16 replies to this topic

[Coupe]

Hi all. As you can see, I'm a newbie around here, so thought I'd share my first proper custom VV build. I've only had K'Nex for 6 weeks or so, but have acquired 8 micro sets so far (2 x Typhoon Fury's, 2 x Supernova Blast's, Amazin' 8, Steel Scorpion, Super Cyclone and Raptor's Revenge). I fear it is becoming an obsession already!

Anyway, on to my build - I didn't start out with a real plan for this, initially the first drop was originally influenced by the Schwarzkopf Silver Arrow (e.g. Scorpion at Busch Gardens), but after that it just started to mutate in to something else, and now it feels more like a Gerstlauer Infinity, despite the drops being completely wrong! I don't have a lot of space to build in at the moment since my garage is full of parts for the classic Mini I'm restoring, so I'm limited to building on the kitchen table right now!

Here are some photo's so far:

First drop, and figure 8 with inline twist and what was supposed to be a zero-G








I had intended on just the one lift hill due to the limited space, but figured I could squeeze another in, and then squeezed in a corkscrew and an immelmann








I have done more on it than in those photo's - the circuit is now completed and the station is starting to take shape. I've also made a simple custom train, which seems to run incredibly well. I'll get some more photo's up tomorrow more than likely.

Please don't hold back with the comments/criticism, as long as it's constructive! I know some of the shaping is a little horrible, and my supports need some work (and I still need to add more support yet), but any comments/advice is more than welcome!

[nerd4Sc]

mmm seems very interesting tubes are bending though

[Coupe]

Yeah I intend to do more work on the tubes tomorrow. The tallest ones need more reinforcement. I should've made them out of blues rather than oranges really - I may remake them entirely.

Edited by Coupe, 31 July 2015 - 10:30 AM.

[CW5X]

WW. And you've only had K'nex for 6 weeks. I'm pretty impressed. You have a lot of elements in a very thight space there. I believe that you already know that drop after the 2nd lift hill needs more supporting but apart from that, it looks fairly smooth to me.

[Coupe]

Yeah, the station will sit below that second drop, so I'll tie the supports into the station building itself.

[FrIeDeGgS]

This looks very nice for having knex for 6 weeks! It reminds me of a coaster I made...

Spoiler

[Muzz135]

Fantastic work so far considering you haven't even been building for 2months!

[Coupe]

Didn't manage to update this yesterday, but here's the update on where I'm up to so far. I've done some more work on reinforcing some of the supports, it all feels more stable and solid now, and I also managed to get some work done on the station.

















I still want to do some more work on the supports, and I intend to add a queue line in there too.

[Spaghetti]

This is really good, My only complaint is to redo the turn into the station. Other than that, This is great! Are you using special cars? Will there be a test video in the next update? You don't have to answer all that.

[Batwing]

Wow - what a great first build! That mad layout suits the VV style of building perfectly! Nice station too.

Of course, the shaping isn't perfect, and the speed loss is quite significant, but over time you'll learn how to avoid this. If I was you I'd either use classic supports with that spine, or for extra strength and easier shaping, perhaps try a micro spine - you can find instructions on the tutorials section of the site! Well done!

[Coupe]

This is really good, My only complaint is to redo the turn into the station. Other than that, This is great! Are you using special cars? Will there be a test video in the next update? You don't have to answer all that.

Yes that final turn is truly horrible! I do intend to try to fix that. Yes I'm using a simple modified 2 car train. There will be a video coming soon - I can tell you that it runs very very well, with the only noticeable speed loss being at the top of the immelmann, which was desirable to be honest, although it still exits the immelmann like a scalded cat and hits the station with way too much speed at the moment!

Wow - what a great first build! That mad layout suits the VV style of building perfectly! Nice station too.

Of course, the shaping isn't perfect, and the speed loss is quite significant, but over time you'll learn how to avoid this. If I was you I'd either use classic supports with that spine, or for extra strength and easier shaping, perhaps try a micro spine - you can find instructions on the tutorials section of the site! Well done!

Thanks Batwing - I did try the micro spine but I didn't have enough pieces when I started building this coaster. I may try it again on the next build now that I have more sets. I don't have much in the way of classics for supports, and I'd like to stick to micro as much as possible. I just find the classic flexi rods really easy to work with, although there are limitations to them.

[Coupe]

Well, a video was requested, so here's a quick video of Sidewinder in action!



I've still got some more bits to do on this, I want to add some more nice little details. I may get some more work done on it this evening if I'm lucky!

[RC117]

Looks amazing, are you sure this is your first custom coaster. Love that helix , I can't help but every time I look at the word sidewinder it reminds me of the coaster dynamix kit I used to have one but I didn't take care and the track got throw in the same cedar chest that holds my knex. This is way better than my first coaster I only had the blizzard coaster and some daredevel rollercoaster I never finished. Here's that pile of trash it looks so bad

Edited by RC117, 17 August 2015 - 01:51 AM.

[Coupe]

I promise you, it is absolutely my first custom coaster! I've done a little bit more on this, nothing major, just sorted some niggles, added a walkway up the first lift hill, and it's now running 2 trains. I'll get some final pictures and video up this week hopefully before it get's torn down for my next build.

[GravitySnake]

Some people just have a knack for these things . . .

[Coupe]

I'm gonna take that as a compliment!

[GravitySnake]

That's what I intended.