A Mod of a new nature

[steelo]

I just realized that the Tamiya Mini Series are the closest things to Sizzlers on the market. The scale is much larger though (1/24 and 1/32). They have some interesting tracks for the Dangun Racers that I am pretty sure you could run a Sizzler on. I may pick up some of these to play with in the winter. I don't think I have any worries of them being discontinued anytime soon. I just wish they were smaller.

Looking at the hop up's for these confirms what I have been suspecting all along. You need to get the right balance of speed and torque to manuver the high banks.

I think that at Stock ZZSE with a gear and axle upgrade will be sufficient to work on a Fat Track. A faster motor would just be a plus.

I really wish I had a performance upgrade kit to test with.

[steelo]

Success! Well kinda, I tried all the different types of tires I have and I realised that the front wheels on a Sizzler are Hot Wheels redlines (the ones with the red line on the wall of the PLASTIC tire, they have a bearing in them that allows them to run smooth) and the back tires are slicks. So I deccided to try out no tires on the front of my ZZSE and slicks on the back and it actually can make it around the banks now. Although it does it at the bottom of the bank.

I'm going to go buy 5 more ZZSE's for racing and I'll just have to hunt down 6 of the performance upgrades and 5 more tire kits and 4 or 5 bodies.

I can definitly see the speed difference between the Sizzler and the ZZSE. Gears and motor should solve this problem and then just put any tires on the front.

[steelo]

Picked up 5 ZZSE's today (2 DB5's and 3 Vanquish). I'm going to order the motor/gear upgrades from the RS site and hunt down 5 more tire kits and some ZZSE bodies.

I also picked up a Hot Wheels Radar Gun so I can get some speed comparisons on all the stuff I got.

I just want to thank everyone that has helped me out with everything.

I still have alot more work to do but at least I am still making progress.

[steelo]

I hit the cars with the Radar Gun and the Sizzlers go between 5-6 true mph. A stock ZZSE only goes 2 mph. We'll see what happens when I get my motors and gears.

[steelo]

I finally found my old clone and decided to try it out. It is a Panther Chariot in a dome and the base/charger is the Tx. I looked these up on the internet and they are supposed to be 26K motors. I think that the gears may be messed up because it barely even moves. I took them out and put them on my ZZSE and it seemed like it was a perfect fit, but it didn't want to move.

So next I decided to try the motor out in my ZZSE and it worked perfect with the ZZSE gears. I definitly can see an improvement in speed, but it is still not enough for what I need. I think once I get better gears this thing is going to scream and do exactly what I want it to do.

If anyone is interested in my Panther let me know. It has a white Mitsubishi Lancer body and it is 35mHz.

[Namuna]

Well, I finally put the Fat Track together the other night and tried running my LiPoly modified 2speed BitGhar-g on it.

Unfortunately I can't get the Bit to drive straight, I couldn't fit the Lipo internally so it's basically hanging on the outside of the body and a little to the front (imagine seeing a car driving with a bed mattress on the roof).

The side "rails" on the Fat Track isn't high enough to hold the car within the track either, so it would just drive right off the track.

The material of the straights of the track are almost like a twizzlers licorice. So it's a bit on the soft side and "holds" any curvatures if you haven't stored the pieces on a perfectly flat surface. I had the pieces stored where there was some bending of the pieces, so the track didn't lay perfectly flat.

The good news though, and even though I can't get it to drive straight right now...once I hit the "turbo" button on the 2speed the gears made this hellacious scream and the car's wheels spun so hard and fast that the car went immediately into a roll. I have no doubt that if I can get the steering under control and somehow keep it on the track when hitting the turbo...It'll make it around the enbankment without a problem.

[steelo]

I'm working on a solution for the track wall height already (and it will be inexpensive). Once I have everything figured out I will post how to add walls to the track. The walls I am working on will accomodate 1/43 scale cars too.

Make sure you are not using too hard of a tire on the rear hubs. You need to have traction on the rear tires.

The track was actually designed so spin-outs would occur occasionally to increase the realism of racing. This track is built for high speeds. Just like any track design it is a matter of figuring out the right setup.

Once I get the wall height issue taken care of and figure out the minimum upgrades needed to get the cars going steering will only be needed for passing. This will allow for different classes of racing on the track too.

It's cool once you get cars going because you can actually draft and rub the rear bumper of someone elses car to make them spin-out.

[Namuna]

Welllll, we're all pals here...What's your big idea about the wall height? I'd be glad to jump in and help out on it!

It's cool once you get cars going because you can actually draft and rub the rear bumper of someone elses car to make them spin-out.

Oh come on!!! Now you're just TEASING me!!!

And you might be interested in these:
http://www.indoorflyer.co.uk/index.a...&productid=116

They're 3.7v 50maH Lithium-Polymer batteries and their size is just slightly larger than the stock batteries that are in the ZipZaps!!! These are less than 1/2 the length of my other LiPos that don't fit so I've got high hopes that these will indeed work! And if they do, I'm going to try to pair them up in parallel for longer runtimes.

Here's a question for you...What are you using to weigh the track down? Especially when you're going to use larger scale cars, the inertia of the cars coming into the enbankment is going to slide the track around if there's no weight on it.

[steelo]

Welllll, we're all pals here...What's your big idea about the wall height? I'd be glad to jump in and help out on it!

Well I went to my local Home Depot type store and went into their molding aisle and I picked up 4 pieces of molding cap. It is shapped like the letter J. The fit is a little loose under the lip of the track wall and the taller side isn't high enough to make a wall, but I figure it is a good foundation to make higher walls. It comes in 8' strips for like $2-3 each (I paid $10 and change including tax for 4 strips). I'm going to cut these down to 1' 10" sections to put inbetween the track connectors and glue some polystyrene strips to it. I think 1.5" high should do it.

I really wanted to use polystyrene square tubes as the foundation for the walls because I think they would have a tighter fit in the grooves under the walls of the track, but my local hobby shop didn't have any in stock. You would just need to dremel the top section off and cut them down to 1' 10" sections and then glue 1.5" high polystyrene strips to it.

Getting a nice snug fit in the groove under the track wall is key. This will ensure that the new walls won't pop out when they get hit. I also have to figure out how thick the polystyrene strips will need to be. If they are too thin then they will flex too much and the cars will just jump the wall.

Oh come on!!! Now you're just TEASING me!!!

No really it is pretty cool. Buy another Sizzler and run two cars at the same time and you will see what I mean. I sugget you get a mad scatter set it is a car packaged with a goose pump charger (Two D cells instead of 4 like the Juice Machine). This way you can charge two cars at the same time, but the '70 Cuda is really nice looking too, so you decide (it's not available in a mad scatter set).

Here's a question for you...What are you using to weigh the track down? Especially when you're going to use larger scale cars, the inertia of the cars coming into the enbankment is going to slide the track around if there's no weight on it.

Right now I don't' have the track weighed down. I just have one bank against the wall on plush carpeted floor which is fine if you only race 2 cars at a time at 1/43 scale, but I would suggest sandbags behind the banks to minimize the shifting if you are going to only use the stock track length. For Epochs I would just get another track set for extra straights and joiners and if need be trim the tracks down with a miter saw until each bank sits perfectly against each wall of the room. This is what I plan on doing in my basement.

Worst case scenario drill some holes on the base platform on the inside of the banks so you can secure them to a sheet of plywood with wingnuts and cover the wingnuts up with something for visual appeal i.e. miniature cones or glue some tires in a stack. If you do this then you can just use wood to make the walls along the straights and secure them to the plywood.

For Bits/Zaps I don't think that the track will shift much as long as it is on a shag carpet. Some books or even heavy shoes should be enough to keep the track in place on any carpet. 6 ZZSE's going at the same time might need some sand bags though.

And you might be interested in these: http://www.indoorflyer.co.uk/index....p;productid=116 They're 3.7v 50maH Lithium-Polymer batteries and their size is just slightly larger than the stock batteries that are in the ZipZaps!!! These are less than 1/2 the length of my other LiPos that don't fit so I've got high hopes that these will indeed work! And if they do, I'm going to try to pair them up in parallel for longer runtimes.

Definitly keep us informed on this mod.

[Namuna]

The molding cap is an interesting idea...Which leads me to think about using just simple foam window/door insulation.

Last winter season our main entrance door in the house was drafty so I picked up some 1/3" thick foam padding door liner that's about 3/4" wide. It was pretty cheap to pick up and if they have it in a nice thin 1/4" width that would be almost perfect.

...But I only know them to be sold in either white or grey though, so it wouldn't look all that great. Then again, who knows? Maybe the offsetting white against all black track might actually look good?

[steelo]

The molding cap is an interesting idea...Which leads me to think about using just simple foam window/door insulation.

Yeah I had the same thoughts on that too. I still may try something along those lines incorporated with the molding caps. It would provide some cushion when the cars impact on the walls.

The molding caps are white too, but I like the white. It looks like the walls on a real track. Besides you can always pick up a can of cheap spray paint and paint it black if you want or if you really want to get creative give it the candy cane/rumble strip look, slap some sponser decals on and you have a nice looking functional wall.

It also really depends on what you want from the track too. Do you want portability or do you want to make a permanent track.

Right now I want to keep my track portable so I can take it to my friends houses so I will have people to race with.

Once I get them hooked then I plan on setting up an elaborate track in my basement, but I have to figure out how to fabricate other track accesories for the type of layout I have in mind.

One other note. I have been discussing with a track manufacturer about possibly having longer track sections made up. I can't get into the details right now and it is still a long way off, but "IF" it becomes a reality the track sections would be no longer than 58 inches. This would help keep shipping rates lower.

[Namuna]

Hmmm, for me, i don't know that I'd want the lane to be any longer than they are now.

It already gets a little tricky to store them, because of the nature of the material, I prefer storing them flat (not standing up) so I'd need to compensate by finding an area that would accomodate that...Making the lanes longer would make that more difficult.

Now, if you're talking about WIDER lanes with higher side-rails...Well then I'd say JACKPOT!

I imagine a wider lane setup would present a challenge for coming into the enbankment though, but that could be a "feature" in and of itself...A kind of bottleneck to the turn (potential of causing some interesting "rubs" and even little crashes).

[steelo]

Well there is a market for the longer track sections too. Some of the Sizzlers racers would love to have less connecters to have a smoother run.

Now, if you're talking about WIDER lanes with higher side-rails...Well then I'd say JACKPOT! I imagine a wider lane setup would present a challenge for coming into the enbankment though, but that could be a "feature" in and of itself...A kind of bottleneck to the turn (potential of causing some interesting "rubs" and even little crashes).

Yeah I had that idea too, but I don't know much about the process of making these tracks. That's why I am talking with a current track manufacturer that is familiar with the process. I'm trying to find out more information on the process to see if I can do it myself.

If I can figure this out then maybe I can add a pit row too for battery charging. This way you can have endurance races.

I think I need to sit down and make a list of what will be need to add the track features that racers would want.

The first priority though is working on a higher track wall. I think I may have a better solution in mind than the ones that we have disscussed. It would involve some woodworking, but it really would be the fastest way to make some working prototypes then maybe I can get some plastic forms made up.

[steelo]

Ok I know what I need to get this started after doing some measurements.

I need a C-Channel that is 1/8" H x 1/32" W x 1/16" T (.125" H x .03125" W x .0625" T or 3.175mm H x 0.79375mm W x 1.5875mm T).

If anyone knows where I can get one let me know.

[steelo]

Ok, I finally figured out the best way to get the guard rails done. I just need to find the materials that I need to get it done.

The base of the guard rails is going to be a nice hard plastic and the actually guard rails are going to be very close to the ones on the X-mods tracks. Nice thick bouncy foam rubber. This way the rails won't get damaged when the cars collide against them.

For the additional track sections I think I am going to make them 10 inches wide to accomodate 1/24 scale cars. This way I can have a broader market once I have the final product completed and it will give you a nice chicane going into the banks.

I've already compensated for the scale and decided that the guard rails will be closer to 2 inches from top to bottom now.

This is going to be a HUGE track. I promise no more updates until I get the guard rails done. I'll still answer any questions and take suggestions, but I think I have most of the bases covered now.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions everyone.