Track layout, what to build with?
I plan to start laying the groundwork for the road and off-road tracks this weekend. I plan on building it to include scenery and make it look as real as I can. I have experience with the scenery from making terrain for war gaming. However I'm stuck in the planning faze because I'm not sure how I'm going to build the structure it will all be built on. Any suggestions or explanations on how others have done so would be helpful. I've considered both wooden structure, as well as cardboard and foam. Not sure what to do yet, help me diecast racers you're my only hope.
Discussion
Depends where you're putting it. Building a simple frame structure would be the easiest, but until you've checked your track will run (right drop heights, cornering speeds etc), then I would leave everything quite adjustable
FOr mine, because it's crammed against the wall of my shed, I had tape hanging down from the roof to support everything to begin with, and lower parts were all sitting on paint tins etc - very scientific ;) - until I had a better idea of what was needed then I started to mount some brackets off the wall and build more permanent structures to accommodate the track. Mine is also not flat in the straights, as I wanted the track to undulate, so I don't have a solid frame under the straights like most tracks do. As I build the diorama part, that will get added to though. Just made it a lot easier in these early stages.
I have half of our basement so space isn't an issue. I just have to work out all the specs like drop and such that you mentioned. I'm also trying to do this on as few trips to the hardware store/lumber yard as I can. It's driving my wife nuts that I'm planning so much lol.
- Haha. My partner keeps asking when I'll be home form the track - meaning come inside from the shed :) You can stack boxes up etc to test your drop heights and speeds, nothing really needs to be fixed in place or built too solidly to begin with. Check out some of Simon from Hot Car Track (on YouTube) early vids, where he goes through setting up his track, finding what worked and what didn't etc. Might help as well — Chaos_Canyon
- Cheers for this Warwick, I'm going to check those videos out as well — ghenty
Tail of the Dragon...the build journal has my measurements and notes as I go along with that Build...so check that one out.
Just honor the process...don't go Racing until you've got the track dialed in to your specifications...the old measure twice and cut once mentality.
Some inspiration...
- Beautiful! Great craftsmanship. — EcuWeeEcosse
- Hi LoS, Marc D here. At the moment on youtube one is seeing many new build track designs. Unfortuneatly, many suffer from not being "dialed in" and the running results, for me fall short. To me, testing, adjusting angles in and out, wow, all make a huge difference to the result. Cheers — CutRock_R_Marc_D
I'd use cardboard to prototype things like heights, turns, drops, etc. Once you're happy then choose where wood makes sense, or keeping cardboard, or PVC, or whatever else makes sense to get what you're after.
Seeing all these fantastic builds lately, it's clear that a track is not limited to any single material or process. You can hide the sins easily with fabric or modeling or whatever, so find out what you're happy working with. But also, don't forget to use something you can repair and maintain!
I build my tracks out of wood and MDF...check out some of the Track Build Journals.