Build a Remote Control City For Indoor RC Toy Fun That Takes Up No Living Space When It"s Not Used
Your indoor remote control needs occupy a large area don't they? Even that 1:52 scale RC mini-buggy needs road space to operate on.
Your available floor space places limits on the variety of activities the creative side of your mind can invent, and on the different operating scenarios for your model's functional capabilities.
One way of increasing your radio control fun inside is building a city for your toys.
Start with a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood, and design a metropolitan layout.
Draw out a blueprint on paper of your vision of the city when finished.
As you create your design visualize the buildings you'll populate your city with.
(Scale your buildings to the size vehicles you'll operate in the city.
Consider how real buildings in your town soar above your personal car or truck, and make sure the measurements for your structures mimic those ratios.
) Don't forget to vary the style of your buildings.
In any given city you'll find office buildings, motels, parking garages, apartment complexes, shopping malls, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, sports stadiums, hospitals, houses, and many other kinds of structures for different purposes, and sizes.
Design your city so it looks real.
After you draw your buildings into position on your blueprint think about other features you find in a normal city.
Draw in your parks, strip malls, car washes, parking lots, ball fields, zoos, and any other items you wish to include.
How about some helicopter pads, and an airport? You'll need roads running to every destination (wide enough to accommodate two lane traffic for the size of your chosen RCs (maybe even a few roundabouts), driveways into houses and parking areas, and pullout spaces for delivery, loading, and unloading passengers.
Once you have a layout designed on the initial sheet of plywood decide if you want to build city layers in an upward direction.
If so add those layers to your blueprint.
For instance: Design two layouts that measure 3 X 3 for positioning one on each end of the base layer.
Separate these layers from the base with columns tall enough to clear your first layer buildings.
Get creative here and design your second layer with openings that provide visibility to the middle areas of the base layer.
Continue designing layers to grow your city upward as far as you want, but for this project make sure you design the total height of your completed city for no more than two feet.
(I'll explain why in a moment.
) Now that your blueprint is done build your project.
Balsa wood is ideal for your structures because of its light weight (good stiff cardboard works too).
Find most of your materials easily at hobby shops, such as the balsa wood, grass for your lawns and parks, and asphalt for your road surfaces.
Your new radio control playground is ready for use, and you'll spend hours driving around the streets as you enjoy your hobby.
Problem is you're still using a big piece of your floor space, and you can't use that 4 X 8 foot area where your city sits for any other purpose.
Remember I said this project won't take up any of your living space when your RCs aren't operating? Free that used area up by suspending your city from the ceiling.
Make sure you hang it with cables placed strategically so they support the weight of your city without allowing it to sag, and attach it to a pulley for easy lowering and lifting.
If you raise the city to the ceiling, and you built it to only two feet as I recommended, you'll normally have 6-foot of open space underneath.
If you suspend it over a bed or other furniture-occupied spot your city can grow upward beyond that two-foot suggestion if you desire.
This project gives you the opportunity to enjoy your RC hobby indoors any time you want, with the potential of hundreds of operating scenarios limited only by your imagination, while still freeing up your living area when you're not RCing.
Whenever the mood for remote control fun strikes, just lower your city, and enjoy operating those models as long as you want.
Your available floor space places limits on the variety of activities the creative side of your mind can invent, and on the different operating scenarios for your model's functional capabilities.
One way of increasing your radio control fun inside is building a city for your toys.
Start with a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood, and design a metropolitan layout.
Draw out a blueprint on paper of your vision of the city when finished.
As you create your design visualize the buildings you'll populate your city with.
(Scale your buildings to the size vehicles you'll operate in the city.
Consider how real buildings in your town soar above your personal car or truck, and make sure the measurements for your structures mimic those ratios.
) Don't forget to vary the style of your buildings.
In any given city you'll find office buildings, motels, parking garages, apartment complexes, shopping malls, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, sports stadiums, hospitals, houses, and many other kinds of structures for different purposes, and sizes.
Design your city so it looks real.
After you draw your buildings into position on your blueprint think about other features you find in a normal city.
Draw in your parks, strip malls, car washes, parking lots, ball fields, zoos, and any other items you wish to include.
How about some helicopter pads, and an airport? You'll need roads running to every destination (wide enough to accommodate two lane traffic for the size of your chosen RCs (maybe even a few roundabouts), driveways into houses and parking areas, and pullout spaces for delivery, loading, and unloading passengers.
Once you have a layout designed on the initial sheet of plywood decide if you want to build city layers in an upward direction.
If so add those layers to your blueprint.
For instance: Design two layouts that measure 3 X 3 for positioning one on each end of the base layer.
Separate these layers from the base with columns tall enough to clear your first layer buildings.
Get creative here and design your second layer with openings that provide visibility to the middle areas of the base layer.
Continue designing layers to grow your city upward as far as you want, but for this project make sure you design the total height of your completed city for no more than two feet.
(I'll explain why in a moment.
) Now that your blueprint is done build your project.
Balsa wood is ideal for your structures because of its light weight (good stiff cardboard works too).
Find most of your materials easily at hobby shops, such as the balsa wood, grass for your lawns and parks, and asphalt for your road surfaces.
Your new radio control playground is ready for use, and you'll spend hours driving around the streets as you enjoy your hobby.
Problem is you're still using a big piece of your floor space, and you can't use that 4 X 8 foot area where your city sits for any other purpose.
Remember I said this project won't take up any of your living space when your RCs aren't operating? Free that used area up by suspending your city from the ceiling.
Make sure you hang it with cables placed strategically so they support the weight of your city without allowing it to sag, and attach it to a pulley for easy lowering and lifting.
If you raise the city to the ceiling, and you built it to only two feet as I recommended, you'll normally have 6-foot of open space underneath.
If you suspend it over a bed or other furniture-occupied spot your city can grow upward beyond that two-foot suggestion if you desire.
This project gives you the opportunity to enjoy your RC hobby indoors any time you want, with the potential of hundreds of operating scenarios limited only by your imagination, while still freeing up your living area when you're not RCing.
Whenever the mood for remote control fun strikes, just lower your city, and enjoy operating those models as long as you want.
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