Portable RC Track
Two Christmases ago the three kids in the family (my son, my
daughter and me) all got good quality off road radio control cars. By good quality, I mean RC cars that were
ordered complete from a retailer that specializes in RC cars, can be repaired
with readily available parts if something breaks, and are capable of better
speed and performance than the RC cars your typically find at the local toy
store or department store. It seems
necessary to explain my definition because there are a number of RC car
enthusiasts who are quite passionate about building and racing some extremely
impressive vehicles. I have nothing but
respect and admiration for those people, however, I am just a dad having some
fun with my kids and though I would share an idea.
We had played around with raking leaves out of the way in
the wood behind the house to form a track and with setting up obstacles in the
yard to drive around and had fun with all of that. I decided that it would be worthwhile to come
up with a track system with the following specifications:
1.
It needed to be able to be set up in our yard
and removed at the end of the day or at least in time for me to cut the grass.
2.
I wanted it to be portable to take to a friend’s
house or grandma’s house and be set up there.
3.
It needed to be fun to set up, take down and
play with.
4.
I needed it to fit on the shelf in our store
room that the RC cars were on which restricted me to 33” width, 8” height and 21”
depth. About the equivalent to an
average suitcase.
5.
It needed to be light so it could easily be
moved.
6.
The track had to stay in place so it would not
become a mess every time someone missed a turn.
The kids have had a blast with this system and it was pretty
cheap to build. The main ingredients are
pipe insulation sleeves, a roll of high visibility duct tape and a box of
nails. I had most of the lumber lying
around, but it was all common cheap lumber.
There are really 2 projects here. One is the track system. The other is the wood storage box that
doubles as a ramp. The box could easily
be replaced with a plastic storage container and the lid could probably be used
as the ramp. The dimensions of the box
and track pieces are built to fit on a specific shelf in my house and could
vary to suit your own needs. Here is
how I did it.
I built the box first.
I wanted it to store the track, but also to double as a ramp when the
track was in use. I started by cutting
the sides. I used a 1x8 and cut 2 pieces
to a length of 19 ¼”. I then measured
and marked one end at ¾”. The other end
I measured and marked halfway at 3 5/8”.
Using a straight edge, I
connected the 2 marks to give me my cut line. (Fig 1)
Using small finish nails, I attached both sides together so
the cut would be precisely the same. A
portable circular saw or even a hand saw would be adequate for this
project. For convenience, I used my
table saw and cut both sides at once along the line I had made. (Fig 2)
I used a piece of 1x2 stock and a ½” square dowel to create
the approach lip to the ramp. The
leading edge was beveled with a hand plane.
I just eyed this until it looked about right. Depending on the scale of your RC car, you
may want more or less bevel for the wheels to bump over to get onto the ramp. On the opposite side of the 1x2 stock, I
attached the ½” square dowel to provide a mounting surface for the thin plywood
that will make up the top and bottom.
(Fig. 3)
Using a leftover piece of ½” plywood, I cut the 2 back sides
to a dimension of 3 5/8” x 33”. The
thicker plywood is used here to support the hinges. The rest of the parts are cut from ¼”
plywood. The top is 19 ¼” x 33”. The bottom is 20 ½” x 33” and the front is 6
¾” x 33. (Fig. 4)
Using staples and wood glue I assembled the bottom
first. Nails or screws will work just as
well, but I certainly recommend using wood glue at all the joints. (Fig 5)
Where the 2 pieces of ¼” plywood meet, there needs to be
some additional support to nail or screw into.
I used a ripped piece of stock lumber leftover from another project,
(Fig. 6), but you could use another piece of ½” square dowel or any number of
metal or plastic joint connectors (Fig. 7)
After assembling the top (Fig. 8), the 2 halves were joined
by a pair of 1 ½” hinges. (Fig. 9) There is no magic to the hinge size, I just
had these in the shop.
To keep the lid closed, I mortised a magnet into the bottom
of the approach (Fig. 10). Depending on
how you intend to use the box or how it may travel, you may consider using a
more secure closure such as a hasp, but this works for my purposes. I also cut in a pair of handle holes. (Fig.
11)
The box is now complete (Fig. 12). It opens to hold the track (Fig. 13) and
flips over when open to double as a ramp (Fig. 14)
Now onto part 2 of the project, the track. I used the ½” black foam pipe insulation
found at most home improvement centers.
It is cheap and has an outside diameter of about an inch and a
half. I found it in 3’ and 6’ lengths
with an average price around $1.15 per 6’.
I purchased 108’ (18 pieces) which could yield up to 216’ of track. Since I restricted my length to 31” to fit on
my shelf, I produced 186’ of track (72 pieces).
There is a lot of repetitive tasks involved in making the track, but
they are easy and go by quickly.
I first placed a piece of masking tape 31” from the edge of
my bench so I could cut my lengths quickly.
I then proceeded to cut all of the 6’ pieces down to 31” by inserting a
sharp utility knife and rotating the foam insulation. (Fig. 15)
I then placed a piece of masking tape on the bench 3” and 10
½” from either end of the 31” foam insulation lengths. There is nothing magical about those
measurements other than they are nearly evenly spaced and the tape on the bench
helps provide consistency. I then
wrapped the foam insulation with a piece of orange reflective duct tape. I used Gorilla tape because I have had good
experience with it on other projects, but any bright colored duct tape should
work just fine. (Fig. 16)
Each piece of foam insulation is slit along the length about
80%. Using that existing slit, I cut the
rest of the way through one side with a utility knife, also cutting the
reflective tape that was just applied.
(Fig. 17)
In order to split the foam insulation completely in half
with a clean straight cut, I first clamped a straight edge to the side of my
bench. (Fig. 18) Then with a sharp
utility knife, I cut along the length of the foam insulation utilizing the
straight edge as a guide. (Fig. 19)
Now that I have a whole lot of light track pieces, the
problem is that they will need to be secured so they don’t blow away in the
breeze or scatter every time one of the cars misses a turn. My solution was to pin them down like you
stake down a tent. With 72 pieces of
track, I figured would need at least 150 stakes. With that many, the cost effective solution
is to use nails, but that creates 3 major problems that need to be solved. Nails are sharp. Nails can be hard to see. Typical nail heads will pull through the foam
over time or if enough pressure is applied.
To resolve the nail head and visibility problem, I bought a
box of button cap nails. These have an
orange plastic disk at below the nail head to distribute the force of the nail over
a larger area on materials where the head can easily pull through. (Fig. 20)
This makes them ideal for my purposes except for the fact that since
their primary application is roofing and siding, they are too short. So I purchased a second box of 3 ½” common nails
and took the plastic caps off the small nails and put them on the larger
ones. (Fig. 21)
The large nails are now easy to spot if dropped in the grass
and won’t pull through the foam. To take
care of the point, I simply cut it off with a bench grinder so they are blunt
like tent stakes. (Fig. 22 & 23) A
handheld angle grinder, Dremel tool, file or hack saw would also easily do this
job. It is a repetitive and tedious task,
but in reality it only took about an hour.
Two last touches finished the project. I left a few of the foam insulation sections
without the reflective tape to use as a mogul section for the cars to bounce
over. I also cut some of those marking
flags down to about 10” so they could be inserted through the foam and into the
ground an any location the kids thought it made sense. (Fig. 24)
I put everything in the box and the project is
complete. (Fig. 25 & 26) The kids have fun setting up the track in
different configurations and pounding in the spikes. The ramp is usually the favorite attraction and
we are looking forward to trying out some different locations.
Rod Gunter is
the Executive Director at Gunter Building Solutions and has over 20 years of
experience in the homebuilding and cabinetry industries. Rod has been responsible for building over
200 homes above the $500,000 price point.
Rod has trained large groups including all the major home centers on
selling skills, construction techniques and sustainable natural wood products. Rod resides with his family in Holly Springs,
North Carolina. Gunter Building
Solutions owns WoodAirGrille.com, a leading producer of wood return air filter
grilles and wood return air vents.
