themeparkman25

^^So you are suggesting I either completely exaggerate the colors of one? Or my other option being editting the picture after the fact? What if I was to take two pictures, one emphasizing the clouds and the other the flowers. Then, I would go in to photoshop and chop each picture in half and then layer it to have the best of both worlds? As if learning a new camera wasn't enough, I probably should learn a little more about photoshop too! Anyone else have suggestions on how to make these pictures (and pictures with similar conditions) better? ^Yes sir. I am quite proud of this park! Edit: I messed around with the colors a little on photoshop. Is this an improvement over the uneditted version in the first post? I know it darkened the train and track, but it also drew out some of the colors of the sky. Not sure which is better.

^Do you work at Elitch? And have we met?! Edit: Wait a second. I think I know you.

Unbelievable. Good thing the ride has a theoretical of like a million.

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Just out of curiosity, but is there any coasters or rides currently down or expected to be down on any given day?

This is a trip report of Elitch Gardens located in Denver, Colorado. I went during my off day at work and had a great time riding most of the rides and just checking out things from the other side of the glass. The main purpose of this trip was due to the fact that my Europe trip is right around the corner! This doesn't make any sense, you may ask, but there is a reason! I just purchased a Nikon p100 and wanted to get some practice with the adjustability! Previously, I had been taking pictures with your generic point and shoot, so the ability to adjust shutter speed, aperture, etc. is something entirely new to me. So, I ask that you help me out with my picture taking and let me know how I could have made the pictures better by adjusting this or that! I have been meaning to post an update of the park for awhile now, too, but haven't gotten the chance for any number of reasons. Anyways, many of the rides were painted this offseason including three of the main coasters and many of the flat rides. With the chance of snow hopefully done for the year, too, the park is now full of pretty flowers and bouquets. I figured it would be nice to share these! Due to a conflict of interests, I would just like to say thanks for a great day at the park! I really did have a great time yesterday and hope that it is like that every day! Lastly, I would just like to send a big shout out to the shows department for their great show in LaseRocks. Tonight was my first real night watching it and I can honestly say it was an incredible show and I loved every second of it, as did everyone else in the arena. Keep up the great job, it rocked! Okay, on to the pictures! Let me know how I can improve my shots before I travel half way around the world! To start things off, the entrance got some paint thrown at it. Upon entering the park, you have one of the older PTC carousels in the country. It is absolutely stunning. To the right of the entrance is the water park, Island Kingdom! It too got a fresh paint job this year. This is of the four tube slides in their new coats. The speeds slides also got painted. As did the family raft red slide. This is Main Street. I think out of all the theme parks I have been to, I can honestly say Elitch's has one of my favorite entrances. The park from atop Big Wheel. Big Wheel and Ops Tower. Big Wheel got a fresh coat of paint and an LED light package! pretty! I wish more parks had these because they are a blast. Minderaser. Contrary to other beliefs, I think this ride is incredibly smooth for an SLC. As in probably the smoothest SLC I've ridden. I had fun! Frontish Red car is money. Sometimes I wish these (and others) weren't pre judged because half the time they aren't that bad. Troika got painted. Sidewinder got painted. Ops tower in the back. Wait, where did the blue sky go? Twister II got painted as well. If you look , you can see Team Tebow stadium! Would have been better with a full blue sky. But this is Half Pipe. Boomerang got pained this year. This is another ride that is not that rough. A fun ride with great new paint. Shake, Rattle and Roll got painted this year, too! This one looks great compared to what it used to look like. Twister II lift hill! You guessed it, this ride got painted as well! Though it may be forceless, it really isn't that bad of a coaster. I've ridden worse, that is for sure! I enjoy it! I could use some help, in particular, with this photo. How do you get the brightness of the flowers to stand out but the colors of the sky to remain. If you leave the shutter open longer, the sky goes white but you get flowers. If you have a quick shutter, the flowers are dark but you see the sky. HELP! And to conclude, Sidewinder with some clouds! Thanks for reading! Next up: Chessington and Alton!

December 21, 2012

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Reason number 4320543843 why I love Manta! Happy Birthday, too! In a fit of shameless self promotion, check out my Manta model! The entire project can be viewed in this thread with the latest update being here!

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14 days! I literally cannot wait to get to this park, I think it should be one of my favorites. Great video and thanks for sharing!

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This is quite shocking and literally changes everything that could have been. I for sure expected Texas to bail on the Big 12 and then see the collapse of the Big 12 shortly, but by them staying put, the conference should and likely will remain. What does this mean for the Pac (11) and the Big (11) now, though? Texas to stay in Big 12 http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/Texas-Longhorns-turn-down-Pac-10-invitation

You can zoom in by clicking the "+" button at the top of the editor, to the right of the different views of the track. You can zoom out using the minus. If you use a mouse with a scroll wheel, that does the job too.

^^Um, have the main support column run from the track all the way down to the ground, and then build the diagonal ones off that. Or, use a vertical bar. Or double click the node and just enter the value. I totally forgot about the immelman. You definitely need to bail on the transport track and devices at the top.

Joe Crawford is officiating game 5. I hate Joe Crawford.

Though you clearly put in a valiant effort in creating this coaster, there is a lot of work that needs to be done to even closely resemble a real coaster. First, you need to tunnel test your coasters. This means put the entire coaster in a tunnel and see if there are any supports, scenery and track the "violate" the tunnel. Right off the bat, you have a tree growing in the middle of the track! This needs to go, as do numerous other violations. From there, I think you need to look at the actual construction of a B&M lift hill and then build yours to resemble that. First, your lift hill is abnormally steep (you're close to 45, I think real lifts are about 30). Second, your transition at the top of the lift is way too dramatic, it should be a much larger radius. In terms of the rest of the coaster, here are my suggestions on how to improve. I compliment you on custom supporting the coaster, but there are a lot of ways to improve. Like the lift, I think it would be beneficial for you to look at real coasters and see how they are supported. There are lots of areas of the track that I believe are very undersupported, but also current supports that would not be able to support the track and the forces. I also noticed on the lift hill that the supports aren't vertical top to bottom, fix that! The track was also really pumpy and jerky, something that would be fixed with just some minor tweaking. Take the time to ride the coaster in the front and back and realize where the track is not smooth. Work on those things and you will be set!

Hobbit-I actually would love to send the real model to the park in hopes they would put it on display. I am not sure if they read this thread, but if they do, please contact me! It's yours for free! I will complete this model down to the last blade of grass and wave of water. It will be 100% accurate, at least to the best of my ability. Tiger01-You can bet your bucks that I will add the train to the splashdown! A couple problems do arise though from that placement. 1) I still don't really know how I am going to make the trains and 2) I don't know how to make fake waves that look real. That, however, will be a bridge I will cross when that time comes. For now, my concentration is completing the track work. Wannabe-You caught me, haha. The first thing you mentioned is that a rail popped on the first drop. I didn't realize it until that specific picture, but I will reglue the piece back in place and it will be as good as new! In terms of the second thing you mentioned...I actually don't have a reason or an excuse. That particular piece was especially difficult to bend in to place, and due to the fact I melt it inch by inch, it is hard to complete a true inline twist from the start. Excuses aside, I knew that would be the complaint of the ride but I really don't have a solution for it. I apologize and hope you understand!

Nebraska to Big 10 Conference http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/Nebraska-joins-Big-Ten-061110

Boise State to Mountain West Conference http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/Boise-State-to-join-Mountain-West-Conference-in-2011-061110 I think the most interesting aspect about this move, and the possible other moves, is that the Mountain West may possibly get a BCS bowl spot. It is an exciting time for the Mountain West, that is for sure, as all these realignments play out. On an irrelevant note, I still don't like Dan Hawkins. Or Cody.

Rcg19-I don't have a set plan on making the trains at this point, but I am leaning towards a soap bar approach. I will get a chunk of clay or whatever, then sculpt/cut it into the mantas. I don't know, if someone has a better idea please let me know! Jmac-I am going all out with this model, so expect the details to be there. Obviously I won't do the stuff inside the queue, since no one will see it, but you can bet a buck that the outside will be perfect. Keep following and thank you for the kind words. UPDATE JUNE 10, 2010 In this update, you will find a how to guide on making a piece of model B&M track as well as the inline twist and helix! I am getting very excited about this model and I am getting more and more confident working with the heat gun and styrene. My goal is to punch out all the way to the mid course before my Europe trip, which is in exactly two weeks. However, at the rate I am going right now, I should be able to get slightly past that. I do want to point out that the helix looks different than that of the real Manta. The reason being the model itself is to scale, but the supports and track are not to scale. I would scale the track, but I do not have any actual numbers as to the size of the track. For this, I apologize and hope you understand. Outside of this err, everything else is perfect! Enjoy the guide and the update! Step 1: Get your supplies! This is what I used to make everything on the model. So don't think that all this comes pre fab'ed and I just put it in to place. Everything is flat and boring, and it is up to me to bend and work the material into place. Step 2: Melt the spine! This is the pain staking process and it hurts! I use the heat gun to melt the spine to the point where it is completely bendable. I then grab the hot plastic and twist and hold it in to place until it dries, which is usually in a couple seconds. Also, the bending takes place on a very small section since it is not possible to heat up the entire stick. Step 3: Cut rectangles! These little rectangles are a centimeter long and will be cut in to the shape of a tie. Step 4: Cut the corners! By cutting the corners, the bottom becomes the width of the spine and the top is the right distance apart. It is important to not cut all the way to the top and leave a little bit of a "straight" section so that you can mount the rail to it. Step 5: Glue the rectangles to the spine! These will be places sporadically on the spine in order to support the rails of the coaster. In this case, the pieces are 2cm apart. Step 6: Hang the piece! Once the ties are dry, you are ready to hang the piece in place. Usually, I glue the first part of the spine to the last part of the last piece. I also make one support towards the end of the piece, to hold up the weight. That way I have both ends of the piece supported and ready to go. If you noticed, this also means only about 1 in 4 supports is load bearing. Step 7: Hang the rails! Using the last part of the supplies, twist the rails into their place and glue them to the track! Viola! There you have it! How to make a B&M model! Hope you have enjoyed that! Now on to the update! Enjoy that too! This shot, and the next one, are pure MONEY! The WIN of the update! Another update in about a week!

With the first domino tipping in Colorado heading to the PAC 10, and with Nebraska going to the Big 10 today or tomorrow, I would expect the rest of the conference to follow suit in the coming days and weeks. Here is how I see the Big 12's mass exodus: Texas-Pac 10 Texas A&M-Pac 10 Texas Tech-Pac 10 Oklahoma-Big 10 Oklahoma State-Big 10 Baylor-Mountain West Nebraska-Big 10 Nebraska State-Mountain West Missouri-Big 10 Kansas-Big 10 Kansas State-Mountain West Iowa State-Mountain West What are your thoughts on Colorado's change, but also the coming changes to the conference and the other affected conferences? Personally I am pretty excited about the change and see it bringing about some good changes for Colorado athletically. I also think the change will bring about a new atmosphere to the school, since it has gone somewhat dormant and stagnant over the past couple years. The bigger question though remains, will the demise of the Big 12 and the generation of these "superconferences" force NCAA and the BCS into moving towards a playoff like system? Obviously some of the rules that are currently in place, like no more than 2 teams from the same conference can play in a bowl game, will have to be reworked to allow for the larger conferences. In all, it should be very interesting to see how the conference realignments will play into the individual schools but also the BCS as a whole. RIP Big 12!

There will be an instruction update tomorrow on the Manta model on how to make a piece of B&M spine. Meaning, there is also an update of the inline twist and helix!

Great report! Can't wait to get out there and visit it myself! On a completely irrelevant note, I hope that is a Tebow jersey you are wearing!