[thib]

Well, after what seemed like planning that would never end, I'm finally ready to start cutting some wood.

Definitely not a conventional slot car layout but hopefully it will work out ok. Below are the plan and some pics.

Out of the starting gate and into an R4 180 then down some windy turns that run along some cliffs.

Across the lower of two bridges that run parallel. This will be a stone arch.

Into the Monaco tunnel

Out of the tunnel and into the Monaco waterfront circa 1960s. Back up the lamest rendition of St. Devote ever done.

Back over the tunnel and some additional ascent.

Down the straight. This will be ascending actually.

Across a two way, one lane bridge and back. Unlike the floor layout, at this point, we are way up there. 50 inches +. The bridge will be a steel arch over a gorge of some kind with dropped benchwork, etc.

Some windy mountain stuff. There is a straight that will be a tunnel at the end of it.

Across the backside of Monaco and the higher of the 2 bridges (of undetermined type) and then down the hill

Wish me luck. Spa modeller is giving me a 50/50 shot of finishing it before I croak so I may need it

 

[Brad Korando]

Wow! Now that's a BIG track. Just how long is it and what size area does it cover? How high will you be building the track at? I notice that you are running Pro-x. Are you planning on using wireless controllers? I have them and am quited pleased with them. You're track may prove to be a real test for their range. I have heard a suggestion to convert the wireless controllers from IR to RF, but don't know any of the specifics. Appearantly there is some sort of covnerters that are typically used for AV remotes that would also work for the wireless Pro-X controllers.

Anyway, nice track plan. I'll be watching your progress with with great interest.

Brad

 

[jmswms]

Ditto Brad. Wow, that's quite a plan. Can't wait to see the finished track!

 

[karlk455]

Nice Track That is a (real project) you will definetly have some fun.
Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[ronMcRain]

Uh-huh .. some people sure have great visions, I´ll say that! .. Is there a time sheet done for this massive endevour? Or a plan for what features or buildings you´r gonna include?

If I recall it correctly, John Allen was building on his classic model railroad for some 25+ years. Always adding details and new features and buildings according [I believe] to a thoroughly thought out plan. And the size of it WAS massive! [I think it was a lifelong passion .. or in his case, an obsession]

Man, I wish I´d work in that way .. still have to finish a simple layout. Not to say, the stuff that´s been in the making for my slot track ..

Just a thought, with that vast space at hand, why not make it a 4-lane or partly multi-lane layout? And also, give it a Le Mans-feel or such. A track incorporated in some road-net, only temporary closed off for some serious racing?

I´ll keep an eye on this for sure!

-( R )-

 

[SpaModeller]

Wowwie! Zowwie! This is one great effort! Can't wait till
phase 2. Good work thib, this will give all that you've wanted.

 

[Ian B]

Thib,
First off I am so jealous of the amount of space you have.
I think your plan is wonderful, I too will be following this project with a great deal of interest. I particularly like the undulations in the last down hill stretch on your last photo so many tracks have twists and turns on a basically flat road surface, I will be building a new track soon and want to have a section exaggerating that effect on an up hill section, seeing how yours progresses may affect how mine goes.

Good luck with your build

Regards

 

[Graymalkin33]

The plan is sensational.
The room is................. unspeakable

I like the idea of the long undulating straight and i can see the attraction but with the dips and crests in it does that not take away the ability to just floor it and go insanely quick? Or was that the idea - to keep things slower?

My track has a 22 piece back straight that is totally flat and i love it.

 

[nitro]

I'd take a guess and say that is an old changing room as there is a drain hole in the floor. Is the local school/football team aware of your plans?
Best of luck for this venture...would lovre a video to see the flow of the track.

 

[masmojo]

HMMMM?? I do not want to be negative, because your design is inspired, BUT from what I can see you driver station would have to be in one of the center cut-outs or Judging by the picture at one end of the Loop right where the wall is? Pit falls for both area's, Looks like up to 4 guys crowded at the one curve, who going to corner marshal? OR if you stand in one of the cut outs, looks like the cars will be going behind you, gonna get a sore neck before too long not to mention a high number of OFFS. Seems allot like a train layout, which is O.K. but trains move MUCH slower!

My suggestion would be to take most of the space out of the middle & add access around the perimiter so you can reach in to the different area's on the track. Of course if you plan on running by yourself 90% of the time, none of this matters

Have fun!

 

[southpark]

WWOOOOOWWW... that´s huge!

 

[thib]

Thanks a lot for the kind words guys.

Brad - The track is just a a hair over 200 feet. It occupies a room that is 21 /1/2 x 26 /1/2. Drivers will be in the lower right hand area that also serves as the entrance to the room.

Yes, I am going wireless. Not the reason I picked Carrera but I feel I got lucky on that one. It will not be enough to cover the entire area but the 1st tower which will be in the R4 somewhere will cover the drivers pretty well. If I can hook up an extension cord to get the 2nd tower out on the Monaco peninsula in the middle the I will have well over 1/2 of it covered. I will check the european forum to look for additional info on the RF to see if there is any additional info over there. Now I just need to come up with a way to disguise it. I't probably won't be as cool as what you've done though.

Rain Man - There is no proper project plan. I do have a good idea of the stages of how this will be built out though. Our own Spa Modeller has a basement full of model railroad and has been just a huge help to me in determining what is and is not possible and also with the order in which construction should occur.

Trying to get some John Allen style mountains into the track was something that I pondered quite a lot and am attempting as best I can. In this scale, I think you can only get so far with it. I'm certainly jealous of the HO guys from this scenery point of view! Also due to scale, I don't anticipate much in the way of structures. I'm not convinced that you can create the illusion of a mountain in 4 feet of vertical space with a 1/32 structure nearby.

It's a digital track so I felt that extra lanes would take up space that I wanted reserved for scenery. It would be nice to have a re-slot lane somewhere though

Spa Modeller - Just about to go to the post office to send you your Christmas present!

Bleep I did quite a bit of toying around with the bridge sections and could see myself adding additional dips and humps where possible. My favorite view for the rolling hill was downhill, right at the driver so that's where it ended up.

Graymalkin33 Sorry if I said that wrong. The long straight does not undulate. It just ascends at a contant grade.

Nitro Sorry if you were joking here..... it's my basement actually.

masmojo No problem! I know this track is different and I would never claim that it's perfect. The plan just sums up a bunch of tradeoffs really, and that includes marshalling. You are right. It is basically a train layout, morfed a bit for slots. The upside for scenery plays a HUGE role in my interest here and thus the plan as it is.

Drivers will be in the lower right hand corner where there is certainly ample space. With wireless, they should be able to do some of their own marshalling in the nearby areas. The track will be high enough for a dedicated marshall to sit until beckoned in the top left. The top right, well, we'll see what works best for that.

 

[Slotrace.dk]

Impressive piece of work.
Hope to see more of the development!

 

[Tileguy]

This is an absolutly Huge undertaking,,,,,,,,,An Awesome feat if acomplished, not to mention EXPENSIVE!!!!

It takes a certain type of individual to take on a project of this calibre and I only hope you are up to the task because seeing this in action will be a real treat.

To any who read through this and consider building a large layout of this isze I can only say this..............Remember, after you build it........you must also MAINTAIN IT!!!

Most large Model RR layouts consume 20-30 Hours per week in BASIC maintenance.
A Project this size is not only a commitment, It Becomes...A LIFESTYLE

Best of fortune to you.......I Hope your enthusiasm brings you success!!

 

[thib]

QUOTE (Tileguy @ 20 Dec 2006, 08:21) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>This is an absolutly Huge undertaking,,,,,,,,,An Awesome feat if acomplished, not to mention EXPENSIVE!!!!

It takes a certain type of individual to take on a project of this calibre and I only hope you are up to the task because seeing this in action will be a real treat.

To any who read through this and consider building a large layout of this isze I can only say this..............Remember, after you build it........you must also MAINTAIN IT!!!

Most large Model RR layouts consume 20-30 Hours per week in BASIC maintenance.
A Project this size is not only a commitment, It Becomes...A LIFESTYLE

Best of fortune to you.......I Hope your enthusiasm brings you success!!

Hi Tileguy,

Thanks for the well wishes.

I'm a little puzzled by your maintenance projection/warning though. 30 hours a week - that's well over 4 hours + a day. I don't know diddly about maintaining a railroad but I can't imagine anything even remotely close to that being neccessary for basic maintenance of this layout.

Please clue me in.

 

[slot rod]

looks great love the elevations ....guess i'll tear mine down and start over..ha ha..get those mountain going it'll be that will be sweet,you've got the styrofoam...an the river ..maybe i'll come over an help ..just kiddin.last thing your wife wants is 2 slot car nerds ...

 

[thib]

Hello!

I thought I'd post an update on the track.

Lights - Well, there are a lot of them - the electrician thought I was a little nuts actually. I had really wanted to do a valance but, although I've seen it done here and there, the challenge of a hardboard valance on a drop ceiling looked a bit too daunting so I decided to go without. Less the valance, I wanted to get the lighting as directional as possible so I went with installing a large number of eyeballs.

As a novelty, I also had a bank of blue lights added for night racing. I can't really catch the effect of the night lighting too well in a picture but it does look pretty cool!

Backdrop -I tried a couple of different methods for a haze to blue backdrop but wasn't happy with the results so I just went with blue. I recently saw a method utilizing an airbrush that seemed to give very nice results so I may give the haze thing one last try a little later on, we'll see. I'll probably be adding some background hills/mountains later as well.

Benchwork - The benchwork style I utilized is referred to by model railroaders as "Open Grid" and I followed a method kindly provided to me by Spa Modeler. Basically it just involves building and interconnecting a bunch of tables with small extensions and connecting sections thrown in as needed. I've never been much of a handyman or woodworker but things have been going surprisingly well. My dad came over a few times to help which made a big difference.

At this point, the table part of the grid is mostly done. I still have a fair bit of work to do though as I need to add some little sections and connecting pieces, support for sections of tabletop that extends past the edge of the grid, the tabletop itself and then fascia support.

All in all I'm pretty happy to be making some tangible progress on the track!

Pete

 

[SpaModeller]

One Word! W-O-W!

Pete, this is really terrific, and you've really set a standard for benchwork-not just the quantity (although there is a bunch of it), but really the quality. I have seen a lot of benchwork in my time (including my own-both under 'old spa' and my railroad), and yours is really tops. Great work on the lights-can't wait to see some nighttime scenes. So, when do I get to visit?

 

[Tremelle]

Now that is going to be one gorgeous layout. I wish I could have that much space under roof.

 

[1eye101]

wow

......this is gonna be 1 monster project! that table is huge. the night light affect looks great. i look forward to seeing more

quick question...whats the plans scenery wise?