11 replies to this topic

[Denney]

Following on from my initial thread, the track now has a name and even a complete story.

Welcome to Harbour Hill. Situated between a lustrous harbour and Mons Angulus (meaning mountain in the corner), Harbour Hill is the location of this temporary road circuit. Intersecting two main highways, the Arterial 12 and Interstate 84, Harbour Hill is one of the few circuits with 4 river crossings. Yes, that’s right, 4!

Running along the harbour, we start on top of the Harbour Hill tunnel which runs up to the Interstate 84 via the motorway bridge and then across the new Interstate 84 suspension bridge. Upon reaching the end of the back straight, a sweeping left hander takes you into the Harbour Hill tunnel. Racing along the length of the harbour, a quick chicane runs around the officials building and we cross the old river crossing and into a tight left hander. The left hander opens out onto the Aterial 12 and runs alongside the Interstate 84. Here we cross the 4th and last river crossing. Through the chicane you enter the last tight turn and back onto the top of the Harbour Hill tunnel to start the lap again. A quick lap and fast acceleration is essential to winning on this course.

Here is an artists impression (well, a housemates impression) of what the track may look like one day.



The road base has been cut-out and there is only one piece left. We ran out of MDF so this is where we got to. I bought the last piece today and laid it out. Just need to cut it out tomorrow and then we can work on supporting this thing. Once that’s done, the lane layout and routing will commence.

Edited by Denney, 24 June 2010 - 12:03 PM.

[manic35]

Looks great so far, congrats on taking the plung!

The suspension bridge and light house will be excellent, you'll have to have a rotating beam in the light house?

[Denney]

Yes, the lighthouse will DEFINATELY have a rotating light. I also plan on having one of those Goodyear blimps circling the roof.

I can’t believe it’s only been a week and I’m ready to start routing the layout. Most of the supports are built (thanks to my housemate) and the road bases have been joined. They were joined from beneath using 16mm screws into a piece of 9mm MDF, used as a joiner. That means I don’t have to worry about filling holes in the top or pulling screws out from above when I want to modify a piece of track (for scenery or likewise). The only exception is the couple of boards along the front straight forming the tunnel roof. They’re to much of an issue to get to from underneath.

Next thing to do though is to clean up the work area!

[Yngwie]

Denney, just curious on where you will situate the driver stations? Seems like there might be a few areas where there will be obscurities.

Regards

John

[Denney]

There are a couple of places for the driver stations. One is in front of the tunnel at the front and the other is at the end looking lengthways. From the front, there is a viewblock into the back left corner and from the end there is a view block into the front right corner. Both of those can be fixed by standing on a step though so, hopefully, that will fix the issues with views.

When I actually put the track up for the last time, I plan on turning the entire track a little to push the tunnel section out a bit, that should also help with the view.

I have a question though, I've been looking at colours to paint the track surface. This time round I want something that looks like an actual road surface rather than some off blue/grey mixture. Anyone have any colour names that would help with my search?

Edited by Denney, 08 June 2010 - 09:37 PM.

[Denney]

Hey guys. Sorry about the lack of updates. Been busy building the track!

Anyway, the track has been routed, painted, put into place and copper taped! The wiring has been completed (for track power anyway) and most of the boards attached to the supports. We ran a few laps last night and it's a blast. There are a couple of blind spots on the track but we found that it makes you concentrate more going into and out of those areas. All three lanes seemed to be fairly even and we were able to keep up with each other. Overall, I am very impressed with how the track turned out.

Next on the todo list is screw down the table tops, solder tape over the bolt heads (tape was ripped by the bolt heads in some places), build some temporary barriers and set-up lap timing. We're having a BBQ this weekend so I want to get as much of the track running as possible.

And now, onto some photos:

The test piece (to check router, tape, paint colour, etc):


Prior to routing:







Purpose built router base:


Tape laying device:




Painting and routing started:




The one stuff up (last piece, last slot, last few inches!!! ARRGHH!!):


Wiring the tables:


Controller stations:






Copper taped, wired up and working a treat:

[lu05ke]

Very very nice! Got to say I'm a big fan of the line marking you have done! NICE

[Denney]

First “beta test” of the track tonight. It went well with only a few hiccups regarding the lap timing. Seems the IR emitters and receivers aren’t in alignment correctly. We also destroyed a few guides so power limiting may be required.

Anyone have any ideas how to wire up a 13.8v, 24amp power supply to limit voltage to a set level? Unfortunately, my power supply isn't variable.

[Denney]

After having people over, we've worked out the tiny chicane on the inside straight needs some tweaking. The two inside lanes need more of a chicane in them but other than that, the track runs fairly evenly.

Some more pics of the track up and running (with crash barriers and light bridge):





The light bridge is the first thing I want to get finished. The idea is to have it built as a "viewing platform" across the harbour in non-race mode. The bridge will span across the pits and onto the pit buildings on the other side.







After that, the Monaco style tunnel along the front needs to be built. It also functions as a support for the upper road deck, hence the urgency to get it built. I'm playing with ideas at the moment and this is my first attempt at some weathering. Obviously it needs work.




I need to get myself some decent paint brushes and some other supplies before I try this for the proper tunnel.

[Denney]

My first ever YouTube video. Just shows how the light bridge works. More videos coming soon:

[Denney]

The last couple of days have mostly seen the track undergo some upgrades and fixes to get it running perfectly. There are still some areas where power loss occurs but I think that’s mainly to do with the dust on the track.

First thing to be built was the monitor mount. This gets it off the chair and fixed in position. Still need to buy a longer monitor cable though.



We noticed that lap times on the outside lane are being slowed by a section of track on the inside back straight that requires the outside lane to slow down while the other two can breeze through it. That was changed completely yesterday and was put back in tonight.

The original track section:


The new track section ready to be re-routed. You can see the new lanes drawn in:


And in place:



Also tried my hand at some air brushing for the first time in years. Still need to practise:



Lastly, some work on the tunnel has started. I decided on some fluted dowel from Bunnings cut to fit with some 3mm MDF as the barrier. Turning out alright so far. Once I get some weathering and effects on it, it should look a million bucks. Spacing is 120mm between supports to allow hands to get in there.

[Denney]

Hey guys. Due to a re-organising of my website (again... ), the pictures in the previous posts may disappear. If they do, you can find them again at my new gallery. Pictures posted from now on will be fine.