, I have now decided that a few of my corners are a little boring.... Lets hope I still have enough fingers to type tomorrow!

I hope to have this track cutting journey for a little testspin video in a week or two, probably the later.
Don't sue me if you break or destroy anything :-), after a little while I'm sure you will come up with new ideas, please come back and share as I'm running out of trackpieces to cut :-(
And Please be careful with whatever you use to cut.
-
Lars

[aZLAn2000]

Finally I think there should be a guide where you could mount the incar diode right infront of the guideBlade(Thats another MOD) to ensure that sliding cars would still trigger flippers.

I did something else and mounted a series of ir receivers in the track instead. This way - when cars are sliding the IR will still pick it up. There is a thread somewhere on what components you need. Its actually on the diode, some wiring and some soldering that is required - and of course a hole to set the diode in.

/Christian

[duncanb]

My own idea which I would like to use but have not as yet managed is to...... take 2 pitlane pieces and align them so as to make a 4 into 2 exit.
Now if you were to cut bothepieces down the middle of the straight slot and put the other bits together you would be left with a 3 into one lane narrowing.

My other idea was very similar with 2 XLCs. Again align like a 4 lane 'interchange' and cut down the inner rails. Taking out the smaller bits in the middle and put them together. We have moved from 4 lanes to 3. This should allow both outer lanes an option to the centre at the same time. You would have to engineer the middle flipper as to how you wanted it to work ie. forced onto the 'racing line' with an option to go the other way. Im not sure you could make a car in the middle go straight on. Following????

Proposed position is a 3 lane SF line. Off the grid (cars in lanes 1 and 3) all cars could have an option to break to the centre or avoid a stalled car (false start penalty) in a relatively short strech of track and making it fairer and more realisitc.

You may need to re-read it - I did!

Lars - Can I just ask what you are using to cut the track pieces? A clean cut makes for more accuracy and a better finish.

Cheers
Duncan

[shaunbmx]

You Rule... That is some creative thinking going on there.
Always good to see someone not holding back after all its only a piece of track, nothing to loose lots to gain.

Not sure i have video of my track ( maybe some crappy short ones), lots of pics, i should add to my thread sometime.

I moved house, and can't wait to make a new track, work load with my business has left me no time so just an occasional stop by here on the forum is all the slot fix i get recently..

Look forward to stopping by this thread again soon thats for sure.

Shaunbmx

[shaunbmx]

...

[hankscorpio]

You have the right idea without a doubt when it comes to corner creation but lane changing is so "individual" to each lap of the race... I try to think of a layout as "telling a story" each corner designed to do "something" to to the cars to make a lap interesting... the limit with the lane changers, especially the clc's is that story is limited to a single lane and that lane may not be where the excitement is each lap, both cars may be in the other one....

You set my mind thinking about my "loft" and whether when i get up ther to make a layout where i "rout" a wide slot and drop in the "digital electronics" cut from the plastic track for the lane changers and a normal 3mm slot running into them and out of them to create more of a flow so there isn't the limitation of the designs available... you are certainly pushing the envelope using what manufactures make available to us and inspire us all...

My next layout is just for fun, analogue and will complete my wall mounted "trio"... then got a house to sell... then once the summer gets here (if ever) i will prepare the loft in the meantime i'm gonna race as much as i can on my digital layouts and see what it actually adds to the mix... not 100% certain that 4 cars on two lanes gives enough variation, your three lane corner certainly creates a great piece of trackwork that looks fab and probably is a thrill to drive... three cars heading into it neck and neck toward the finish line and it could be carnage! but thats the problem with digital itself... the car infront is a roadblock or a toyota if its just accelerating!

I dont think any manufacturer of "digital slot racing! really knows what it should bring to racing except more participants... 4 people racing is so much more fun than two but six and it becomes "deslot" hell on a small layout... think we all have loads to learn but after five years i think we have done pretty good to get what we have in SSD with PBPro, SSDC etc... now with lars on the lane changers we could be heading for version 2.0

[Graham Lane]

I've just stumbled on this amazing chicane, a must have for my track! Can you tell me how long it is, or how many track pieces it replaces? If Scalextric don't start producing this they are really missing a tric and maybe should just be called Scalex in future. Wonderful stuff. Many thanks.

[hankscorpio]

I've just stumbled on this amazing chicane, a must have for my track! Can you tell me how long it is, or how many track pieces it replaces? If Scalextric don't start producing this they are really missing a tric and maybe should just be called Scalex in future. Wonderful stuff. Many thanks.

They were called "scalex" when they started making cars that were clockwork... when the put motors in they became "tric".... maybe we should spend some time winding them up until they become innovative again !

[Graham Lane]

Well, I've just written to Adrian Norman of Scalextric to bring this to his attention.

What I really like about it is that there is still a wiggle on the racing line and yet when two cars are side-by-side there is no advantage from being in either lane. Why has nobody thought of this before? It is so simple. I'm just trying to decide where mine is going to fit in on my layout.

[duncanb]

Graham - Take a look at this. http://www.slotforum.com/forums/index.php?...20507&st=15

A similar thread to this one but on page 2 (post no. 27) the chicane is shown in full. Its just a R2 chicane which makes Scaley not producing it even more crazy!

Cheers
Duncan