[MrFlippant]

Sean, if you're going to just do a parking lot rally, why not have it be your first routed track? that's what I'm planning to do for my first one, maybe this summer. Grab a board, draw a nice squiggly line on it, and then rout the line out. Tape it all, wire it up and BAM! routed track.

Well, ok, there's a little more to it, but you won't beat the smoothness of a single board routed track.

If you were planning to have it analog anyway, why not?

 

[MrFlippant]

That's a good idea. Add a backdrop AND keep cars from falling behind the table.
I like your HO track, Todd, but no esses? Do you have a thread about that track? (I'll go look)

 

[MrFlippant]

You might be surprised at what we find is NOT boring, Sean.

Post whatever pics you have and are willing to.

 

[MrFlippant]

QUOTE (hankscorpio @ 7 Feb 2010, 10:38) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hope that didn't bore too much...

Are you kidding?! That was GREAT! More! Moar!

I'll be using foamcore board for my temporary landscaping pieces. I found some today for much less per sheet than normal, so bought a few for future use.

Keep up the great work, Sean!

 

[MrFlippant]

QUOTE (hankscorpio @ 7 Feb 2010, 19:33) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Mr flip... it greg isn't it?... you asked and you get... the story turned out not bad either... you were right should have posted earlier...

i Used the Foamcore board before, so easy to cut, but would have had to get in the car to get some 8mm thick and on these pain killers i'm not safe behind the wheel! the 8mm stuff is so very useful, worth having around it scales up to 25cm in wide, perfect for "walling" and rigid as hell Its nice stuff just not very "solvent" friendly... PVA and emulsion are fine though, I like it a lot, my local art shop only had 4mm and 6mm in small sheets.... Hence balsa... its easy to cut until you get a bit of "heartwood" mine was ungraded so every so often i needed a chainsaw!!!

Greg it is, Sean.

One of the many Gregs here.

That's why I don't mind going by variations of my account name.

For me, the thickness of the board is less important than the cost and ease of use. Thickness will change when I add grass or even little hills and trees and such, and even if it's just painted and stuck in place, the difference will be small enough to be ignored. Now that I have so much, I should go ahead and cut out some corner pieces... but I need to clean more... decisions, decisions.

 

[MrFlippant]

Ooohh... looks great, but... I hope you're running primarily magnet cars on that. A no mag car coming around the inside turn before the powerbase is likely to miss the IR sensor and miss the lap as a result, or worse, have it's lap count toward the last car to pass the line.

Is your PB-Pro coming pre-separated? If so, then AWESOME! If not, you might consider performing the separation, and placing the track piece down that straight a few pieces, if not at the end then somewhere in the middle. The last thing you want is improperly counted laps. :\

 

[MrFlippant]

Doh! In my single-minded desire to be "helpful" I actually FORGOT about all your different layouts. So, uhh... yeah.... nevermind!

When you want to run magless, you'll just drop down your routed track. Silly me.

 

[MrFlippant]

Praise? FEH! You get enough of that already. You'll soon need an operation on your head to DEFLATE it!

But, since I got no complaints or problems, I've got nothing else to say.
meh.

 

[MrFlippant]

QUOTE (hankscorpio @ 12 Mar 2010, 18:50) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>ADVICE - HELP - ADVICE - HELP - ADVICE - HELP - ADVICE - HELP - ADVICE - HELP - ADVICE - HELP - ADVICE - HELP - ADVICE - HELP - ADVICE - HELP -
Still not decided if i want to chip the 4wd rally cars... they will basically get their own circuit in analogue... if i chip them i lose the brakes on analogue tracks... think thats right... help! suddenly feeling all unsure about it!...................... Toying with the idea of "chipping the lanes" for two lane analogue racing on the GT1 circuit... but i suppose that means setting up independant power for all the lane changers... any body done the chip the lanes trick? obviously i can run one analogue on PBPro anyway, think i could do two lanes anyway if i independantly supply the lane changers........... Oh Ive got myself in a muddle with this one!

Well, what do you want to accomplish?
If the rally cars primary use will be on the drift/analog track, then leave them unchipped. If you then want to run them on the GT1 track, put the PB into analog mode. It's a rally car anyway, and they usually don't race side by side, just against the clock, so running just one wouldn't be a problem for rally cars.
I don't see any reason to chip the lanes just to run analog rally cars.
Separately powering the lane changers doesn't let you do two analog cars on the digital track. For that you'll need to do the 2-lane analog mod (install relays), and cut the power crossovers in the CLCs.
Maybe I misunderstood, though. If so, give us more to go by as concerns how you want to race and with what cars.

 

[MrFlippant]

No, Sean is right, Carl. A SSD chipped car will run on an analog(ue) track, but without brakes. An analog car doesn't work at all on a digital track, but has brakes on an analog track depending on wiring. Most analog tracks these days are wired for brakes.
Yes, the cars will run faster on analog tracks, but again, no brakes.
Anyone with a PB-Pro can test this. Put it in analog mode, and try different chipped and unchipped cars. The chipped ones will NEVER have brakes. The unchipped ones will have varying brake power depending on their magnetic downforce.

Sean, have you considered using a 4 car PB for your drift and routed tracks? That would let you run digital cars without the complexity of the PB-Pro functions, and brakes are always enabled on it, which is a must for rally driving.

Then again, there's something to be said for the simplicity and versatility of a plain-old analog track, the least of which not being the ability to just drop a new car on and race.

 

[MrFlippant]

Glad to be of assistance!

I look forward to seeing it implemented. Now take lots of pics of those switches and wiring!

 

[MrFlippant]

That was great, Sean!
Only one problem...
Now I'm jealous.

 

[MrFlippant]

Wrong thread, Sean. That goes in the SSD Chipping Database thread.

 

[MrFlippant]

I hope that I don't have the chance to say I told you so, but in my experience, even the best adhesive velcro will give way over time. Not the hook and loop itself, but the adhesive. When you hear a THUNK some day or night, go look at those power plugs and such, and I bet the velcro is still connected, but the sticky just let loose.

 

[MrFlippant]

sounds like it's time to ENJOY those great tracks for a while, Sean.

 

[MrFlippant]

FYI, the whole "silicone are bad for running rubber tires later" thing is specifically in reference to tracks that have been "rubbered in" by consistent use of rubber tires. Most of the time this is for wood tracks, but also applies to painted plastic, and even raw plastic. If you ONLY run rubber tires, depending on the softness of the tires and the nature of the track surface, eventually a thin layer of rubber will be laid down on the track, especially in curves and exits from curves, but can be all over. Traction increases considerably when the track has a layer of rubber, but mainly for rubber tires. Silicone tires will "clean" the surface, including the laid down layer of rubber. As such, the traction will DECREASE for rubber tires as the rubber on the track is removed by the silicone tires.

Remember, though, this is primarily about magless racing as well, where traction makes a LOT more difference. Obviously, wood tracks would be magless racing.

Also, this is only important for tracks that are ALREADY rubbered in, or the owner WANTS it to get rubbered in. If the owner doesn't care about a layer of rubber, or keeps the track especially clean, or wants it to be clean, then silicones are fine, since they'll help clean the track. In this situation, what you found is also the case, where a clean track is better for the rubber tires than a dirty/dusty one. But those same cars with their stock rubber tires will run even better (i.e. with more traction) if the track were to get rubbered in.

My analog club has more or less banned silicones for series racing because there are 2 wood tracks (soon to be 3, no, not me ;-) and the owners don't want the rubber to be taken up by silicone tires. We either run stock tires, soft rubber replacements (Slot.it P6 are popular), or urethane. Urethane don't lay down rubber, but they also don't take rubber off a track. I don't mind so much, but it does mean that it's always a good idea to clean your tires before your car is put into the pits for the night's racing. We're not allowed to clean them during or between the heats.

Anyway, there you go.

 

[MrFlippant]

How are the ribs, Sean? When will you be getting back to work on your layouts?