I ended up with a space roughly 5m by 5m, here is a plan:

The grid is marked in 50cm squares, the big grey rectangle is the access hatch, the circles are ceiling fans from the floor below ducted out of the attic into the roof space, the irregular shapes maked by the heavy black lines are the benches I have constructed.

This is the one on the left of the diagram:

and this is the one at the top of the diagram:

I wanted to hide the remaining roof trusses, there was only really one left of consequence and that will be covered by a hill climb, mocked up first with cardboard.

 

Then I challenged the 9mm MDF to see how much it would bend (without snapping), I ended up only undercutting one small section, but probably didn't need to.

So that gets me up to the top, now how to get down?

That didn't work, I'll try this:

That's better!

 

Now to tie the thing together and get both ends ready to join the main track. I intend to have the hill climb as an option for rally cars, but also have a main track that is more conventional.

Switched to Silver tape for the painted track as I prefer the look:

 

If this is just the beginning than I am sure it will end up as a great project.

Thanks for sharing,
jamieG

 

Really looking good, some of those photo's looked like a model with the table structure having been made out of match sticks

 

Crikeys, Ninco set to attic, to roof reconstruction, to intricate base, to mock up track - all since Christmas! Wow, that's movin!

Isn't the attic going to get a bit warm in Perth in summer? Do you have any plans for cooling?

 

I was thinking the same thing 350z. Australian summer + tin roof = bloody hot!

I cant wait for your next post davoq

Keep it up

 

Thanks to all for the comments.

Your not kidding about the heat in Perth, I will be installing an aircon.

It has certainly captured my imagination, there are so many aspects to this hobby.

Here's a little fella I painted when I got tired of the woodworking.

 

Hi Davoq, That is one impressive track you have going there, will be a real drivers circuit with all those twists and elevation changes. Will be watching your progress with interest.

Regards, Lloyd

 

Davoq,

Very impressive setup you have there - PM sent.

 

Holy Carp! This is a fast mover and will be fun to watch it grow!

 

Looking good.

Please keep us posted with your progress.

Cheers,
Philip

 

I saw the title and thought, "blimey, an Aussie track in a small space, thats quite uncommon" then I look in and see you may be in the roof, but its still very large !
I look forward to watching this one develop, a racetrack with a rally/hillclimb optional section sounds great

 

Thanks Savage.

With the population growing, house and land prices rising, there are a lot of people subdividing their blocks in the inner suburbs and building a couple of two storey houses.

The classic quarter acre block is an endangered animal in the inner suburbs.

We are lucky that the roof has a high pitch and that we were able to reengineer it.

It will get interesting when summer comes around though as mentioned by the other guys.

 

It looks like a great project, keep the pictures coming.

Rob

 

Thanks guys for the words of encouragement.

The previous photos did not include the work from the last two weekends, I will attempt to bring you up to date.

The hill climb is single lane only, but the main track will be two lanes, mostly. My intention is to build a BLST style circuit and am working on the elctronics to pull it all together in parallel with the track build. It will be based on Ninco n-digital at this stage. Grand plans, it gives me something big to work on across lots of areas of this encompassing hobby.

So, the first bend. I made lots of rough sketches of where I want the track to go, but it isn't until I work in three dimensions, with the real pieces, that I make my final decisions and glue and screw them in place.

I use 1200 x 900 x 9 mm MDF boards, easy to load into the car, easy to get through the attic hatch.

This first bend hooks up with the hill climb:

Patch it in:

Fill the holes:

 

The next bit was fun, I wanted to loop into the infield, before swinging back and on past one of the roof posts to the other end of the base frame.

Due to my planning method, I improvised the bends as I was tight for space, merging both slots into one to swing around a tight banked curve, I wanted to create a sort of sling-shot effect. I'll only know if it works when I try it with the cars!

Some under cuts:

A bit of crazy bending, lots of clamps, glue and screws:

Coming out of the sling-shot:

 

This next shot puts it into context and shows the following sections I worked on.

In the back corner is a steeply banked curve and along the centre is the home straight, on the other side of which will be the pit lane.

Here's a view along the home straight towards the hill climb:

Somehow, I had to make these to elements meet, so some more bending of the 9mm, no undercuts this time, they are rarely needed.

This was before I routed so I could make sure where the pieces would meet. I realise that this is probably not the most efficient way of doing things, but it suits the way my brain works.

Routed and screwed in place, there is a exit at the top of the curve to enter the pit lane. I will be installing all the lane changers when I've finalised all the slots.

Holes filled:

And finally, a pull out shot:

The unfinished track in front should loop around and meet the other curve to come over the "bridge" onto the other base frame, but that's work for this weekend.

 

You don't muck around do you?

It looks like it is coming along very quickly.

 

Thanks mate.

A man needs projects and hobbies!

 

This track is coming along well

Its is fun watching you build !
You have made comments about your planning and thinking methods.... looks like they work.
Did you start with a "Grand Plan" drawing ? How detailed did you have to plan this out?
I am wondering if a guy could build benchwork to fit a room then fill the bench with track!

 

Thanks 2FER.

It was the space that really influenced things first.

Before I built the bench work, I drew out the space in Visio and printed out about 200 copies at roughly 2 inch square. I then used this as a doodle pad in spare moments to work out where abouts in the space the track would go.

Once I had determined the location of the track, I switched to a three dimensional model, easier for me to think and check spaces, but what scale to build the model, 1:32 of course!

Happy with that, I went on to check har far I could reach in to the different areas and drew out some ideas on large sheets of cardboard 1:1, drew the outline of the bench work, built it and then transferred the actual bench back to the Visio drawing. Printed out more sheets and doodled some more:

I then switched to bigger sheets, did a whole load more big doodles and this was the "final" one, youl'll see that it is by no means an accurate drawing as I let the three dimensions of the space figure that out as I go along.

 

A great and novel approach! Lots of doodles, a 1:32 3D model, design as you go.

I like the combo of two lane and single lane. You can race or you can rally. It's hard to get bored when you can switch about like that. Have fun on your own or race with friends.

I'm looking forward to seeing how you do the scenery.

 

wow, i've been reading this thread but couldn't see the pictures at work as they get blocked, great track, have you planned the scenery already ??

 

You're bloody mad mate!
Love it!!!

Air Con, fridge full of sherbert and some cool tunes.
Could want for nothing more!