Something I've been experimenting with
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I was wondering if there was a way to build Knex track with a narrower gauge than the standard SS, and this is what I came up with.
Granted, it has some serious drawbacks - not least of which is that there's very little room for any upstop wheels, so a ride utilizing this track might have to do without or rely on flanged guide wheels instead. Nonetheless, I thought it looked quite nice. I've been thinking of trying to build something with it, but I'd have to dismantle my S&S layout to do so.
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That's looks pretty cool. I don't know much about SS but would it work to have the track transition from normal structure to this? Kind of like how Gerstlauer rides start out with the stronger tri spine track and then go to the more basic no spine track when there isn't as much stress on it.
You couldn't transition from normal SS track to this - this track is slightly narrower, and the connectors do not leave sufficient clearance for the SS wheel assemblies.
But you can vary the strength of it quite a bit, since you can have anything from zero to four flexi-rods threaded through. I haven't actually tried to build a layout with this track (indeed, I haven't built a train to run on it), so I don't know how practical that is or if it would be beneficial.
The orange connectors were used before. They look like they'd be useful, but I don't have any of them, let alone in those kind of quantities, so that design wouldn't work for me.
I don't think I'll use this track as is though - it looks cool but the lack of upstops would be seriously limiting. It's just something I was playing with. I might still explore alternative designs, but I'd quite like to finish my existing model first.
That looks really nice! For upstop wheels you'd probably have to break off half of that part of the piece below where the tubing is connected, but that can be hard to do without breaking off the whole thing and you pretty much would have a ton of mis-shapen elbow connectors. You could make a side friction roller coaster with this though since those don't have upstop wheels, but you'd probably have to use legos (bleh) or something since there are no K'nex wheels I know of that are that small.
I've been playing with this some more today. I've rearranged the track slightly, flipping the connectors upside down and putting the tubing on the other side. In my opinion, this is inferior both aesthetically and practically, but it has one advantage - I already have a car that can run on it. So I built a short layout, and uploaded a video here.
I found the track to be nice to build with- it's light and doesn't require as much support, and I do like the look of it. However, this version cannot work with any form of upstop. I did come up with a version that could, but it requires the right-angle connectors that I don't have too many of, and it's very weak and difficult to make smooth.
That would work, but even a small model built with these would use up all my half moon connectors (this prototype uses every one that isn't currently on my other model), so I'm not doing that. I don't like modifying Knex parts permanently, as I don't have masses of them.
No upstop wheels is limiting, but there's plenty I could still do with it. I think it would work nicely on a wooden coaster layout, or a Schwarzkopf looper.
I'm not planning on using Knex wheels for this. The wheels I'm using are closely based on the ones found on CD models. They're made from aluminium and the axles taper to a point, so the contact area between the wheel and housing is tiny. This results in very low friction, which is perfect for a coaster model.
I actually like the way that looks! It seems like it loses a lot of speed on turns though. Would love to see close-up pictures of the car you're using if you make a full coaster with this!
Hmm I think I've seen this somewhere,
1 Hour Later,
Here it is the SECRET PICTURE well not really.
http://www.dutchdeta.../strshp_002.jpg
focus on the upper part,
this was made by Maxlaam from this thread,
http://www.sscoaster...erer-starshape/
that's all from me.
It does, but it's an older prototype. The wheel housings were made from aluminium rather than plastic (because I falsely assumed it would have lower friction - the reverse is actually true), and I didn't do a very good job of it. However, it was used for this test because it fit the track and the newer one doesn't.
I've uploaded some pictures here. I was thinking of making a thread in the CD section for this, but I doubt anybody would be interested at this stage - all I have are these test cars, and CD doesn't seem to be very popular here.
Cool - I knew I'd seen at least one model with a custom track style before but I hadn't seen that one - do you have any more pictures of it?
Sorry but I don't have any more pics...
unless...
nvm.
It seems to work quite well to me based on the video. Seem to have a decent bit of inertia with the weight of them.
Today I decided to try another test. It's the same track system, but with a vertical loop. This car requires quite a large drop to get through the loop, but I think that's mostly because it's losing speed too quickly.
Well, I've taken my other coaster down now so I'm pretty sure I'm going to construct something with this, but I'm not exactly sure what. The lack of room for upstops is severely limiting in terms of what I can build with this track style, and I have another Knex related idea which may or may not prove easier to realize.