[PoloStu]

The total track length should be about 20m when it's finished, with full scenery and it'll have a PC based lap timer installed.

I probably should have waited till I've progressed a bit further before posting this, but hey, I got a lot done today so here goes...

On Monday, I started with this:

(It's taken me about 3 months to get the garage this tidy to start with though!)

The 12mm MDF was test fitted and the basic layout sketched on.

I've had the track planned out in my mind for a while, so this didn't take too long.

Today, I managed to get most of the routing finished and about half of the elevation supports done:

The right hand side will be all forest, with a textured road surface (as per my first forest test track and DIY rally loops).

This leads through a fairly fast open 90 left onto a rough tarmac lane.

Which then leads to a junction with a proper tarmac road/lane, which hairpins up the hill...

to the farm...

out of the farm yard and back into the forest.

I don't know how quick I'll be able to progress (not as fast as today that's for sure: I've got to go back to work tomorrow!), but if anyones interested, I'll try to post regular updates.

Cheers for looking, Stu.

 

[knoath]

Yeah Stu... looking good!
Post your progress, no matter how infrequent and people will follow. I will!
Will this track be copper taped? How's the weather likely to affect it?

I'd say you've given yourself a great base for a scenic track, can't wait to see your forrest section!
Where will the driver plug in?
Seeing how it's a single lane and not much room for plenty of guests, would you run long leads to the controller and stand back to where the pics are taken?

Best of luck with it, it promises to be a ripper!

Dick

 

[PoloStu]

Cheers Dick,

I have to say, I've been lurking on your thread and it's looking good.
I'll be incorporating Welsh rural decay in this track so there'll be a rusting tractor or two on here as well!

The track will be copper taped and I don't know how the weather will affect it, but I guess I'll find out soon enough!
The garage door will have a sealing strip on the bottom and the central heating boiler is in there so it might be ok?

The driver station will be on the left in front of where the hairpins board sticks out, and I'll probably use a coiled flex on the controller so I can reach most of the track.

Most of the time I'll be using this on my own (the kids can use the other tracks in the house!), but I've got a couple of mates who might occasionally come over for a blast.
I reckon they'll have enough room in the doorway and a few foot into the entrance of the track, (anyway that's where the beer fridge will be when I get it back!)

 

[Ember]

Great use of the space Stu. Where there's a will there's a way.

Should definitely be some fun had driving it, before, during and after the scenic build.

QUOTE I don't know how quick I'll be able to progress (not as fast as today that's for sure: I've got to go back to work tomorrow!), but if anyones interested, I'll try to post regular updates.
QUOTE I'll be incorporating Welsh rural decay in this track so there'll be a rusting tractor or two on here as well!
As long as that decay doesn't take the natural length of time...

Looking forward to seeing this one grow. I'm sure there'll be plenty of people watching.

Good luck
Embs

 

[rallyP]

I will be watching! It is always a great pleasure to see a rally track develop. You are doing what will be a seriously fast rally track. But there is nothing wrong with fast rally cars.

I am about to design a rally track myself and I am in the mood also for long straights or low curvature curves and almost nonexistence of flat sections. There is something quite unrealistically about the looks and driving of short straights and twist and counter twist sections of some rally tracks (mine included). Of course to combat that one needs a lot of space. The track should still be technical but not is a mouse labyrinth way. Good luck!

 

[FenderBender]

This looks like it's going to be a stunning project.
Hope to see more photos in this thread.
Cheers.

 

[Brad Korando]

You're off to a nice start Stu. Everything from the track plan to the construction looks first rate. I would think that humidity will be the only element to be concerned about. Heating the garage will certainly be a plus, but I'd recommend sealing the top, underside and exposed edges of the MDF with some sort of a good quality penetrating sealer or paint prior to getting much further along. Nice work and definately keep us udated on your progress.

Brad

 

[PoloStu]

Cheers for the replies!

Thanks for the heads up about the MDF Brad, I'll get it sealed as soon as I've finished all of the routing and supports.

I've got a load of fence/shed paint (really runny stuff, good coverage and should penetrate well?), or the emulsion left over from painting the walls, any ideas which would be best?

 

[Brad Korando]

I would think that the fence/shed paint should work well since it is intended for exterior use.

 

[PoloStu]

Right, I managed to get a fair bit done this weekend, much to the wife's dismay.

"How come you've got that done in a week when the patio's still not finished after 2 years!" was one quote.

The routing was finished on Friday, the MDF sealing coats finished on Sat and the taping was finished at 1 o'clock this morning

I've not got any pics, but how do a couple of vids grab you?

Test Footage

Chase Footage

Excuse the poor footage, the camera's not brilliant and it's hard to drive left-handed while watching the car through the viewfinder! (At 01:30 on a new track

)

Oh and it didn't all go to plan!

Oops

Now I can get on to the fun bit...scenery... fortunately I have a lot of time on my hands at work, so I can spend a lot of my day making trees, which is good because I think I'll need quite a few.

More updates soon.

Regards, Stu

 

[PSRRFH]

Looks like a splendid track to me and with lots of scenic possibilities.

the "oops" is great.
Don't we all know that feeling of making a car take a 120 cm dive and just waiting for the sound of the impact.

cheers

 

[Ember]

Got to admit to being a wee bit jealous. That's going to be one mighty fine track by those videos.

 

[Brad Korando]

Excellent work on the track and the videos Stu. Your garage will be the hit of the neighborhood! Thanks for the update.
Brad

 

[PoloStu]

This is taking a lot longer than I'd hoped, mainly because I keep running cars round instead of just getting on with the scenery!

The basic structure of the infill scenery has been mostly completed:

I've used some mesh I bought cheap on a large roll from a farming supplier, it holds it's shape well, but needs cutting with proper metal shears which unfortunately leaves very sharp edges. Half of the time I didn't notice I'd cut myself untill the handle of the shears felt slippy

This sub-structure was covered with home-made plaster cloth: ie a coarse weave cotton dust sheet, cut to shape and soaked in a PVA, paint and drywall plaster slurry. I've found that this mixture bonds well to the mesh and holds it's shape but has a bit of "give" to it without cracking if you accidently lean on it/fire a car into it at high speed!

Tonight I've started working on the upper level landscaping:

I've used a sheet of dense polystyrene type insulation board, carved to shape with various saws. It's a joy to work with and should take a coating of the plaster slurry well when finished.

I've also been working on some trees which I've test fitted here:

They're not finished and not in the right places yet but I'm not happy with them.

They've been made using the Demether twisted wire method (a bit sparser than the ones in his tutorial, as the real ones are round these parts), spray painted dark green, flocked with hornby sawdust type material and then dusted over from above with a lighter green spray paint.

There's something not right with them though and I can't figure out what?! Anyone got any ideas?

More updates soon(ish) and when I've got more detail in I'll take some better pictures using a camera, not just my phone.

Regards, Stu.

 

[Brad Korando]

You're making good progress Stu. As for the trees. I think that you might want to increase the number of bristles on the wire before twisting it up. I ran in to the same difficulty with the last batch of pine trees that I made - for the same reason as you. I wanted the trees to appear not as dense as what I made in the past and thought that reducing the amount of bristles would be the answer. I now think that using a higher bristle count and more aggressive pruning with scissors will yield the desired look.

Keep up the good work.
Brad

 

[sig]

looks great, love those long straights, just what i havent got, you'll get to open the throttle right up, i'm just discovering the problems with laying the copper before scenery is completed, its just too tempting to check the track still runs ok like 10 minutes before!!

sig

 

[PoloStu]

Brad, thanks for the tip, I'll try that on the next batch I make.

Sig, I've been mighty impressed with both the speed and the quality of your build and to start with i was wondering why mine was taking so long... then i noticed you hadn't yet layed the tape

Even tonight as I've continued carving foam on the upper level of the forest, as each piece has been shaped and test fitted I keep thinking "I'll just do one lap to make sure the car clears it ok...". Then I end up running a couple of different cars around just to make sure!

At this rate this build could take years, but at least I'm having a blast.

The upper foam's finished and ready for plastering, hopefully I'll get that done tomorrow night:

This week I bought some Woodland Scenic moulds, so the bare wire and unshaped foam above it will eventually be rock faces.

I'm really happy with how the track drives, despite it appearing quite open and fast I've brought the scenery close in places to increase the technical challenge and the elevations on some of the corners can catch you out!

However it's one of those tracks that's easy to get into a rhythm and pound round lap after lap without deslotting, just enjoying seeing the way the cars slide, but then when you try and push you've really got to be on your toes!

I can't wait to get the timing sorted, but I think if I do that now I'll never get the scenery finished

Thanks for looking, Stu.

 

[sig]

like the dangerous cliff edge, bit of extra adrenaline there!

 

[Nick_MSM]

Looks great, keeping an eye on this as my routed rally track is nearly ready to landscape.

 

[PoloStu]

This week I've mostly been struggling with textures!

To get a realistic gravel surface on the forest section I've tried about three different paint effects, each consisting of several layers of paint, none of which I've been happy with.

For the last two days I've been playing with tile grout and I finally think I've cracked it.
Initially I applied the grey grout to one corner only using watered down PVA and it gave a really nice texture and appearance but far too much grip, it was like running with magnets in! Even after I tried sanding it down a bit it was still too grippy (I've got a standard test: if my Fly BMW M3 can drive around without the back-end trying to overtake the front...there's too much grip for a gravel rally track

).

In frustration, I decided to sand it all off and I was going to try paint effects again, however even when all of the grit had been sanded off, due to the PVA there's enough grout dust left to give a good appearance but still allow cars to slide. There's still slightly more grip than I'd like, but it's close enough.

Here's some pics:

What do you think? Do you reckon it's convincing?

Apologies for the odd sized pics, Photobucket was being weird tonight and it was too much hassle re-sizing all of them!

Regards, Stu.