hillflyer

First photo taken last April. Not much has changed with the overall look since I've been doing mostly the station house. I fucked up and the staircase from the upstairs office lands right on the transfer track. I had to tear the floor up as well as some track to recenter it. Floor is ripped up, I had messed up here too. It's fixed here, but before I had this all glued on the wrong side. I've been doing lots of these kinds of things lately. Looking out towards the station from inside the garage. Painted the stairs and some walls.

Forgot to add photos of ticket booth assembly. Cocktail anyone? Close to done. Since, I have cleaned it up a little bit, added a support beam across the top of the cage and cut off the construction base.

Thanks. I can't believe i thought I was going to have this done last November. And then I said April. ETA is now next April. Here are a few photos of the station ceiling being built. Hollowing out the tip of a pencil that will serve as a support post for the roof The whole post to ceiling joists assembly is being test fitted Keep in mind, some of this is not glued yet. I'm just test fitting (so everything looks like it's just resting on something) Add the ceiling. The top of each post has been hollowed out and the red and white truss has a peg that slides in

Update on station construction. Exit stairs. Note the ticket booth Thhe The garage. I hate stair cases. Hard to build and this needs one obviously.

With photos!

HAPPY 25th ANNIVERSARY OF THE HISTORIC GIANT DIPPER REOPENING! All ACE members, watch for the summer issue of Roller Coaster! magazine. The San Diego Mission Beach roller coaster had one close brush with the wrecking ball after another since it the park went into decline as early as the 40's. My cover story will feature an article about the trials and tribulations and eventual success of the Save the Coaster Committee and our efforts keeping the Giant Dipper guarded from one wrecking ball after another.

I felt like keeping it small this weekend. Spent some time starting work on the ticket booth located at the stations front. The plans. It was the exact same design booth that stood at the San Diego Giant Dipper. Cut out all my parts and laid out tools. Trying to detail the grooves in the corner posts. I will add a screen and turnstile. I can't wait to build the roof. The Giant Dipper ticket booth. This remained in place until the early 70's. The Airplane ticket booth. Where as I think maybe the Giant Dipper booth was 4x4, the Airplane was 4x5.

How I recreated the safety sign over the tunnel mouth. Saved the photo to my files. I'm glad it was a straight-on shot. Using Microsoft paint I painted over the letters in color and whitened the back. Cropped it. Copy/Pasted. Printed. Voila!

^^^^ Thanks Freak, Literally ALL the comments thus far have been favorable and supportive. I couldn't want more than that. I'm surprised there aren't more questions actually. When I built the Traver Tri clone in 2000 nobody knew about it and I did a good job I think. But for every comment I do get, I'll post a previously unreleased photo or two. I'm still learning to be a good detail painter. I still have to touch up the paint on all this. Trying to make the maintenance house look weathered. Somehow taking pictures and enlarging them shows clearly every flaw. That forces me to be more microscopic with my detailing.

More station work. I was going to match the colors with the rest of the coaster but I wanted the station to have its own appeal too. When San Diego Giant Dipper shut down in 1976 its red white and blue station faded away. Since this the model will be based on the Giant Dipper restoration project, I incorporated a little of that in there. The station fire.

Simply this is how I'm making the queue railings. I made a template, inserted painted plastic strips and non painted strips then I peel out using plastic card. I add the extras after. This is the same amount of slats per bay. I'm using pencils as the main roof support columns. Only six sides as opposed to eight ...the trade off is worth it.

Getting ready to add more decking. I played a strategic personal financial decision that enabled me to stock up on some supplies. Quantum leaps to be made in the near future. Transfer table area awaits decking. Floor joists added for crew deck support. The deck is added. It's a fine line between painting aging looking wood and a simply bad paint job.

^^^ Aw shucks you are TOO kind. I show you some more! I went crazy looking for more photos I knew I had of my Traver Cyclone Station house model before I remembered they were print pictures in a box in my closet! The station house was the first thing I built for this project in 2000. I haven't seen these in years, some of these seems like last year. Throw back Thursday photos 2000-2002. Construction of my first model since 1985's Giant Dipper sectional. The last picture is of me and my dogs that I took yesterday before bringing the black one to the Humane Society for adoption. I remember when i took this one...it was the Sunday night before 9/11. I can't see it here, but the finished product had a figurine of the nurse in the station. Newly bought plywood that I used for the base. Traver's famous "trick track". The the track for this model was not quite as detailed as what I'm doing now. Finished product The famously heinous high drop into the figure 8, before the station is placed on top. Ziggy, Tim, Joey and Pepper.

Lol, it is a rare photo of the Cyclone when it was test running using test dummies. ?

I'm deleting extra photos off my computer at work and came across these gems. It's my model of Traver's Cyclone at the former Crystal Beach Amusement Park in Ontario. Last I saw, the model was at the roller coaster museum at Dollywood. Anybody see it anywhere else? I have no idea where it is at this point.

I really blame the internet for me wanting to make it so exact. Today I'm working on putting the decking on the crew side.

Station is coming along. I had a bear of a time getting the loading deck positions to my satisfaction. It was rewarding to finish today by adding that odd curb that keeps people back from he moving train. It also serves as a step up on to the running board of the car. I also made the skids for the sled brakes. The drop into the tunnel.

Not much in the way of pictures but here is the beginnings of the station. I decided I'm not going to use this color. This model is inspired strongly by the Giant Dipper here in San Diego (Both Church designs) so as a tribute to the SBNO coasters, guess what three colors I'm using on the station? Anyway right now I'm about to start the boarding side. This is a stand-in base I'm using. At some point I'll remove the whole station assembly and place it in a larger permanent base along with the first whirlpool.

Thanks. My goal is for it to take a couple of MINUTES for you to figure it out lol. All is going to be good. Today I'm working more on the station. Chose the colors for it, sort of old-tacky cheese yet festive in a backstreet way. I also stumbled across this fantastic sheet that will make that wonderful scalloped roof.

More station house fun-nis, here is TEST FITTING pencils to use for the main roof support columns. They make a nice replica, I think. These are the OLD slat railings for show. They will be totally done new. I'm still working out the new color scheme for the station. Here is my coaster landscaping map inadvertently turned in to a plan for how to separate the coaster in three sections (orange lines). The lower right section is positioned within the blue rectangle which will be a foam-core base onto which I will permanently attach the model.

Hi all, thank you so much in following this thread and putting up with some of my crap. My main job is in dire jeopardy and I might have to take drastic measures to save it. Long story short it comes down to needing help for depression. It seems that one of the reasons I am so absorbed in the model project is because I know its the one thing I can do with confidence with no fear of harsh criticism like at work. My job does not have a lot of responsibilities which makes me comfortable because life has taught me that nobody has any confidence in me to manage a lot. And now even with hardly any responsibilities I am faltering. The harder I try the bigger the mistakes, its very frustrating. I made an appointment with my boss to discuss a last ditch option and my anxiety is going through the roof. So anyway, here are a couple photos of the area at the station house. The second photo shows a redo of one part I wasn't quite happy with.

Love the indoor/outdoor log flume. And I like the colors of your Lightning Peak coaster - same as San Diego's Giant Dipper!

Brilliant designs. I love your Scenic Railway Racer and other classic woodies. I like the lake in the middle instead of all-the-way at the end of the park. The Texas Tubs are a bit of a bright thumb in the eye, but other than that, I like it very much. Obviously you put a lot of thought and effort into this.

More images of the development of the new station house The frame for the back end of the station. Clearly visible in the forefront is the curvy transfer track leading to the garage which would be on the left. The exit deck is the higher portion. With the transfer table added. With the outer face of the coaster structure as it appears in old photos. It will be clearer later on when I attach the station to the coaster. One improvement over the last station is better reinforcement of the posts that divide the decorative slat railings. Those are the vertical posts topped temporarily with a 'straightener' The pencil will be a near perfect piece that supports the ceiling and roof. This is the best recreation of the below photo. I couldn't get my lens down far enough to make it exact.

Station house time! When I built the CB Cyclone, the first thing I built was the station house. I didn't do that with this one because I didn't have a lot of info on it. I'm glad o waited until later now that I have that bumper crop of station photos. These first few steps show construction of the transfer table. Starting the the track. Of course, one length of track is 36 feet. I can ALMOST get two lengths in one strip. Using magic marker to distinguish layers of track. This image shows one side of planks painted with marker. Only one side is necessary. After I laminate the track boards. The run off looks like grease. The marker will fade a little on its own. See how one rail is a bit short. This stack is made from the other half of what I cut. But keep looking for how I plane to fix it. Bwa ha ha Laying the track strips on the table frame. The transfer table will be shown rolled under halfway (like Belmonts was) s for a long time) so only three rails will be seen. Additional supports holds things in place. Next step here is the floor.