Here are some pictures of the prototype rail liners I have been working on. They are made from very thin plastic, so they will have some give when the cars impact the RCP rails, but will allow the cars to glide off the barrier at designated locations. These rails are tall, but the production models can be made a little shorter. The ultimate height will probably be about the same height of the RCP rails. We can make an option rail that is taller and thicker for the 1/18 scale trucks and larger on road RC vehicles.
The rails are factory bent as an “L” and securely fit under the RCP side rails. You can bend them around inside or outside corners. They will have factory slots so they will fit around the bottom female PINS. They can be made in any length, but we will most likely provide them in lengths of 41”, so they will fit in the RCP track kit boxes. They are rather inexpensive to make, so the cost to customers will be very low. You can install your rail banners on the back side of the rail, so they won’t get damaged by the cars.
I think these will work very well on the straights leading up to the turn and on the corner rails themselves. We may provide the rails in each future Wide L and Wide Oval kit with at least one rail for each turn. You can purchase additional rails if you want more barriers covered.
We haven't had many costumers inquire about a less bouncing rail, other than a few from this forum. I figure this design will at least give some the option to glide off the inside corner and other rails, during a more competitive racing atmosphere. I am interested in your thoughts and if this would be something you would like to see incorporated into your own RCP track.
Once we have the first batch manufactured, they will be available through MZR. I am not sure about our other distributors, since none of them have inquired about such a feature.
I have some rail liners here that are almost twice as thick as the ones shown in the picture above. They will work better for the larger vehicles, since the top of the liner will extend above the RCP rail. The thin liners will give a little, against the foam barrier, when a little pressure is applied. This will help protect the cars a little from damage due to heavy impacts. With angle impacts the cars will glide off the rail.
On the Kyosho cars that do not have the gloss coat, there is a very minimal amount of paint transfer onto the rail liner, but this was only on very heavy impacts. Still not that noticeable on the car body. The cars that have the gloss coat showed no paint transfer or body marks of any kind.
So do you think that the thicker rail liners will be too much for the Mini-Zs? I'm wondering since I ripped one of the front corners off of my F50 body using the Losi Track Dots at full throttle down the semi-straight on my previous layout. I guess that plastic was harder than the body could handle and I'm also assuming that the 1/18th scale liners won't be as thick, but just asking.
So do you think that the thicker rail liners will be too much for the Mini-Zs? I'm wondering since I ripped one of the front corners off of my F50 body using the Losi Track Dots at full throttle down the semi-straight on my previous layout. I guess that plastic was harder than the body could handle and I'm also assuming that the 1/18th scale liners won't be as thick, but just asking.
The thicker liner would still be much softer than the mini-z car body, so we could just make all the liners thick. Is that what your thinking? I am not sure if the "give" difference between the two liners is making too much of a difference, since we haven't broken a body on either liner as of yet.
I am planning to bring a bunch of liners to the December Holiday RCP g2g at the Net Zone in Rialto, so we can get some race testing from some of the past Kyosho Cup participants.
The "give" difference is what I am getting at, especially since it seems easier to get the 1/18th scale rail liners if one plans to run both scales on the track.
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