Building a track
 

Got my first ZZ a few weeks ago and been have thinking about building a track. I live in a 1-bedroom apartment so I knew that I wanted something that was portable and easy to store. I was looking at the tracks that others have built and was going to use the pink foam insulation, so off to home depot I went. I was looking around and came across this Soft-Styles foam mat it comes in 2’ft. x 2’ft. squares that interlock and can be used for numerous things. They come in a 4 pack for $20 so I picked 1 up and am going to how it works and if I want to make it bigger I just by another pack.

Then I went to Michaels to look for some more things and got this foam matting, its paper-thin and comes in a bunch of colors and was on sale for 50 cents for a 12” x 18” sheet.

I got 4 black (road) 6 green (infield) 1 red and 1 white (candy strips)

Cost so far $27

Now all I have to do if figure out a layout and a barrier system.

Picture comming soon



Track pictures

Cool!
 

Hey there.:)

Nice to see yet another MN person here. (I live in MInnetonka)
Sounds like a good track Idea so far. Can't wait to see some pictures. I would need something easy to store too, with my 2 bdrm apartment. Then me an my roommate could race! Sounds like you could be on to something. Post how Zips handle on that kind of surface when you get a chance.

thanks
 

Thanks for sending me the link to your pics of the track so far. That felt-type stuff you got looks like it will make a good looking track pretty easily. My 2 cents.....nice layout - though looks like some sections might be kind of narrow. Would make for some interesting racing I guess though. Any barrier ideas yet?? I haven't browsed any craft or hardware stores just yet.

Alittle off topic but what parts of MN are you from I'm in Sioux Falls

Track is looking pretty cool. I wonder how they will handle.:D

Some of that stuff also i have, nice grip it has, yes.

How you secure it to the other foam mat, i am wondering?

Track tack
 

Yes I like the grip and it's easy to work with, For now Im pinning it down with stick pins beacuse the mat im using is 1/2" thick. I may just leave it like that or use double sided tape when I'm done.


Now for the barrier I got about 50' of 1/2" plastic wire loom from work that I was going to use. I just tried it and its not all the great. The car seem to stick to it instead of glance off :-( so much for the freebie. Guess I have to make another trip to Home Depot to see what I can find. Glad I only live a 1/2 mile away from Michael's, Home Depot and Wal-Mart :-)

By the way I'm in the Cities Area (airport)

my friend and I are also building a track, not sure what the surface is but the track should be up in about a month. Will take some pics with the digi cam.

Dose red dog give you better grip than bud?:D

barrier idea
 

Dutch,

I was surfing another forum and saw that a guy used flexable drywall bead for barriers, and it looks pretty cool. Looks like you could pin it in whatever shape you wanted to your track. He stated it was $1.25 for an 8 ft section. See some pictures of the track and barriers here:
http://home.wi.rr.com/cdconsulting/M...ack%20Pics.htm

Still Looking
 

Thanks PT,

I saw that track before also. I like the flexability of that stuff just dont care much for the look. (Im I being to anal ?) LOL

I'll keep looking for a while till I find something I can live with or maybe grab a some of that stuff and try to dress it up.
(mmmm paint fumes)

LOL! I wonder if there are drinking and driving laws in his state. :)

Pic's of track so far (testing phase)
 

oooooook I threw-up a quickie geocities web page and put some pics up of what I've done so far. There nothing special it may give you some ideas or you might have an idea for me to try.

Thanks to all who read and posted


My web page

Barrier Ideas!
 

Here's a few things I came up with while browsing Home Depot and Michaels:

At Michaels - a good idea here is balsa wood! (duh, exactly what every hobby or craft project needs!) They have a bin of various sized strips. Easily flexable is the 1/16 x 1/4 36" long strips. Also then easily paintable! Then for posts, there is a bin of wooden dowels. You could use the 1/16 size, and glue it behind your rail, or get the 1/8 size (or a tad bigger) and cut a knotch in the top of each post to put the rail into. I would think the small 1/16 dowels would be easiest, as you could jam them into the foam base - though a lot of glueing will have to be done!!

At Home depot - best rail for the buck - window blinds!!! Get aluminum or plastic ones. I saw a 60" one for like 6 bucks! Take it apart, and you got a ton of slats to work with. Affixing them so they are virtical on your track, im not so sure about (small "L" brackets over in hardware?) But im thinkin this would be a good idea. And cheap too.

Dutch,

Where did you find those interlocking foam pads? I did't see them anywhere. Didnt want to buy a 4'x8' sheet of insulation, as the smaller 2x2 size will work for store-ability. And dammit, Michaels by me was all out of the black thin foam sheets!! (probably for Halloween) Though, in the same isle, I thought, why not get the same size sheets, but in the felt material for infield/grass??? Would be a different texture than the road/track surface then....

Here is picture of my track real simple 1/2" plastic water tube 100' foot for $8 4x8 sheet 1/8" masonite and some astroturf and a can of adhesive. I laid the track out and drilled small holes along the lines then used small screws came up from the bottom and screwed through the board(pre drilled into the black plastic tubing. TWO PEOPLE MAKE THIS A LOT EASIER!!

another shot

Track Rev II
 

Nice Track, If I had the space I'd be doing something like that for sure.

Here's phase II of mine

Hey PT sorry you could not find the matt the where on a "End Cap" near the front. I've looked at all kinds on things for my barrier and nothing seem to say "Buy Me" So for now I laying out with the wire loom maybe just cover it in tape or something. ooooooo and the felt I looked at that to but thought its a little furrie and may problems if to set your car on it. (lint in the steering and gears)

I can run the track in the pic with out running into the wall in both directions. I now have racers thumb (Blister)

:D

Hey TEAM_NITRO
 

That track looks great!

I also saw pics of your ZZs. Apparently you like to mod these things as much as the real cars.

Nice job!

Speed the mustang I post pics of will spin the tires it has that kind of power and speed is outrageous.

I highly suggest the dual batt. PCB swap.

I am going to get a Microsizer to replace the board with the clone board is powerful but is not as good as my bits.


Heres a pick of my GT-R Bit pack this is the old car not sure the year or anything but it kicksa**

I was thinking of using rope for a track, Home depot has some nice thick rope....just an idea!

I'll be combing the ilse of home depot this weekend in hopes of finding something to use for my barriers.

Specs

1. 1/2" - 3/4" high
2. Flat (with the 1/2" wire loom I'm using now the car can climb it and get stuck)

3. Easy to bend and un-bend
4. Easy to set-up, take down and store

I thought about rope or tubing like the other track in this thread, But want something flat (more like a wall)

TEAM_NITRO, Dutch, nice tracks! :cool:

Excellent work fellas! There are some really good ideas here.

How well does the Bit hook up on those foam pads? What type of tires are you using? Looks like a type of surface I'd like to try out.

Just as a little side note, I am tinkering with cardboard to make tracks, and I've found that 1/2" walls can be a little too short. I have been able to get to stuck on the rails. So, you'd probably be better off going with 3/4" or higher walls. Unless, you like running up onto the walls. Which, I have to admit makes for some fun accidents, but then you have to actually reach over to free the car. I don't know about you folks, but when I'm playing with an RC the last thing that I want to do is actually move. :)

Anyway, the 1/2" walls may have just been a problem for me because they were pretty thin. You may have better luck with it than I did.

How well does the Bit hook up on those foam pads? What type of tires are you using? Looks like a type of surface I'd like to try out.


I using stock tires and the hook up just great :D


Thanks for all the replies and ideas

Hope to get some time this week to finish my track and then I'll post some more pictures

Well Radio Shack is selling a Zip Zap modular track set for 9.99 but it looks only wide enough to hold one car at a time - no side by side racing. Blah.

Found this one one Ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1783165136

http://ebay3.ipixmedia.com/abc/M28/_...6362fb/i-1.JPG

its way too small youll need four of em to have fun

New Pic
 

Here is a new pic of RDRW (Red Dog Race Way) turn 1.

After looking around for a while I decied on the dry-wall plastic joint stuff. After playing with it for a while I hacked it in half an am using straight pins to hold it on place. This is the second generation of my track but I think this is what I had in mind when I started out. I'll post more pic's when I get it finished

Does anyone have the actual name or sku # off of the flexable drywall bead (the barrier walls). I would like to get it, but have to get everything over the phone or internet. I can't find anything like this where I live. Needless to say, I don't live in the states. I would appreciate a name or some specifics on this stuff. Thanks.

Vinyl Drywall Bead
 

Rouge

Vinyl Drywall Bead

Thats the name of the stuff as for the SKU ??? I tore them all off when I was working with it.

I did find and the UPC# it is 42668 91480 Hope that helps

That's great Dutch, thanks for the information. I will call the Home Depot and see what they can tell me with the information you gave me. I am sure that will do it. My friends will pick it up and put it on the plane for us. We always have to plan ahead. I just bought the interlocking mats also. I have one modular track that I made from tiles that I could find locally. It works fine (a little slick) but we have to be so careful not to break the tiles (they don't sell vinyl tiles here). I also have a soccer field that I put together to play car soccer and some other games on. I also have a car bowling alley that I made. I believe that I am going to turn the tile track back to usable tiles when I get the interlocking foam mats. Thanks for your posts, they were a big help.

Hey Dutch, I would like to see some pics of your completed track if it is done. That last pic you put up was great!

Re: New Pic
 

Dutch can you provide a little info on the interlocking mat you used? how much does it cost and were to get it? also if the surface is ok to run the cars on or if you need to add some other
material like you did, what did you use?

I'm looking for something I can take appart and put away.

Thanks.

Foam Mats
 

wild03 ---


I got the foam mats at Home Depot $20 dollars for 4 mats each is 2 ft. x 2 ft. and they work just fine as is. I was just trying to dress them up a bit with the other foam sheets.

Wow, there are some really great track ideas out there. I thought I'd throw in my two cents worth too. I am planning on building a track, however this one is not going to be small or cheap.

My first one was 8'x8'. I used the backside of 2 sheets of ordinary drywall as the surface. For the barriers I simply used cardboard that I cut to 1" strips and began taping it to the drywall. It worked great, is a lot of fun, and fairly cheap too.

My next project is much larger in scope. It will be 12'x12' and have three courses. The width of the track is 12". One course is a large oval (scale 0.5 mi.) traversing the entire edge of the 12'x12' surface. Next is a smaller oval (scale 0.25 mi.) and then the road course will be on the inside and be (0.75 mi.). It is an ambitious project but should be fun. I have the layout all drawn on paper now I just have to build it.

I decided on using plywood as the base of the track. For the road surface I use a 2-part paint job. The first coat is just a flat black paint. The second coat is this cool stuff I found at Home Depot. It is a textured paint made by Ralph Lauren. The particular color I will use is called "Cila". I tried it on a small piece of wood and the surface works great! No too much or too little grip and it looks and feels just like you'd expect 1:64 pavement to be.

For the infield I got a bunch of stuff from a train hobby shop. They sell great stuff from trees to grass surfaces even little people. It will probably take some time to build but will try to post some pictures when its done.

Anyway, I hope I have given some ideas to others who are going to build some tracks either large or small. :D

I forgot to mention what I will use for the barriers of the second track. I decided on basswood also found at any hobby shop. It is much stronger than balsa wood but in thin strips is just as flexible. I will use 1/32" x 1/2" strips for most of the track and 1/32" x 3/4" for the barriers on the outside of all corners.

check this out.... this track folds up when done. I found it at the forbidden "micro rc center" forum....

http://www.*************.com/forum/i...ST&f=10&t=4356

Wow a transformer track!

I'm still looking for my perfect track material, I have a few requirements that I don't want to compromize on.
a) it has to be cheap!
b) it has to provide easy storage!

I like a modular track idea, using tiles of some sort, each tile would be made into a track segment, Strait, Corner, etc. by arranging the tiles different tracks can be made. for the barriers
I like the dry-wall corners thingy. but the tiles I'm still looking for something cheap to cover a 10'x5' area or so.
the interlocking tiles are way too expensive at $5 each.

These guys at Wondermat sell mat tiles at $1.62 per square foot. Still a little pricey? The idea is that you take each square and make track tiles as described above. Some corners, some curves, some straight. Then you assemble a modular track!

I am thinking, you could take a few tiles and cut them into strips, then glue the strips on as flexible barriers. The idea is that the barrier is made of the same foam as the roadbed. You enter with a handful of foam tiles and in a few minutes, you throw together a track, fit for any house, through doorways, around furniture, etc. The real work is constructing the tiles, and choosing what shapes to use over others. There is that PC program out there, Trackmaker. Excellent tiles in that.

I realize this is basically what you just said, but it's such a great idea! Someone should run with this as a business plan. Make the tiles, a little smaller than the flooring industry kind, and mold the barriers right into them. Make a whole set of these with different shapes.

Everyone could get in on this. Someone should start this and setup the template for making the linkages match. In other words, develop the system so anyone can make their own tiles and they will interchange with everyone elses!

www.wondermat.com