Feedback needed on my Monster Truck track design
Calling All Monster Truck Fans! Feedback Needed on My Custom Track Design
Hey everyone at Redline Derby! I'm a huge Monster Truck enthusiast, and I'm finally building my own custom track for epic diecast races! I'm here to share my rough draft design and would love to hear your feedback and suggestions.
Track Specs:
* Scale: 1:64 Monster trucks
* Materials: I'm contemplating getting a 3D printer and printing my own track.
* Inspiration: My inspiration came from watching real monster truck races. And watch 3D Botmaker and realizing that there are no races similar that use monster trucks
Track Layout:
* I'm limited on space, so everything will be built up from a 4x8 piece of plywood. Elevated by 2x4s to support the weight of the track and trucks.
* Starting at a height of ~6' tall, it drops down to an early jump, and then Into the first 180° (or 225°) turn. Going back to the other side, where it'll have 2 90° turns, where it'll go into the next straight away. After the last big turn, it'll have a down ramp into the final jump finish line.
* I haven't found any other side by side downhill courses like this. It'll be a challenge for sure, that's why I'm asking for help
Feedback Wanted!
I'm still in the early stages of building this track, and I'm open to any feedback or suggestions you might have. Here are some specific areas where your input would be appreciated:
* Functionality: Does the track layout seem fun and challenging for Monster Truck races? Are there any sections that might be difficult to navigate or need adjustments?
* Safety: Are there any potential dangers for the Monster Trucks on the track (e.g., sharp edges, jumps that are too high)?
* Aesthetics: Do you have any suggestions for making the track look more visually appealing?
* Additional Ideas: Do you have any cool ideas for obstacles or challenges I could incorporate?
Thanks in advance for your help! I'm really excited to bring this custom track to life and share some epic Monster Truck races on my new YouTube channel
Looking Forward to Hearing From You!
P.S. I know the rough draft is pretty rough. It was the first time using any 3d modeling software, but I think it still shows the idea of waht I'm shooting for.
Discussion
Cool idea! Have you ever 3d printed before? It has a pretty steep learning curve and the size of the printer you need to print corners is pretty pricey... but you can break the parts up into smaller pieces and mate them together... it can be done, but it will take you some extra time and effort...
I am in the process of building out my 600x600 printer and I am hoping to do large radius corners and longer straight sections.
If it is your passion, go for it and enjoy the ride!
- Stoopid_Fish_Racing, thanks for your comment! Transparency and Openness: You're right, I haven't actually 3D printed anything before. This is a whole new venture for me, but I'm definitely passionate about creating a cool custom track for my Monster Truck videos. I don't know how to design any track at the moment, so I'm looking online for STL files to print. But it's hard finding track big enough for 2 trucks side by side (equivalent to 4 hot wheels tracks) Addressing Concerns: I appreciate the heads-up about the learning curve and potential cost associated with 3D printing the entire track, especially for large corners. That's something I hadn't fully considered. My other idea was using coragated plastic. It would be cheaper, and I'd be able to make any size track or banked curve I need. Exploring Options: Breaking the track down into smaller, printable sections and then assembling them is a great suggestion! It might take longer, but it could be a more feasible approach for me as a 3D printing beginner. Combining Techniques: Actually, I'm also exploring the possibility of combining 3D printed sections with existing Hot Wheels track pieces and maybe even some Crash Racers elements to create a hybrid track. Shared Passion: It's awesome that you're building your own 600x600 printer! The idea of printing large radius corners and longer straight sections sounds amazing for a custom track. I'd love to see your progress if you're comfortable sharing it. The 3d printing I'm getting in an Ender 3, which i believe only has a print space of ~250x250 Encouragement: Thanks for the encouragement! Even though it might be challenging, I'm definitely going for it and excited about the learning process. — Spartacus0351
- no worries mate... I have an Ender 3 as my go to printer. Works great most of the time and the few upgrades I made to it were pretty easy and now some of them are standard on the newer models. But you are right, the bed is only capable of small items and that is not easily upgraded. I have not printed any track parts on it for that reason. There are some free printable files on thingiverse... https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=hot+wheels+track&page=4 if you decide to go that route. I think I will be using a combination of crash racers, corroplast and frp plastic sheet for my modest test track. — Stoopid_Fish_Racing
I have tested with monster trucks a bunch, and as said, they tend to flip with very little effort. They also turn into the first tire that hits something, and stall
my off road track
www.redlinederby.com/topic/call-it-a-wash-off-road-track/5407
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s4IS_g23o4
I would bust out the hot glue gun, some cardboard, foam board, and cardstock and mock it up
Start at the bottom straight and work your way up on corner at a time
You can then transfer the design to better materials later
dr
- I want to start off by saying your track looks really good. The deisgn and and detail look really good. Yes I do agree the trucks can tip and roll easily. But to try to midigate that, Im planning on starting each truck in Hot wheels tracks, and then transition to Crash Racers track. Since crash racers is designed for 2 regular cars, I think it would work perfectly for a monster truck, without moving around too much. Also with the bank turns thats come with crash racers, I think they would work good for bank 180 turns. But yes making a mock up of my course before building is a great idea. thank you — Spartacus0351
I've put monster trucks down my regular tracks before and they can work but here's what I've found
1. You need a steeper than normal slope as the wheels are a solid axle that has a lot of drag, so to give them momentum you need a solid drop
2. As mentioned above, if a wheel touches a side wall or obstacle, they will turn into it very easily and stall/flip/crash
3. Cornering is tough and you will generally need a large bank in the corners to get them round.
4. A good way to guide them in a laned section is to use a barrier under the trucks, rather than side walls.
You can see a few monster trucks runs on my channel. The earlier one is Stuntman Sam running a monster truck down the original canyon and he made it the whole way but after many attempts. youtu.be/DDkiFQ7DQNY?si=AvEaP_UxCgUWQML0
The other track run is at the end of my camper chaos video and while vans towing caravans make it the truck can't make it very far as the track isn't steep enough and you see the wheels wobbling around. Here's that video youtu.be/IFr7NMiurYI?si=QfttvdWZS7xbJJPo
In my beach run, I start the trucks in the same place every time and where they end up varies dramatically due to the body roll changing the wheel direction you could look to secure the axles but then they basically won't turn youtu.be/OPXO19nXTLw?si=2O72aQwe1MsiOEDW
Flat Rabbit did a series of monster truck races in a short course and they were fun but it's a short straight track
best of luck with your idea, but I'd also suggest hand building tracks to begin with as it is a lot faster and cheaper to prototype compared the 3D printing
- Listen to this dude, he knows his stuff! — JBlotner42
- I have though about some piano wire springs to "dampen" the monster truck body roll, but have not done any good experiments. and the cheap monster trucks behave the same, too — dr_dodge
- Let me start off by saying thank you for your comment. It feels really good to be able to have this feedback from everyone. I really want to get this idea to come to life. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a while, and its different than any other die cast racing I’ve seen before (at least with monster trucks). I just wanted to address a couple of your points, with some of my ideas that I’ve came up with. #1) that slope of the track. I don’t want the trucks going too fast, because I’m trying to replicate Monster Jam racing. So currently I’m going with a 10 degree decline for most of the race. Actually, with that in mind, I do have another track design that I will be posting soon. It’s a little shorter and its about 22’ long, roughly. #2) I feel like with enough speed, I think it might not be too much of an issue. I’m going to be using hot wheels track at the start of the race (2 lanes per truck), and then switch to crash racers (1 lane per truck). Each truck will stay in their own lane for the entire race. I don’t think I’ll be opening up the track, I think it’ll be too wide for the trucks. #3) Yes corning has been as issue for me to figure out. This is my plan so far. For a 90 degree turn, I recently order some tracer racers 90 turns. I’ll get them in a couple days and test them out with different speeds and different entrance angles. I feel like it’ll work. Also, I’ll be getting a couple sets of crash racers for my 180 turns. With my current idea to race two trucks side by side, I was trying to figure out how to make an outer and inner 180 turn. Since crash racers turns are in 5 pieces each, I’m planning on take one piece out from the inner track, and putting it in the outer track. And with that, hopefully it might work. I feel like the banked angle is good (with the right speed), I just need an inner lane and outer lane. And with back-to-back 180 turns, there won’t be too much of specific lane advantage. I very much appreciate the videos you’ve done with Monster trucks going down a track. It further reminds me that its possible to do full tournaments with only monster trucks. I did watch some of Flat Rabbit, his videos have a lot of good elements to them. Just like some other channels, they mostly just do a straight track, or a drag race, with a jump at the end. Which is great, and I enjoy watching them. I’m just want to try something new and different. Thank you. — Spartacus0351
I suggest you get in touch with Russ at Spool Heads! IDK if they have a website, but they do have a FB page. They've built a frame for a monster truck focused track(the name of the customer's channel escapes me). Not only would he have insight on successful track design, he could make something for you and/or sell you files to print stuff yourself!
You could also use the Hot Wheels Mario Kart Rainbow Road for a portion of your track, as it seems to provice some nice action. Actually, I also recommend binging more videos from the channel linked below. Flat Rabbit has a ton of monster truck content, and most of their stuff is hand-made.
- That is a good idea to talk to Russ at Spool heads. I’ve checked out his Facebook and his website, he has a lot of great track pieces and he even has some of his 3d printing files online, and they are editable. The video that I think you are referencing is a video where Russ is talking about a track, he built for OurTime4Adventure. They using race monster trucks down a straight track and it opens up to an arena with multiple jumps (great channel, and has been an inspiration to my ideas). But the new track that Russ built for them is for Mini monster trucks, that can race in a single hot wheel’s lane. So, the whole track is only 2 lanes wide. Which works perfectly for the mini trucks, but I need something a little wider that than. My track needs to be roughly 4 lanes wide, or 2 crash racers track side by side. Also Spool heads track is a little out of budget at the moment. But if the channel takes off, I would definitely consider switching everything to Spool heads. You second comment about using Rainbow Road is a possibility. I’ve seen a couple of channels use that track for Monster Trucks. Even though it isn’t specifically meant for trucks, it still works. I feel like the lanes are even smaller than regular hot wheel tracks, so there is less wobbling, but the trucks don’t get to go that fast since it only has 2 quick 180 turns in it. One channel that I’ve watched, took Rainbow Road, and then extended the track with some regular hot wheel tracks, just to extend the race by 6-8 feet, and then had the finish line from the super 6 lane Raceway. With some modifications, it all worked out. Thank you for you feedback, I really appreciate it. — Spartacus0351
While yard saling I ended up with one of these
I just stripped it out for monster truck launching
I cut off the "flippers" at the end
will launch 2 monster trucks of 4 cars
dr
and if you haven't seen it
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc1c7EdagwQ
- That track is called the 4-lane elimination race. I don’t know if its still in production or not, but definitely a good find. I’ve had a couple of different idea of how to start my races. I didn’t want to use the 6-lane wide track that a lot of people use, I wanted something different. So, I’ve came up with 2 different Ideas. My first one is to use the launcher from the hot wheel race crate. Its 4 lanes wide, and Amazon sells that piece individually. I could easy launch 2 trucks side by side with a that piece. My second idea I got from scrolling on Etsy, while looking at customer hot wheels track pieces. I came across a listing called ‘Ultimate Monster Truck Add-On Jam Set | Hot Wheels Compatible’ and it just happens to have a 4 lane start gate, in addition to some extra obstacles that I could use for my track. So, I still don’t know which one I will go with, but I still have some time before I start building. The video you put up from Monster Truck Attitude, is definitely a good channel. He has a lot of excitement and energy in his voice. The way he has built his area and track is really good. Building it like a Monster Jam area and even adding a slight echo to his voice, makes the Monster jam area sound even more realistic, which is great. For me, the track is just a little short. I want more of a downhill race track, but to try to resemble that they would do at a Monster Jam event. It might be hard, but I think with the right angles, banked turns, and with the right speed, it might be doable. — Spartacus0351
- you got me wanting to try and glue one up. maybe build it like a volcano shape. and yea, the guy above really makes it feel like a stadium event — dr_dodge
I'm here to share my latest project: a brand new, custom-built Monster Truck track! It's been a blast putting it together, but I'm always looking for ways to make it even more epic. My inspiration for this track, was the brand new monster truck track at the world finals in LA. That's where you guys come in!
Here's a quick rundown of the track so far:
* Starting Ramp: A 10-degree decline to get the trucks pumpin' (starting with hot wheels track)
* First Turn: Banked double-wide turn for smooth cornering (courtesy of the Trace Racers set)
* Straightaways: Two 7-foot straights to build up some serious speed
* Second Turn: Single-lane 180s using Crash Racers track (per truck)
* Final Jump: 1-foot jump with a 1-foot landing ramp (looking for the sweet spot for epic air!)
Here's where I need your expertise:
* Decline Angles: Are my current decline angles good, or should I adjust them for more speed or control?
* Final Jump: What decline angle should I use before the jump for a perfect launch?
* Decoration Ideas: I'm aiming for a Monster Jam arena vibe - any suggestions for epic decorations?
* General Feedback: Let me know what you think! Is the track layout exciting? Anything I should add or remove?
* I know my model isn't smoothed out, and isn't finished, but I wanted to get my rough draft out there. It'll be side by side racing for the entire race, with each truck in there own lane the whole time.
* The numbers (1,2,3) coenside with monster truck obstacles I'll be putting into my track, that are hot wheel track compatible (that I found on Etsy). I think they will be an awesome addition to the track, and something new in diecast monster truck racing. I haven't done any testing yet, still waiting for them to be delivered.
I'm pumped to see what kind of Monster Truck mayhem this track can unleash! Drop your ideas and advice in the comments below. Let's build something truly legendary together! #MonsterTruckMadness #RedlineDerby #CustomTrackBuild
- Obstical tracks look good, as far as angles, no substitution for testing, change, and test again. while testing to build my MT track, I found a combo of level and inclines made the cars more consistent, as you could control their speed. — dr_dodge
- also seemed to make the cars "do interesting things" as they peel speed off, then back on — dr_dodge
- Looks good so far. Can't wait to see what it looks like! — JBlotner42
I like your layout. If you can pull it off it will be amazing!
I have a strong suspicion that the monster trucks will not corner at all like you expect them too. The high CoG will most likely cause the trucks to tip over in the turns. The rubber tires will also cause extreme loss of momentum in the corners. I tested rubber tires on my track with a few "real riders" and the results are clear.
There is a Facebook page that does monster truck races. www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089062472797&mibextid=ZbWKwL
Might give you some ideas! Looking forward to what you come up with!