# Track rails. Walls. What material?



## GiantScale (Sep 12, 2002)

I bought 48 foam mats from sams club & built a oval track in the living room. 24' x 8' . Im looking for a good retention wall to keep the cars on the track & divide the middle.

Any suggestions on a wall that stays put & is easy to take down & store?

Thanks.


----------



## Micro_Racer (Mar 27, 2002)

Pool noodles (them long flote'n things you can get at Wal-Mart) work well and are light. You could also use PVC pipe.


----------



## wazzer (Nov 13, 2001)

Pool noodles????? 1/18 scale soft walls, right. When cars hit soft walls they tend to be dragged into them, PVC allows them to slide along. I think Lowe's and Home Depot have the square PVC tubing (for rain gutter drainage) and they work better than the round, at least for straight sections.


----------



## Micro_Racer (Mar 27, 2002)

The pool things work well...you "skip" off the! And no body damage..


----------



## GiantScale (Sep 12, 2002)

Thanks. Looking for something a bit more scale. What does "da track" use?

At our local races, my rc18T drives right over 3" tall vinyl gutter because the side is not flat I think. 

I bought some vinyl downspout. After a bit of practice, the joints for the square down spout look good & are very tight since one was pulled over the other. I slid them in about 3" after heating with heat gun. It should be sturdy & stay put with all of the retaining walls joined together tight. 

I have some large radius steel cylinders at work. 8 foot, 4 foot etc. diameter. I will try to heat the down spout , & pull a nice radius corner over them.


----------



## Micro_Racer (Mar 27, 2002)

Looks good -- Da-Track uses PVC pipe and molding-- I think 1/2 inch.....


----------



## GiantScale (Sep 12, 2002)

A idea always looks good on paper.







When I tried to bend it over a radius when it was hot & soft. Its kinked and looked like crap. And I really want a radius corner! I might just have to make relief cuts all along the corner & bend it around using the mat (radius cut) as a flex guide. All strength would be lost though & Id have to glue material over the relief cuts.







Or live with a square track


----------



## RAFster (May 29, 2002)

Do a square track with the tubing and then get some plastic sheet from your local plastic supplier and rivet or screw it to the tubing to form the radiuses. 
I think it is a polyethlene or similar plastic that is durable and flexible.


----------



## GiantScale (Sep 12, 2002)

Heres what I came up with. Its .030 pvc pipe wrap one continuous piece. Then notched 3/4", & bent over 90 degrees on the bottom & clamped to the foam with office organizer paper clamps. Its taken a bunch of full throttle hits from the 18T and the clamps held it firm.


----------



## Micro_Racer (Mar 27, 2002)

Looks nice....


----------



## Porsche911GT3 (Aug 10, 2003)

Who sells the RCP(?) foam track and how much? I've searched for a website, but only found a single page and no price.


----------



## Shane Mugavin (Oct 1, 2004)

Is that banked giant scale or is that an illusion


----------



## GiantScale (Sep 12, 2002)

http://www.rcptracks.com/html/buy.html You can learn allot about this track at minizracer.com


Its a flat track but could be banked using a 5x8 piece of plywood on each end. I was thinking about that. But the wife is having a hard enough time with the track as it is.


----------



## GiantScale (Sep 12, 2002)

Its finished now. It took a bit longer than expected, but worth the wait. 

Now I dont have to wait til race day to run some laps!


----------



## Donald Deutsch (Sep 29, 2001)

The track looks neat, how long have you been devorcied?


----------



## Micro_Racer (Mar 27, 2002)

Track looks GREAT! what was the finnal $$$$!!


----------



## GiantScale (Sep 12, 2002)

Dont jinx me Donald! LOL It cost less than $150

It will be stored away "pretty" soon. haha

What a gass!!!


----------



## Shane Mugavin (Oct 1, 2004)

Just curious. What did you use cut the squares at the corners


----------



## Micro_Racer (Mar 27, 2002)

GiantScale -- what is the brand name of the foam mats? are they textured or smooth? My local sams club don't carry them


----------



## GiantScale (Sep 12, 2002)

Its called Util-A-Mat. Its textured on both sides but the black is a bit smoother. 1/18 is ok ,but Miniz's need the smooth mat , which I hear might only be available at kmart wallmart target now. But for more $. I paid 15 for 8 pieces at sams. 

squares at the corners? I notched the PVC with tin snips 3/4" deep, every 2". Then bent it over 90 degrees with hand seamers. The trick on the corner strength is to have it one piece & 180 degrees. I struck a radius on each end & cut the mat, clipped the pvc on.

Finally had to tear it down. Took about 20 minutes. Damn! & I was havin so much fun!


----------

