aculici

If there are any other threads on this, please point me to it as I haven't been able to find anything...

I am in the process of building a Vari-Scale off-road track in my backyard. I will run mostly 18th scale stuff (RC18T, MiniLST and maybe a Vendetta or MiniInferno09), but will also use it to test setups for my 10th scale Yokomo buggy, and rock-crawling / trail running (which I don't have vehicles for... yet).

I don't have a lot of room, but have just enough for it not to suck (about 40 x 20). The basic layout will be fairly simple, but will gain complexity with integration of smaller scale and rock crawling paths. All track barriers will be made of rocks and plants. The only way this will fly with my wife is if it does not LOOK like an off-road racetrack. That means the jumps are going to have to be fabricated and put away when not in use (a bit of a pain but a decent compromise - I don't get it though... who would want a GARDEN when you can have an off-road track!?! I don't get women... )

My inspiration was this:

http://ripper7racing.com/r7rforums/showthread.php?t=100

Now, I'm not about to pour concrete and have a pond and all, but I do plan on a dry river bed and rocks/boulders. The idea is the same, the ambition... lower.

Right now we are working on the "garden" aspect of it, as that will be the primary function, but most of the weeds have been removed, and the "path" is finalized, so I can start leveling and tamping. I need to get the rocks in soon (maybe this weekend) to hammer out the layout.

Couple of questions:

DIRT
1) What type of dirt to use as topsoil?
2) My existing bakyard dirt has a high clay content but it is very dry and dusty. Will this suffice? Can I simply level it, tamp it down, water it, tamp it again, water it, tamp it again, sweep it, run cars on it, sweep it, run cars on it... and repeat as necessary.

JUMPS
1) Any thoughts on what to construct jumps from? I really have not researched this much. I have some blocks and plywood I throw down right now, but it's really ghetto. I wouldn't mind doing something fancy like molding something (or using a pre-made mold) and painting / texturing it to make it look like a dirt mound or hill). It would be nice to be able to stack them too for storage.
2) Otherwise I can just make a wood frame/plywood thing that you always see.


I will update this with some photos soon.

Thanks for your help / ideas!

LOWGEARED

iTrader: (2)

heres a site for track layouts..

http://www.rccaraction.com/rc/articles/howto_track.asp

If you want a table top in it then build your table frame preferably long enough to have a connecting part of the track that can run under it!! Cool!
I would use outdoor carpeting you can get it in brown!! and after time the sun will bleach it to look more like the dirt around your track.....

aculici

Thanks for the tip. I found this thread that they linked, which I'm about to read:

http://forums.radiocontrolzone.com/s...threadid=73691