MasBlast-O Ring

[masmojo]

Mike, Your reasoning is much the same as mine. Some years back I did have a few guys to run with, but I had a hard time meeting up with them, because I had small kids. It looked for a time like we maybe we would have a few tracks and some options, but one guy found he liked racing his computer simulators better, another guy thought we did not appreciate him or something (still not sure on that one), I would meet some new guys at the hobby shops, but increasingly they were running one of the many digital systems and they had no analog cars and I had no Digital cars. and then I switched to concentrating on 1/43. Amazingly, I did on occasion meet up with a couple other guys in town interested in 1/43, but they quickly fell by the wayside due to job or family obligations. Needless to say running 1/43 can be a rather lonely endeavor and most guys just don't have the sticktoitiveness to make a go of it. My major attraction for doing digital or AC2car would mostly be being able to run a jam car! I don't think dead spots would be a big problem, because the track would be fairly open and flowing and cars should be able to move through the changer area's pretty rapidly.

I have a basic track footprint drawn up, but I am not going to post it, because it's really rough, and probably not exactly what I am going to do; I expect that I will most likely design it as I go. I intend to have a large banked turn at one end so I will start with that , and go from there! ;)

Once I have a track that can accommodate 1/32 cars I am sure I can get some guys together before too long! Dallas/Fort worth is a big place and there's got to be a couple dozen guys out there who might be interested, but as you said usually it's just me and a friend or my kids so I don't sweat other people likes or dislike and I do what makes me happy!

[Nor Cal Mike]

Sounds like lane changing might be for you here is how the slot arrangement I was talking about looks. The forward and backward slashes denote lane changers. The red has two cars the blue has the other two cars. I\II/I

[masmojo]

Yeah, Mike I understood exactly what you meant, you could even do that without using A/C, but I am leaning heavily towards just doing a 3 lane now! Albeit, 3 VERY close lanes (at least for 1/32)they will be a bit wide for 1/43, but because I have not punished myself enough with 1/43; I plan on experimenting with a new scale in the near future! 1/38! Yeah, Crazy I know! :violence-smack:

[masmojo]

Been setting the groundwork for getting going on this, All the tools I had for building were designed for smaller (1/43) tracks; so this weekend I picked up a new ruler and drilled out some holes for laying the Pen to ride in while I draw the Lanes on my MDF.

Had a $10 discount card for Lowes so I went and picked up 3 Sheets of MDF and it's in the HOUSE!
Just need to build a larger compass for my Router.

I'll be getting started soon!

[masmojo]

Been contemplating my selection of scale and lane spacing.

Trying to decide between 3 lanes suitable for 1/32 or 2 outside lanes suitable for running 1/32 with a middle lane designed to allow me to run 3 1/43 cars!

After a whole lot of thinking, I finally realized I can do both!! Yeah!

Throught the straights and Large Banked turn I will keep it open enough for 1/32 cars to run 3 abreast and in the other twistier bits I will squeeze it down in the middle and leave extra room on the shoulders! I am really thinking this will be THE best solution and will ensure that the track looks good all the way around! :music-rockout:

Well that's one more problem solved . . . . NEXT! LOL :lol:

So, now I am wondering about something else! :think: Thinking about running a different type of rail (and maybe not for this track but the next) I had read a blog sometime back about embedding wire or pieces of steel for rails. I would like to revisit this concept if anybody has any suggestions!? :whistle:

[slothead]

Before building my oval in 2007, and finding out about all the resources available online, I wondered how to get braid or copper tape and planned to embed 1/16" wire in the track surface. I was about to buy a spool of electric fence wire when I found some very flexible guide wire at a surplus store. Despite the extra hassle of routing shallow slots for the wire I'm sure it would of worked fine, but thankfully a local stained glass shop had copper tape and my track got done quicker and I've never had any problems.

There was a website for a routed HO track that used a solid wire for the rails - a good choice because of the way HO cars use spring mounted 'shoes' instead of braid to get their power from the track. But for larger cars with guides and braids I don't think you can beat track braid or copper tape. Braid is probably the best, but tape is very easy to do and is reliable. Neither one of these seem to effect tires running over them, which I worried about when planning to use wire with a small part of it being above the track surface.

Anybody try conductive paint for the rails? I love to be able to paint rather than apply tape, if it had a low enough resistance and didn't wear off easily.

Slothead

[masmojo]

Yes, this is all stuff I have contemplated: I typically don't like to run magnuts, but it just makes sense for certain types of cars. Modern F1 or Prototype cars should be suitably "stuck down".

It seems that the availability of Magnabraid is somewhat tenuous & it's not cheap! I saw a track years ago where the guy had pushed (16gage?) copper wire into a routed slot and it looked really good! I was thinking of doing something similar with a flat sided or squarish steel wire and rather then routing the groove, maybe using a tool that rides in the slot and has a blade on either side that cuts a slot, Cheap and possibly easy if it's done right!

I may not do it on this track, but maybe the next?

Honestly, I could probably build this track and retrofit something like that pretty easily if necessary!

[masmojo]

[masmojo]

The loop on the upper left is going to be significantly banked and the straight leading into it should be another 4 or 5 Feet, so the overall effect will be very "straight like". That combined with the flowing nature open nature of the design means and actual "straight" won't be so critical!

[Broman62]

[Nor Cal Mike]

A tee shaped track..... I like that! I think you found yourself a pretty nice layout.

[dreinecke]

I like it!

[woodman]

Re-think modular, to add on later etc. etc.

[masmojo]

Really not thinking Modular or add on basically because this needs to be sort of a quickie and what I have in mind for my next track is going to be somewhat more complex then this build.

On top of that, MDF is relatively cheap and there is little point in trying to reuse it.

Also, if you are going modular, certain elements have to be standardized, that's great if you are selling things to the masses, but a bit of a pain on a custom/static track! I was going to build it in rolling sections' BUT I am thinking what I will probably do now is just make it easily torn down in easily moved pieces.

Build it, use it, tear it down, build something else!!

[masmojo]