Mini-z's from Australia

[Stanley Aust]

Hi Guys, I have been getting a small collection of Mini-Z's together and thought i'd share some pics and details of what i have learnt over the time, I started off by wrongly going the cheap option and buying a IWaver. Although it was ok to get together a track before investing some more cash i now believe i wasted alot trying to get it to the stardard of a mini-z.

A mate and myself have now got together a good range of shells as well as 2 Awd's and 2 Rwd's.

I will put some pics of the cars up.

I will also take some better pics of my track and some tips that took me ages to work out in regards to a good and cheap suface for drifting and racing.

It is a work in progress and about to be taken apart and redone to create a better base and smother surface so will add the details of that too once done.
Anyhow hope you like the collection and can see that Mini-'s can be seen around the world even down under

[Stanley Aust]

Here are some pics

[Stanley Aust]

Hi all, thanks to all those that have taken a look, As you can see the track is still a work in progress but thought i would share what i have learnt.
The current layout is 4.8m long and 3.6m wide.
I have had issues trying to figure out what to use for the surface. No too many people in Australia have heard of the mini-z's so it was trial and error. I tried lots of different materials. Lucky for me i work at a large timber and plywood company and have access to a great variety of plywoods, mdfs and other boards so could test things and see how they went without it costing much if anything. I first went down the track of keeping things simple. I wanted to use the track for both racing with rubber tyres and drifting.
trial 1- plain particleboard (chipboard) - this was just way too slippery so i then tried coming up with a rubber coating to cover it in. I had been shown a way to make silastic into a paint solution so tried this and used a roller to cover the surface hoping to make it a bit sticky once dry. it didn't work. next i tried to come up with a slightly rougher surface and found some damaged sheets of masonite(hardboard) i put this with the back side facing up slightly rougher, however found the same problem with it being too slipery still for fast racing, it was great for drifting though. I stuck with this and bought a few cans of non slip spray on adhesive. that didn't work either. then i tried a basic coat of black matt spray paint. (the surface you see in the pics above. it worked. The track is now grippy for the rubber tyres and hard and slippery for the drifters. the only problem spots we on the 2 main straights for drifting, so i tried putting a coat of wood glue over these spots. some how it worked and now i have the perfect hard surface for both types of tyres without costing a fortune to make.

When i started originally I made the track too small so added to it in bits with crap i had laying around. The problem was i need to make a solid base that is the same thickness. so where a few sheets join its a bit rough at the moment but i am going to dismantle it and start from scratch with a proper base and perfectly joined sheets ontop. I will change the layout a bit too and make it a fair bit bigger too. I have the materials here to do it now but just need the time.

ill post some pics of it once done.
cheers
stan

[mrnanotrax]

thanks for the post stan.....don't worry if you don't get quick replies, guys will be in and out....they'll reply if they feel there's something they can contribute