Guidance Needed - Compact Layout Design, Carrera Digital

[Slotspeed]

Hi,

 

Bought a digital set 7 weeks ago, with lots of straights and R1 curves. Also bought a pit lane. Haven't had it out of the box yet! Busy unpacking from a recent move as well as nursing an 8 week old baby. I thought layouts would be easy like Scalextric was when I was a kid... just build something up on the loungeroom floor and give it a whirl for a day or two. It wasn't until I started trying layout ideas in a layout editor that I realised the amount of space the Carrera track demands... seems those extra 30mm width really make a difference in what you can do in a given space. I don't really have the luxury of space, unless it was for an afternoon on the kitchen floor. But I was hoping all along to build a 8'x4' (basically impossible) or a 9'x4' or 9'x5' or so sized layout to possibly keep in the garage. My experiments in a layout editor show that 9.5'x5' would be quite good (thinking of a flat layout so I can lean it against a wall when not in use) I was thinking of either an ezy tilt style method (using hinged ply instead of the metal legs)

(like this https://media.music-group.com/media/PLM/data/images/products/P0AK7/515Wx515H/EASYTILT-LOW_P0AK7_Fisheye_B.png?)

Or perhaps a folding in half cantilever style pack away method, though that would be harder and take longer to implement (Time is something I have very little of at the moment) And it may also give trouble when joining the Carrera track pieces back together.

 

Has anyone been in a similar situation with space restrictions and Carrera track? And come up with a compact but fun layout?

 

Hoping for some ideas, or even a link to some Carrera space saving layouts?

 

Thanks,

Steve.

[Slotspeed]

Hi, a little update of my post, I notice it got a lot of views. I have been working on this in between other things and have developed a few layouts that fit within 9' x 5'. Though if I get it to 4.5' I might be able to leave it set up for periods of time in the garage. (though with a large family and small kids, inside house would have been better) A few nice looking ones with an overpass and a few flat ones (for packing away on its side. The reality is that I probably won't have time to build anything fancy (though the mechanics are quite simple to do it and I've thought that through now... I'm good at visualising mechanical assemblies in my head... Totally not a natural thing but well practiced having had to do prototype work on packaging lines many years ago)

 

Thinking I will go analog for a while to start with, avoiding the distraction of digital until I am ready. Just need to turn some laps, or all that purchased gear will be wasted and I may as well on-sell it if that is the case. (I bought some second hand bits of track for a song and "accidentally" picked up an analog power base and a bunch of analog controllers for less than $10 in total from two different sources... was a total fluke!)

 

I will need to figure out an account somewhere on the www to host my pics, but don't have time just now. (I was also using google images, but had to stop using it as the permissions settings are a bit too fiddly) I had an image hosting account back in the days of myspace but I'm guessing that will probably no longer be supported. Was thinking of flickr but read an article on lifehacker suggesting its days are numbered... not sure how true that is though.

 

Enjoying the other threads on this forum for now though, its inspiration for a few minutes each day while I'm waiting for an opportunity to set something up as a trial.

 

Cheers,

Steve.

[Slotspeed]

I have had a small layout set up in Carrera for a couple of weeks. Its just a modified oval. But I have a few plans worked out and will post images of the layouts later. I found a spot in the garage that I was able to set up a 1200x 3300 table that I made from some framework and some reinforced MDF. I was surprised at how much fun an oval was made of R1 curves, two crossovers, and a deep kink in the straight made of R1's. Both lanes get an inner and outer radius turn within the R1 because of the added changeover tracks as well as the Esses through the straight (will post pic later)

 

I have designed a layout that will be about 13m worth of track fitting in that space, with equal lane length, but need to source two R3 curves to do it the best way. Anyone know of a vendor or seller that will split two pieces from a pack? Have tried the two biggest shops that I know of in this part of the hemisphere, as well as ebay worldwide, and also a big US site, but seems I need to fork out for a pack of 6 R3 pieces of Carrera track. I am tempted to just build a version using all R1 and then later route the sections required, could be a good way to ease into the whole routed wood track experience! But the kids will be using the track so that makes it a consideration to go the routed way (magnets)

[Slotspeed]

Here is a layout that I spent ages tweaking... but decided against it due to visibility of all the corners from the driver's position. The esses are designed to be part of the overpass from top right to lower left. There are lots of modifications that can be done to this circuit, if you replace some of the R2's with R1's you can get a longer back straight, but not really much point, unless you already have lots of R1's. I also designed a version that transitioned from R2 to R3 onto the main straight. But found it difficult to source R3 curves, unless I bought a pack of 6. Not much point since I will likely only ever use two of them. This circuit has a nice advantage in that it has equal lane length. You can also substitute the 3 straight pieces in the middle for 4 R1 curves and that is a lot of fun to negotiate with a magless car as I have found from a test build that I did.

 

This is also a bit of a test of the image hosting site weblinks that I generated. So apologies if it does not work all that well at first.

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by Slotspeed

[Slotspeed]

Another version

 

 

 

And here is a layout that I like because it would be an easy build (with a raised overpass for the back straight) but it needs crossovers to achieve equal lane length. I'm used to driving through them, but they do somewhat disrupt the flow of the circuit through those sections. I do kind of like the look of this circuit though.

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, here is the layout that I will probably build. I have bought most of the materials to build a basic support for the overpass for the back straight. It should flow well for a compact circuit, with entry and exit of the main straight as R2. Its a bit of a compromise, but trying to get the opportunity to build a bit of speed on a small layout but with lots of fun little R1 transitions for magless cars. I left the lane length visible in the screenshots and it is equal length. I plan to make my own borders for most of the corners. It is 1/24 scale Carrera track. I am yet to decide where to place lane changers. The double apex corner under the overpass can easily be swapped out for four R2 pieces at a later date when I have an extra $44 to spend on some more track! Maybe in a few pay cycles as I just bought another car

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by Slotspeed

[Kommandant33]

Hey Slotspeed - For some reason these pictures aren't working!

 

I am on the Scalextric digital side - I went with Scalextric because it does take up less space. I have a 3.6m x 1.8m table, and I have built a track with 3 decent straights, 2 big sweeping corners and some good technical parts (2 hair pins, some tight turns). I used Ultimate Racer 3.0 to plan out my track, and I made sure both lanes were close to equal length for analog racing.

 

It's a lot of fun!

[Slotspeed]

Hey there Kommandant! Nice to meet you. (That name brings back memories of Police Academy!)

 

Yes, looks like my links are broken, there were issues with Postimages website, my images have probably been migrated to another web hosting address, will have to see if I can find them. I was restricted on the width, my final layout approx 4.5 feet wide. Sounds like you have quite a nice Scalextric layout. If I was to start over, I think I would go the Scalextric route, plainly because you can buy so much used stuff for quite reasonable cost. I still haven't got the digital side happening, I am having too much fun with analog. I would love to build a three lane routed track one day, I can't see myself needing more than three lanes at home.

 

Here is the final layout, which I am still using now, but with a bunch of home made borders now (not in the photo)

 

Cheers,

Steve.

[aussieslotter]

Yup 3 lane Scorpius routed. Way to go.