[rallyP]

In this thread I will report on the construction of a 3-lane track. This is a move away from my rally tracks. Why do this?
Well I do like F1, Le Mans and Touring European circuit racing from 70's and 80's. Also, I want a social track, where several people can be involved in racing at the same time. For this to work the track has to be easy so people can master it quickly and the # of deslots is minimal.

The main difference from most tracks done here is the road surface and the slot. The slot comes moulding strips which are 1/4 of an inch thick are cut by me in also 1/4 inch wide strips, which I then nailed to the plywood.

The road bed is made with joint compound.

First phase just to get an idea no need for perfection. In fact the point of using joint compound is exactly to be imperfect. Roads done with wood look too flat, too good to be true. In future posts I will expand the description of the advantages and disadvantages of this approach over routing.

After this I painted the road (more details about this on later posts) and wired 2 of the 3 lanes. No global photos of this.

What follows is a part of the scenery I did today. The painful aspect of the scenery of this track is that some of the challenging scenery is in the middle of the track so to access those areas I can not do a lot of the scenery on the edge, Argh.

It is my first experimentation with static grass. This area is going to be a fenced area where spectators can be, like a camping ground. It is right next to the parking lot on the back of the pits. It is just 20% completed I just to wanted to see if I was going in the right direction when I took these photos.

Materials

Static producer apparatus (GrassTech)
Static grass from Silfor, Noch
Paint wich acts as the glue
Wood sticks and wire mesh (for the fence)

Some photos of what I have now

 

[Kellerkind]

Hi RallyP...Very, very cool, innovative, absolutely unique, maybe epic. I am lookoing fwd about the way how it works with the cars/ grip /wearing down tyres and your futur works on scenery. I think many freaks here might be interested in the aspect of building-time and costs compared with the routed track! Regards Jens

 

[rallyhub]

Hi rallyP,

It looks very realistic. Another masterpiece.

I am very curious about how it runs.
Thanks for sharing,

rallyhub

 

[paulporsche]

Great work!

 

[Stepe]

Wonderfull work. Very realistic!

 

[Rallyfan]

Hello RallyP,

very nice track.
The road surface looks absolutely fantastic.

I think it is the schöneste road that I've seen here.
I hope they will continue to hold long and not lose after a few months the color.

Do you ride with standart tire?

Your landscape is great too.

Thanks for the beautiful pictures ...
We want to see more ......

Many greetings from Germany

Stefan

 

[Mr. Olufsen]

Brilliant progress, rallyP - I can feel the heat and dust.

The tractor, is it a Fendt?

Christian

 

[GT40's]

Wow man ,that looks freaking awesome - way to break the mold buddy !

So Im thinking if you mix black paint into the top coat of plaster aplication it wont discolour with use or if its chipped or something because all plaster underneath is grey .
Also if using long copper nails to attach coping for tslot it would give anice place to add wires at bottom that contact with copper strips provided your copper nail or screw is longer then the bord is thick .

again just awsome thinking behind this.

 

[PSRRFH]

video, we want video please.

 

[gokartride]

Very interesting project and very well executed!

 

[Slotguy]

Very innovative method. Thanks for sharing it

 

[rallyP]

Thank you all for the words of encouragement and appreciation and sorry for the delayed reply. I was waiting to have new elements to show but things are moving slowly at this phase because there is so much to be done.

First I show some new photos and then below I answer some questions. I confess there is not a dramatic development, I am still in the same part of the track. I built some more fences, part of the pit and the back of the pit.

QUOTE (Kellerkind @ 10 Mar 2013, 02:13) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi RallyP...Very, very cool, innovative, absolutely unique, maybe epic. I am lookoing fwd about the way how it works with the cars/ grip /wearing down tyres and your futur works on scenery. I think many freaks here might be interested in the aspect of building-time and costs compared with the routed track! Regards Jens

The grip is very good because I used paint with tile grout to get texture. It is not clear now what wearing this will cause, but from what I have run so far I will be surprised if it is something very drastic.

About costs and time I have to do a post about that.

Costs: I used 1/4inch plywood for the base which is cheaper than MDF, but then one has to add the strips which give the slot, the price of this on my case is 8.5m of slot for 4$. Of course on top of this one adds the joint compound, unfortunately I did not count the number of bags I kept buying to give an estimate. Overall I think if one has a router already, then it is cheaper to rout (but not clear by how much here it depends on what technique you use to fill the road bed, I used only joint compound). If you do not have a router then it is cheaper to use joint compound.

Time: Future post.

QUOTE (rallyhub @ 10 Mar 2013, 05:02) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I am very curious about how it runs.

It runs very well with me running (and my daughter) I think it runs as a routed track, soon I will have some visitors which will test the track even further. I will get then a better perspective.

QUOTE (Rallyfan @ 10 Mar 2013, 16:03) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I hope they will continue to hold long and not lose after a few months the color.

Do you ride with standart tire?

I did not think about discoloring but in principle I welcome it, like the real thing. If it will not look like the real thing, then I will paint it again. Remember I welcome imperfections, if they come for free I am glad.

QUOTE (GT40's @ 10 Mar 2013, 17:25) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>So Im thinking if you mix black paint into the top coat of plaster aplication it wont discolour with use or if its chipped or something because all plaster underneath is grey .
Also if using long copper nails to attach coping for tslot it would give anice place to add wires at bottom that contact with copper strips provided your copper nail or screw is longer then the bord is thick .

Your tracks are a HUGE inspiration, those fabulous big trees. You made me realize faster what was the thing that was bothering me with my tracks and in some sense all tracks which is
we put too many things in a small space. We try to make a track look like it could be kilometers long when it is really just hundred meters long. I understand why we do it but it looks wrong.

You are right about the nails, they go through so I can use them if I need to boost a section.

QUOTE (Mr. Olufsen @ 10 Mar 2013, 17:06) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The tractor, is it a Fendt?

You know your tractors, I got the Fendt (a model from the era of the track) from Universal Hobbies. It looks great and is a plus in the scenery, I am lucky to have such an easy scenery element.

QUOTE (PSRRFH @ 10 Mar 2013, 17:54) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>video, we want video please.

Lars, soon when I have more scenery I will do a (well probably lots

) video, I too think videos are essential, they lie less than photos and they tell us if a track is fun.

 

[minus]

Kudos to you rallyP BRAVO!

minus

 

[rallyP]

Some updates, still faaaaar from completed. The first with some sun light (unfortunately, from the side and not above) and then some with artificial light. The color is wrong in both but what can I do?

 

[PSRRFH]

The sunlight pictures looks perfect to me, September when the sun has burned everything green away.
The last image is fantastic, I love the posters.

Have you considered Mag racing before venturing into this build ? or will that be next.
Knowing that you tried the DNano wireless cars for as while Mag Racing seems like the thing you are after.
http://www.magracing.co.uk/

video
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/r8zhBNhxTZk?rel=0

 

[rallyP]

Lars, mag racing in this video does look great. I have not thought about it, no. The reason for this is that as you said I have the Dnanos.

The reason I "came back" to slots is because I have many cars as slot cars and the community of slot cars has more things in common with me than the RC community. Also, slot cars are a lot easier so I can share them with my friends better than I can do the Dnanos.

Having said this, the driving experience solo of the Dnanos on a realistic track has no comparison with slot cars. I never got bored. If I could have found a good group of people that could race these cars I would still be just doing the Dnanos.

I had an interesting impact on the RC community showing that one could drive them on scale correct tracks (still receive several comments on some youtube videos). But then, seeing Kyosho neglecting the Dnanos, I felt a bit guilty promoting something that might be about to die. So I decided to stop promoting the Dnanos. It is a shame, since the Dnanos are a dream come true to many of us.

PS. If slot cars and the Dnanos were video games, driving slot cars would be a fun arcade game for all ages and driving the Dnanos would be a immersive complex game which is quite expensive. This complexity would be welcome by the geeks but would be a killer to reach a wider audience.

You could say this applies to all RC groups and some are thriving,... well, the Dnanos came last and logic of the Dnanos is really geared towards home use so the complexity and price might be a killer. I can see them taking a slice out of the slot car market for example.

 

[PSRRFH]

Ohh the holy grail of interchangeable bodies chassis for different types of driving

Since it's still "guided" racing/driving it's easier for newbees to join as you can just pull the trigger and it will follow the guideline in the track.
It seems like a cheap way to have multiple drivers in a constrained space.
Moreover the slotless joint compound approach seems wery scenery friendly.

I would Imaging that at least some of the more ordinary bodys available could be retrofitted to the chassis from a Mag-Car ?

 

[Jaak]

Wow Bruno,

I have been out of the scene for a bit and I see you have not been standing still.

Looking at the outcome I will seriously contemplate using this technique for building my track.
Depends a bit on how much the strips can flex to realize my layout, I will get a piece to test.

I just love the looks of your road surface.

What did you use to keep the strips at a proper spacing from one and the other?

 

[rallyP]

Jaak,

They can flex alright. I test them and was able to get a curve with radius 12cm (you have to go slow to get such radius, because you can of course brake these strips). I nailed the strips in place. I am now a bit against glues.

Lars,

I need to look into mag racing to check the details and price. There is one thing that worries me about mag racing which is its constancy, its predictability.
There is nothing more annoying than one doing the same thing and some times it works and other times it does not. For some reason, I feel that when racing and pushing the cars to the limit we would not have a clear control of what would happen at the curves.

 

[Si.]

Hi rallyP

P O L E P O S I T I O N !

Looks great !

Your alternatives to routing are exellent to see...
...the 2 blade jigsaw method you've also described sounds great for 'difficult' formations.

All the best !

Cheers

Si.

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