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blaneo
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 Posted - February 12 2013 : 8:26:11 PM
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I thought I would share my current project. I ran across this race set one day in the workshop and decided that I needed to get it onto some plywood. One thing led to another and before I knew it I was building a full blown layout. The original plan has been expanded a little bit, and now the layout covers 5' by 9'. I used cookie cutter construction on top of L girder bench work. I have been using cardboard webbing to support the scenery base.I am still in the basic scenery stage, but the layout is fully functional. It has been a great project to rehabilitate those long ago used modeling skills. I think the greatest thing about this project, is the day my 27 year son in law walk in, and asked "what's that?". I came to find out that he had never seen a model racetrack, let alone ran a race car. In about one minute there was a 6'5" eight year old standing in my workshop with a controller in his hand, his eyes darting all around trying to follow that little car around the track. He now has three of his own cars, LOL.
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Posted - February 12 2013 : 8:31:50 PM
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Now thats awesome!
" Heck with counting 'em rivets, TRAINS ARE FOR FUN! Not called the Mad Scientist for nothing either!"
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Posted - February 12 2013 : 9:50:29 PM
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| This dude rocks!!
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Posted - February 12 2013 : 10:12:24 PM
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| Thats effing awesome. Holy crap.
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Posted - February 12 2013 : 10:23:38 PM
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quote:Thats effing awesome. Holy crap.
Originally posted by Zombievickers - February 12 2013 : 10:12:24 PM
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" ...Holy crap."
that's what I said!
John
I don't have a one track mind. It depends on the turn-out.
"I love your catenary!"
Is that a power-trip or just another pick-up line?
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Posted - February 13 2013 : 08:03:19 AM
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| how are you sculpting the mountain range? foam board??
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blaneo
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Posted - February 13 2013 : 10:31:25 AM
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I don't believe that I will be using any foam board on this, unless it happens to be in the area that is shown in the one photo. I had wanted to try many different scenery techniques in order to work with them, and see how they actually turn out. The process that I have been using so far is shown below, the photos are of the large mountainous area shown at the far end of the layout. I am kinda thinking that this area is really to big and bulky and it may have to get cut out and replaced. We'll have to see how it looks as we go along.
I use cardboard strips that are glued to the track roadbed and fascia, crisscrossing each other forming a web. Then I cover that with masking tape and slap a coat of latex paint on it. The paint is more to give me some color if I don't get around to getting it covered right away, it also helps the plaster coating bite into the tape layer a bit better.
I use a mix of plaster of paris, vermiculite, portland cement, and baking powder for the scenery base. This is a formula that I got from Joe Fugate in one of his video series, (no advertisement meant there, just giving kudos to him for the formula). I have found that this formula gives a very natural and realistic ground texture. It naturally has a little bit of a coarse feel and look to it, just as a natural ground area would have. With a bit of practice I have found it easy to incorporate small depressions and rises in the scenery base.
Once the plaster coat dries out, I add my base scenery paint color to it. Adding a bit more paint here and there to get different earth tones and different levels of definition.
I am at a bit of a standstill at the moment, because I need to finish building the overpass bridge in the center of the layout. As with most projects, you can't do this until you do that, and you can't do that until you do this, and on it goes. Once the basic plaster coating is down , I'll go back over that with static grass and foam, and add the trees and other scenery items.
Blane is the name,
Trains are the game.
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Posted - February 13 2013 : 11:28:01 AM
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 oh that is AWESOME HOT SAUCE!! 
I think IF I ever did this there would be at least one tunnel
We approve of this
Since 1 its Tyco, 2 we love love projects like this & 3 Tyco made a road with a railroad in it 
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blaneo
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Posted - February 13 2013 : 11:54:46 AM
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There is actually going to be another hill with a tunnel in it. In the third picture of the first series of photos, at the bottom right of the picture. The lowest level of track will follow through a tunnel under those other three levels of track. I just need to get the overpass put in before I can configure the terrain of the surrounding areas. But, sorry no railroad in this project, the scales don't match well enough for me. I have set up different plywood layouts that incorporated both, just for fun and loved that. But that always bugged me that they just don't really fit together. Which is a bummer in my opinion.
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Posted - February 13 2013 : 11:55:49 AM
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| what i would call brill,bet you will have tons of fun on that ken
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Posted - February 13 2013 : 12:20:57 PM
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Man that's awesome . I picked up an old Tyco set at a thrift store a few months back. I'd love to do something like this someday. Definitely keep us posted on your progress!
Btw, your landscaping plaster mix looks great
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Posted - February 13 2013 : 3:30:05 PM
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I have to admit I never once thought of doing something like this, but it looks great so far. I can easily see the appeal of creating an authentic road course, grand prix or even Japanese drift mountain drift setting... I daresay a fully-scaled slot Nurburgring would be even more challenging than the real one.
At any rate I'm eager to see how this develops!
Though I have to say, maybe you could consider an operating train, running on a loop in the background? Would be an interesting way to link the related hobbies while addressing your concerns for scale. But I understand and agree with you completely - I've long wondered why slot vehicles are called "HO" when the cars are typically closer to 1/64, which is S scale (semis are close enough to 1/87). I understand that some vintage slot cars were smaller, but hardly what I would call passable for HO scale. I never got into slot cars for this reason... even as a kid, hot wheels were just as oversized, but cheaper ;)
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Posted - February 14 2013 : 01:40:26 AM
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I don't think I've seen a course this ambitious even back during the 60's slot car craze. That's going to be a blast.
The Tyco Depot
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blaneo
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Posted - February 14 2013 : 09:52:24 AM
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It is a ton of fun to race on. With today's magnet race cars, they literally fly around the track. It very difficult to run those cars wide open. The older AFX Magna Traction are a hoot as they drift through the curves, they take a bit more finesse to drive. The even older Model Motoring cars look good puttering around.
The pictures are a bit deceiving. The open areas are not as large as they seem. I don't believe I am going to even have room for any structures, even if I used ho railroad buildings. I have set in place some different structures here and there, but they just don't seem to look right. It just looks too cramped for the space. And then I would also have to worry about cars flying into them and damaging the car or building. As I have worked on it, it has evolved into more of a "state highway rambling through a hilly country side".
I am going to keep the railroad out of this. I have plans to start building the TYCO Layout Expander plan later this summer, something else that I have always wanted to build. I wanted to keep both the race car layout and the train layout to a manageable size, so by keeping them separate, I will be able to move them against the wall when they are not being used or being worked on. My workshop is only 24' x 29' and once the main pike starts getting built, my available floor space will become increasing smaller.
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Posted - February 14 2013 : 10:19:31 AM
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My favorite chassis for racing at home is the Tyco 440X2. I got 3. Then I have their HP2 and HP7 cars.
" Heck with counting 'em rivets, TRAINS ARE FOR FUN! Not called the Mad Scientist for nothing either!"
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Posted - February 14 2013 : 10:35:27 AM
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looks great keep us updated
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Posted - March 06 2013 : 10:44:57 AM
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| How did you attach the slot track to the wood? I notice in the corners you seem to have sandwiched the track between two strips of something on either side. Is the track glued/nailed down or just floating in the gap created by those edges?
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blaneo
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Posted - March 06 2013 : 11:37:08 PM
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I have a blog on the construction of the layout, you can find it at this address.
http://blackswampraceway.blogspot.com/
The track was attached with caulking to the plywood sub road base. The outer pieces you see are ho scale cork roadbed to represent what will be a stone shoulder that you would typically see on a highway or country road.
Blane is the name,
Trains are the game.
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Posted - March 07 2013 : 04:08:34 AM
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| Wow, thanks a lot for posting that link! I've been acquiring some slot car stuff lately with the hope of being able to build a little layout this summer. The picture tutorial is definitely a good starting point.
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Posted - March 07 2013 : 06:27:33 AM
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| Nice - Thanks for sharing with us - Interesting method on the ground cover mix application
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blaneo
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Posted - March 07 2013 : 08:32:53 AM
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Yeah, the blog has been fun to incorporate into the layout. I had a younger fellow from another forum that is new to the slot car scene and he had been asking about how to do a lot of things that most of us would consider everyday tasks. Then I thought it would be nice to have a pictorial tutorial of the layout being built. You would be amazed at how differently things can look through the eye of the camera. It gives a whole different perspective to things. The tutorial has taught me to be more detailed with the different aspects of the building the layout. Before I would just do things, get them finished, and never give it a lot of thought. Now I have to think about how I am going to take pictures and explain the different steps involved in each building aspect. I tend to go out and do a bunch of work and then realize that I forgot to take pictures of what I had done. Maintaining the blog takes a lot of time in itself. I am three or four steps ahead on the actual layout then what the blog shows. The other day I realized that I did not take any pictures of installing the guardrails to the roadbed. But luckily, I have a few spots that still need the guardrails. This whole project was meant to be fun, and to be a stress reliever. And it has been just that, I don't work on it unless I want to. The nice thing about this, is that in all the time this has been coming together, the layout was only out of commission on two different days. I have been able to run the cars at any time that I felt I just wanted to play.
Blane
Blane is the name,
Trains are the game.
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