Hello all. I'd like to join in this discussion if ya don't mind.
I'm in the process of building an elaborate, elevated, 8x12' track on the cheap.
I'm getting 4 SOLID (box-steel framed) tables from where I work for free. (scrapped/replaced with upgraded manufacturing equipment) They are designed to seat 4x6' sections of 1 inch thick planks flush.
In my search for a surface, I also have decided on fiber board. It can be picked up at Lowe's here for $11 per 4x8 sheet at 5/8" thickness.
For my "Town" section, which will consume about 1/3 of the table, I will be using green/brown felt as grass/yards. There will be no barriers so one can drive off the streets and through the yards with a speed penalty if they so desire. (can you say fuzzy axels?) The slow-down caused by the felt will encourage drivers to stay on the streets I think. I have picked up some trees at a hobby store for $5, and a set of 3 pre-painted ceramic houses which include 17 decorative pieces (people, signs, wells) from Wal-Mart in the seasonal section for $17. They are internally lighted and intended to be used as a Thanksgiving town scene, so I'm going with an "Autumn" look. (browns)
The streets of the Town section will be lit by street lights - I am using string Christmas lights mounted on floral arrangement sticks. (Green sticks with stiff wiring around the top to arrange flowers - sold in bulk for next to nothing) I also found a couple of LED mini traffic lights on posts in the Seasonal section of Wal-Mart for $4. They even cycle in synch. (one green, the other red, vice versa with yellow in between)
My "Racetrack" section will feature a Dragstrip all the way down the side of the table, which will have removable walls so it can be used as a connector for the town and race sections. A large, high-speed square will go around the outer edge of the Race section, with banked turns. (poster board) Infield of this "Super Speedway" will be a large road course with removable walls so it can be connected to the Super Speedway, which can be connected to the Drag Strip, which can be connected to the Town.
I am using black "Tube Lights" for the track sidewalls on the infield. These tubes have lights inside them that light up orange for halloween purposes, but the tubes appear opaque black when turned off. They come with brackets for clamping them to flat surfaces, and they are $8 for 18 feet.
I will also cut small rectangles from the grid of an old Lite-Brite and fill all the holes with X-mas lights to create 4 "Stadium Light" clusters around the sides of the Super Speedway.
All this lighting, along with the Tube Lights should allow us to run "Night Races" using only the lighting of the table and the cars.
Finally I plan to create a street of moving traffic on one of the longer Town streets by using fishing string to pull matchbox cars down the road along a loop that will go underneath the table, and be powered by a simple, low-speed project motor. The concept is hard to explain, but basically there will be 2 holes in the surface, and the string will carry the cars up through the first hole, drag them down the street, then they will fall down through the second hole to be carried across underneath the table and repeat. I plan to have 2 lanes of traffic, one slightly faster than the other so the traffic pattern will vary. Small, shallow grooves for the fishing string to travel in should keep from upsetting the racers.
This traffic will create 3 types of driving hazards. Crossing their street will take timing. Driving with traffic, and driving against traffic (wrong way) should be interesing as well.
I may look into the chalkboard paint for the surface, or I may try black primer. (good coverage, cheap) Also picked up a 4 inch wide, 35 inch long strip of "Brick Road" material, which is sort of rubbery, for $5. I plan to use it in some of the alleys in the Town section. There will be slick sections and rough sections to hopefully equalize all types of car setups. Maybe a jump or 2 also.
So there are some ideas to play with I guess. I still have many known and unknown obstacles to encounter, but you guys have helped me out with several snags, so I wanted to give something back
Linear Mode
