Something a little different........

26212 Views 76 Replies 36 Participants Last post by 1eye101, Sep 27, 2009

1eye101

Discussion Starter · Jan 18, 2009 (Edited by Moderator)

7

I've been working on my new track since the end of November..ish when fellow member Savage inspired me to get cracking on my next project.

Its a 3 lane routed analogue track with steep elevations and twists and turns. This is also my first use with a router and working with mdf.
The track is in my basement which roughly measures 12' by 8'. Access to the basement is down a steep tight stair case with a tight 90 degree turn at the bottom meaning the track had to be routed in small sections that could negotiate the turn.

Its a bit of an odd shaped room which I wanted to fill in a Luff (oldslotracer) type fashion. I also wanted 3 lanes as a minimum and no digital. My last track ( Raceway101 ) was scaley digital and was great fun, but I love the simplicity of analogue more.

I wanted as much track length as I could sensibly fit in to race with, which meant having a long squeeze to incorporate 3 lanes in a small awkward room. I'm hoping this will keep the racing close, bunched up and pressured, with short, steep elevations and twisty sections with little room for passing....this isn't 1 for newbies! I've also made sure that all areas of the track are visible from the 3 driver positions.

You can see how much strain the mdf is here, pushing its limits!

No slot is tighter than the outside lane of an R1 track piece, hopefully this should keep it flowing as much as possible. You can see the last little piece I need to route in some of the pics, I hope to get this done tmw. This was left until now because I was unsure how much the elavation changes would effect my templates...about 6" longer! The unfortunate side of working with small sections is all the filling and sanding. It should be painted and coppered over the next week.

The theme is a dangerous mountain road with dramatic scenery to suit. The upper levels overlap some of the lower ones so it will look like the road has been carved out the side of the mountain. Yummy!

Hope you like
Thanks
Stuart

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21 - 40 of 77 Posts

Savage

· #21 · Mar 6, 2009 (Edited by Moderator)

3

An hour and a half for 2 trees ! ... but the detail looks worth it.
I dont need that much detail, so if you want to make some faster low detail random ones (or have any "rejects"

for when you see me, feel free

I can't wait to see the paint and water added, I know what you are capable of, so I am really looking forward to the next update.
If you want some track testing drivers, you got my phone number

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Ian B

· #22 · Mar 6, 2009

4

Stuart

those trees!!! Fantastic

On the next one do a step by step please

I love them and would love to add some to my track, the detail and proportion is superb. Keep the pictures coming.

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1eye101

Discussion Starter · #23 · Mar 6, 2009

Thanks gents.

I got the tree material from here, a link that Bill gave in his Targa build. The service is really good.
I will do a 'how to' pic show when I build some more. The trunks are wooden chopsticks that have had a good scraping with a hacksaw blade and a light paint job with fence paint.
I will get some woodland scenic pines aswell to break up the cosistancy a little.

I had my first few laps with a friend the other night and it raced really well. Its amazing how well the cars run on wood. My friend would be classed as a newbie and he had no problem controling the cars (which haven't been tuned for this track yet) with very little incidents. The race for 1st place into the squeeze is great fun and applying pressure once in the squeeze is good too.

I desperatley need to upgrade my controllers, any advice would be welcome regarding make and suitability for my track. I'm also in the planning stage for a light bridge lap timer that I will hide in rocky overhang.

Tel........I just need to add some barriers in places before a decent session, although I had no real incidents the other night, I know how much you and I want to win and I would hate to see any fatal accidents! You will be my first point of call when they are ready.

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knoath

· #24 · Mar 6, 2009

Fantastic work Stu!
Those trees are to die for!

This track will be a masterpiece for sure, going by your attention to detail with those pine cones!!!!

Standing ovation!

Dick

joegraphix

· #25 · Mar 6, 2009

um... wow.
yep, i think that about sums it up

rallyhub

· #26 · Mar 7, 2009

Hi 1eye101,

Not only beautiful tree material, but also well made trees.
I am very curious about your progress.

rallyhub

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4myson

· #27 · Mar 7, 2009

I loved your last track work and cringed at the destruction of it. I admire your detail, what method and paint did you use for the track surface?, it looks great.

Andrew

PSRRFH

· #28 · Mar 7, 2009

Damn nice work, I think that's the nicest tree that I've ever seen......will you make me hmmm 100 ???+

cheers, keep those inspirationl juices under control, and the images flowing.

1eye101

Discussion Starter · #29 · Mar 8, 2009

QUOTE (knoath @ 6 Mar 2009, 21:15) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>This track will be a masterpiece for sure, going by your attention to detail with those pine cones!!!!

Thanks Dick, the pine cones are already part of the leaf material, the trick is in the positioning of the branches.

QUOTE (4myson @ 7 Mar 2009, 13:42) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I loved your last track work and cringed at the destruction of it. I admire your detail, what method and paint did you use for the track surface?, it looks great.
Andrew

Thanks Andrew, Raceway101 was great fun, not only building but racing on to. I hope to achieve the same with this track. The road was painted with grey wood primer and whist it was still wet I blobbed a few random drops of black acrylic and come raw umber (think it was that 1) and smeared the paint around with a j cloth. It was messy work but I'm very pleased with the results. The photos don't show it to well, but the subtle smears of black and brown help break up the flat consistency of the grey.

Can anyone advise where I can get some IR sensors for my timer (UK)?

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1eye101

Discussion Starter · #30 · Apr 13, 2009 (Edited by Moderator)

7

I've had a few short stints on the scenery recently. I irritatingly ran out of plaster to finish off the rocks on the right hand side as I wanted to do all this area in one. I still need to add a water product to the river, this will wait until the river and lake the other side is painted.

Overview of the section I've been working on, here you can see the mountainous background and the tree area which will have trees planted in front hopefully giving some depth.

Some close ups of the rocks, I've never attempted brown rocks and am pleased with the results. I have purposely gone a bit over board with the vegetation as there is going to be a lot of rocks in this project. I'm aiming to break up the consistency of the colour.

I've tried to replicate some fallen pine cones round the base of the trees!

The track is running really well. I'm amazed how well out of the box cars perform with no mods at all for non mag racing. My 3 year old son managed 2 slow laps without deslotting at 12V!!!! Just need to get some better controllers now.

I have the parts to build a lap counting/timing lead, just waiting on my old computer to be fixed and set up and I'll be setting some fast laps!

Thanks for looking

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rallyhub

· #31 · Apr 13, 2009

I enjoyed the pictures of your splendid track.
The fallen pine cones look very realistic.
Well done, please show us more when you have any progress.

rallyhub

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lgl007

· #32 · Apr 13, 2009

Love the track... fantastic work!

-Greg

r3k0

· #33 · Apr 13, 2009

Well done with the rocks/cliff, very very real looking m8.

what paints/colours did you use ?

Tia

Savage

· #34 · Apr 13, 2009

2

I am, at this moment, hatching a plot to kidnap Stuart and not release him until he has breathed his magic on my track

Excellent stuff Stuart, I am itching to see what the water looks like set amongst that stunning lot

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1eye101

Discussion Starter · #35 · Apr 13, 2009

Thanks gents.

I use shed/fence oak brown paint for the first coat, Travis Perkins own brand. lots of paint dirt cheap. I then used Reeves acrylic paint: burnt sienna (lighter brown), yellow ochre and sand (creamy colour).

I'm very pleased with the results. I wish I had some more plaster!

r3k0

· #36 · Apr 13, 2009

Thanks m8.
are they just general diy paints or modeling paints ?

for plaster i use Wilko's (Hanson) board finish, just £2.49 for 5kilo bag.

Ian B

· #37 · Apr 13, 2009

7

Stuart!
How did you do that?

I'm able to follow you all the way to the plaster of Paris stage, when I got that far I painted that. Are you then plastering over the top of it? To get the Rock structure?

You really have an "eye" for it, as it looks fantastic

Tel by the time you have finished with Stuart, I may be able to use him so don't let him go, I'll collect!

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PSRRFH

· #38 · Apr 13, 2009

this makes me wanna flame torch my current project and start all over.... :-(

I'm stunned, flappergasted, lost for words, ehmmm.... and completely jealous of your awesome talent.

diorama like quality. and you have a very good sense for photographic angels, thumbs up, and please hurry up and do some more magic.

Did you use a mold at anytime in the process ?

cheers

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1eye101

Discussion Starter · #39 · Apr 13, 2009

2

Thanks for the complements gents, they are very much appreciated.

The paint I use to undercoat is home brand fence paint, very cheap and lots of it. I also use it for the trunks of my pine trees. The other paints are artist acrylics, these to were very cheap for this type of paint.

All my rocks are molds. I like to apply mine a little different from most. I like to let the plaster (as in plaster of paris) completely dry before removing the mold. I then cut or break the plaster mold to fit where I want, not following any pattern unless its a large crack. This lets me use one mold, but never really repeating its self.
Next I dab wet polyfilla (home brand of course!) on the back of the plaster and quickly press it on to plaster cloth in the required position. This dries super fast, literally seconds so I make sure I know how and where the piece Will fit. I then fill all the joins with the filler not really being over cautious. I also fill between the rocks and the land, then paint and add the green stuff. For the grassy areas around the trees I painted on some pva type glue and lightly sprinkled on some sharp sand to get the texture and painted the same time as the rocks.

Hopefully these pics of the work in progress show what I mean! Here you can see the plaster cloth in between the tree and the temporary waterfall. I was short of plaster to finish this bit. Around the cave area you can see the individual mold pieces.

On my next rock build I will photo the process and show you how I do it. Its really easy to get very good results.

Hope this helps a little!

Thanks again

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Ian B

· #40 · Apr 13, 2009 (Edited by Moderator)

2

Thanks Stuart,
I will await the next section with even more anticipation than normal now.

Something else I'll have to get a mold

all hints and tips appreciated.

I like your experimentation with water it's looking good I've played with water before it's Not easy to get it to look right. Though I'm sure you'll do it with ease.

Thanks again.

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