A new place to crawl in Chicagoland!

[jayk72]

Hey everyone, it's winter in the midwest and there's not many warm places to crawl for a while. That is unless you live in the Chicago area. Hobbytown USA in Naperville, Illinois is in the midst of building a new indoor Rock Crawling Course. Construction should be complete by Dec. 14th and if it goes well there are plans to possibly/probably expand after the first of the year. It will be open (and free! http://image2-0.rcuniverse.com/e1/forum/image/s2.gif ) during business hours with a competition schedule to come soon. The course will be demanding enough that experienced crawlers will have fun, but newbies can make it through. It's even going to have a Heli-pad for the boss' Blade CX2 (http://www.rcuniverse.com/buynow/keywordclick.cfm?bid_id=4817)! Hope you can come visit! Will post photos when I can.

[Mnster]

Hmm, might check it out.. Hour and 30minutes away...

Maybe we could setup some sort of event or something on here.

[MaxxRunner]

4 hrs or so for us Iowa guys. Sounds good keep us posted

MaxxRunner

[badltl510]

I am in Oregon but have to go to Glenview sometimes for work how close is that?

[Stormin2u]

I get to Chicago occasionally for business, get some pictures up please "thumbsup"

[Mnster]

If you need help posting them up let me know.

[freetimecrawler]

Sounds interesting, I too make it to Chicago on business Once and a while.
Keep us posted.

[Stormin2u]

Hey freetimecrawler, when did you become the Evil Mayor of Bedrock? That's not your style your the good Mayor. "thumbsup"..Storm

[jeepguy7891]

Hey Jay, Great Job on the flyer! I really hope this project will get the crawlers off and running at the store!

We're getting the Rocks this week and should have a good course to start off with before the building begins.:twisted:

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s297/Jeepguy7891/CrawlinPC1-email.jpg

[BJoe]

This one should be pretty nice once done, I've already Demo'd the AX-10 in the pic and my WK on what's there sofar"thumbsup"

[Natedog]

I get to Chicago occasionally for business, get some pictures up please "thumbsup"

X2 8)

[jayk72]

I'm on my way out the door to go get the rock delivered so we should have a good start by the end of the day tomorrow. If anyone has any ideas or input feel free to put it up here! I'll try to get some pics posted in the next day or two. The store owner came up with an idea yesterday of doing Friday night crawling until 10pm with pizza and pop supplied by us, not bad.

-Jay K.

[jetboat]

Sorry I couldnt make it in on Saturday.... Ill stop by during the day Wednesday with IA...there better be something for me to break parts on :twisted:.....

[jayk72]

Well the rock is in... most of it. 5 tons and it's still not enough:shock:! MUST HAVE MORE ROCK!!! It's a little interesting right now because we waited a week too long and everything got frozen and muddy so until everything dries out it's a mess. If you want to break something we can probably arrange it... might just have to pile things a bit higher.

-Jay

[Etype R]

From working with field rock in the past, I have found that using a filler material such as dirt or gravel helps a lot. With small boulders, you end up with a lot of pockets that catch tires. Also if you start with a base of gravel or dirt, you can shape the course before using any rock. Then place the rocks on top of the base.

[Natedog]

From working with field rock in the past, I have found that using a filler material such as dirt or gravel helps a lot. With small boulders, you end up with a lot of pockets that catch tires. Also if you start with a base of gravel or dirt, you can shape the course before using any rock. Then place the rocks on top of the base.

Saves on rock which can get expensive real fast too.

[jetboat]

I started with 16 tons on my course and it barely did much.... Light weight manmade rocks are the way to go

[Etype R]

I didn't get a full on side picture of the course we built for the Xgames event this year. But we ended up with a decent sized course using only 1 ton of rock.We started out with a big pile of dirt, which we shaped before hand. We should have made it flatter... But after the dirt was shaped, we just placed the rocks on top of it. Before we put the rocks on the dirt pile, the rocks looked pretty pathetic. The dirt made a world of difference, and it was actually crawlable this year.

[jayk72]

Keep them recommendations coming! This is all useful stuff. As mentioned, 5 tons is not as much as one would think so we might have to go back and do some gravel underneath because hell yeah, rock get's expensive. If anyone has pics of something we could look at, please do post! We want to make this course as good as possible, no sense going through all of the work for a half-assed course right?

Thanks for the input!

-Jay

[kerjer3]

I'll have to stop by and check it out when we visit my parents for Christmas. They still live in Aurora. Heard a rumor yesterday that my local Hobby Town in Ames might be closing in Jan. :-(

[BJoe]

I'll have to stop by and check it out when we visit my parents for Christmas. They still live in Aurora. Heard a rumor yesterday that my local Hobby Town in Ames might be closing in Jan. :-(

That sucks:-(, I've talked to them on more than one occasion while back in that area visiting family. Do they still have the Des Moines store?

[rye]

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6064298/anchors_6064298/mpage_1/key_rock%252Ccrawler%252Ccourse/anchor/tm.htm#6064298

[kerjer3]

That sucks:-(, I've talked to them on more than one occasion while back in that area visiting family. Do they still have the Des Moines store?

That one closed down a little over a year ago. I've been trying to keep the Ames store open but I only have so much money.

[jetboat]

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6064298/anchors_6064298/mpage_1/key_rock%252Ccrawler%252Ccourse/anchor/tm.htm#6064298

That course is flat, no climbs, if you want a comp ready course it has to have climbs. I have talked to the local clubs and they are very adimit that they dont want to "crawl from 1 rock to another" My own course has been going under some heavy modification to add more climbs and "realistic formations". What could be cool and fun is if HT modeled their course after some of the portable UROC courses.

[jaxcoffee]

That course is flat, no climbs, if you want a comp ready course it has to have climbs. I have talked to the local clubs and they are very adimit that they dont want to "crawl from 1 rock to another" My own course has been going under some heavy modification to add more climbs and "realistic formations". What could be cool and fun is if HT modeled their course after some of the portable UROC courses.

How about a course modeled after an actual location?

Can you say MOAB?"thumbsup"

[jeepguy7891]

That course is flat, no climbs, if you want a comp ready course it has to have climbs. I have talked to the local clubs and they are very adimit that they dont want to "crawl from 1 rock to another" My own course has been going under some heavy modification to add more climbs and "realistic formations". What could be cool and fun is if HT modeled their course after some of the portable UROC courses.

Jeff, I think your going to like it"thumbsup"

[BJoe]

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6064298/anchors_6064298/mpage_1/key_rock%252Ccrawler%252Ccourse/anchor/tm.htm#6064298

Wasn't that posted elsewhere on here:?:

That one closed down a little over a year ago. I've been trying to keep the Ames store open but I only have so much money.

That sucks even harder then:-(

Jeff, I think your going to like it"thumbsup"

Maybe I'll stop by tomorrow"thumbsup"

[jetboat]

Im bringing the camera and a truck...

[jetboat]

I stopped by to take a look and maybe do a little crawling and ended up sepdning the afternoon helping build...... The "mess" is SandCrete concrete over craft paper over a wire mesh framework. It should provide a texture like Sandstone when finished, they plan to dye it to make it look natural. I have used the technique before and if tends to be very realistic. It doesnt look that challenging but, when done it should make for an obsticle much like Pototato salad hill with allot of off camber and some decent climbs. For being limited by space and the fact that its inside a hobby store I think its a great start (about time a shop saw the light and realized how much crawlers spend!)

[BJoe]

Good looking pics Jeff!

[Mnster]

Wow, thats not bad at all..."thumbsup"

Supers would breeze over it, but 2.2's would be fun. Scalers would be lots of fun.

I'll try my best to be there for the first comp.:mrgreen:

[kerjer3]

Very nice start! I can't wait until Spring so I can start working on my backyard course again!

[BJoe]

Hey kerjer, your folks came by yesterday afternoon to check things out"thumbsup"

Jeff really gets alot of credit for the progress that was done yesterday on it too"thumbsup"

[jeepguy7891]

"thumbsup"THANKS A TON JEFF! Now that I know what im doing I should be able to punch more of this out and have some more stuff done tonight!

[jetboat]

I expect it to be done by Tuesday so I can test the Bronco!!! I have a bag of Sandcrete in the garage collecting dust and I think some black dye I will donate.

[Rockpiledriver]

How about a course modeled after an actual location?

Can you say MOAB?"thumbsup"

Already being done. "thumbsup"

[kerjer3]

Hey kerjer, your folks came by yesterday afternoon to check things out"thumbsup"


They told me that. They thought I must be famous since I haven't lived around there for 12 years and you knew of me! 8)

[jetboat]

I just got home from helping with the course... Its realy shaping up to be a nice course (for an indoor course). I forgot the camera,sorry :( but pictures should be up in the next couple days. When I got there my bronco was eating the course up and spitting it out but, by the time I left I think we had made it a little tougher. The course is definatly aimed at beginners and smaller rigs (supers would get bored) For all those out there with new AX10's in the area...you'll definatly have to come try it. It sounds like the shop is going to start carrying more crawler related parts. I would say if you live anywhere in the area stop by and check it out...prod the builder into working a little faster while your there "thumbsup". It will be nice to have a shop that doesnt say " an RC Crawler....whats that???"

[BJoe]

Is he working tomorrow too? If so I'll have to prod him too"thumbsup"

[BJoe]

Went down today and they were busy enough to jump in and help out off and on. I'll have to swap to taller tires before I go back"thumbsup"

They told me that. They thought I must be famous since I haven't lived around there for 12 years and you knew of me! 8)


Been there before when running into customers at different places like The Chicago Auto Show, for some reason work always comes up in those situations........

[SBNFred]

I have stopped by and checked it out. Looks decent. A lot of detail is going into it thats for sure.

I am sure that the slow season is now settling in.. they will get this completed.

BTW.. the pictures you have posted are a little dated.. i saw a little more completed... ohhh wait you already said that. :)

Im just glad there is places to go while we wait for the spring to hit.. crawling in the snow is fun... but yesterday was just slush! blah!

[jetboat]

I stopped by to help out and got asked to finish the course...... Im not going to post up all the pics but here are a couple.

For more go to:

http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc305/jshirley78/HT%20course/





http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc305/jshirley78/HT%20course/IMG_1145.jpg

[tittelba]

My son and I came out to check the course out. Great job guys! I brought my two supers to have at it. As already mentioned, it a little too small for them but fun never the less. I might just have to build a 2.2 "thumbsup"

Regards,
Tom T

[silver6sp7]

is there a schedule yet or how can i find out about any events?

[jetboat]

The next comp is Feb 16 signup starts at 12:30
First Club meeting is Feb 2 @1pm in the back room (crawling afterwards)

Come to the club meeting, meet everyone and check the place out.

[clod & bruiser]

how long is the comp? is it 2.2 and 1.9?

[jetboat]

The last comp with 2.2 class only ran 3.5 hrs, I am hoping we have a bigger turnout and the next comp goes longer.

[clod & bruiser]

i gotta get up there!

[Pete from Houston]

I'll be coming up to the Aurora area for a visit during the week of July 4th. I'll be bringing my WK rock racer so I hope to give this course a try."thumbsup"