198 replies to this topic

[ForgotToGrowUp]

Well it's been almost a year since I've built a coaster. Been thinking about this a long time and I am really looking forward to this build. It's another woodie using a lot of what I learned building NorEaster and Whirlwind.

I am going to recreate the Lincoln Park Comet. It is no longer standing but it is the coaster I grew up riding. It was in North Dartmouth Massachusetts, about 40 minutes from where I grew up.

It was built in 1946 and was operated up until 1987. It was designed by Vernon Keenan who designed the Coney Island Cyclone and the Thunderbolt at 6F New England.

I am hoping to do as good a recreation as space and parts allow. Here is a vintage photo of the real coaster.



This was taken from a fan site , not the best site but there is a lot of information and some photos that will be helpful to me.

All I have done so far as lay down the foundation, literally. I built this platform to build it on. This is easier on my back and knees and also eliminates the big sag in the floor of this old house. It also puts it out of reach of our new dog who sheds tons and likes to chew on plastic.



I covered it with green felt and then put the layout down so I know it will all fit. Now I am in the process of planning the heights of all the elements. I think i am going to have to exagerate the relative height of the elements. It has 7 drops, 5 turns and a few bunny hops so it is going to be a challenge to preserve speed.

Edited by ForgotToGrowUp, 01 April 2017 - 05:48 PM.

[Dragon]

amazing!! i love the coaster and i´m sure that i´ll love the re-cre, good luck!

[ickus305]

Looks like a great start to a good looking coaster. The front work to this fantastic so far. Should be a great build to watch unfold.

[The Stig]

Good to see you building again. Excellent choice for a re-cre. I can see the similarities between the Comet and The Cylcone. This should be fun to watch.

[Jumpge]

Looks like this will be a cool coaster to watch be built since it is a true classic coaster! The base looks super cool and easy to build with, as I hope it will be when you actually work with it.

[Bleach11]

Looks good so far!keep up the good work.

[Maxlaam]

Absolutely lovely how more and more people are building coasters that are considered art and not just a toy

[ForgotToGrowUp]

Been trying to plan the first drop for days now. Torn because based on the length of the layout I think I need the lift to be at least 8 granites tall but I only have about 26 granite run from the base of the lift to the top of the first rise before the first turn. Only way to fit that is to have an unrealistically steep lift and/or first drop. Want this to look reasonably close to the real coaster but don't want to run out of speed half way through the circuit... Hopefully decide on a compromise and have something to show soon. Unfortunately based on the size of the trains and track the proper scale for an accurate recreation would put this thing closer to 24 feet long instead of 12 and would take a few hundred thousand pieces! The very last turn has to cross over the valley of the first 2 drops so I need to be able to build that at least a granit and a half high... wish me luck.

[timtimlaz]

Good luck jeff. Hope you can pull this off!

[Turtle Man 24]

I hope you can finish this with little problems, if any. Good luck!

[ForgotToGrowUp]

Gonna be tough that's for sure, best compromise I can come up with for a plan looks like this and I am skeptical I will be able to complete the circuit, especially near the end. That fifth turn looks very iffy. But 7 is as tall a lift hill I can get and still have it look remotely woody.

Element	     Height	Comments
1	Station	          2 granite	Inside circuit
2	Pre-lift turn	1 granite	sharp, outside circuit >180
3	Lift hill	7 granites	
4	First Drop	ground level	Steepest Under 2 turns
5	First Turn	6 granites	LH pre turn ejector
6	Second drop	ground level	Under 2 turns
7	First hill	5 granites	kink to right
8	Third drop	1 short grey	parrellel to lift hill
9	Second turn	4  granites	LH over 4th turn and pre-lift
10	Fourth drop	2 granite	Not all the way down
11	Second hill	2.5 granites	 double dip
12	Fifth drop 	1 grey	To ground
13	Third turn	3 granites	LH over fifth turn and first 2 valleys
14	Sixth drop	1 short grey          	To ground
15	Third hill	2.5 granites	
16	Seventh drop	ground level	To ground
17	Fourth turn	2 granites	LH under second, over pre-lift, >180 
18	Bunny hop 1	2.5 granites	little rise between turn and eighth drop
19	Eighth drop	ground level	under break run
20	Bunny hop 2	2 granites	little rise before last turn
21	Fifth turn	1.5 granites	RH under 3rd turn and over first 2 valleys > 180
22	Ninth drop	1 short grey	small dip exiting final turn
23	Kink        	1 granite	LH jog before break run
24	Break run	2 granite	straight into station (lift)

Only options are

make lift or first drop really steep .... dont like it think it will ruin the look of it.

Have first 2 drops go over the final turn instead of under... not bad but would take away from the 2 biggest thrills of the ride

Add a booster... I HATE boosters

Add a chain to one of the final hills to help the train a little ... skeptical about how this would work.

Give up on recreation and elimnate a bunch of elements... NOT an option

hmmmmm

[rollercoasterfanatic919]

I bet you can get it to work. If you lube and weight the train adequately, support the track like crazy, and smooth it perfectly, you can probably get it to clear the entire layout. Just be smart with your speed, and make every element as high as possible (excluding the double dip and air hills.) You probably already knew all of this, but just in case. I can't wait to see how this turns out, I'm very excited for it.

[Jester1960]

Funny how us OLD GUYS build platforms so we don't have to work on the floor. I have faith in you , Jeff. I'm sure you will work out some of the details. keep up the good detailed work like "Whirlwind". I'll keep watching

[alpal]

You can do it! People said I couldn't finish Wolverine Wildcat, so why would this be any different! Just go for it and make it work.

[ForgotToGrowUp]

Thanks for the encouragement guys! I used Wolverine Wildcat and Lynx as inspiration to convince myself this was doable in the first place. I've got a couple of good fully weighted trains and will run them with 5 cars each. I think I'll break out the brand new purple tubing I have for the first half of the ride.

[ForgotToGrowUp]

Just a verbal update so you guys know I am still around (OMG, this was on page 4!). I have not made much progress because I took a ski vacation and there has been a lot of turmoil at home. I've been working on the lift hill and first drop and realize this is just not going to work in the space I have. I really think the lift has to be at least 7 granites to make all those hills and turns and there just isn't enough space to fit it on a 12 foot platform. The real lift is 22.5 deg and I built one about 31 degrees, any steeper and it just does not look like a woodie. After that I had to make the drop almost 80 degrees to get down to the bottom where the 3rd & 5th turns will be and the real one is only about 65. Then the rise to the first turn has to be just as steep and there is no room for that little straight ejector section before the turn.

I am going to try to see if I can make it work by not bringing the fist drop all the way down and going over the last turn (under the 3rd) instead of under it. If that doesn't work I will have to either find a place where I can build it bigger or pick another layout. I didn't take any pics becuase what I have so far is only for rough idea, the trackwork is just temporary.

[Blackkitty]

What I can make from your post is that this is not going to work. It sucks that you built this entire platform a little too small.

There's no way you could bake the table a little bit bigger?
You could buy a buy a bunch of pieces to plywood to extend the sides. I have no idea.

For you it might be different, but you seem to really want to build this perfectly. I personally would go a little custom and just base it off The Comet.

[ForgotToGrowUp]

Yes I really did want to do an accurate recreation or at least very close because this coaster has so many fond memories for me. I could easily make the platform longer, I have the material. It's more an issue of where am I going to put it. It is already stretching across the entire width of my living room. I'm going skiing again this weekend so nothing happenning too soon.

Thanks for the feedback.

[ForgotToGrowUp]

Nope this is not cancelled! (Although I did think about it for a while.)

I was discouraged because things were looking way to steep to get the height I felt I needed to complete the circuit. If I kept at it it would have come out looking very wrong. Then I was looking at the pictures of the coaster and it dawned on me that 1/4 of the length is just for the first turn around. I decided to build the rest of the coaster first. Fitting the oval part of the layout on the platform and then adding an extension to the platform at the end to put the first turn on. That way I can get a nice long lift hill and realistic first drop and I don't need to take over more of my living room for so long.

Then I decided to build this coaster backwards, starting with the end. It makes a lot of sense because so much of the layout crosses over itself. It also allows me to test the ending for speed so I know exactly how tall the preceding elements needs to be. I've built the structures for the turns and the low run that cuts under the station and lift hill near the end of the layout.

Looking back from final turn.



4th turn









5th turn








Even though there are big cutouts where the pre-lift turnaround and first 2 drops will pass under these turns they are very strong. The middle of the turn structure has a lot of cross bracing, which produced a really solid structure. these will get built up a little when I put the 2nd and 3rd turns on top of them.
Looking down from 4th to 5th turn, this run of bunny hops will be buried under the lift and station etc.



over view so far




I saved what I built of the first turn for later.

[rollercoasterfanatic919]

Great idea building it backwards, an idea I once saw implemented but haven't seen for awhile. The only criticism that I have is that the bunny hops seem to waver side to side as seen in the first picture. You would just need to flex the track into position by hand in order to fix it. I'm only bringing it up because you need all the speed you can get.