[Stevo41]

Thought I'd start a new thread with my first post. I've been back into slot cars for the past 18 months and recently sold off all my plastic track to finance a routed version. My 4yo son is starting to get impatient without a track to run on, so I'd better get onto it quick smart.

Here are some pics of the table. 9 feet x 5 feet, 12mm MDF top. Mrs Stevo made the chequered flag curtain across the front (bless her little heart).

Then onto track design. After a couple of attempts, here's the design I came up with. Lap length comes in at just over 10.2 mtr per lane. The track will be a seperate sheet of MDF and will sit on top of the table, meaning I'll have to cut / join the track at the overpass. Luckily, building the table gave me some practical experience with the drill / screw / fill / sand routine. Copper tape and painted in Ferrodore.

I picture running the track left to right down the front of the table, with cars coming round the long sweeper onto the straight. Not alot of room for diorama type scenery, but I'd like an event board and a small gathering of drivers and spectators at a podium.

I'd be grateful if you let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Steve

 

[grego]

please do not treat my input as some sort of expert advise but it looks like the possible "Offs" would be more towards the back of the track and if the table really is up against the wall it could become a bit of an issue to retrieve and reset the cars.
If the table is freestanding, of course you won't have this problem

grego

 

[knoath]

If you can get to my place Steve, you can drive my track from the 'long straight' side of the table... it will give you an idea of the line of sight and de-slot issues as the track is basically the same as my layout.

 

[Stevo41]

Track design as been simplified to try to make it more drivable, but also fast (copper track so no mags). Length is now about 10.2 mtrs per lane. Finally the design has finished as I am itching to start with the build.

Thanks for looking,

Steve

 

[FZSsemans®]

my two cent, use the first lay out. maybe not very fast in your opinion, but much more different stages. I would not go for a ultra fast 10 meter track. laptimes will be 4 seconds. that might be a bit disappointing after some time. lower the voltage, leave the magnets out, have a great time and never ever buy LMP cars

they tend to get stuck on short bridge elevations and innercorners

 

[Stevo41]

Track design has been simplified to try to make it more drivable, but also fast (copper track so no mags). Also flipped to place the straight along the back of tghe table so drivers can easily marshall their own crashes. Length is now about 10.7 mtrs per lane. Finally the design has finished as I am itching to start with the build.

Thanks for looking,

Steve

 

[Stevo41]

I'm thinking of doing the layout as an old abandoned rally-cross circuit. So I put the track into MS Paint and mocked up the dirt and asphalt sections. Imagine some weeds creeping over the track edges and some long grass / trees in some 'safe' areas. I would also change the overpass to an intersection.

What do you think?

Steve

 

[Stevo41]

This weekend (between marshalling a round of our local proxy and home duties) I set about preparing some scenery items for the new track. I bought a Siku Porsche tractor and an MRRC event board during the week so I gave the tracor a fine spray of black and then did the underside with a brown. Put the tyres back on and a coat of flat clear finished it off.

The event board was done in gull grey and flat white with a mist of both grey and black on the lower front of the board to simulate a track weathered look.

What do you think?

Steve

 

[oooooomonkeys]

i like the tractor cant wait to see some pics when you get started.

 

[nincomaster]

the track looks as though it has a nice flow to it. Look forward to see it up and running

Cheers

Nincomaster

 

[VTS_16v_Boy]

QUOTE (Stevo41 @ 1 Apr 2008, 12:29) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>This weekend (between marshalling a round of our local proxy and home duties) I set about preparing some scenery items for the new track. I bought a Siku Porsche tractor and an MRRC event board during the week so I gave the tracor a fine spray of black and then did the underside with a brown. Put the tyres back on and a coat of flat clear finished it off.

The event board was done in gull grey and flat white with a mist of both grey and black on the lower front of the board to simulate a track weathered look.

What do you think?

Steve

I like that, race signs are always a nice touch

 

[Stevo41]

Well it's been a few weeks of long weeks at work and then more pressure at home so things have been slow. OzRob has really helped me out putting the layout into Cad. Routa-tech then did some great work cutting and routing the pieces. After a couple of weeks sitting on the table at home, I finally got a chance to get stuck into it. Under-coat, 2 coats of ferrodore, liquid paper edges and a pedestrian crossing. All followed by a light sand and here it is.......

The start / Finish line halfway down the main straight.

The pedestrian crossing after the hairpin.

Cheers,

Steve

 

[Stevo41]

Over the weekend I made a start to some scenery for the hairpin section of the track. I used balled up newspaper with masking tape, then plaster, paint and a variety of scatter with some bushes. Then today I added some more bushes and some balast to fill in a couple of gaps. Topped it off with some flat clear to hold itall together in-case of impact.

An overall shot.

A close up of the hairpin section (those pesky Ferraris out in front again).

For the elevated sections I will be trying the wire / flyscreen / plaster combo, but I'll stick to the newspaper for the flat sections.

Cheers,

Steve

 

[r3k0]

wow, love the look of that grassed area, very nice mix of shades, looking very real.

 

[justDave]

Steve,

It's looking good. Your workmanship is high class, but what I am really fascinated by is your project timetable. What most of us would do after routing and track painting is to tape the track as soon as humanly possible, so we could have a play on it. But you have started doing the scenery....

David

 

[rallyhub]

Hi Steve,

Keep on the good work. I like your building activities.
The pedestrian crossing will make your track a lot saver.
One year ago, I did the same on the Trio Track.
There is still nobody hurt on that track so far

rallyhub

 

[OzRob]

Looking good there Steve, I take it your concerned that if you dont do the scenery now it will never get done

 

[Stevo41]

The good lady was away last weekend so I took the chance to work on the track. I switched the flyover after visiting Rob's Snake Valley track and found that doing the joins wasn't as much trouble as I'd anticipated. Some fences were painted and cut and then added to the layout using glue and nails.

This weekend I did the copper tape. I broke the tape in a few places but not big deal. Today I wired it all up and sorted out a couple of dead spots - Hamish and I spent about an hour or so turning laps. Only a few thousand more to do to get some rubber on the track.

Cheers,

Steve

 

[Brad Korando]

Nice work Steve. I really like the weathering you did on the tractor as well as the bit of scenery you had in place earlier. Is the red and white fencing a temporary solution for keeping the cars on the table?

Brad