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1,548 Posts
Hi, all,
I haven't been on the forum for a while; got some catching up to do. I had to interrupt building my 2-ft door layout to deal with the real world for a while. Been working on it on and off since then.
As outlined in this earlier thread, I don't have room for a permanent layout. I do setups for single events, and tear down afterward. But I wanted a standard course to test cars and experiment with track and scenery on. I decided to build a test circuit on a 2-ft wide hollowcore door. But I also wanted it to be a fun-to-drive course that could be used for informal racing with friends. It would be stored in the garage standing on-end, and could be quickly set up on our small dining table for testing or racing. It had to be light enough to be handled by one person.
To save weight, everything possible was done with foamcore board and paper, soaked and strengthened with white glue (Elmer's). The paper-and-glue scenery might not take the impact of high-performance modern magnet cars, but seems tough enough for the T-jets, AFXs and AFX-mags that I plan to run. And it's easily repaired.
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Here's a picture of the current state of the layout.
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And it really is light, and transportable. 21 pounds at the moment. How many of you guys can do ten reps one-handed with your slot layout?
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Hah. I thought not. Wusses.
I've got the track pretty smooth and most of the basic scenery in place. Still plenty to do - front and side fascia to hide the edges of the foamboard. An electrical input panel (right now it's just bare wires and alligator clips or a Tomy terminal track), and driver stations. Full cloud backdrop like the right end has. Trees (removable) instead of clumps of fall lichen scattered loosely around. And more.
All buildings, trees and details will be removable, and I plan to have two complete sets, one for a road course with town and rural scenery suggested by the early Watkins Glen grand prix 1948-52, and another set for a conventional raceway, with grandstands, bleachers, etc. Because front-to-back space is so tight, much will be done with low-relief flats instead of full 3-D models.
What started out as a simple quickly-built test circuit quickly fell victim to "mission creep." Once I settled on the over-under track plan, it was clear that scenery was not going to be simple, and I might as well do it nicely. Besides, the scenery is the fun part.
I've posted pictures with descriptions of each step of construction so far, at my Imgur "Tanglewood Glen" album. Everybody is invited to take a look, and ask questions or make comments here on the forum. I'll be posting more as I go along.
:wave: I want to thank all the forum guys for the good help and advice at the beginning, but especially Nuther Dave for saying "Try them all and pick the one that you like to run on." It took longer that way, but I love the feel of this course.
-- D
I haven't been on the forum for a while; got some catching up to do. I had to interrupt building my 2-ft door layout to deal with the real world for a while. Been working on it on and off since then.
As outlined in this earlier thread, I don't have room for a permanent layout. I do setups for single events, and tear down afterward. But I wanted a standard course to test cars and experiment with track and scenery on. I decided to build a test circuit on a 2-ft wide hollowcore door. But I also wanted it to be a fun-to-drive course that could be used for informal racing with friends. It would be stored in the garage standing on-end, and could be quickly set up on our small dining table for testing or racing. It had to be light enough to be handled by one person.
To save weight, everything possible was done with foamcore board and paper, soaked and strengthened with white glue (Elmer's). The paper-and-glue scenery might not take the impact of high-performance modern magnet cars, but seems tough enough for the T-jets, AFXs and AFX-mags that I plan to run. And it's easily repaired.
Here's a picture of the current state of the layout.
And it really is light, and transportable. 21 pounds at the moment. How many of you guys can do ten reps one-handed with your slot layout?
Hah. I thought not. Wusses.
I've got the track pretty smooth and most of the basic scenery in place. Still plenty to do - front and side fascia to hide the edges of the foamboard. An electrical input panel (right now it's just bare wires and alligator clips or a Tomy terminal track), and driver stations. Full cloud backdrop like the right end has. Trees (removable) instead of clumps of fall lichen scattered loosely around. And more.
All buildings, trees and details will be removable, and I plan to have two complete sets, one for a road course with town and rural scenery suggested by the early Watkins Glen grand prix 1948-52, and another set for a conventional raceway, with grandstands, bleachers, etc. Because front-to-back space is so tight, much will be done with low-relief flats instead of full 3-D models.
What started out as a simple quickly-built test circuit quickly fell victim to "mission creep."
Once I settled on the over-under track plan, it was clear that scenery was not going to be simple, and I might as well do it nicely. Besides, the scenery is the fun part.I've posted pictures with descriptions of each step of construction so far, at my Imgur "Tanglewood Glen" album. Everybody is invited to take a look, and ask questions or make comments here on the forum. I'll be posting more as I go along.
:wave: I want to thank all the forum guys for the good help and advice at the beginning, but especially Nuther Dave for saying "Try them all and pick the one that you like to run on." It took longer that way, but I love the feel of this course.
-- D
