Build Journal: Bennett Crossing

I just realized after looking through the forum that I didn't update the build journal. I created a stopping point when I thought my brother and nephew were coming over for the holidays, so I stopped work on the diorama so we could do some racing.

I don't have photos. Rather, I have a couple of videos on YouTube. One is a bit of a drone-like view of the build out.

youtu.be/wPjVYI2ePbU?feature=shared

The second one is a test race of a couple of cars down the track.

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Since the holidays, I have prepared for landscaping the rock surrounding turn three (between the two bridges) as well as the other tunnel entrance/near turns five and six (above town and across the road from the farm).

I was hoping to be at the bridge installation by now, but I want the diorama below nearly completed before then. That is going to include paint, turf/gravel, trees, etc.

If anything, the bridge and what is above it (turns one and two) will be very quick because of the intricate work needed on the diorama on the lowest levels.

After many long months... I am about two weeks away from reopening Bennett Crossing for time trials and racing. I didn't realize that the diorama would take as long as it did.

This is an overview of what it became. As I wrote before, the top level diorama will be put in at a later time, but the bottom center was the hard part.

For those concerned solely on racing, I bought four new test cars (two sedans, two SUVs, all from Matchbox). The test was from the start through turns three and four to ensure the bridges were squared away. In one of my tests, a car fell from turn two near the deck of the bridge to the town below.

I believed that with a wider second level, that was going to be prevented. I am finishing a solution to that problem (I hope), and that is my final hold up on testing the full track before time trials and racing.

That should cover the racing aspect. For those who care about the diorama, read on...

One of the biggest and longest challenges was buying and laying in the landscape lichen for the cliff faces. I bought it from Hobby Lobby and used Woodland Scenics glue to get it into place.

I decided to go with literal landscape gravel for the rock facing for the final downhill. I used clear Gorilla Glue. I used a brush to get the dust off of the rock. The dried excess glue looked like water, a nice unintentional effect.

I experimented with vinyl road decals I bought from Innovative Hobby Supply on the Crash Racers Track. I used some and watched how the old test cars rolled down straights. I think it will be OK, so I applied the decals to it the final hill and straight. I used a Xacto Knife to cut the gravel off and try to get it to the white line. I have used wood to help keep the vinyl decals smooth as there is some bubbling up, so it isn't fully tack on.

I bought HO scale road markings from Highways & Byways Model Railroad Graphics. I wanted the railroad crossing markings the most after I realized I couldn't cut and paint them on myself. The school marking was a bonus. It also came with yellow and white lines, which I used for the turns in the Crash Racers Track.

I installed the farm houses, fences and placed a couple vehicles in homage to my grandparents. Grandma drove a school bus, and I remember they had a Chevy pickup. Still need farm animals, and I still need to work on the orchard along the back of the track. I also need to buy a 1:64 John Deere A.

Growing up, I was struck by the very old "guardrails" that were essentially logs painted white and black, so they're near the bottom of the final hill.

Using wiring and more small wood, I made a guardrail for turn three. I need to clean up some spots where the plaster still shows, and I am hoping it is sturdy enough to prevent a car from tumbling to the track below. The idea for the guardrail I got from reading a slot car forum.

Another nod goes to my dad's dad, who was a police officer in metro Detroit in the 1950s and into the 1970s. Because fictional Bennett Crossing is in mid-Michigan, I placed this Michigan State Police cruiser near the top of the final hill. There is a timing trailer (Matchbox) on the back stretch.

When I was younger, I lived in upstate South Carolina. I was struck by the Clemson Tigers paw markings on the pavement when you approached the university on the highway. I replicated it for my alma mater, Central Michigan, using stickers the university sent seeking donations. I will be getting signage for U.S. 27 at some point, and those are the northbound lanes.

Finally, I thought any place that has some racing should have a car show. Many of the cars and trucks my brother, son and me that didn't make the cut in the prior time trials are in the show.

I still have a few things to do, which I will update as I move along (and funds become available). I plan to alternate between the racing and the diorama so as not to bore everyone with just one thing.

I am in the testing stage, and I believe I know what the results are telling me: I need lanes from the start through at least the first turn, if not second.

For my tests, I did a two-car test with two Matchbox 2004 Mazda RX-8s with two different colors. The four-car tests included two 2022 Infiniti QX80s with two different colors.

Please excuse the flickering light. I used my iPhone and shot in slow motion to help me see the faults.

youtu.be/8AbwIfk9owo?feature=shared

youtu.be/OtNjjwB-uAc?feature=shared

When I set up my phone, though, to film the finish of test or mock races, only a few times did just one car finish. More often, no cars finished.

Cars are bumping and jostling from the get-go. In two instances, a single car was sent flying off the track before the first turn. In many others, cars are spinning around in the first or second turn. Or they are flipping over.

As much as I like the idea of a fully open track race (and the ability to run slightly wider cars such as those from Pixar's "Cars" movie), it is growing apparent that lanes track needs to be installed.

I was going to run the tournament I mentioned with my son's, my brother's and my cars from when we were kids to help verify the results I was seeing before the finish line tests. I still might. They're "played with." But my wife and I are looking at doing a blind grab tournament one day (see also "Cold Wheels" on YouTube where we got the idea). I want the track to give us some solid racing where most of the competitors finish.

The testing did show, though, that the guardrail and bridge additions are preventing the cars from tumbling to my town.

From what I briefly saw, Spoolheads has laned track that could accommodate cars from "Cars," and that is what I am leaning toward.

Any thoughts?

I took the recommendation from here. I dropped the initial drop angle from 20 degrees to 10. The 10 is there for about 30 inches then transitions to about 5 degrees before hitting turn one. I also elevated turn 1 over turn 2 by 4 inches so momentum isn’t completely lost.

The result? Consistent bad racing. I am using CR track for the entire layout. I decided to start my old car tournament. Most races I have end before reaching the bridge. One car might get in front then turns sharply to be T-boned, holding up the remainder of the cars.

The stats are pretty bad. I conducted 34 four-car races with four heats each, so far. However, I ran 376 heats because of quadruple DNFs (not 136 if there was a finisher for each heat). Of those, 25 heats ended where the potential winner hit the train — the very obstacle I wanted to be the main focus. Only 28 times did I not have to rerun a heat.

Out of those heats that actually crossed the line, 83 times a heat finished with just one car crossing the finish line. There were 21 instances of two cars crossing the finish line and 4 times where three cars crossed the finish line. One time, I ran a heat 20 times and called off the heat, declaring a winter.

I messaged Spool Heads, and we are starting a discussion to see about fitting his 1:55 track to my layout through turns 1 and 2. I believe that if the cars stay single file to the bridge in their respective lanes, then I should get the races to the conclusion or at least to the railroad crossing.

Finally was able to get the track from Spoolheads (my fault because of some financial uncertainty).

After some very preliminary tests, two more big things to do before getting the diorama done around the track.

First, I need to take out one of the bender pieces and lower the angle. Two SUV test cars flew off at turn one.

Second, I have a Slanmam timing system, which I do appreciate having. I'm going to attach (somehow) the timing system to Spoolheads lane track.

Running some older cars, I have gotten most cars to the bridge without issue. I believe once the down slope into the first two turns is remedied, then I will be cooking.

The track itself is complete. And I am racing on it.

youtu.be/HS_f7088_zA?feature=shared

youtu.be/wrGy3Fe-BSg?feature=shared
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My brother drilled out the holes for my start gate. The timing system works well. I continued with the massive tournament of already opened cars that were mine, my brother’s and my son’s. I felt like I needed a bit more track for longer cars at the start gate, so I picked that up from Spoolheads.

How’s the racing? Excellent. There have been very few instances of not all the cars making it to the finish line. It happens most often when there is a pile-up when they hit the train. I restart or rerun races when not all the cars reach the finish line, something I noticed that 3DBotmaker started doing with his latest King of the Mountain tournament.

Time-wise, the race winners are typically around 5.5 to 6 seconds. That has been basically universal whether the cars are from the bucket or fresh out of the package.

I’m nearing the completion of my bucket tournament. It had 355 cars in it. I’ll spare the details, but the final stretch is underway with 80 or so cars. My wife and I picked up 12 cars to compete against each other just for fun when we want to run the track. The times were comparable.

What lies ahead? Track construction is complete. I’m considering a bit of a catch fence on the backside (side nearest the sports banners) made of screen like for a window or door. I’d like to hear opinions on this.

I have a small gap in guardrail from the bridge to turn three. Some cars are falling to the train track below. I’m considering filling that gap.

Both would affect the racing, so that’s why I’m mentioning it here because some are only focused on the racing of a track, not how it looks. I’m unsure if I will take both measures.

I haven’t focused on finishing the diorama as of yet. That’s what I plan to do in 2027. I can explain that process as I go in the future. I am considering glueing down things like fences and shrubs. Wouldn’t mind some thoughts on the diorama experts.

I do have some surprises in store for the diorama in the future, and I don’t want to let out what I’m up to just yet. But I have seen a lot of inspiration elsewhere.

The racing, though, will be different once my bucket tournament is finished. My wife is very supportive, and we have enjoyed various videos on diecast cars and racing. What are the plans?

Two super long tournaments. One, we were inspired by a couple who did a channel on YouTube called Cold Wheels. They were doing a random race where they each picked two cars in a package and raced the four of them. My wife and I planned to do the same. We just have hundreds of them. With my bin, I wanted a whole lot of variety of manufacturers and ages: Hot Wheels, Matchbox (Mattel and pre-Mattel), Tomica, old ERTL, old Corgi, old Fast 111’s, Kidco Tough Wheels, Johnny Lightning, Maisto, Majorette, etc., just to see how they would all go. I was inspired by ChampionDJK on YouTube as he opened cars. My wife? Cars that were “cute.”

Once the blind draw tourney concludes, we planned to just do lottery racing, picking random cars (randomized or slips of paper) and race our cars from there. I plan to hang onto the bucket race winners and top time winners to help with that, too. Basically, plenty of cars do race. Hundreds. Maybe a thousand?

If anything, we were focused on getting our bins for the blind draw completed first before I continued the long process of getting our diorama complete. I want to keep racing our tournament as I work on the diorama. The lottery racing will start in 2027.