14 replies to this topic

[SCM]

I've really grown to miss building. There's something magical about having a construction thread and getting feedback from you guys, even when said feedback results in me having to re-do the same cobra roll 7 times in a row. So here's the deal: I'm not going to wait for y'all to comment if I have an update. Not trying to be mean, it's just that this site is kind of on its last legs right now and if I want to get this done, filmed, and taken apart in a decent time frame, I don't have time to fool around. So yeah, now onto the actual thread: 

My idea for this coaster is to have it go through a house. Different rooms. With furniture and sheet. Stairs. If I can, I'll do a snowy exterior. I'm thinking this is going to be an invert, because I've never done a B&M invert. It's all subjunctive right now. The only thing I am certain about is how I'll have to make some house music for this. 

That there is the window. Second floor. Ignore the yellow X-ties. Those were just to get some ideas going. I'm not even going to use yellow X-ties. They're just what I grabbed first tbh. Lighting? Doubtful, but we'll see. Queue line? Probably not, because I'd like to be able to sleep without the GP screaming into my bedroom! 

Comment... if you don't mind, that is... *squee* 

Edited by SCM, 10 January 2019 - 11:44 AM.

[Chaos]

I'm excited to see you building again. The "house" concept sounds interesting, and very difficult if you decide to do an invert. But good luck!

[Ghostbuster]

 

I'm not going to wait for y'all to comment if I have an update. Not trying to be mean, it's just that this site is kind of on its last legs right now.

 

This hurts, it's sad that there is no generation that wants to take over. 
You concept sounds very interesting, looking forward to how you are going to make this work.

[~stεεlspectrum~]

Yay, a new construction thread! Ok let me get this straight. It sounds like back in the day when people would use furniture to make "terrain" coasters, except this time you're building the house and furniture out of K'Nex too?

[SCM]

I'm excited to see you building again. The "house" concept sounds interesting, and very difficult if you decide to do an invert. But good luck!

Thanks! Better make it an invert, then. 

 

This hurts, it's sad that there is no generation that wants to take over. 
You concept sounds very interesting, looking forward to how you are going to make this work.

Thanks! Yeah, but since your post things have become more active around here. 

 

Yay, a new construction thread! Ok let me get this straight. It sounds like back in the day when people would use furniture to make "terrain" coasters, except this time you're building the house and furniture out of K'Nex too?

Yep. House and furniture is all K'Nex. 

 

Okay, forum, I have something going. This invert is a total of 14 granites tall including the 3D flooring and structure. I have a curved drop and one inversion. I'm debating between a loop and something I've never done before: a sidewinder. I'll probably end up doing the sidewinder because the track is already prepared for that, but I'm not throwing the loop out the window (no pun intended). It's a work in progress for now. The drop looks good from some angles and hideous from others. 

Eye candy. 

Illuminati confirmed? 

BTW that's the best side view I could get. Also, I made it small so that I wouldn't have to worry about the train suddenly deciding to not go through the layout. I would like to use a 6 car train because it looks sexy. 

EDIT: Mini update! I've added some seats to the train. You'll get a closer look at those later on. Here's a crappy test video. I'm still getting used to this phone's camera. Using manual because, after taking what was basically a camera class, I somewhat know what I'm doing. A little bit. Sorta.

Comment... if you want! 

Edited by SCM, 28 December 2018 - 01:35 PM.

[Mister Piglette]

The drop looks pretty good. Everyone has parts on their coaster that looks bad from certain angles, but it always is that way. Some B&M rides are eyesores from certain angles! I really like the sidewinder idea and looks like you have the right shaping. I would suggest cleaning and lubing your cars to perfect shape before finishing the element to see if you can add any more height. Seems like a huge drop of height that you could use a little bit more of. I understand the concern.

Looks like a really fun build to me

[SCM]

^ Yeah, thanks, it's a fun build. I can't take my train apart because I messed up the screws so bad from previous attempts of trying to clean my trains. 

Well, here's the first SSC construction thread update of 2019! 

https://www.youtube....h?v=1z4f17-F9sg

https://www.youtube....h?v=qrbpjBCyZSM

Well that's that. The sidewinder definitely won't be getting any beauty contest awards anytime soon, so I'll probably just hide it with a building. Sorry the update took so long, I've just been working far more than I predicted. Also, I'll be carrying on with the rest of the ride. I will, of course, reshape things so long as it doesn't require any reconstruction. This thing will be a piece-dense monster. If it doesn't end up taking at least 10,000 pieces, I'm going to make an MLP themed coaster next and watch my subscriber count drop faster than this coaster's speed preservation. Comment... if you want. 

[Mister Piglette]

Man, it must be frustrating to lose so much speed like this. Are you able to weight your cars at all? It doesn't appear so... maybe rubber band some AA batteries into the first seats of each car? I think this could help out with speed. The elements look great but it just seems like there isn't much you can get to do with what is left of speed.

[SCM]

^ Meh, it's nothing I'm not used to. Ningen required an insanely hefty push and the 6-car train still didn't make it, Krampus also required a hefty push, and Neutron Star needed a an insanely fast launch to get it through all of the 9 inversions. COLD, Hexagon, and Sakura are the only times I can think of where speed loss wasn't a big issue for me. Even Toxic and Droplet had troubles with speed loss. Anyway, I think I've hit a breakthrough. Maybe I wasn't lubing my train enough, because last night I really lubed it up and it has been running much better. I added some dominoes for weights and now it goes through even faster, so I'm no longer worried about speed loss. 

So yeah, this is just a little mini update. Yes, I'm using dominoes for weights. The thing is, a lot of our batteries have been exploding at random recently and now I'm paranoid to use them. 

Comment... if you want. (Off topic, but I must say it's really weird how the batteries are just exploding all of a sudden. I've also been noticing some questionable things happening around here. Just the other night, I saw a dark shadowy figure effortlessly drift from one side to the other in only a few seconds. The fact that this event happened within the same area of time as the mystery of the exploding batteries, and the fact that this house has held soldiers here back in the 1950s, I'm left wondering if these events are somehow tied together.) 

[JayketheKid]

Weights really helped! Ive  been experimenting with lubricating and weighting my X2 train today and it makes such a huge difference when you hit the perfect weight and lubricant spot. The front car would only hit the top of the raven turn, but now that i've weighted the trains and freshly lubricated them, they make it well over the raven turn with lots of speed. But im sure its much more complicated with your coasters since its a lot smaller and more compact. And i must say, i really like the scenery you've done so far!

[wyomingman]

Love the concept! Looks great, excited to see where this goes.

[SCM]

Weights really helped! Ive  been experimenting with lubricating and weighting my X2 train today and it makes such a huge difference when you hit the perfect weight and lubricant spot. The front car would only hit the top of the raven turn, but now that i've weighted the trains and freshly lubricated them, they make it well over the raven turn with lots of speed. But im sure its much more complicated with your coasters since its a lot smaller and more compact. And i must say, i really like the scenery you've done so far!

Yep. Eh, it's about the same complexity, really. Just on an unfortunately smaller scale. If I had more time (and space) like I did back in the last house, I would be making an invert the size of Ningen. Or Toxic 2.0. Or Shadow Zoom. Anyway, thanks! 

Love the concept! Looks great, excited to see where this goes.

Thanks! I'm excited to see where this goes, too. Even I don't know.

 

Big themeing update for you guys! There's actually quite a bit to talk about today. With the tubing ending in an awkward spot on the sidewinder, I am temporarily procrastinating by working on the scenery stuff. 

First off, here are some trees. Each one is unique. 

Here's what the riders will see when going down this one hallway. I wanted to do a special nod to Toxic's station, by having criss-cross yellow flexi rods, but for the time being I don't remember how I did it. 

Here's another view that shows off the benches. Each one can be independently inclined for the guests. (Not responsible for any deaths, accidental or otherwise, from over-inclining the chairs.) 

The catwalk. Kind of awkward near the top and bottom. The bottom is an easy fix, but the top is a bit awkward because the crest is sharper than what the catwalk will allow. 

A spiral staircase and a stairwell that is a nod to my SheiKra recreation I did back in the day. It takes a ridiculous amount of Y connectors and blue spacers. 

This disgusting placement of red connectors. 

[/URL]

Purple and yellow spiral staircase. That grey rod platform area thingy is for guests that want a high-up view of the coaster. Comment... if you want. 

Edited by SCM, 10 January 2019 - 11:34 AM.

[SCM]

Double post, but I have an update. It's not a very good one. This ride is cancelled. I'm sorry, but completing the entire coaster's track and scenery and terrain and filming it and editing it and taking it all apart before Friday afternoon is just a feat that is beyond me. It's just too overwhelming for my liking. If I had more time, I would've gladly kept going. So here's the final picture of this ride. 

My parents will be moving to another house soon, to get away from the rotting plumbing. I'm going to be leaving for college again, and I'm not about to leave a mess of mine for them to clean up. They're not flexible enough for it, anyway. Will I keep making coasters? Of course. I'll still be here on the forums. 

Edit: This wasn't a total loss, guys. It was fun making a construction thread and getting comments again. Very nostalgic. 

Special thanks to Chaos, Ghostbuster, ~stεεlspectrum~, Mister Piglette, JayketheKid, and wyomingman for their comment(s). It wouldn't have been the same without you.

Oh and another thing: I'm still gonna be using this track for the next coaster, which will be an invert. 

Edit 2: I have taken everything down. 

 

I want to play a little game. There's a black X-tie in that picture. If you see it, leave a post down below and tell where it is (to be sure there's no cheating). Your prize will be that you can tell me what to change my YouTube avatar to, and I will keep the avatar up until I return home again. My only rule is that it can't be something that would get me kicked off of YouTube. 

Edited by SCM, 10 January 2019 - 09:30 PM.

[Muzz135]

Shame I missed this thread...
Coaster looked really nice, and had a big base to go with it which is right up my street when it comes to how I build shame you couldn’t complete it but glad to hear you’re still gonna build after this one! Hope college goes/is going well

p.s. the black crosstie is in the bottom left on the pile of pieces

[nj_thrills]

This hurts, it's sad that there is no generation that wants to take over. 
You concept sounds very interesting, looking forward to how you are going to make this work

I'm not sure what generation i'm considered, but I am almost sure I am the next one. There are a lot of younger builders out there, the problem is that this site isn't advertised as much anymore and is quite hard to even get an account on. It took me a few tries to get my account to work but I finally did. A great thing for people to do to get the next generation into it is keep building. It will show them what you can actually do with K'NEX and how great it actually is. At this point, i'm not sure if this K'NEX "group" is recoverable, but I sure hope it is.