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+--- Thread: Another DIY Stadium Question (Burst) (/Thread-Another-DIY-Stadium-Question-Burst)
Another DIY Stadium Question (Burst) - BBDad - Jul. 18, 2024
Hello,
My son is getting more and more into Beyblade and since he discovered it on streaming services, we're still in the Burst era - which is fine by me! And like anyone who's seen the show or manga, he's wowed when he sees the life-size stadiums. I get that but no way I can give him 6 or 8 feet of the living room. Plus, I can't imagine a lot of action going on at the center.
Right now, we have the Burst Pro Series Evo Elite Champions Beystadium. It's fantastic, but a little small. He's still young and not the most disciplined with his launches. So I looked around and saw some really elaborate DIY options, some satelite dish options, and some sled disc options. And of course, the Toymeca Decagon Stadium.
The problem with all of the DIY options is the lack of a guard. My wife is - understandably - concerned about the beys flying out of the stadium even just from the recoil in the larger DB series. That means even if I just purchased the Toymeca, I still need to somehow give it a "top". Fine. But if I'm stuck modifying it anyway, I was thinking of just going full DIY. That comes back to the satelite dish and disc sleds, (at least for me. No way I'm handy enough with wood for some of those insane creations on YouTube). But my concern in each case is the metal. The "cheap" plastic the official stadiums are that way for a reason: they won't kill the drivers. I'm not sure the dish/sled will really damage them, but I had a lightbulb moment: why not use the lid from one of those older Little Tikes Turtle Sandboxes? Perfect!
I looked all over Facebook Marketplace, find one close by and immediately jump at the chance. Unfortunately, only then did I realize all the images of these older turtles with that smooth top were for DOLLHOUSE sandboxes! O_o
So now I'm back at square one. But I do have some thoughts. The base of the Turtle I picked up has some "give". Not much, but a little flex there. So that got me thinking: What if I prop it up on some saw horses, got something heavy and round - like a bowling ball - and got under it with a heat gun? It seems like that's definitely an option but the two support posts on either side don't offer the same give as everywhere else on the base. What I mean by that is those areas likely won't deform as evenly and the resulting stadium floor will look like the outside of a figure 8.
That leads to option B. One of my grills is your standard Weber Kettle with the 22inch grate. I couldn't stand how hard it was to clean so a few years back, I picked up a 24inch hot water heater pan so I could soak the grate after long cooks. Fantastic idea and the price was right, (like $20). Those things are super accessible, priced well, and might lend themselves to the heat gun/bowling ball idea. The flip side - besides still needing to address the upper guard, is getting a base. But the larger concern is the distribution. I'm not sure how evenly the heater pan would deform when clamped. I have a million clamps around, but if I did like a hexagon pattern or something and secured it evenly, would the resulting plastic melt come out with waves?
Long post and I apologize since this is seemingly asked again and again, but does anyone have any insight or guidance based on the direction I'm headed in now?