198 replies to this topic

[ForgotToGrowUp]

Yeah sorry about that. I should have straightened it before taking the picture :-)

[Maxlaam]

Hehe, SSC has grown into nit picky bastards when it comes to great models

[ForgotToGrowUp]

Small update. Working on incorporating the station into the coaster and getting all the mechanicals working. Needed a rear chain dog. Came up with something new.



So happy with it I made a tutorial.

http://www.sscoaster...ro-parts-15452/

Thanks a lot for featuring this coaster even though it has been under construction for over a year. It will be finished!!!

[rollercoasterfanatic919]

Looks very nice! Always cool to see a new take on something.

[ForgotToGrowUp]

Wow it's been a long time!

As I've said many times, I only get a little bit of time every once in a great while to work on this coaster. I think about it all the time because it takes up a good chunk of my living room. I've been working out a lot of little details related to the station, brake run, lift, switch track etc. It's really tough because the infield of this coaster is really crowded and the scale of Knex track is just so big for this size recreation.

Anyway... Last major update I finished building the station. Here it is in place in the coaster. You can also see the service track next to the station that sits over the motors for the lift. You can also see there has been a lot of modification to the turn around the station. I've put full cross supports inside the structure wherever I could and came up with a really strong way to add some lateral ties that really stiffen the entire structure and make it look a lot like the real coaster. I also opened up the lower half of the inside of the turn structure to allow more banking in the lower turn which will look better and should help save speed.

Ignore the track work in these photos, most of it is not even connected to the structure any more and will all be redone sometime soon.











Some details of the lateral radius supports.



Note that this is all tied into the turn structure. The center two radii extend almost to the center of the turn and go all the way to the platform top, all the diagonals in them provide a very strong anchor point to the rest of the radii



I built a switch track that will let me move trains onto the service track and back. This will make maintaing the trains much easier. Everything is just long enough for me to move 6 car trains to and from the service track (although only plan to run 5 car trains when done) I gave up trying to make this automated, it just wasn't worth it since handling the trains is going to be hands on anyway.





Kind of hard to see but there is red rod that slides through the middle hole in the cross ties that locks the switch in to either position. The orange ladder and one-way connector make a little handle to slide it in and out.



The pivot mechanism is very low tech. I built a little shuttle section of track and put spacers on the bottom 3 rods to act as rollers. Then I built a flat platform for it to slide on.



Pivot end of the shuttle car is held in with one small grey rod.



I made so many modifications to this part of the coaster. You can see how tight it all is. The bridge where the final run crosses underneath the entire coaster had to be thin, that limited how far I could extend the brake run and where the switch track could be. The station is about a granite rod lower than the brake run. Here is the bridge between the brake and switch tracks. (ignore the pile of parts in front of it, that's just all debris from the many modifications)



Looking down the brake run



General over-view. I'm trying to define all the station and infield sections with the yellow rails. Note the lift will be much higher, I only built enough of it to test all the mechanics and the run out is just a place to collect trains after tests.




I feel like most of the really hard part of this is behind me now. I can now start working on the track again. My plan is to reshape everything that is there and then beef up the turn on the other end of the coaster to have similar radii supports. That will give me the last two thirds of the circuit. At that point I plan to connect the abbreviated lift hill to the 3rd turn to get a temporary complete circuit. Then I'll focus on getting the electronics and automation working. Once the shortened circuit is working I'll add the first 3rd of the circuit, including the big turnaround that will go on an extension to the platform I have now (and it will then have to be partially in my dining room as well as a good chunk of the living room!)

I actually think I might finish this winter!

[TheCodeMaster]

Amazing. Just Amazing.

[Jogumpie]

Your way of building is intriguing.

[CW5X]

Wow. It's been a while but well worth the update. The effort gone into this deserves many tags that unfortunately don't exist.

[ForgotToGrowUp]

Amazing. Just Amazing.

Thanks!

Your way of building is intriguing.

Not sure how to interpret .... hope you are intrigued in a good way. Most of it is out of necesity because of the nature of this recreation, trying to fit so much into so little space. With so much in the infield and at the bottom, building from the ground up is the only way to go and that lends itself to building the circuit backwards. And some of it is just plain over-engineering from spending more time looking and thinking about the model than actually building.

If you mean the actual way pieces are used/combined, don't know what to say. I've learned everything from studying the builds of more experienced members like yourself.

One thing I think this has in common with most of your builds is that it is made up of major components that are assembled as modules. Part of this is due to only having time to work on small pieces at a time and mostly because it is just good engineering practice. The bigest module is the middle structure that includes the lift hill and brake run and eventually will have the first big hill following the first turn (not currently in the model but is mostly built and stored under the platform). This structure is not connected to the two turns on either end of the model in any way. Each turn is stand alone, the straight runs between them wil be easily separated. The station is actually 2 pieces, the mechanical part and the deck/roof, which are only connected in 3 places. There is no link between the station and the turn it is buried under or the rest of the coaster other than the track connection to the pre-lift turn, which itself iis a stand alone module that is also connected to the bottom of the lift hill with one small track connection. The final run under the lift is independant structure. All of these peices are attached with only a few simple connections. Even the service track and swtich track are self contained and easily removed for modification. I know I will need to get in to some of the mechanical stuff buried in here at some point. I've already had to replace all the rubber bands in the chain tensioners because they dried out and cracked/spilt. Whenever this is complete it should be fairly straight forward to move. I still have not found a place for it but hope to find somewhere interested in displaying it.

Wow. It's been a while but well worth the update. The effort gone into this deserves many tags that unfortunately don't exist.

hmmmm, again, hope this was meant in a positive way....

[CW5X]

hmmmm, again, hope this was meant in a positive way....

It definitely was.

[ZachCreate]

Yay! Looking Good! (In a Good Mood!) :D:D:D:D:D:D

[Helmut]

The coaster looks really nice and compact. I like all the details, especially on the mechanics.

[rollercoasterfanatic919]

Incredible. I love the transfer track, and how the tubing actually bends with it. You're capturing the essence of this type of coaster very well.

[ForgotToGrowUp]

Since my last update I've got quite a bit done.

I re-did the track work of the turn over the station. I am happy with the way it came out. I also added blocking to the radial supports and did a lot of little details to further stiffen the entire structure.





Entry of the turn over the bottom of the lift hill



Once I got that done I was ready to move to the other end and work on the final turn before the brake run. First I re-did much of the structure and built radial ties similar to the other turn. The details are different but the concept is the same. This really ties the whole turn together and results in a very stable and stiff structure. This was really important because so much of the structure of these turns is compromised everything that has to be built under them. I used normal sized ball joints but they will be replaced with large ones once I get a purchase in the mail. These smaller ones are not as strong,



I built up enough of the pull out of first drop and the pull in of the first hill so I won't have to build a lot of that structure later and to give me a rough idea where the track for that will be once I get to that part.



Exit of the turn into the brake run



This is where the first drop passes under this turn.



And this is where the valley of the drop after the first turn passes under it.




Entry of the turn after air hilll exiting the tunnel under the lift hill



Exit into the brake run



Better look at the whole turn



This is the split of the hill structure where the return from the first turn joins the lift hill structure. Look close and you can see how the diagonals of each branch are all tied into the main structure and the horizontal rods alternate from one branch to the other.





Overviews of entire project. The two things sticking up from the middle are my current estimates of the peaks of the lift hill and first hill. Hopefully they wont have to get much higher or the steepness of the hills will be way out of scale for the coaster. The train completes the circuit I have so far with very little initial speed and I have not cleaned or lubed it in years. Now I am going to build enough of the lift hill to create a temporary complete circuit and then I am going to start putting the electronics in place and start working on the control software before building the first 1/3 of the full circuit.

Edited by pkiknex25, 15 October 2013 - 02:44 PM.
Fixed image tag

[griffon14]

This is one of my favorite builds ever. Seeing this is the leading reason I've not sold my k'nex. I can't wait for the day when I'm settled down and can build something like this in my house.

[ForgotToGrowUp]

Thanks! Appreciate the comment.

[ForgotToGrowUp]

Added some height tonight

[Muzz135]

Ha! The third picture is epic!

[Kool Coaster Kid]

I love how much detail is in this model. I'm looking forward to the final video

[ForgotToGrowUp]

thanks ....

some of those many green rods had make way for...