33 replies to this topic

[KirbyCoast]

Ever since I went to Magic Mountain I have been wanting to recreate Roadrunner Express, but I thought that it would be pretty hard to support some of it since a lot of it isn't close to the ground. So I decided that I would make a small hyper coaster using a similar layout to Roadrunner Express.

This is what I have so far:

 

This is the unfinished station. In the future it'll have a roof and a floor and if I have enough pieces I might make a small walkway up to it.

 P5070321.JPG   116.43KB   1 downloads

This is the lift hill, when it's done it will be about 2 1/2 times taller, but I'm happy with what I've built so far.

 P5070316.JPG   171.47KB   2 downloads

 

The beginning of this project will most likely go pretty slowly since I just ordered some pieces from K'nex which are important to building this, and with the lightning fast shipping that K'nex has it will probably take about 2-3 weeks. Although I will try to finish as much as I can before that.

 

Also thank you Stig for the lift hill design.

Edited by KirbyCoast, 04 June 2016 - 11:32 PM.

[CW5X]

Nice solid lift hill design and base there. I'll be interested to see what sort of layout you get on this with the speed limitations of the VV track but if it's 2.5 times taller than that then I think you'll have plenty.

[KirbyCoast]

Small update: I got the other half of the lift up, I was going to make another support but I think it will be better if I hold it up from the hill. I may end up moving the first support out a little bit farther if it's not strong enough.

 

 P5100322.JPG   126.86KB   1 downloads

 P5100327.JPG   71.58KB   1 downloads

 P5100328.JPG   130.27KB   1 downloads

[GravitySnake]

On the actual ride the pre-lift turn is about 135 degrees, not 90, but since it's not a recreation it shouldn't matter.

 

Roller Skater FTW

[KirbyCoast]

The parts from K'nex came! This time they shipped much faster, but they weren't sorted. I've pretty much finished the whole lift hill.

 

The drop  looks a little weird, and I'm not quite sure how to fix it, but I'll be able to make it steeper when I add the next support which should make it look better. Also my bird decided to climb on the lift hill.

 P5170332.JPG   94.32KB   1 downloads

 

As you can see the gear system at the top is pretty simple. It works quit well though. Also, instead of the flexi rod spine I'm using an orange rod spine.

 P5170330.JPG   86.4KB   0 downloads

 P5170334.JPG   75.25KB   0 downloads

Edited by KirbyCoast, 18 May 2016 - 04:16 PM.

[Batwing]

To fix it - just take the bird off the top and then  it should work.

 

On a serious note, that drop is way too straight...you could really do with an extra support just after the crest of the lift hill, which should help you with the shaping. More supports enable more changes in direction.  Remember this is what you're aiming for:

 

http://www.coastercr...php?id=1016&t=1  (images being a nightmare for some reason)

 

 

Anyway, great work so far and it's fantastic to hear you're using the super strong orange spine this time.  I love the structure of the lift hill! 

 

Keep it up!

Edited by Batwing, 19 May 2016 - 11:21 AM.

[CW5X]

Yeah. It's just the straightness of the drop that's causing the weirdness here. I actually think that you had the drop closer to the shape you probably want it in the first update where it's smoother and a little more drawn out. The bird is a very unique feature though. Almost like the snake on Elapid.

[GravitySnake]

#lolcomments

[KirbyCoast]

To fix it - just take the bird off the top and then  it should work.

 

On a serious note, that drop is way too straight...you could really do with an extra support just after the crest of the lift hill, which should help you with the shaping. More supports enable more changes in direction.  Remember this is what you're aiming for:

 

http://www.coastercr...php?id=1016&t=1  (images being a nightmare for some reason)

 

 

Anyway, great work so far and it's fantastic to hear you're using the super strong orange spine this time.  I love the structure of the lift hill! 

 

Keep it up!

Thanks! The spine is being a bit of a problem with shaping, but it's nice how strong it is.

 

 

Yeah. It's just the straightness of the drop that's causing the weirdness here. I actually think that you had the drop closer to the shape you probably want it in the first update where it's smoother and a little more drawn out. The bird is a very unique feature though. Almost like the snake on Elapid.

Thanks for the advice, I think adding the pullout actually made the drop less straight.

 

 

#lolcomments

Definitely the most helpful comment out of them all, I made sure to follow your advice while building and I kept the comment in my mind the whole time.

 

This is a sort of small update, but I've actually gotten quite a lot done. Just not that much trackwork.

I think the only problem I ran into was the top of the lift hill, which is now leaning to one side a little bit. I'm not sure if it has effected the chain lift yet, but hopefully I'll be able to fix it after I finish the first hill which will go under the lift hill, sort of like a megalite. Speaking of megalites, I think I might go with more of a layout like that, so instead of having a helix, it will just be a banked turn which will be a little bit close to the lift hill. Also this will give me a chance to try out some airtime hills, which I've been wanting to try out since I think the supports will be fun to make.

 

Sorry for this blurry pic.

 P5230364.JPG   92.54KB   1 downloads

 

 P5230358.JPG   170.57KB   1 downloads

As you can see, this support is leaning to one side, which causes the whole thing to lean a little bit.

 P5230357.JPG   124.86KB   2 downloads

[CW5X]

The pullout does seem to have improved the drop and the shaping for the entry to the turn is pretty good as well. I'm just hoping a first turn like this with the VV track style won't kill too much speed. Just keep adding those supports

[KirbyCoast]

Over the past 1-2 weeks I've been trying to figure out what to do. I tried out making the turn and it shook a lot, also the spine just wasn't working for me. At one point a few days a go I even tried to turn it into an out-and-back layout. Just yesterday I had the idea of making a small B&M floorless. I did try this a little while ago, but I didn't have enough pieces. Now I have a lot more pieces and I'm better with the flexi rod spine, so I started building that. 

 P6050391.JPG   75.89KB   1 downloads

 P6050386.JPG   150.71KB   1 downloads

 P6050388.JPG   126.69KB   1 downloads

Sorry for this bad lighting.

 P6050384.JPG   125.24KB   1 downloads

This was all built yesterday, so there are a ton of improvements that I could make, but I think it looks petty good right now. The pre-drop is a little crooked, but I'm not quite sure how to fix it without changing the rest of the drop. Also the whole lift hill is a little bit shorter. I did this because The old height was way too tall for the supports, also I just wanted this to be more compact.

 

 P6050381.JPG   154.54KB   1 downloads

The next element will of course, be a vertical loop (which I may actually finish today). After that I'm hoping to get in a dive loop, a MCBR, and a corkscrew. I also might put in a heartline roll coming out of the station, like on Hydra.

 

EDIT: I also forgot to mention that I will still be naming this Roadrunner, I plan to theme it with maybe some ACME boxes (paper) lying around and I might also print and cut out some of the characters. I'll get to that later though.

Edited by KirbyCoast, 05 June 2016 - 01:20 PM.

[WSWAoasters]

Oh my! I can't believe how fantastic this looks. I always seem to have a hard time remembering that micro pieces can look so realistic. I can't wait to see where this goes!

[Spaghetti]

That actually looks pretty darn good. I can't wait to see the rest! Hopefully speed loss won't be a bitch.

[CW5X]

That drop has some pretty mean shaping to it. You can always come back to the hyper whenever.

[KirbyCoast]

UPDATE #2

 

I finished the loop, and for the amount of speed loss... I would say average. I was hoping it would be a little bit better, but it'll do for now. About speed loss, I've been thinking that I should probably weight and lube the cars. A link to a tutorial on weighting VV cars would be very helpful, I tried to look around and I couldn't find any. As for lubing the cars, I'm not sure if I should do this. Last time it didn't work so well, although it might work better with a different type. I've heard silicone spray works, so if you know of any types that work, that would be helpful too.

 

These are the cars I'm using, as you can see the second set isn't connected yet.

 P6060393.JPG   103.55KB   1 downloads

 

 P6060409.JPG   158.34KB   1 downloads

 P6060406.JPG   121.6KB   1 downloads

 

A lot of supports

 P6060407.JPG   150.16KB   1 downloads

 

I think the shaping on the loop is okay for now, but I'll definitely want to change it a little bit.

 P6060403.JPG   135.88KB   1 downloads

 

Pre-drop

 P6060404.JPG   63.22KB   2 downloads

 P6060405.JPG   119.34KB   1 downloads

 

Overview.

 P6060402.JPG   176.55KB   2 downloads

 

First test video. Sorry about the bad quality, I tried shooting and uploading the whole thing from my phone.

https://www.youtube....h?v=8snSCsY03v4

 

How do you embed videos? I'm such a noob....

Edited by KirbyCoast, 06 June 2016 - 06:24 PM.

[Spaghetti]

10 / 10 would bang

[KirbyCoast]

UPDATE TIME!

 

But first I'm going to reply to some comments because I didn't last time.

 

 

Oh my! I can't believe how fantastic this looks. I always seem to have a hard time remembering that micro pieces can look so realistic. I can't wait to see where this goes!

Thanks! It definitely turned out better than I thought it would.

 

 

That actually looks pretty darn good. I can't wait to see the rest! Hopefully speed loss won't be a bitch.

Luckily speed loss hasn't been too bad so far, but I will probably run into some problems near the end.

 

 

That drop has some pretty mean shaping to it. You can always come back to the hyper whenever.

Yeah, but if I do a hyper coaster I'll probably build it on a smaller scale.

 

 

 

Originally after this loop there was going to be a dive loop, but it ended up being so small that I decided to go with something else. 

 

 P6200503.JPG   148.87KB   2 downloads

 P6200505.JPG   128.88KB   1 downloads

 

The inspiration for this turn came from Apocalypse (and some other B&M floorless coasters), it's obiously much smaller in scale here, but I think it fits well.

 

 P6200509.JPG   229.46KB   1 downloads

 P6200515.JPG   116.34KB   1 downloads

 P6200514.JPG   167KB   1 downloads

 

After this I plan on making a corkscrew and then it will either do a helix to the left or just go straight back to the station.

 

I did try to imbed the video, but it didn't work. So I just put the link here.

 

https://www.youtube....eature=youtu.be

 

Didn't notice this before, 200th POST!!!!!!

Edited by KirbyCoast, 20 June 2016 - 08:14 PM.

[CW5X]

I think the general shaping is pretty good but if you can beef up that spine a little then I think it would just tidy everything up. Also, I didn't notice before but you might want to perhaps add another support to that drop if you can. There's a large part that's fairly unsupported. Looking very good though.

[WSWAoasters]

This is so cool! I think I said this recently, but I keep forgetting how awesome micro coasters can be when there is an experienced builder behind them. This is because I only remember the micro coasters that I have made in the past. XD Anyways, excelent job!

Edited by WSWAoasters, 20 June 2016 - 07:33 PM.

[Spaghetti]

That looks great! It truly looks like a B&M style.