Monster Jam Arena-Style Stage/Platform Thingy For 1:64 Models

TL:DR: A simplification of the stage/platform thingy as seen in UK Monster Jam arena appearances. Designed for 1:64 toy trucks, and may be suitable for similar-sized alternatives from other brands.

First of all, this isn't a true scale reproduction of the real thing. It's simplified to make it child-friendly.
My daughter asked me to create some accessories for my grandson to use with his Monster Jam toys and I quickly threw together a few simple designs for him to play with (I'll probably post them at some point).

After I saw the joy he got from playing with them, I wanted to make something even more interesting for him. When his Mum and Dad took him to Birmingham to see the real thing, she sent a picture. On seeing the centrepiece stage/platform thingy they use, I decided I wanted to make one just like it for him.

I wanted it big enough to be fun for a child, but it had to a) take rough handling and occasional treading on, b) provide some freedom and versatility in play options, and c) fit on my X1-C's print plate. Splitting off the ramps and going modular solved all these requirements, and I could ensure strength by printing the pieces as infilled solids (for mitigation of clumsy feet) rather than something with large hollow voids underneath.

For versatility, the ramps are all designed with chunky slotted connectors that can be fitted into any of the 6 available ramp positions. To make this work I had to design each ramp with vertical sides. But this meant gaps between each ramp, and they needed filling-in to match the real thing.

In the end I settled for some triangular filler pieces for the gaps. They don't fix to the platform (although I'd like to go back and change that, I really would!) but they stay in place well enough when in use.

After designing and printing these, I suddenly realised that the two larger filler pieces are interchangeable! So a slight waste of design time for me there. But you live and learn!

All pieces were printed at 0.2 layer thickness, using bog-standard Bambu Studio print settings. The only thing I did was print some in black, some in blue, and some in both colours.

The plan was to use PLA, but I ran out of black halfway through and had to use PETG instead. This meant that the blue parts on two of the ramps also had to use PETG, and you'll notice a a slightly different shade of blue on them. Annoying, but that's 3D printing for ya!

I'm attaching the FreeCad drawings for those who like to tinker. Since I'm still quite a novice with FreeCad, there may (make that “will”) be better ways some things could have been done. But since the design does what it needs to do, that's good enough for me.

So that's it for now. Hope you have a MONSTER of a time with these, and hope your printer doesn't JAM!

Happy printing!