American Graffiti 1962 - Update finally 09/03

[ourwayband]

very Nice work!!

Rusty

[ListerStormGT]

Greg, very cool and also glad to see you making progress on it again. Sometimes you have to take a step back once in awhile to get your head back into it. This will be a great track when finished.

[MoparGreg]

Thanks again for the comments. Its all up to the scenery now to bring it together.

We were running the track again last night. This track is a blast to run. We were testing it out to see how even the lanes are. Both the inside & the outside lanes are about the same length so there is no advantage to choosing the inside or the outside lane at the lane changer. Around the outside you can run a bit more speed but its slightly longer. The inside is tighter, more corner, so less speed but a shorter distance. We have had a few hairy moments, near misses where the lanes come together. From what we have tested you can overtake either on the outside or inside, BUT either way you have to nail each corner perfectly to get ahead of the other person over the whole lap. It really is fun, just a different concept to either analog or digital.

[slothead]

Great work on the lane changers. I'll probably be picking your brain on that when I begin my road coarse this winter. In some areas I may only have one lane so you have to wait to pass or at least want to be able to choose the driving lane when racing. How do the cars handle with the AC2car setup? I'm hoping it makes acceleration more realistic.

If you are still looking for a way to make fencing or borders that will be sturdy but not break off when leaned on, consider attaching them to a base and then hold the base in place with magnets. You can embed strong rare earth button magnets in the track surface and then glue metal washers to the base. The magnets will be strong enough to hold the fence or barrier in place, and still give way before enough force is applied to break the fence. I have a non-magnet wood track and now have some cars with magnets as body mounts that don't come loose on their own but are easy to pull apart when needed without a screw driver. And if the body mount floats a little you can still create a tuned effect for handling.

Slothead

[dreinecke]

[Nor Cal Mike]

Nice work Greg!

[MoparGreg]

Hi slothead - Yeah the cars run different on AC compared to DC. A big change is there is no brakes on AC. If you like big brakes on your cars where they stop on a dime AC wont be for you. Just disconnect the brakes on your DC setup for a taste. I wasnt sure I was going to like no brakes but once I got used to it I like to better. You have to roll into the corner rather then lifting off an inch before the corner. I like it much better & dont run brakes any longer on my oval track.

The other difference is the cars accelerate differently. On DC the cars accelerate very quickly, almost an on/off. On AC the cars accelerate with less torque. Overall the cars are much more controllable. Some cars that were a pig to drive on DC are much nicer to drive on AC

Now thats just my opinion & AC is not for everyone. Ive had a few people ask why use AC when you have all these great digital setups available, scorpious/oxygen etc. Digital is not what I wanted & the big thing is the price. There has been very little cost setting this up. No digital chips needed just a 50cent diode.

[dge467]

That is coming along beautifully!

[masmojo]

[dreinecke]

I heard from Greg back in August. He's been buried doing major house renovations and drainage on his property.

Sadly, part of the reno includes dividing the room the track was in. So, it is currently apart and in storage until he can do something else.

[Fast Co.]

Wow! How did I miss this thread? Too bad it's put on hold for a while. I'm bookmarking this Greg. Can't wait to see it develop further…
Steve

[MoparGreg]

I can't believe my last post to this thread was back in 2013, thats sad. I had to pull the track apart when I was renovating our house for the last year. It is stored in pieces in my shed out the back. Most of the house renovations are finished and I'm ready to put the track back together. Only this time I will have s dedicated room which will house the track and a work bench and all my car model kits etc.

The room is small but it's going to work and everything in there will be custom made to suit my requirements. I'm just finishing up all the shelving and will start building s desk next week end. So once that's complete I'll start on the track. The downside is the track is about 8 inches to long. So I'll need to modify it slightly. Ill also have to narrow the widest part in the middle slightly as well. I'm hoping I won't have to do a full reroute, I'm hoping it will be pretty easy.

The track will also be turned into a fold down track to save space when not in use. Hopefully it won't be to challenging for a scenic track. I'll rebuild the cabinetry for the track to sit on to suit the fold down track. I'll be reusing all the doors I made from the original. It sound like a lot of work but I think it will be pretty easy.

I'll post some photos soon once I start on the track side of things.

[dge467]

Well, I will be looking forward to your progress once you get back at it. Sounds like you have been busy the past year or so! It will be nice to have a dedicated area for your hobby though!

[Nor Cal Mike]

Welcome back Greg. You have been missed. I look forward to seeing your progress as it goes along.

[MoparGreg]

I rebuilt the cabinet for the track to sit on. The track will fold down from the top of this cabinet. I need to attach the doors properly and give it a paint yet. I'm happy with how they turned out but I may lower it down as I'm not liking the height. See my track height thread.