[john]

Well, I had this idea... I see a lot of people building tracks, and I've built one too. But I still always find myself going back to the livingroom Pergo floor to drive on. So I got to thinking, why not create some track parts that I can make out of small piece of cardboard so that I can have a little fun with obstacles.

So I designed a ramp. Here's how it works: First, you print the template out and mount it with a glue stick or spray adhesive to a piece of cardboard, preferrably non-corrugated, like the cardboard from a shoebox or even poster board. Then, you cut along the solid orange lines, and fold along the dotted orange lines. Add a little glue or tape, and you have a quick, easy, pre-decorated ramp.

Here's a preview of my beta version ramp. It's shown here at 50% size (the full version is about 12"x18" so it may need to be printed in pieces depending on how big your printer is. I built a ramp like this, and it turns out that though it's only 1.25" high, my ZZs don't get a lot of air. I had hoped to get a few inches of air, but that's not happening. I want to build a few more test ramps with longer slopes, and shorter height. The goal is to get a ZZ with red gear and motors to fly at least 4".

I guess I'm posting this to see if there's any interest. If people want this sort of thing, I'll make more. I'd like to have templates that ideally start with an 8" wide track and end with an 8" wide track, and use as little paper and material as possible (so you don't have to print 6 pages and mount them all to cardboard!) And, if you use bits and can get at least 4" of air, let me know what your set-up is. This may turn out to be a good thing for bits but not ZZs.