new kid on the block!

57966 Views 324 Replies 37 Participants Last post by Ember, Feb 2, 2012

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Discussion Starter · Sep 18, 2009

hello all, after far too many hours spent reading all the excellent advice and information on this site i've got going with my wooden track and literally up to my elbows in contact adhesive, grouting and paint mixing, and loving every minute of building my new sandstone cliffs.i got going again with the old scalextric track over the summer as a neighbour gave me a load of old curves, the track grew, bigger than the toy room and into the big space i've got near my workshop, during august that track was decorated and filled with props (with help from my 6 year old, who built a lego snack area for the pits!) and we have since staged a successful tournament last saturday with 27 drivers of all ages (not bad for a village of 250 people), since then i started on track number 2 in wood, have done the levels, routing and nearly finished the cliffs, but awaiting the copper and still tons of modelling to do.....but how happy am i doing it?, you get to regress to being a 4 year old mucking about with dirt and paint and glue, then when its done you turn in to an 8 year old and speed around a small spanish village at 1/32nd scale....GREAT.

anyway, just wanted to sign in and will try and post some pics soon of the 2 tracks,(when i've figured out how!)

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Discussion Starter · #281 · Nov 19, 2009

its drawn with some old program called vellum, the laser people usually need dwg or dxf format, illustrator will do it easy but its not so good with complicated curves, i'm thinking of doing an aerial tower for mexico in the same way but 1:43 makes for even finer cuts..could be tricky?

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Discussion Starter · #283 · Nov 20, 2009

brad, the laser is just about negligible in width. well i say that but until now the decimas of mm that we are talking about has never bothered me...obviously with miniatures you have to take into account the thickness of the sheet too...i was talking to the bloke there and he says he does a fair bit of stuff in brass for a famous spanish train HO modeller...don't know who, the panels can be surface etched by laser too, but this is usually limited to lettering i think (for numbering components etc). one good side effect of the laser process is the patina the hot lser leaves onn the steel, it changes the colour a bit and picks out the edges (a bit like dry brushing!!)

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Discussion Starter · #287 · Nov 20, 2009

maybe i should go into business...miniature furniture aswell as the big stuff!!..no seriously, i'd love to tie this stuff into real life...keep my mum off my back a bit longer!!

.if you sent over sketches with dimensions i could draw it up and get it done..bridges etc, i'll design them flat packes and then just metal glue them up in the house so to avoid postage costs...the standardised stuff.(benches , handrails etc )would be straight forward too. what about support structures for water towers?foot bridges, electrical pylons, etc etc.the list is endless!...seriously i could be up for that

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Discussion Starter · #295 · Nov 22, 2009

graham, ..the company is err.. me!, i did the drawing and made the order, they're just the laser company that cut bits of steel, i can order you some stuff if you want...how long a balcony have you got?

sig...the new boss of 'sig miniature metalwork!!' (that world famous company)

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Discussion Starter · #296 · Dec 9, 2009

cheap chinese shop saves the day again...2 euros for a really bad model of alonsos car and a load of mechanics tools...hoorah, last one in the shop too..however not very pleased ...it looks very un real, meybe i need some duck boards on the floor and a blckboard or something on the wall to give it more of a workshop feel!..its only suposed to be the temporary pits for the race down in the cave..but i'm at a loss as how to style it

any ideas please!

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Discussion Starter · #298 · Dec 9, 2009

good thinking bat man

...will be on the look out for an old transit...do you put a plastic sheet down on the ground or anything to keep from getting muddy??

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Discussion Starter · #301 · Apr 12, 2010

hey ho!!...as i'm all hyped about finally getting imouie working again, i thought i'd update the rough film of the catalan track with the new bits on (crash scene , bridge , bar etc which we're in the last film, )and had a bit of a laugh with the sound effects program too.

a quick reminder of jordi juniors home town with the scene of the crash causing the whole nightmare which was to be the mexican airfield !!

hope you like it

sig catalan uillage film

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Discussion Starter · #302 · May 1, 2010

ok to continue from the mexico thread, heres what happened to the rest of the footbridge..now linking nowhere in particular with somewhere else but making the back corner a wee bit more interesting, and remember as brad said back last year the bridges were the practise pieces of the local blacksmith who trained with err....thingy....you know that english engineer..help me out folks?!

also i want some ideas as to what to do in the space that track 1 took up... the thrack just looks really crappy now..i'ue learnt a lot, and i won't be using sclaley track again, rusts too quick. any ideas, concepts, gotta be REALLY good to do justice to the base which is from a friend??????????

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Discussion Starter · #306 · May 2, 2010

hmmmm!, still not sure, themes kicking around at the mo:-

i like factories..probably busted ones

i like future.post haulocaust etc

i really fancy doing something monochrome.
i want the whole unit to look incredible as a thing. not just for the track, the whole piece, base included should look sculptural

i'm liking white and loe the effect of rubbed down plaster ouer the rails like an ice scape

sooooo....how about an island of ice, sometime in the next ice age, with flat long ice straights around the out side and building up to an industrial crescendo in the middle where theres some kind of half buried old factory spewing out toxic waste!, obuiously anything tall in the middle would obscure the uiew of the far side of the track, but maybe we can liue with that...i'ue got an image of i think a scene from superman where the kryptonite comes out of the ice....or am i making that up??

what d'ya reck??

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Discussion Starter · #310 · May 2, 2010

hi guys, thanks for the feedback. ron excelent as always, "you is da man!"picked up some cool images off the web of those places, rockets, stratospheric balloons, radars (again!), fortress guns, and those excellent test tracks, sculptural in their own right.

mr flippant don't know the thingie track , sounds cool, can you try and dig up the link.

regarding detail or simplicity? a tricky one, i was toying with doing polished white fibreglass roling gills with slots cut in them, but apart from being an incredible amount of work (and toxic)its not really my bag.to be honest most of what i get out of the tracks is the building, i couldnt really care less about racing and all that...sorry eueryone!!

i really enjoy building miniature scenes, that are dynamic because of uehicles mouing around them and cool illumination..i guess its like set design or mini architecture

saying that i think this track should be quite minimal and beautiful around a more detailed centrepiece..much like some of these images, and thereis ofcourse the james bond filmdie another die chase scene

heres the cool pics thanks to ron

keep the ideas coming please

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Discussion Starter · #313 · May 3, 2010

wow mr flippant, now i see what you mean, that is REALLY nice, a piece of furniture euen, the guys track on the next page is also cool, now you'ue gone and put a spanner in the works!
cheers
ember, actually hadn't thought of the spirals but like the alien crop circle effects maybe keep it dead geometric?

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Discussion Starter · #317 · May 3, 2010

ooh mark, you trying to confuse me more arn't you!, the temptation to blow stuff up is indeed great, and i'm dying to do some tanks...BUT i'm also needing a bit of cleanliness in my life!....crikey its complicated isn't it

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Discussion Starter · #320 · May 3, 2010

you would.nt be jealous of the space if you knew how much stone pointing, reroofing and glazing the place needs, it was raining hard today the place is like a colinder!, , chairs are great, really pleased the laser thing is getting goingwe haue to embrace new technology in our hobby to shake off the old men in a shed image!

thanks to mark i found a great pic of stalingrad, now dirt aside, it really would be fun reproducing this!

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Discussion Starter · #322 · Aug 3, 2010

couldnt resist taking these pics, i´ve been doing some building work in the space where the tracks are, meaning a lot of dust, and just which has obviously covered everything.....to great effect

. its difficult getting this sort of tumbleweed abandoned look, but if you don´t try it happens on its own... the village has become a bit deserted , and desolate, and i´m loving it!!