[diegu]

Hi all,

After lots of years with Ninco (analog and digital), which I converted to Scorpius (gorgeous) and a small analog woodtrack ((ROC 2007), I am planning to set up a digital Scorpius wood track.

My requirements are:

• We drive mostly 1:32 or 1:28 (Mini-Z). 1:24 shall be possible, but does not have priority. If so, it would just be for setting up cars, as I drive 1:24 in our local club.
• I want a challenging track with some tight radii.
• The room is 5.5m x 3.5, has two doors and must be fully accessible.
• The pit is designed for two pit boxes and one pace car (at the end of the pit, not designed very well)
• We want to drive with 2-4 (may be 6) drivers. Additionally, there shall be ghost and pace cars.
• I cannot use substantially more space for the track...
• The track length according to the plan is 18.25m

I did the plan with UltimateRacer, i.e. with fixed radii. The final layout will have smoother curves which are only possible with a routed wood track.

Track data are as follows:

• Lane distance: 10 cm
• Shoulders (measured from slot): Inner: 5..10 cm, outer: 10..15cm
• Radii: R1: 20cm, R1b: 30cm, R2: 40cm, R2b: 50cm,... (R1=20cm means, the inner slot has 15cm radius, the outer one has 25 cm)
• Wherever there are shoulder missing, I did not succeed adding them using UR3.0

Please have a look at my first layout:

What do you think about that? Any critics, suggestions welcome.

Diegu

 

[MrFlippant]

Looks good. nice and technical. I'd probably try to get a longer straight in, but that's me.

 

[Kellerkind]

Moin Dieter,
very nice to see your great plans. I am looking fwd to your build and a test drive in the neighberhood. I will follow your thread closely. According to the space it looks to be a good solution. Just some of my thoughts:
-What about the visibility of the curve behind the pits if pits are raised?
-What about some routed lanechangers? They would give great bestlane-options with the track you designed! In my opinion they are easy to build, especially when following the scorpiusguys' plans.
I guess this phase of the build, where you have to decide what design you use, is the most difficult...
Have fun, Regards Jens

 

[diegu]

Hi guys,

thanks for you tipps!

I could get S/F straight about 40 cm longer, by just increasing the angle. Will give it a try. Thx, Mr Flippant.

@Jens: You're right. The visibility of the loop below and behind the pits is a problem. Will have to change that.

Routed lane changers: Good point. These are also an option and will come handier than those straight LC's, but I will postpone that until it comes to CAD modeling or routing. However, some lane changers are still missing in the plan.

When it comes to best lane: I like the looks of a best-lane track, but I do not believe in it when it comes to racing.
If you always can have best-lane, overtaking will almost be impossible IMHO. So I want the driver to make a decision before he enters a curve combination and thus decide for some inner and some outer curves.

I also had some double-thoughts about accessibility top right...

Will have to do some re-planning...

@Jens: Would be fun to have some driving together

Diegu

 

[Kellerkind]

ZITAT(diegu @ 16 Aug 2012, 21:33) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>...When it comes to best lane: I like the looks of a best-lane track, but I do not believe in it when it comes to racing.
If you always can have best-lane, overtaking will almost be impossible IMHO. So I want the driver to make a decision before he enters a curve combination and thus decide for some inner and some outer curves...

Hi Dieter,

you might be right. For that point most of the scorpius-freaks seem to go for semibestlane, means that some curves have bestlane while others miss (You know Cambers track as a great example). Real bestlane at bigger tracks is expensive, too due to the need of many lanebrains and other gear. On the second hand the use of best lane is programmable with scorpius and it might be a risk to leave flippers away that cant be installed later any more. I often run my track alone and it is a blast to watch the cars go in an absolutely realistic way.

Regards Jens

 

[diegu]

Second try now. Layout will stay technical, but not so many narrow turns any more.

• Increased length of S/F straight.
• Removed loop behind / under pits
• Added two racing line SLC's (blue lines). I think I won't do more.
• Squeezed layout for better access top right.
• The grey half-circles will be made to be folded down.

Here the pic. I left out all borders for better visibility:

Any critics, ideas welcome

Diegu

 

[mondo]

Diegu,
looking good. I like that the second design is a little more flowing. The flip down parts is a great idea to save a bit of room when not racing. Looks like we'll be building around the same time. I'm sure we can bounce Ideas back & forward as we dive into routed wood build. you going to route yourself or try CNC?

Cheers
Ray

 

[Kellerkind]

Japp, looks still very cool but sight will be much better. Flow is better, too I think. What will be the direction of travel or is it bidirectional? Looking fwd for your next update. Regards Jens

 

[diegu]

@Kellerkind: Direction of travel will be clockwise

@Mondo: I am not sure, how to build it yet. I would like to do it CNC but still looking where and how.

Next step will be to redraw the track with smoother curves to make it look more like a wooden track.
This will take some time, as I have to dive into another software.

Diegu

 

[Kellerkind]

ZITAT(diegu @ 19 Aug 2012, 07:05) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Next step will be to redraw the track with smoother curves to make it look more like a wooden track.
This will take some time, as I have to dive into another software.

Hi Dieter,
I had the need of the same decision some time ago. Software will only be necessary if going CNC, this in the end is relatively expensive and even a friend with a cnc-router didnt want to stop his furniture-manufacturing just for such a litttle project like a slottrack. Logistics for these jobs in Germany are relatively bad.
I decided to do it the handrouted way while using a routing kit from oldslotracer.com with an 2m long lexanstripe as a routingguide made it a really easy job. Drawing the lines directly on the wood showed final look of the track much more realistic than just having it on the paper or computer. Changed the one or other curve that way. In the end the result could not have been more satisfying with the CNC. Much, much cheaper anyway...
At least worth a thought.

Regards Jens

 

[diegu]

ZITAT(Kellerkind @ 19 Aug 2012, 09:38) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Dieter,
I had the need of the same decision some time ago. Software will only be necessary if going CNC, this in the end is relatively expensive and even a friend with a cnc-router didnt want to stop his furniture-manufacturing just for such a litttle project like a slottrack. Logistics for these jobs in Germany are relatively bad.
I decided to do it the handrouted way while using a routing kit from oldslotracer.com with an 2m long lexanstripe as a routingguide made it a really easy job. Drawing the lines directly on the wood showed final look of the track much more realistic than just having it on the paper or computer. Changed the one or other curve that way. In the end the result could not have been more satisfying with the CNC. Much, much cheaper anyway...
At least worth a thought.

Regards Jens

Sure, I also used Luv's kit for routing my small ROC track. Was great, but also lot of workeven for that small track...
A friend of mine "sort of" volunteered for CNC-Routing. Still wondering if he knew what that meant

I just found out that my railroad planning software also supports DXF and DWG exports.
I love this software, as it supports flexible track and splines as well as 3D design and animation, so I'll dive into that software again.

Last time I made 1:1 prints and routed the track accordingly. We'll see.

Dieter

 

[Kellerkind]

Sounds cool! Looking fwd to see your start! Regards Jens

 

[diegu]

Thx for the very motivating comments Jens

Ok, building will take a while as I will have to tear down a wall.

However, planning is fun.

I did a plan with a "semi-cad"-Software and tweakened the track a bit to make it faster and looking more smoothly. This also shows the room more clearly:

Here is a video of the track and two cars running on it. Some problems with the camera and terrain. Also the track seems a bit bumpy. However, good enough for a first go.
Just click on the image to view the video:



Any ideas on changes to the track? I'm up to driving challenges. Some room for scenery is fun, but that's not what I'm after primarily.

Diegu

 

[MrFlippant]

Looks good!

 

[Camber]

I like the last design the most.

Almost everyone (including me) when building their first few tracks try and jam as much track as possible in the allowable space having a spaghetti nightmare for people to dial into. I now like flowing tracks with 1 or 2 technical sections, something that beginners and experienced drivers can dial into, not de slot too much and will enjoy. I have tried to incorporate this into my lastest track, drivers of all standards seem to enjoy it.

My only personal change is straighten the kink at the bottom right, giving a nice flow through the left hander into the short straight before the big kink. But if you like really technical layouts, leave it in. The parabolic S at the top right is a winner, that will be a fun section. Slightly curved straights are something you don't see often, I love them. Straights with very slight waves in them are awesome when looking at the cars head on, they look like they are drifting all the way down the straight and can actually help set the car up before the corner if done right (I think I have a video of a mates track who has this, I will try and dig it up).

This is the beauty of wood, no limitations.

Very nice layout, fabulous animation also.

- Cam

 

[Ember]

I love the mess of curves on the right hand end, particularly with some elevation added into it.

Looking forward to watching what happens with this track.

Cheers
Embs

 

[injectorman]

When I read walls are about to be demolished I got excited

 

[Kellerkind]

...no further changes for me! Thanks

. Cant wait to see it live! Regards Jens
btw: great animation

 

[diegu]

Thanks for your nice comments.

Will now think over the layout some time and try to get some information on CNC routing in the area.

Diegu

 

[diegu]

Wow, that has been a pause of more than two years, now.

Lots of things happened in beetween. However, I never got that design out of my head.
Wall has been taken down. Room has been renovated.

Wall, taken down:

Renovated and isolated room with the track borders marked on the floor.

Framework for the track has been designed and mostly constructed (still some boxes to be made, but those will be tailor-made).

Design:

Example box:

Boxes that will form the basis of the track:

So, what about the plan?

Two years gave me the chance to think over it and over it again.
Also, I had the chance to drive some 1:24 car on a wood track of a friend and compare that to 1:32. What a difference! The track definitely will be set up for 1:24.
That's why I decided to go for 120 mm of lane distance and to change the minimum radius to 260 mm.
Clearly, this resulted in some changes of the track, mainly to make it more flowing. Also, I increased the outer border to 150 mm (mesaured from slot center). This will give 1:24 cars enough room to drift. If possible I will even go up to 170 mm.

So here's the new design:
2D

and 3D:

Wood is ordered and routing should start on end of October.

Did you detect any design bugs? Any comments appreciated.

Regards,
Diegu