I have built the following 4X10 layout, but am not happy with the hairpin turn. The hairpin is very difficult for the inside lane to manuever. The rest of the layout runs great. Any suggestions for reworking this layout minus the hairpin turn??

If you shorten the 3 long straightaways, and the long 'squiggle' by 6 inches, that would give you the room you need to put wider curves on that hairpin than the 6"/9" combo you have there.

You might give the outside lane a 6" curve to even things out. Maybe right after the existing 6/9 lollipop going onto the long inside straight. That way both the inside and outside lanes have the "dreaded" tight 6" corner. My layout was designed with a 6" corner on both the inside and outside lanes and I really like it.

I personally like your layout the way it is. The 6"/9" corner breaks up a bunch of large radius corners.

Are the 6" corners smoothed out? Track surface and rails? Seems like they are the most difficult to get smoothed out, pancake car pickups seems to snag easily for some reason.

That's a good point. The 'S' rails at the joints are notorious for grabbing pancake cars' pickups and literally throwing them out of the slot. You can gently push those 'S' rails down so you'll get a smoother rail surface. Also check to see if the slot lines up flush......sometimes it staggers from piece to piece, and that can cause problems.

I made a little error on my suggestion. Don't shorten the main or middle straightaways.....just the back straight. Then adjust your squiggle section to fit, and you'll have the space to take out the 6" curves on your hairpin.

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AFXToo, that second layout looks like it would work well. Could you send me the Tracker file? Thanks

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Do you need my email address or can you send it through the HobbyTalk BBS?

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