Building a man-made course

[jetboat]

So not all of us live where rock formations are natural. Solution: build them yourself. I started doing some research, looking at landscaping books, looking at the displays at BassPro and I decided to start building some formations out of concrete. (concrete over foam to come in the weeks ahead).

I decided to start with a simple waterfall course to add to my existing "park".

Step 1: Pick the steapest unused area in the "park" area

Step 2: Pick up the Spade and start digging (sorry no picks of the actual digging I was doing it during an all day downpour but I had to get it done )

Step 3: Make sure its irregular, the pictures dont show it but it is very off camber and, I did what I could to make sure that each section was just too small for a truck to fully fit (hy make it easy)

Step 4: Start throwing down concrete, this obsticle is about 4" wide at the bottom and about 3.5' tall ad used 4 80# bags of quickcrete.

Step 5: Get out the trowel and start filling things in. I started on the landings with a thinner concrete and used a thicker mix for the "falls". Do your best to not make it perfect. rough is good, smooth is good. I rounded some ledges and made others squared off.

Step 6: (not done yet) I will in a month of so go back with concrete dye and make it look a little more natural.

When using stone it was costing me about $100 for a run, this run cost about $25 and a little less work.

[sloppy]

that looks good.
why are you gonna wait a month to dye? you should be able to spray it on right now or mix it in with quick crete.
it will end up looking pretty natural with out the dye by the way the weater and dirt will have its way with it.

[braceysdad]

Very cool. I'm doing something similar with large blocks of foam, chicken wire, and having it sprayed with stucco...

[jetboat]

I have to wait a month because my large course is on land I own about 120 miles from my house :(

[sloppy]

Originally Posted by jetboat

I have to wait a month because my large course is on land I own about 120 miles from my house :(

wow that sucks....
BD will it be portable i would like to do somthin with foam that i could move around it would be nice for car shows and stuff like that. i have always thought the foam would move around to much under the trucks.
also big chunks of foam are expensive.

[braceysdad]

Originally Posted by sloppy

wow that sucks....
BD will it be portable i would like to do somthin with foam that i could move around it would be nice for car shows and stuff like that. i have always thought the foam would move around to much under the trucks.
also big chunks of foam are expensive.

Not portable.

I have a buddy that welds aluminum boats for a living. They use huge blocks of foam in the seats for floatation. He keeps all the "scraps" for me. I have aquired enough to make an 10' x 10' area about 4' high. I am gonna stack the blocks cut the shapes and use rod to hold all of it together. Cover it all with chicken wire and spray stucco over it...

I made a similar one 4 x 4 x 2 for 1:24 scale ssmt's that was cool. I gave it away when I sold all my small crap.

Sorry to jack your thread jetboat...

[sloppy]

cool BD I want to figure somthin out before winter but its got to be portable.

[braceysdad]

Originally Posted by sloppy

cool BD I want to figure somthin out before winter but its got to be portable.

The small one I made was portable. The bigger you make it the harder it is unless, you make it in sections...

I got most of my info looking under faux rock gardens and faux fish ponds. I actually have a couple of books that have some great ideas...

[jetboat]

I made a portable one when I lived in an apt. It is made using a wood frame then covered in chicken wire followed by fiberglass and bedliner...it is 3'x10' and I can move it myself (there is a build thread on here someplace and its been copied by a couple nationals drivers for suspension test tracks). Im looking at building one for a hobbyshop and it will be that method except 4 4x4 sctions so it can be moved and rearranged.

Ill be doing the concrete over foam method at my new house once I get some boxes unpacked. I used my comp course as practice. for the course at the house I will use a thing layer of sandmix on the top to give it a better look and also it will add a little traction. It realy sucks having my main course so far from my house but, eventually I will live there so its all prep work.

[jaxcoffee]

The guys over at RCP built an awesome indoor display for the RCX show. I have been trying to contact them, but it was right before the Nat's in Moab so I figured they were focused on that. I'm still hopping to get some information about construction methods, or maybe even some plans as to how they put there's together.

If I hear from them, or if they read this post, I will post any information they send, or maybe they could post it here.

I think it would be a great idea for those that get bad weather in the winter, or for those that just need to test their rig's. I would love to see a setup you could change once in awhile, or even hold comp's on. Any thoughts out there from the ruling body as to what would be required for this to happen?

[crawls2thewalls]

i,ve got a good sized hill in my yard i'm gonna try to cover with basketball sized rocks

[braceysdad]

I think when jetboat gets it all finished he should do a write up for the front page...