One more Backyard Crawler Course....

[LincolnofDeath]

@Peaker and Hobbyjumper: Where did you guys take these pictures, Heaven?
Here’s what you get with a couple red-blooded young ‘Murican boys and rock bars, lol:

[LincolnofDeath]

By our third attempt we were really starting to get the hang of things:

[mv1985]

Originally Posted by LincolnofDeath

@Peaker and Hobbyjumper: Where did you guys take these pictures, Heaven?
Here’s what you get with a couple red-blooded young ‘Murican boys and rock bars, lol:

Love the rock pile, wife won't go for it though

[mewalsh100]

Love all the backyard crawler course action going on here! I’ve slowly but surely been adding more trails, lines and features to mine. I don’t have scale towns or buildings yet as I’ve been primarily focused on getting everything knocked in. I’m blessed to have a large backyard though, and what I’ve got so far is coming along nicely. The eventual plan is to add some scale buildings and other scale items once I’ve got the course set up how I want it. Doing my full loop right now yields just a tic over an 1/8 mile. Ironically, that may be the biggest problem - I think I bit off more than I could chew given I’m the only one working on it. That said, I got another nice load of boulders and stone for free last weekend which always inspires me to get back after it.

Anyway, keep the course pics and ideas comin guys - great inspiration!

[Peaker]

Before the train layout my friend had a river we made up of large stones from the beach ( like 3 - 4 - 5 X basketball size )


It started in a large plastic tub, ran down 10 feet or so to a smaller "pond" where it turned 180 and ran for a few feet before it plunged into his koi pond.
Sadly he only have a pic of his HPI 5B put on there, but its zoomed in so you cant really enjoy that "mountain"


Anyway it got axed and are actually filling much of the space below the train layout as by 2012 we was both pretty sad and decrepit, i think it was also the year my friend died 10 times or so before he and his heart attack was stabilized.
And i have been on early retirement since i was 50 in 2016










The plan was now that my friend have moved onto a farm, to make a scale track, pretty much just pile up dirt in a large berm some 6-7 feet high and 20 - 30 feet long, and then make trails in that dirt, and add a little stone and concrete ASO in places, this way visitors could make their own challenges with simple tools and you would always have new things to try.

The plan was also to put up the G - scale train again there.

BUT it seem like my friend have prioritized otherwise, and have now ran out of money ( inheritance ) so we cant rent the machines it take to make this happen on his fields behind the house.

[mv1985]

Originally Posted by Peaker

Before the train layout my friend had a river we made up of large stones from the beach ( like 3 - 4 - 5 X basketball size )


It started in a large plastic tub, ran down 10 feet or so to a smaller "pond" where it turned 180 and ran for a few feet before it plunged into his koi pond.
Sadly he only have a pic of his HPI 5B put on there, but its zoomed in so you cant really enjoy that "mountain"


Anyway it got axed and are actually filling much of the space below the train layout as by 2012 we was both pretty sad and decrepit, i think it was also the year my friend died 10 times or so before he and his heart attack was stabilized.
And i have been on early retirement since i was 50 in 2016










The plan was now that my friend have moved onto a farm, to make a scale track, pretty much just pile up dirt in a large berm some 6-7 feet high and 20 - 30 feet long, and then make trails in that dirt, and add a little stone and concrete ASO in places, this way visitors could make their own challenges with simple tools and you would always have new things to try.

The plan was also to put up the G - scale train again there.

BUT it seem like my friend have prioritized otherwise, and have now ran out of money ( inheritance ) so we cant rent the machines it take to make this happen on his fields behind the house.

Sorry to hear about your setbacks building the course. Hopefully circumstances will change for the better and you can complete your scale track

[Peaker]

Yeah. even in this little country, we still have to drive a ways to get to worthwhile territory for the little trucks.


Now that my friend have run out of money, maybe we can do something at least with the trains, though it would have been nice with a machine to scrape off the top layer of grass on his fields ( previous owner had sheep and horses running out there )
but i figure we could also just burn that part of the fields.


But the scale track i have my doubt about, none of us have the health now to manual move so many cubic yards of dirt, in 2010 i almost broke myself digging my friends garden pond and it was just 16 X 10 X 6 feet, which i did with a shovel.
My friend dident do squat as he cant with his severely arthritic shoulders, so lucky for him he got a friend.


If only he could borrow a tractor with a shovel in the front that would do it, we don't need to dig deep, so if only we could skim a foot or 2 of some of his fields it would go a long way.


This was the plan a year or so ago, + a track for the fast cars on the right

[mv1985]

Wow, wish I had that much property to build. Did the G scale train thing back in the day, might do it again for the grandkids if I get the time. Good luck with building something you can enjoy, whatever that may be!

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[mewalsh100]

This is my set up right now. Everything in red is existing and knocked in. This is the stuff I'm currently focused on getting rocks, boulders, pallets and features installed in and flowing well. The area in blue is my short course for go-fast rig testing and tuning. The areas in yellow are what I've walked and flagged for future trail. It's coming along nicely, but as I mentioned, it's slow going doing it all by myself.

For some reason, I can't seem to get any of the guys I mountain bike with to invest in a Crawler. I find this strange because they beg me to take my rigs out every time we meet up over here for our rides. If I could get even one or two of them to commit to buying a crawler, I'm sure they'd be over here helping out because they'd have open access to the course any time they wanted.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by mewalsh100

This is my set up right now.

Nice layout and property! That's awesome you can just walk out to the backyard and have many hours of fun! I'm surprised to hear that your mountain bike buds don't jump on the chance to help out. I tell ya, if I lived closer, I'd be willing to help out!

I own a couple acre lot about 10 minutes from my house that I have been planning to build a course on now for a few years. I just haven't taken the time to get something laid out! I need to get busy on it next spring!

[mewalsh100]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Nice layout and property! That's awesome you can just walk out to the backyard and have many hours of fun! I'm surprised to hear that your mountain bike buds don't jump on the chance to help out. I tell ya, if I lived closer, I'd be willing to help out!

I own a couple acre lot about 10 minutes from my house that I have been planning to build a course on now for a few years. I just haven't taken the time to get something laid out! I need to get busy on it next spring!

Thanks Brian! I am pretty lucky to have this set up. The whole course is really starting to come along. One of my buddies came down this morning and the three of us (my brother) had a ball. I still have a lot to do and I agree, I don’t know why my MTB buds won’t get in on it. Your 2 acre plot sounds like it could be ripe with possibilities! Anyway, if you ever find yourself in or around Medina, hit me up and I’ll show you around.

[high plains drifter]

Originally Posted by mewalsh100

For some reason, I can't seem to get any of the guys I mountain bike with to invest in a Crawler. I find this strange because they beg me to take my rigs out every time we meet up over here for our rides. If I could get even one or two of them to commit to buying a crawler, I'm sure they'd be over here helping out because they'd have open access to the course any time they wanted.

Back when I was a serious mountain biker, I'd put every dime into my ride. Custom built wheels & hubs cost me near a grand! I'm guessing that their money gets eaten up by upgrading bikes... just a thought.

Your course is absolutely spectacular... so much land/ so much potential/ so much fun... oh, and so much work I'm sure. lol

[mewalsh100]

Originally Posted by high plains drifter

Back when I was a serious mountain biker, I'd put every dime into my ride. Custom built wheels & hubs cost me near a grand! I'm guessing that their money gets eaten up by upgrading bikes... just a thought.

Your course is absolutely spectacular... so much land/ so much potential/ so much fun... oh, and so much work I'm sure. lol

Yeah, I have a lot wrapped up in my bikes too. They’re my other “sickness”!

Current trail rig is a ‘19 Santa Cruz 5010CC with Fox 36, SRAM Eagle, and Carbon Reserve wheels.

[high plains drifter]

That's an absolutely bad-ass bike and super lightweight. I'd like to get back into it tbh but from about May till Oct it's pretty unbearable for riding.

[mewalsh100]

Originally Posted by high plains drifter

That's an absolutely bad-ass bike and super lightweight. I'd like to get back into it tbh but from about May till Oct it's pretty unbearable for riding.

Yeah, our climate is a bit more temperate here - Fall being the best for riding. It’s actually the 3rd 5010 I’ve owned, and I owned the Blur TRC (26” wheels) before those, which pretty much spawned the 5010. It’s just such a great, playful, rowdy trail bike, especially if you like getting airborne!

[mv1985]

Originally Posted by mewalsh100

This is my set up right now. Everything in red is existing and knocked in. This is the stuff I'm currently focused on getting rocks, boulders, pallets and features installed in and flowing well. The area in blue is my short course for go-fast rig testing and tuning. The areas in yellow are what I've walked and flagged for future trail. It's coming along nicely, but as I mentioned, it's slow going doing it all by myself.



For some reason, I can't seem to get any of the guys I mountain bike with to invest in a Crawler. I find this strange because they beg me to take my rigs out every time we meet up over here for our rides. If I could get even one or two of them to commit to buying a crawler, I'm sure they'd be over here helping out because they'd have open access to the course any time they wanted.

Wish I had property like that in my backyard!
That's going to be a phenomenal trail/crawler course when it's finished! Lucky you mewalsh!

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[mewalsh100]

I spent yesterday afternoon (it was unseasonably nice out) ripping and stripping more pallets for the Backyard Crawler Course. The one thing I want to do is really integrate any wooden features into the landscape. I want this course to look really natural and landscaped. It seems a lot of times wood features get added and they just kinda give me the impression of being “janky” and thrown together with bubblegum and shoe-string. Call me a freak, but I’m even going so far as considering staining the features to match my back deck and lower deck steps in to the back property. I know, I know, OCD much!?

Anyway, I’ve got 7 pallet “bridges” made and a ton of pallet decking and 2x4 yet to work with. I’m gonna keep after it as much as weather permits this Winter. My goal is to have the “red line” completely sorted by late Spring. As always, if any of you guys find yourselves around the area, you’re welcome to come by!

[mv1985]

As always, I will be following your pallet wood build, I'm sure it will turn out great I have several pallets that I want to convert into something, possibly scale wooden homes or a bridge for the crawler course. Hobbyjumper gave me an excellent idea for a covered bridge in an earlier post on this thread. Might try that.

[mv1985]

Happy New Year everyone! Got back from my Georgia/Tennessee vacation and made a few minor improvements on the crawler course. Gonna try my best to finish it before the end of January.

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[mv1985]

Before.....

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