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I've had some interaction with the American distributor (actually new owner) of the Regupol product. They sent me a small sample but were very unprofessional in answering either emails or phone calls after that. I also tested another Canadian-made masticated rubber that is almost the same. Here's what I found:
The Good:
1) Smooth, recycled rubber with outstanding traction, BUT... (read below).
2) Relatively inexpensive.
3) Lies flat on most floors without effort (i.e. doesn't "wrinkle" like most thin racing carpets.) It rolls up!
4) It's recylced material
5) Low maintanence, almost indestructible.
The Bad:
1) The company is not-so-easy to deal with (even when I wanted to order a fair bit of the stuff.) Shipping is very expensive.
2) It's frigg'in heavy (even in 2MM, the thinest formulation, it weighs almost twice as much per sq. ft. as an RCP tiles. This OK for a small track up to 10' x6 ' or so, but not so good on a larger track. That's why we see it in Europe as part of permanent installations.
3) There is far too much traction for the d'NaNo. I know that sounds hard to believe, but axle hop on the d'NaNo is a problem on surfaces with a high friction coefficient. (I used the plasticky auto-scale tires on rubber and that worked OK.) You get traction rolls, even with the highest degree (least grippy) rubber tires.
Rubber-to-rubber is not a good combo unless you are drag racing in a straight line. The problem is further exacerbated by the d'NaNo's very high speed (for its scale) and the so-so performance of a such a small differential.
3) Hard to match seams. Ever try cutting rubber straight to match a seam? It stretches as you cut it. You can do it reasonably well by overlaying it. But according to one distributor of the stuff I tested, it needs to cut with an industrial water jet cutter to get it accurate. This is a problem if you want to match the edges on the rolls, as the max width is 4-foot roll ... d'NaNo's don't like gaps in the seams.
4) You'll need to design a rail system. Since you can't injection mold the edges or anything like that, you'll need a rail system that attaches and then is removable to make different configurations.
Bottom Line:
It's great for larger Mini-Z's in a permanent track location ...I can see that. But it would take a fair bit of development to make it work for the d'NaNo, not to mention that shipping costs are high due to the weight.
That said, I may get some of the lowest friction coefficient I can find later this summer to do some more testing. Maybe I can solve some of the problems. - Lorne
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