Pacific Rim Speedway Build Journal
My motivation to build a 1:64 scale track came from two friends who introduced me to the 3dbotmaker YouTube channel. Pacific Rim Speedway will be a step away from the conventional raceway diorama. Cars will be racing through a city being attacked by Kaiju all the while Jaeger are defending the city. The city will be a full diorama of details to explore when it is all finished.
A total of 6 action cameras will be used, to include 4 fixed positions, 1 finish line, and 1 motion stabalized camera. The track will also have street lights to allow for low light/night racing as well. The footprint of the track is contained on a 4-ft x 8-ft platform. The start gate is located 6-ft above the floor, and the finish line is located 3-ft above the floor. So the full length of the track is a total of 34.75-ft, which is contained in a 8-ft W x 3-ft H x 4-ft D cubic area. The framing and supports are all made from lumber that I measured and cut, and the track itself is made up of Hot Wheels flat tracks, Crash Racers straightaway and banks, and miscellaneous custom 3D printed parts from Slanman Customs, including a start gate with timer, 45° dual lane curves, track connectors, track anchors, and trusses.
A few unique landscape additions to the track will be a 5.5-ft long grid iron bridge that will span the length between the start gate and the first 90° turn, sewer pipes providing support to a carved out cave that the cars race through, live power station, and television station. All with accent LEDs to add to the affects.
First up was building the base. I used 1.5" x 2.5" studs, 4' x 8' x 1/2" sheet of particle board, and 2" hex bolt wood screws.
I am not a carpenter by any means, so this all has been a learning experience. The supports were a bit wobbly and swayed a small bit in every direction. So I added cross bar support in every direction to remove it and provide more support.
Next up, I laid out the track in a 2-dimensional configuration to ensure my foot print that I had sketched out actually fits the physical foot print.
So far so good, right? Next, I started building the platforms to support each turn. I started with the bottom and worked my way up. Each platform would be at 6" increments meaning that each subsequent platform would be 6" above the next. This was a start point for sure. I used 2" x 2" x 96" lumber and 24" x 48" x 1/4" sheets of MDF. I used the MDF for the platforms holsing up the turns as well as supports for the straightaways.
The next platform would be straight forward, but I didn't want lumber blocking the view of the final turn to the finish. So I decided that this last turn to the finish line would be inside of a cave like cut-out. At first I thought to leave the 2" x 2" wooden support and cover it with expanding foam to carve it in order for it to look like a stalactite/stalagmite. But after a test, I felt it too wide/big. Then I had the idea of using PVC disguised as sewer pipes. This actually turned well out to my surprise.
I will have some hanging vines/vegetation from the overflow openeings at the top, and from the broken section of one of the pipes.
Next up was testing. I precut some 2" x 1" x 1/2" blocks from extra fencing pickets I had from a fencing project to use as shims/lifts to help provide angle to the turns in order to maintain momentum. I then discovered that the MDF supports for the straightaways were bowed/warped. So I ended up replacing all the MDF straightaways with 5" x 6' x 1/2" pickets cut to length. There was no sagging at all and I was also able to remove all the extra supports that were required to hold up the MDF straightaways.
These first test runs went okay for the most part. The heavier cars had no problems running the track at an okay speed, but the lighter and higher cars had a lot of difficulty. For example, the tiny City Civics would fall off at turn 3, or Quattros would fall off in the last turn.
So I invited two of my friends over that are also just getting into diecast racing. We share commonalities in costuming, Star Wars, and boardgaming. So our "craftiness" together could help improve my track. So they came over and ran their cars down the track. They came to the same conclusion that the track was a good start, but needed more speed in places. So we did some modifications.
We started with turn 5 and lowed the platform 2" to increase the angle going into the last turn before the finish line. So this platform height was now at 4" instead of its original 6". But even further we dropped one corner to 3" to help the exit of the turn be power than the entry. This also flattened the small hump that became noticeable where the curve connected to the straightaway.
Turn 5 also hamp a hump in its exit where the turn connected to the straightaway. So we lowered that corner from 12" to 11" so the exit would be lower than the entry of the curve.
Then there were some minor tweeks. If you hadn't notice on the full track shot above, a lot of the pickets I used for the straightaways were mounted on top of the door hinges. So I switched them to underneath the hinges or underneath the subsequent platform.
Then I raised the start gate by 2" to increase the angle of the first straightaway. This may or may not go higher based on testing. I should add that I did add another wooden shim behind the start gate to make it angle more downward.
So after a few test runs, I saw a consistent "hopping" of cars as they exited turn one. Upon further investigation, I discovered that the black track I was using was narrower than the 3D printed 45-degree dual lane curves. So as cars were exiting the curve, they would hop when they hit the outer wall of the flat track. Now most just hopped and continued down the straightaway, but others would hop track and stop, or fall off the track completely.
So I used an old tabletop miniatures trick by holding the end of the track under scalding hot water to soften the plastic then pushing the track flat onto a cold surface in order to widen the outer walls. It actually held pretty well.
Even though it fixed most of the hopping cars, it did not fix all. Some were still hopping across or off the track. So I reached out to Erik from Slanman Customs and he noticed I was using black track. He said that the black track is narrower than some orange track. I was very surprised since I "assumed" all Hot Wheels flat tracks were the same. He was correct. So I replaced this section of black track with orange track that had higher sidewalls, and it worked!
So far so good. The cars were definately picking up speed now, and cars weren't hopping track. Especially the lighter and higher cars, which were able to now make it to the finish line. However, one of my friends didn't like how my track just came to an end abruptly. I responded that the track would end into a cave. His reasoning was, "it takes away from the illusion that it is a real race, and bangs up the cars more at the end." So he suggested inserting the cross intersection from the Crash Racers and adding a loop. It worked out very nicely. I did have to custom cut one of the straightaways to about 4" to make it work because I have a finish line connector that already accomodates the IR sensors for the finish line so I wouldn't have to drill holes into the cross intersection for the sensors as seen in 3dbotmaker's KOM track.
I will be taking a couple of the 5" pickets I have to create an extended shelf to support this last bit of track coming off the table. Once that is done, I'll post another update. And by the way, did I mention MAIL CALL!
40 street lights showed up today. So I will need to drill the holes for these around the track as well. I also ordered the grid iron bridge from the UK, which has shipped but will probably take a couple weeks to arrive. I decided to make that first straightaway a bridge. Otherwise, I would have to create an overhanging cliff since the first straightaway is almost directly over the straightaway coming out of turn 3.
So thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy following my build progress. Until the next update, stay safe and keep your wheels on the road!
Discussion
That's looking awesome. Keen to see how it all progresses and if you're interested, we'll look to get you into a future DSPN report once you have the track closer to being finished.
Fantastic strong start to the hobby! When you get a channel set up, I'll be subscribing.
- Thanks, Scoupe! Greatly appreciated. I do filming, editing, and social media management for my day job. So I'm excited to get my own channel up once I get close to completion. — Kaiju_Colorado
Alrighty, so here is another update for everyone subscribed. So to give you all a little background, I work from home. So I sacrifice my lunch hour to go work on the track for an hour. It allows me to see constant improvement, but not take time away from my family in the evenings or weekends.
But before I get to the track update, let's start off with some 4-wheeled eye candy. A friend of mine had some muscle car doubles so he gifted them to me to add to my collection. I am planning on 24-car tournaments. I picked the number 24 because I plan to run 4 cars per round, and those 4 cars will run 4 heats while rotating start positions. But I degress. So here are the cars I received.
These additions brought my Classic Muscle car count up to 24!
So now for the track update. Today I started measuring out street light placement. I didn't go as far to actually scale them out. I just placed them as to what felt appropriate. The LED lights I am using came from Amazon PRIME and they were $17 USD for 20 street lights ($20 if you don't have a PRIME membership). You can find them here: 20Pcs Model Railway Train Model Street Lights LED Dual Lampposts HO OO Scale LEDs Dual Heads Gauge Model Street Light Layout
I made my pencil marks and started drilling a hole just large enough for the wires and base to thread through. I drilled holes all along the track, minus behind the banked curves. I will need to build up the area behind the curves so the street lights are raised behind them. Otherwise, they would barely peak over the top of the curves.
So after threading 16 street lights in place, I took my handy dandy hot glue gun and glued the bases down. They came out quite nice to my surprise. Street lights really give it that "track" look.
So you probably noticed that there is a piece of track extending off the table from the intersection. I never planned a loop at the end, but only recently decided to add it. Also, you will notice that the final straightaway runs almost up to the edge of the table. So I am limited for landscaping. Thus, I decided to take a couple spare 6" x 6" x 1/2" pickets I had leftover and made a shelf.
Now you're probably wondering what are those white circles going to be? Should I leave you in suspense...?
They're just protective placeholders. The screws I used to drill up from the bottom are protruding 2mm past the wood. So these PVC rings are just there to protect me from putting my hand down onto one of those screws. They will eventually be covered up by scenery later down the road.
Tomorrow I am going to start cutting foam blocks to build up the area behind the 5 turns. I picked up a hot knife foam cutter today, and it was so worth it! Makes cutting the foam easier and a lot less messy. You too can find it on Amazon PRIME for $23. You can find it here: Hot Knife Foam Cutter Hot Wire Styrofoam Engraving Tip 3 in 1 Tools Kit by Calcor
Now many of you are still thinking about the cars I mentioned above. I cannot blame you honestly, I have cars on my brain as well. So I also have a 24 Exotic car field to run as well.
And finally, here is my 24 Street car line-up.
So thanks for checking out today's update! Hope you enjoy following my build progress. Until the next update, stay safe and keep your wheels on the road!
- Looking great. What are you wiring all your light to? Do you have a mains supply or will they be powered by individual batteries per section? — Chaos_Canyon
- I actually haven't figured that out yet. Also, one of my friends is way more familiar with this than I am. You actually know him! He sent you a green UTE. ???? — Kaiju_Colorado
- Sweet. Love that Ute ???? I hade some hooked to batteries - I found about four Lights per button cell was ok before the light started to dim but I’ve just bought a transformer for them which I hope will work better. I’m also going to try wiring them to some copper tape as I found I had miles of wires everywhere otherwise but still testing to make sure that works how I think it will. Small scale is great so far — Chaos_Canyon
Happy Wednesday everyone! Today I used my hot knife to cut up some craft foam. The goal was to create elevation behind the banks of the turns so the street lights will be at the appropriate height. Using white craft foam is a simple and inexpensive method to create plateaus. I used clear Elmer's glue to glue the foam blocks to each other, as well as glue it to the wooden platforms. FYI, I will not use this white craft foam to make cliffs and walls. I have blue styrofoam project panels that are 24-in x 24-in x 1-in for those since they are more rigid and stronger than the white craft foam.
I can also easily glue low loft small batting to the top of the white craft foam to create a natural look for making the ground. I found a very good YouTube video that shows one of the easiest methods to create land forms.
How to Make Easy Hills & Mountains for Model Train Layouts and Dioramas
So thanks for checking out today's update! Hope you enjoy following my build progress. Until the next update, stay safe and keep your wheels on the road!
... and don't you just hate it when you accidentally get one of your cars wet?
- Good placement of that foam behind the banks...looks nice and snug, should be great support as they come roaring into the curve. — redlinederby
- Thanks! — Kaiju_Colorado
- Hahahahaha! Nice joke! :D — GT_Diecast
Happy Thursday everyone! Today I was able to add more foam behind turn 4 and erect 4 more street lights. Also, little hint on how I cut out the foam is that I used spare track pieces that I had and traced the configuration onto the foam. Then cut it out with the hot knife. This allowd me to get the majority of the shape correct, and then only minor cuts for fitment. So far I am up to 23 street lights. Next up is turn 3, which is a Crash Racers 90-degree turn using track parts B & C.
Thanks for checking out today's update! Hope you enjoy following my build progress. Until the next update, stay safe and keep your wheels on the road!
- So cool to see these photo updates! Thanks for sharing! — Chad_G
- This is a great journal. Love the photos showing all your steps and guts of the operation. — redlinederby
- Thanks guys! Appreciate the support. — Kaiju_Colorado
TGIF!!! Today, I foamed up turn 3 and added 2 more street lights. Only two turns remaining. Obviously more foam will be added to fill dead space. I am just adding enough foam around the turns to provide support and a base to install the lights.
Also, like many of you, I get excited with mail arriving. I got a couple packages! The first, was gates and lane stopper from Erik over at Slanman Customs. If you are unfamiliar with Slanman Customs, there is a good review here right on Redline Derby. You can check it out here: Review: Slanman Customs track accessories
Package #2 was of a different variety. Since I incorporated a loop at the end of my track, that also means I will have a tunnel entrance and exit. So I have been looking for train tunnel entrances, and I came across a pair for just $12 in an online vintage store. I don't want the "LIONEL" visible so I will be ordering a couple metal highway signs from Custom Diecast Metal Signs by Meekin. They are American made out of Texas, and you can find them on Facebook here: Custom Diecast Metal Signs by Meekin
Thanks for checking out today's update! Hope you enjoy following my build progress. Until the next update, stay safe and keep your wheels on the road! Have a great weekend!
Man oh man! Yesterday was a huge build day. Well maybe more long that huge. So today's update is quite extensive. My friend, Nate, and I worked about 7 hours in the garage yesterday on the track. Nate worked on electronics, and I worked on aesthetics. I even set up the portable projector and screen in the garage and we just looped DSPN and 3dbotmaker videos all day long! Even though we needed light to work, having the audio (especially from all the DSPN reports) kept us entertained and motivated.
So first up, I just want to say that Doug and Melissa over at Custom Diecast Metal Signs by Meekin are just awesome people! They helped me finalize a bunch of metal signs for billboards and highways for my track. And of course, I have to show my love for the folks that have helped me with my track. I also ordered special billboards for these metal signs from Erik over at Slanman Customs. The highway signs will be suspended over my two tunnel entrances, but the rest will be spread out through out the track.
So I finally finished erecting all 32 street lights, and building up the foam base around all 5 turns. I also received two power distribution board light hubs from Amazon. Since my LED street lights have a maximum rating of 3V input, I researched several different ways to step down power. Thom over at Chaos Canyon uses 3V button cells power packs, there were also 3V AA/AAA battery power packs, and I even looked at adjustable power supplies. But in the end, I went with what the model trains folks go with, and I also wanted a single power source. I bought two light hubs for $17 each from Amazon PRIME, which can be found here: PCB012 Power Distribution Board Self-Adapt Distributor HO N O LED Street Light Hub DC AC Voltage Train Power Control
The benefits of these light hubs are: 1) support up to 28 lights, 2) expandable add additional boards to support more lights, 3) adjustable light dimmer, 4) single input power source, and 5) adjustable power output. It does not have a power supply, but literally any of those wall plug-in power supplies that you have laying around that has a 5.5mm x 2.1mm round DC jack positive tip can be used. It's like literally the most common connector there is. So I just dug around in my box in the garage for old chargers, and found an old power supply that powers the charging base for portable handheld radios. The adjustable output voltage for this hub has 3 selectable settings: 1) 12V stable, 2) direct output that matches whatever power supply input is being used, and 3) 3V stable.
Now we didn't get to lighting today. We'll tackle that next weekend. My friend, Nate, spent most of his time assembling and setting up the standard timer that comes from Slanman Customs. Nate has a COMMS background from the military so he is really good at that stuff. He says things like "short," and I had no clue what he meant since my definition of short was not what it really means in the world of circuits. With the help of Erik Slan directly, and his wiring diagram/instructions, Nate was able to get it up and operational.
Nate truly thinks of everything too! Rather than just soldering wires directly to the boards, he inserted connectors to make it more modular. As well as wiring an external reset button for it. The normal reset button is actually on the board itself and it sits inside a housing. So I'd have to either unplug and re-plug the power supply, or open the housing to push the tiny reset button.
So I am very pleased with the product. A timer is activated with a manual micro switch when the start gate is dropped. The LED displays the active rolling timer until a car passes the two sensors on the finish line, and then the time of the first (and only first) car is displayed. After 3 seconds, the display resets back to the title screen, which Erik programmed to read "Pacific Rim Speedway." How awesome is that!
While Nate was working on the timer, I did a lot of painting of several bits. I have experience painting tabletop miniatures for role playing games and boardgames. Typically 28mm scale. I also expanded my painting to encompass costumes, like my Snowtrooper armor and costume for the 501st Legion. I started with the sewer pipes, which then progresses to the gates, then the traffic barrels, and finally to the tunnel entrances.
My process typically starts with a base primer followed by a wash, and then finished with dry brushing. A wash is a term for a visual arts technique resulting in a semi-transparent layer of colour (typically dark) that is diluted and fills the recesses of the medium to add depth. Basically, it fills in all the cracks to allow you to see more detail. Then the dry brushing hits the raised areas. I typically use a really light color for dry brushing to contrast the dark wash.
Here you can see the wash on the sewer pipes. The pipes were first painted with a hammered silver primer, and then washed. Normally I like the wash more blended, but the blotchiness adds to the grunge look. I have not dry brushed these pipes yet.
Next up was the gates. I have a total of 7 gates: 1 start, 5 scoring, and 1 finish. My race format will be that each racer receives 1 point for passing each gate (regardless of orientation of the car) plus 2 bonus points for finishing first. I used a silver "armor" primer for the gates, gave them a quick wash, and dry brushed them in an orange-like color that I use to replicate rust. Remember that I am not doing a typical bright, clean raceway theme. It's more of a race through Gotham while it's being attacked by monsters.
Then I was looking at all those orange plastic barrels that came with the 3 Crash Racers sets I used. Initially I thought about buying a bunch of those 3D printed replica concrete barricades and painting them in alternating colors of red and white. But then I came back to my theme of a city rather than a track. A city would have these large orange barrels. But straight orange was blah. So I wrapped each one with blue masking tape and used a white primer to paint the center band followed by a wash and dry brushing.
Lastly, I painted the huge tunnel entrances. As I mentioned in my last update, I will be covering the letters at the apex of each entrance with metal highway signs. I used a flat grey primer with a dark wash and a sea foam green dry brush to give it a very moldy look. I am very happy with the result.
As a side note, I don't spend a lot of money on small, expensive cans of wash from a gaming company. I just use regular MinWax PolyShades. They add the same effect as washes or inks, but add a long-lasting polyurethrane coating for protection. And a quart of Minwax only costs about $14 while a 8.45 oz can of Army Painter Quickshade costs around $25. Twice the quantity for half the price.
I also buy generic packs of cheap brushes to apply the Minwax because it really destroys brushes. You can never really clean the bristles thoroughly enough to re-use the brushes. I recommend wearing disposable gloves when using Minwax because it is very powerful stain and it is also very sticky. I set my stuff on aluminum foil to dry otherwise they will stick really bad to whatever you set it on to dry. Wax paper will work as well. Also, the Minwax leaves a very shiny look after it dries so I always hit it with Testor's matte clear coat in the small aerosol cans. I like the Testor's clear coat the best because it goes on thin and dries quickly. I have not hit any of the models I painted with the clear coat yet. Need to restock.
Thanks for checking out today's update! Hope you enjoy following my build progress. Until the next update, stay safe and keep your wheels on the road! Enjoy your Sunday!
- Wow...great update! I'd look to the model train stuff for everything you need. Scale is pretty close and they've got all the helpers for the electronics. No sense to reinvent the wheel. Nice job on the weathering too...things are shaping up quick! — redlinederby
- And thanks for the billboard! Appreciate the support. — redlinederby
- Don't listen to the guy! He doesn't know the difference between a fdgkjh;dfkgh and a jhroihvv. :) — Blipside
- When looking at the model train stuff pay attentiuon to the scale. Some of the stuff is 1/72 and some of it is 1/87. — Blipside
- Yeah, I'd love to find S scale train stuff at 1/72 scale, but it's so hard to find. So I've just been grabbing HO scale at 1/87. — Kaiju_Colorado
So today was less maintenance and more testing... and more testing... and more testing. Even when you think that your track is dialed in, that only means it is dialed in with your fleet of cars. It's always good to test visiting cars from friends. It's fun for them too!
Before I start getting deep into terrain and scenery, I want to ensure that all 4 cars make it to the finish. Now it's okay if a car flips over, or flies off the track. But what I don't want is the same thing happening repeatedly. I want things to be a fluke; left up to chance. For example, if a car flies off the track in a specific spot during a 4-car race, I run the car multiple times solo in the same lane to see if I can recreate what happened. If I cannot get it to do it again, then that is good. Then I run it with the same 4-car group. If it doesn't occur again, I am happy with that.
A lot of test runs solo, 1v1 head-to-head, and 4- or 6-car runs can never be enough. What really sucks is if you lock in your track, build your scenery around it, and only then find out every car you run on the outside lane have a back tire hop when exiting turn 1. Then you have to basically destroy or remove anything permanent, and isolate the problem to find a remedy.
So today my friend, A-a-ron, came over to test several of his cars. He was planning to join Nate and I on Saturday, but something more important came up (which is completely understandable). While he ran his cars in whatever order he liked, I tried to focus on paying attention to how his cars reacted to the track. Which was very difficult at times because I kept getting distracted by some amazing racing.
Then I started running some of my cars again. I like to take identical cars (with different paint schemes) and run them head-to-head. Like the black and burgundy Chrysler Pacifica's. Sometimes I run them side-by-side; sometimes one behind the other. Always swapping their start positions around. Normally, they stay neck and neck and just alternate finishes. However, I came to one identical pair where one of the cars was significantly faster than its twin. The car I am referring to is the image at the top of today's comment.
So I swapped their starting positions and pretty much the same result every time. Then I started running it against other cars in my fleet that I know run fast. Again the same car kept winning. It would enter turn 1 and exit like a slingshot. Even if it was behind entering turn 1, it would rocket past its opponent on exit. It was really puzzling. Especially when we weighed it and it only came in at 29g! All the cars in my fleet are stock, un-modified real cars. They are replicas of their actual automobile compliment.
Then my friend started running his cars against this speed demon. We went through his entire group that he brought over, and then raced it against more cars in my fleet. This car kept winning. This casting must be touched by Ricky Bobby himself, because it seemed like it was all jacked up with Mountain Dew.
Now the one difference other than color with its twin was the wheels. And you've probably been thinking... "it must have FTE wheels!" Actually, it does not. It actually has the Hot Wheels AeroDisc wheels that debuted in 2018 mainlines. The AeroDisc is a wheel style introduced in late 2017, first appearing on the '85 Honda City Turbo II. The rim has two rings: one on the outside and a solid disc on the inside. The disc is not completely round as it's missing a small portion, which gives an appearance like an attempt to simulate where the air hose nozzle would be fitted. It has a plastic tire and no treads. The name is based on the shape on the double rings of the rim.
Have you guessed which car it is yet? I'm sure there are a few of you that have figured it out. But reply to this comment with your guess, and why you think your guess is correct. I will post the a clear image of the mystery car in my next update.
Thanks for checking out today's update! Hope you enjoy following my journal. Until the next update, stay safe and keep your wheels on the road!
Happy hump day to everyone! We're halfway to the weekend! So my update today includes a few new scenery items that arrived that I am very excited about. I came across some demolished building kits on the internet and bought one to see how it will look for my track. The company also sells undamaged building kits as well. So after receiving my first damaged one, I will be placing a larger order of several buildings (both damaged and undamaged) very soon.
It is a little smale for scale, but I'm willing to sacrifice that for the added affect of Kaiju actually destroying buildings surrounding my track. These building kits are injection molded plastic (not 3D printed). They are not very thick, and even though the pieces "snap" together, I will still be reinforcing the connections with a small dab of glue. Normally, I would assemble and paint, but for these buildings, I will be painting and then assembling. Only because I want to paint the floors, ceilings, and interior walls a lighter color that the outside of the buildings. A brighter interior will help reflect interior lighting and provide contrast so the buildings don't get lost in the background or foreground. Here is where you can find this building on Amazon: 1:100 HO Scale Building Kits - Battlefield Ruin Damaged Version B
Next up is a structure that probably will involve the most attention. It is a power substation! My purpose for the substation goes back to many a Godzilla and Kaiju movies. The idea of Kaiju just stomping through electrical lines and power converters with sparks and explosions makes me giddy like a school girl. Now I am not going to try any pyrotechnics like Flat Rabbit Racing, but I do want to portray a very cool scene. Basically, a Jaeger has planted a well landed punch that sends a Kaiju flying back into the substation. So I will spend a lot of time building this substation in accurate detail, as well as painting it, in order to just mash a Kaiju into the center of it. Then adding lights for effect. Here is where you can find this power substation on Amazon: Walthers Cornerstone Series Kit HO Scale Northern Light & Power Substation & Accessories
So during my previous update, I talked about a fun little car that was blowing all my other cars away on my track. I'm sure there are many lurkers followings my build journal, but didn't want to post a guess to the car. But that's okay. So without further delay, here is the car that was a shocking surprise in its performance...
The Mazda MX-5 Miata! Such a small car with a big engine. Some castings just turn out perfect. I also had another parcel arrive in the past couple days, which I'm pretty sure many of you will know this celebrity...
Thanks for checking out today's update! Hope you enjoy following my build journal. Until the next update, stay safe and keep your wheels on the road!
- It’s looking really great man. Looking forward to seeing cars run on the track and of course the finished build — Chaos_Canyon
- Thanks Thom! — Kaiju_Colorado
Nice looking building models. You have a link to where you got them?
And while they might be a little small for scale, I don't think it'll much issue if only because I like the thought of the "near future" where the world has larger-than-life jet cars that race around our cities (think Wipeout, ya know) and then one day the monsters show up to interupt a race! I dig it. I'm a big Godzilla fan too so I just can't wait to see it all put together and painted.
- Thanks Brian! I get the majority of my items from Amazon. The demolished building came from:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088ZT8M6T/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_wGpKFbY7PGY5C?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 — Kaiju_Colorado
- The power substation I found at my local Hobby Town. — Kaiju_Colorado
- Hi Brian, I edited my update to include the links so people can find them easily. I will continue to add links, even if I mentioned them in a previous update just in case someone doesn't want to scroll through again. — Kaiju_Colorado
Hello everyone! So today I took my time and tried my hand at wiring the street lights. They come in a 20-piece bundle for $17 on Amazon PRIME. You can find these street lights on Amazon here: 20Pcs Model Railway Train Model Street Lights LED Dual Lampposts HO OO Scale LEDs Dual Heads Gauge Model Street Light Layout
First up, I wanted to test a single light to verify the wiring. The two wires that come with the street lights are black and white. So I have a few AAA battery boxes that I had lying about. Each AAA battery box pushes 3V, which is the maximum input for these lights. You can find these battery boxes here on Amazon: LAMPVPATH 5Pcs 2 AAA Battery Holder with Switch, 2X 1.5V AAA Battery Holder Case with Wire Leads and ON/Off Switch (5 Pack)
The two wires that come with the battery pack are black and red. I assumed that I attach black/black and red/white. So that's what I did. Nope, I was wrong. It worked with black/red and white/black. Well at least I now know how to move forward. So I tested the first 4 street lights with this battery pack to ensure they are working.
Then I chained these 4 street lights together. Attaching all their white wires to one white lead, and attaching all their black wires to one black lead. The wires are very, very tiny. So I was not about to fiddle with soldering. I simple exposed about 0.5-inches of wire and twist wrapped them to one another. Then sealed them in shrink tube. The light hub I purchased came with 6 connectors to plug directly into the center of the board. You can find the light hub on Amazon here: PCB012 Power Distribution Board Self-Adapt Distributor HO N O LED Street Light Hub DC AC Voltage Train Power Control
These connectors came pre-wired with black and red wires. Good thing I tested each light previously. So I just attached the white wire lead from the lights to the black wire, and the black wire lead from the lights to the red wire.
So I turned off all the lights, walked over to the switch on the power strip, and flipped it on. I held my breath as nothing turned on, but after about 1.5-2 seconds, the lights illuminated! They were a bit dim so I just rotated the screw inside the blue square all the way up and they brightened very nicely.
So the first 4 of 32 street lights are live! I feel very accomplished today. So I will continue to attach 4-6 lights each day until I get them done. It's the middle of the day so a lot of natural light is still coming through the windows of the garage door. I can't wait to see what they look like in the dark!
Thanks for checking out today's update! Hope you enjoy following my build journal. Until the next update, stay safe and keep your wheels on the road!
Please tell me that you're going to put something solid between that track and your real car. I'd hate to see Hot Wheels impact marks on your real ride.
The track looks great! Excited to see even more progress!