[Marty]

Hi All

I finally got around to putting my track up for others to see, each time I get on the forum I get so distracted with so much great info.

It's been about a year since I re-discovered Slots the attraction of digital was hard to walk past, the way it is to day does not represent the "out of the box" disappointment it originally was.

I wanted to be able to change the layout from time to time so I started with 3 trestles and 3 slabs of MDF for a table square of 2.4 x 3.6 this was into a corner which made marshalling a real stretch. After nearly being relegated out to the back shed by the wife we ended up with a compromise still on the back veranda with a little less floor space which was more socially acceptable to the all family.

As the track is not indoors I have to cover each night to keep the dust off so as well as needing to be re-buildable the scenery needs to a bit robust as well.

For a while it looked like this as I blew up PBs and Phil patiently repaired them, many thanks Phil.

It now has a seperate PSU, all the LCs powered separately, power taps, a SH/PB Pro power base hooked up to the laptop running SSD software. With all this coming together to make racing so enjoyable it was time to get the track looking a wee bit better.

I struggle to get a nice race flow on the U shape table anyone else got any U shape tracks or ideas?

So after a bit of carpeting and a plywood bridge it looks a bit like this.

I'm working on some trees and some more scenery and after seeing Gloveman's pit garages and VIP areas I want to give them a go.

So next steps

1, Some nice trees
2, I have some of Phil's start lights so an overhead stand to hold them.
3, Some more pit buildings.
4, Tyre walls
5, Some sort of safety or barrier fencing.

I'd like to get hold of some sponsor's images to make my own decals does anyone know if there are some jpegs or similar available?

I'll add some more pics as I update the track.

Many thanks for all the great posts and the resultant inspiration it gives me to have a try and stretch my meager hobby skills.

Marty

 

[imugford]

where abouts in adelaide are you ?

 

[PapaJoe]

Very nice layout. My nephew just built a poolhouse beside his pool with pool table, 2 electronic dartboards and a one armed bandit (along with a bar, ofcourse) for us old folks who only get dragged out to the pool by the kids. Everytime I go over there I'm measuring distances for a good track in that poolhouse. Love the idea....maybe one day.....

 

[Marty]

Hi Imugford

I'm north of the little smoke, I'll PM some details.

Marty

 

[GlovemanP510]

Hey Marty

track looks cool. very envious that you have many of the things i dont PBpro, laptop -- space to build a track and thanks for the compliment.

 

[rolloverdj]

Marty,

Wow, looks fantastic, has come in leaps and bounds since I last saw it.
The Pits looks great. Im trying to get my hands on some of the garages also, seems to be a shortage nationally.

Im really liking the new layout, looks like a winner. I wouldn't change much with it at all. The one good thing with the plastic track is you can always adjust it to make it just that little bit better.

Some advice to helping with flow.

1. Instead of having a corner R2, R2, R2. try R3, R2, R2, R3.
R2, R2 could be R3, R2, R3 etc.
Ive always found structuring a corner this way helps with flow and reduces deslots. It also ditches the constant radius and makes it look a little more realistic.

2. If you have singular R2 corners joining straights, change these to R3s or R4s. You can maintain speed much better.

Cheers

Phil

 

[Marty]

Hi Phil

Thanks for the corner suggestions I'll check them out and see how they fit.

I've PMd you re the lights and a couple of locals who would like to get together for some racing.

Check out Glovemans pit garages and VIP boxes, awesome work and better than the scaley product. I'm going to stretch my hobbyist skils and give them a go.

Marty

 

[GlovemanP510]

What a great track! Had the pleasure of an afternoon/evenings racing at Marty's place and believe me it was worth the one hour drive to get there. It has certainly opened up my eyes as to what is possible if you can get your hand on the right gear.
The track lent to some great fun racing with one race having all 4 of us racing finishing on the same lap after 40 laps of racing. No sheep stations were won or lost but lotsa laughs were had. Its fast and flows really well while still proving very challenging on the tricky sections ( I know one corner certainly kept bringing me unstuck).

The current pics dont do it justice as there have been a few improvements to the scenery and track layout since marty last updated.

Keep up the great work mate and i cant wait to see whats next!

 

[Marty]

Hi All

After a few races and the demand to move the track to allow the daughters birthday party it was time for a change, managed to negotiate some extra floor space and after not being able to have a race I was hanging out to complete the re-build.

I 've only just finished getting it back together and so far I'm quite happy with the flow, although I need to move the LCs around a bit.

Heres a few pics, need to add some more scenery when I look at some peoples handy work I not sure where to start.

My wifes been adding a few scenery bits and I've got farm animals and a construction site, anyway shes much better at it than me if I can get her look at some of the other tracks on the forum I'm sure she will pick up some good ideas.

Marty

 

[Ontheflipside]

Very nice and well done Marty.

Did ou do the mods on the PB yourself?

Great to see the new # 2 on the track. Have just ordered 2 for myself.

Flipside

 

[GlovemanP510]

Looks awesome Marty

the barriers and fencing are coming along great - the clear signs look good and certainly allow greater visibility. Youve done a great job to get it back together so quickly and it looks like it will be really challenging.

Cant wait

Cheers Gloveman

 

[rolloverdj]

Marty,

Looks great, i really like the new track...its got a bit of everything...
I like what you have done with the scenery, simple yet effective...

didnt take you long to get a set of V8s either

i see 5 in one shot...well done, they are great digital converts.

Cheers
Phil

 

[GarageRacer]

i like the scenery so simple but great results that race line looks like is getting better and better

ave a good one

 

[Marty]

Hi

Thanks for the kind words, I'm really stuck on this hobby (slight obsession) when the brain gets a few spare minutes it tends to drift back to the track, not sure what thats a sign of?

Ontheflipside

I wish! No I didn't do the mods, I blew 3-4 PBs trying the MS mod until a nice fella came to my rescue. Lucky with the Skaife, local slot shop was getting some in, all about being in the right place at the right time.

Phil

A lot of getting this far was thanks to your help, Gloveman and his mate are sorting a day for a race night, It would be great if you could make it. I'll let you know soon as we mke it.

Paul

Let me know, and many thanks for the barrier "how tos"

Next bits

Moving the LCs around a bit.
A pit wall with some advertising.
Wife wants another grandstand with more people and some vendor outlets, can't complain she has good ideas.
Start light gantry, thats getting a bit old.
Some more trees and scattered bushes
Want to try some spectator mounds.

Marty

 

[Billy_Cart]

Marty,

Love the track, especially the 4 lane section, we really want to do something like that so great seeing your design.

Cheers,

Phil

 

[Marty]

Hi All

After while of being quietly collecting and chipping cars I was prompted to browse the Forum again to look at the Pit Pro game, to say I'm impressed (as usual) by the efforts of RichG and the rest of the team is an understatement, got one ordered and on it's way, thanks to rich what a great service.

Anyway it has inspired me to think about re-designing the track to include a proper pit lane so I can take advantage of Pit Pro.

I also thought it was about time I updated this thread with some photos of what the track has progressed to, there is a lot of inspiration and how to do in this track from Paul (Gloveman) and a lot of fiddly bits from my very helful and understanding wife (Eileen)

many thanks to you both.

All of the scenery items including the spectator mounds are non permanent so I can swap & move etc.

A few photos of the track

After trolling toy shops on regional trips and browsing ebay I managed to collect all the aussie V8s finally, all chipped and meant for racing, even got a few nice double ups for the shelf.

Even found I had a weakness for the JGTC cars

The far side of the track with the ever growing collection.

I'm sticking with the same basic L shape due to the current lease conditions of the use of the verhanda, and this is the plan I'm toying with at the moment.

I'm trying to avoid under/over passes at present and after seeing some of the other forum members tracks I want to stretch out to some climbs but I need to make them semi-permanent as after a short while I know I'll want to change it.

Any iseas or suggestions welcome.

Marty

 

[vortex]

QUOTE (Marty @ 17 May 2009, 13:52) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Even found I had a weakness for the JGTC cars
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm282/m...DSC01531sml.jpg

It's ok, you cant race supertaxi's all the time

 

[Billy_Cart]

Marty,

Love your track & car collection the V8's look great, I noticed your new plan removes the 4 lane section is that because you need the track for the new pit lane or you don't like 4 lane digital.

Just asking because I'm thinking of including extra lanes on our setup.

Also noticed your not copper tapped, are you still using INOX on the rails?

Cheers.

Phil

 

[Marty]

Hi Vortex

Your dead right about the supertaxis, but they do look at home there, the JGTCs are just such a nice car straight out of the box especially the 6 early Japanese models.

Phil

The 4 lane section just wasn't getting used in racing, the track was very fast and where the lane changers were was all wrong for quick overtaking so I'm leaving them out (at least for the moment) on the next re-build as I have Pit-Pro on it's way and want to play fuel stops for a bit. I'm being pushed into the shed soon, so once I've extended the shed to make some room I might get a bit more table space and try the 4 lanes again.

I still like the 4 lanes I just need to work it into a track somehow where the overtaking suites the racing line, if you have any ideas or plans I'd love to share some thoughts with you, I have a few different track trys in Trackpower I can flick you, PM me.

Still not copper taped as I will always want to change the track around, the INOX works well just a very light application, then a rub off and then the good old armour-all makes about 1/2 second difference on times, I'm only doing the INOX about every 6-8 weeks depending on if I keep putting the covers back on or not.

Marty

 

[Quicktap]

QUOTE (Marty @ 19 May 2009, 22:06) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Vortex

Your dead right about the supertaxis, but they do look at home there, the JGTCs are just such a nice car straight out of the box especially the 6 early Japanese models.

Phil

The 4 lane section just wasn't getting used in racing, the track was very fast and where the lane changers were was all wrong for quick overtaking so I'm leaving them out (at least for the moment) on the next re-build as I have Pit-Pro on it's way and want to play fuel stops for a bit. I'm being pushed into the shed soon, so once I've extended the shed to make some room I might get a bit more table space and try the 4 lanes again.

I still like the 4 lanes I just need to work it into a track somehow where the overtaking suites the racing line, if you have any ideas or plans I'd love to share some thoughts with you, I have a few different track trys in Trackpower I can flick you, PM me.

Still not copper taped as I will always want to change the track around, the INOX works well just a very light application, then a rub off and then the good old armour-all makes about 1/2 second difference on times, I'm only doing the INOX about every 6-8 weeks depending on if I keep putting the covers back on or not.

Marty
Marty

I love your layout, i also just got back into the hobby and went the digital route also. I am refinishing my basement so i can set up a table and have my own space for my hobby. I am still debating on a track design. Is your set scalextric. I think the four lane would make for some awesome fourwide racing. carrera i suppose to have a fourlane track coming out soon. i saw it in the German toy fair posts. i would love to see your other layouts and see what they look like. Have a great day. Joe