[Capt_S]

So at 35 with 3 children under 6 now is the time for my new hobby to be 'mainly do-able at home', that way I'm on hand for the family and not out every weekend like I was a few years ago with my heavily modified Classic Mini Cooper S.

The Cooper is in a very nice timber 'workshop/garage/den' building with double doors opening sideways onto the garden to keep it part of the home as much as possible. The Cooper is 10 ft long, the den is 20ft, by 10 wide, plenty of room for the car and associated gear, so what about the other half, few posters on the wall, and a big desk area....

So phase one of my returning to the hobby was my old scalextric track from the 90's out on the desk area, it looked lost and small, I had more space so a trip to the bay led me to more track, then Sport track, then higher rated power bases with the dream of digital one day.

so just when it's all going to plan with a few bargains cobbled together, and more than a little influence from the massively impressive pages on this site I spot a potential ebay item and before you know it, a load of digital gear, early 6 car PB and 8 cars comes my way.

I need more room, not much, but more!

10 ft back wall, 7 ft return on the right, 4 on the left. That'll do. After one evening of merry track building track version 2 is 99% complete with just a few bits to finish the pit lane to go.

Not by anyway finished, the raised rear and sides will be set onto permanent shelves plus i haven't turned a wheel yet so minor fiddling will be sure to come.

Any comments welcome to a novice, any suggestions gladly listened to!

Regards

Capt S

 

[CJA]

Ey Up Captain "S",

welcome back to "The Force",

is that a Battlestar Galactica on the shelf there ??.

and a X-wing fighter ??.

The name Captain S, could it be Scarlet ??!!.

Slotcars are the thing now, get rid of unearthly distractions !!.

As I said, welcome to Slotforum. There are thousands of good guys on here !!.

VBR Chris A.

 

[grimboracer]

QUOTE (CJA @ 1 Mar 2011, 23:18) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Ey Up Captain "S",

The name Captain S, could it be Scarlet ??!!.

VBR Chris A.

maybe its a top gear refrence captain slow

i see you have a cool wall behind the popcorn bucket.

hi anyway nice mancave.

lee

 

[4.3 ZOOK]

Nice space, will you be adding scenery as well?

like the shirt lamp...

 

[MrFlippant]

Looks like a great start and a lot of fun. Like you said, once you start driving it, things will probably change. I like where you've put the pit lane, also nice and long.

 

[Capt_S]

The biggest attraction to digital for me was a pit lane, even a simple one, scenery will follow when I'm happy with what will be a permanent track for children of all ages. Just ordered final few bits off ebay to make track and pit lane 100% complete and then I'll get some laps in.

I like the idea of spraying the standard beige borders in some alternative colours like a few of the F1 curcuits, but thanks to this site all I have in my head is ideas and possibilities, keep the innovations coming!

 

[sig]

reliving your childhood but on a bigger budget... I like that!

thats probably why we´re all here, good luck and have fun, its great being a kid again, but not having to wait until christmas !!

 

[Kellerkind]

Hi CaptS, nice start, looking fwd to see the scenery! By the way: If money once should run short you could sell the spaceships and rockets stowed in the shelves above your track to sig to make him use them on his sci-fi-track

Regards Jens

 

[Capt_S]

So a few hours tinkering and a few more specific track pieces from the bay and here is where I'm at now, barriers coming together nicely, few closer up shots to get an idea of what it looks like.

This is the first corner, entering from the left of screen, you can just make out the pit lane exit in the top left hand corner. I've also slipped a piece of Red paper under the inside of the track as I'm tempted to go for alternative colours of borders or background as I've said before like the far eastern f1 tracks.

the corner opens up to this inner ring section.

looking back the other way (ignore my ethernet cable trailing about)

This lane change piece (which many on here think are useless) rather than cut up is now critical for anyone travelling around the penultimate bend who requires access to the pit lane on the outside of the track immanently after the corner. these three show the sequence it follows.

Also managed to put a few laps in, around 8 seconds a lap at this stage and I'm pleased to say all the second hand kit, 6 car pb and cars and controllers etc are all in good working order.

Capt S

 

[4.3 ZOOK]

Looking good,you have a nice long pit section and looks like room for garages...

 

[Scootcar50]

Great use of space Capt

Keep the pics coming.

Cheers

 

[Capt_S]

Thanks for the encouraging comments guys, I'm really pleased with how the track flows, good fun for me with the few lane changers in it (more to add though) and my 4 and 5 year old daughters can get round it also so meets all requirements, yet to have a full on 6 car race on it with the guys which could be fun.

I'm now off to scour the site for inspiration and ideas again because it needs some finer details and landscaping but I don't want to over do it and make it too busy.

regards all.

 

[richardtheforth]

Hi Capt,
The shed/garage track's looking good there. I think you & I must be the only people that bought Coastguard Range Rovers.
I also have an identical over-complicated re-designed Stanley knife... So complex I can't work out how to change the blades on it.
Good to see the place crawling with little minis too.
Cheers,
Richard

 

[-Sy-]

lol, nice, I like the Imperial Cruiser, didn't know you could get a model of one of those...

 

[Dubltap]

Track looks good. I like the cruiser but I always was partial to the snow speeder.

 

[Scootcar50]

Capt
May I suggest that you take down the star fleet prior to the next photo shoot so we can concentrate on the track - a lot of members are getting side tracked (star trecked).

Cheers

 

[Capt_S]

You could be right Scootcar50, too many hobbies in 1 photo is distracting from the track, just taken delivery of a few borders and lane change pieces and made some minor amendments to layout so I'll get some more picks on here next time I'm out there.

 

[SSD slotguy]

Nice ethernet cable, I mean track! The one thing I love to see more than anything else is elevation changes.

 

[mike21ox]

I like the mini's to!!! Oh in post #9 the cool wall is good (like Top Gear)!!! Should be a 1:32 cool wall!!!

The track is top class!!! Did you initially build the layout for certain types of cars or for all cars???
Another good question regarding track... Are the beige and black track-boarders good (traction for the cars if tail-sliding), and is there a difference in material/grip between the beige and black boarders???

 

[Capt_S]

The elevation change came out of necessity, after enlarging the original space I had to the most I could spare in the den i wanted to get as much track in, plus pit lane, plus majority with borders as possible, raising the back straight meant the pit lane could tuck underneath and I could get the track in properly.

The main thing I had in mind was I wanted it to be usable by different car types from Mini's to F1 cars so the track couldn't be all corners or just fast straights, plus contrary to many on the site I stuck with standard curves, mainly for my younger users, they would have no fun if it was too challenging. I also have a few corner lane change pieces one that allows lane changing because if i just limit it to straight only lane change btrack I'd really only get away with 4 of which I have 3. I've also tried to make sure that there's potential benefit in using the corner lane change pieces by using them on corners where if you are on the inside it would benefit from changing and carrying a bit more speed through the corner, applying my real life track racing line knowledge a little.

not really noticed a difference with the different coloured borders, the black ones are only in the inside at present.

Got a short sessions in earlier with father in law who thought it was great fun, then my 4 & 5 year old daughters came out and just with 3 cars running it was great fun.

now need to

1 - get a set of 6 closely similar cars to enable fairer racing - the ones I got in the e-bay bargain are of mixed er ability!
2 - upgrade power base to PB Pro - well eventually/inevitably!
3 - finish off borders
4 - cut and make single piece solid raising section for the twisty bit to make it more stable as it's a combination of plastic stilts and various different board at present.

Also got hold of some different coloured card to experiment with off track areas because I have developed an anti-grass opinion as it's been done on the majority of track, my inspiration coming from the far eastern F1 tracks where the colour the sand traps in different colours.

More pics this weekend with the latest changes and extra lane change points.