Since my last post about 3 weeks ago, we have had a lot of rain, some of it heavy, with higher humidity in the morning and lower temperatures. The track has been wet with dew every morning with no signs of rust or any other wear. The track seems to be holding up well and it is easy to clean when dry, using a brush and dustpan. Even the yellow striping is staying put.
As you can see from the following 2 pictures, I have spent some time on landscaping. Nearly all of the vegetation is natural and almost all of it is live. The bigger plants were left in their pots and just stuck in the ground. I hope this will retard their growth but not kill them. They will need to be trimmed frequently to keep them small, like bonsai. In the case of the smaller plants, I sometimes cut the bottom out of the pot and planted it and sometimes completely removed the plant from its pot and planted it.
Since MagRacers have reverse, often the driver can recover from a crash. But sometimes this is not possible and this track is too big for someone to reach out with his hand from the perimeter of the layout to pickup a wayward car. I experimented with a strong magnet on the end of a pole to pickup a car but found it unacceptable. So I installed the hexagon stepping stones so that people would have good footing and know where to place their feet to retrieve a wayward car. ( I don't want people trampling all over my layout and destroying it!) Irregular natural flagstones would have looked better but I had these hexagon stones on hand. They will be less noticeable once the vegetation spreads, but I might replace them with flagstones some day.
The culverts are functional in that they facilitate drainage of water through the stream bed (arroyo). The bridge has concrete abutments. The turn nearest the bridge has a racing line. As I indicated in an earlier post, all of the white rectangles in the roadway indicate the location of lane change plates.
In the upper right-hand corner of the next picture you'll see a brick with some white tape on it. That is there temporarily to force cars to turn left when we are running the cars counterclockwise. The brick will be removed when the rest of the track is complete. There is no lane change plate at this location.
At the top of the picture in the center, if you look carefully, you'll see a portable concrete highway barrier in the middle of the road to the right of the pine tree. (These are often called Jersey barriers in the U.S.)
Here is a closeup of the concrete barrier taken when the track was still a little wet and not ready for racing. The barrier is set to force cars to turn right when we are running clockwise. It can be re-positioned to force the cars to turn left. There is a lane change plate here but the barrier prevents the possibility of a mistake. The barrier, which is made out of 1” x 1” poplar, has a neodymium disk magnet embedded in the bottom at both ends. The barrier is held in place by a 5” long 0.080” diameter wire, embedded in the track 0.025” below the track surface. This wire does not interfere with the operation of cars.
Following is a picture of a piece of poplar after it was ripped but prior to any other finishing. The barrier is 1” tall, ¼” wide at the top, and 5/8” wide at the bottom. After ripping, the wood was cut to length and then sanded to remove any sharp edges and the marks left by the circular saw. Using a drill press, holes were drilled to hold the disk magnets. Then the piece was painted and the magnets were glued into the holes.
I estimate that the layout is about 1/2 done now. During the next couple of months I plan to continue improving the landscaping with more plants, rocks, hay bales, and road (highway) signs. I'd also like to add a few people/figures. Could someone suggest where to buy them? I'll also work on my cars. I don't expect to resume construction of more roadway until March. This will probably be my last post under this topic until then, unless someone has a question. I will continue to post information here that I think is appropriate for this topic heading. At some point in the future, I might start a new topic under the Users Section – My Track.
Best wishes to all for a happy holiday season!
Ned