Jack Rimer

I suppose posting on a coaster enthusiast site is not the best place to showcase a model geared towards the general public. The big picture inevitably get obscured by criticism. One must keep in mind that while our current offerings cater more towards the purist, that does not necessarily translate into commercial success. A kit that is user friendly, however, does have a much better chance of achieving those goals. Of course, a kit that caters to the masses must be inherintly simple in layout and construction. I do find it amusing, though, that even the most basic Knex project typically gets lavished with praise and kudos, while we get critiqued. Perhaps we are held to a higher standard because our models are more realistic....I don't know. By the way, the street price on this kit will be a little over $100.

The layout is meant to be "practical" not "fun". Easy to assemble. Quick to build. If you want to make a fun layout, we sell expansion packs. For the other 99% of the paying public, this layout will suffice.

The video shows our new Phoenix model at the Chicago Hobby show last fall. The kits will be shipping later this month. This model is shown with the optional chaser light and lift steps. The standard model comes in the colors shown along with the working station. It also includes a NoLimits demo CD that allows the user to "ride" the Phoenix as you would any other NoLimits coaster. It was made specifically for us by the guys at NoLimits, custom-made for the layout of the Phoenix. The shoulder harnesses raise as the train enters the station. The train pauses 30 seconds (or can be overridden by the pushbutton). As it departs, the harnesses lower. The model is made up of rigid and flex track pieces to facilitate assembly.

http://www.kicentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16410&pid=274690&mode=threaded&start=#entry274690 Miniature Beast roller coaster train now available! $24.99 plus $6.25 for shipping hand handling. To order your miniature Beast train call 800-288-0808. Supply is limited! Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express accepted.

Beast trains are shipping to KI this week too.

As it says in the press release....no.

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/fun/blog/index.cfm

He didn't. Filmore did.

mcjaco- you seem to shadow all of my posts. Do you have me flagged as a troublemaker or something? Have you read through the thread I continue to reference? It is maddening. I posted on that thread and despite coming across as harsh, I was proven right on all accounts. There was no working model. There was no 4-D ride. There was no working prototype. There was a name, however. Gotta have that name! Building a working model from scratch is no easy task. I know this from experience. I applaud anyone who tries, whether they succeed or not. I do know when to call BS, however. And I did. Anyone who drags a project along that has no conceivable chance of succeeding only to get props from his peers is an attention getter. Evidently there is more precedence of this on other sites. Don't single me out. Look at the other posts on similar threads. Don't just jump on here when you see me. By the way, what do you do to support CD? Do you have a kit? Do you post on our site? Come on over sometime under your real name like I do here. I won't shadow you.

My favorite of the seven was the 4-D coaster. It was like 30 pages of hype and 1 page of actual model. Classic.

You scrapped it because the guys at SSCoasters told you to? Why? If you want to build it, who cares what they think? Just go for it.

The kit really is much more friendly to the non-modeler. It is more time consuming (screwing together track parts) than difficult (trying to manipulate free form track like on the Scorpion). Yet, the versatility of the system is still intact. The NoLimits simulator is also very cool. To those who are familiar with NoLimits it may be a yawn because it is only a single ride, but to the vast majority of the public, this just blows their mind.

It is the SAME EXACT TRACK as the Scorpion. Please read my previous post. The kit is made up of rigid pieces AND the traditional flexible track that we use on the Scorpion and Dragon. That section you have illustrated is completely flex track, however, due to the need to limit the number of supports (ie keep the price down) the entrance to the twist is not "scale". Anyone can make these elements as realistic as they want with the track in this kit.

It was designed to be much easier to assemble. We estimate 2-3 hours assembly time. This kit is designed more for the toy market than the hobby market so it needs to go together quickly and easily. It is also much more durable (trains) than the previous kits.

You need to be able to put our goals into perspective here. This is a toy roller coaster kit. We just returned from a show where about 5000 people filed past this model with not a single mention of "the entrance to the twist". That is 5000 potential customers who were more than amazed by what the model COULD do. They didn't know or care what a B&M was. They have no clue what it "should" look like. All they knew was that it was better than anything they had ever seen as a coaster model. These are our customers. This is who we cater to. If you want to build the perfect element, the kit provides you with that opportunity. If you want an easy to assemble model that is the least expensive kit in our product line, then such deviations are a small price to pay. Don't let it pain you...just get one and do it "right".

The Phoenix kit will have premolded and flexible pieces. The premolded pieces take a lot of the places where people have trouble (i.e. loops, turns) and make them easier to assemble. We will also be selling expansion packs for the new kit. Here are some pics for those wanting to see some more. CoasterDynamix Phoenix Gallery

The NoLimits simulator was custom made for us using all of our track, support, base,and train parts. It looks exactly like the model and can also be used as an assembly guide. We ran the model for 4 straight days and it worked great. The shoulder harnesses raise and lower as the train enters and leaves the station. This attracted a lot of attention at the show. Everyone liked the price too. All in all, it was a successful release.

The cars operate completely on gravity. The motor only serves as a lift.

The key to the whole system is the efficiency of the trains. The ability to traverse 80' of track from a single 4' hill cannot be found anywhere else at this scale. In order for the trains to run with such efficiency, they must be very free wheeling. This means they accelerate quickly, which gives the impression that they run "faster" than a real coaster. In reality, they are no faster than a real ride over a given length. If you dropped a CD train from a 100' hill it would take about the same time to reach the ground as a real one (not quite, but pretty close). You can scale down the model, but you cannot scale down the effect of gravity on an object. A marble drops at the same rate as a bowling ball. I am curious why you think adding more weight would slow it down?????? I have heard this before and I can't understand this reasoning. It goes against all laws of basic physics.

As mentioned above, making the trains heavier will not slow the trains down AT ALL. If anything, it will speed them up slightly. If anyone has seen the Diamondback model, I would ask them to comment on the "too fast" debate. That model, while still fast, does not look as fast because it is spread out. Honestly, unless you have seen a CD model in person, it is nearly impossible to understand the visual impact.

We knew about the ride and their desire to show the model at the debut a couple months in advance. However, we did not receive any usable plans or color schemes until 2 weeks prior to the release date! This was due to the tight confidentiality surrounding the ride. We began building exactly 2 weeks before we shipped it to KI. When we got there the night before, we unloaded the model into a warehouse where some of the park employees worked all night to add grass, trees, and the "water". When we arrived the next morning, we were amazed at how good the model looked with all the work they did. They added the station and we loaded the model up and took it into the park. One of the funny things that happened was we noticed a discrepency between the support colors on the plans we received and the computer simulation. We had an additional number of "yellow" supports that had to be repainted right before the debut so the physical model would match the virtual model. That was quite a last minute change, but we sprayed the supports as hundreds of media and enthusiasts milled about just a few feet away outside our "enclosure". Exciting stuff.

If you notice, the model barely fits into the space it occupies. We were given three design goals: 1) It must fit in the required space 2) It must be modular for ease of transport 3) It should incorporate all the signature elements of the real ride In order to accomplish all these goals, we had to compromise on a couple details. However, since about 99% of the general public either doesn't notice or even care, we felt these small deviations were insignificant. The ride does incorporate all the elements of the real ride and has exceeded the park's expectations in terms of generating interest in the coaster. In fact, they called it the most effective marketing tool that they have ever used to introduce a new ride. We are thrilled with the response it has received. In response to the comment that our models are pricey....we will be introducing a new kit this fall that should sell online for well under $150. It will incorporate many new parts that should make building easier and quicker. Not to mention the fact that the cost of spare parts will decrease with the new design.

Updated with some new pics. Hope you all enjoy.

How is progress on this model coming?