hillflyer

When not able to work on the main part of the model, I work on smaller pieces. I've attempted to recreate the cartouches, a cosmetic feature on the Airplane. There were 6 African Art-Deco designs that alternated around just about the entire upper perimeter of the ride. In between were art-deco spears. I can only see clearly two of the cartouces, one sort of, and the other three I'm going to have to design. The bottom right one is such a design.

GEEEZ, this section is taking a lot longer than I had anticipated! BUT! In the meantime, I have near perfected my procedure of recreating Fred Church's patented sub-track design. I want to point out that until I glued the ties on, no glue was used to hold together the sub-track. It's not even glued to the structure. I hope to removed the completed track and paint it, then glue it back on.

My favorite short cut is threading a string of ribbon boards (scored and bent and painted on the backside) through the diagonals. It's so quick and easy. Very close to putting on the track, catwalk, handrails and I'll be done with this section!

One of the classic cosmetic features of the Airplane, were the cartouches that were placed almost around the whole perimeter of the coaster between the handrails and the tracks. They were African Art Deco plaques, installed to fit in with the rest of the theme of the park at that time. I'm trying to recreate those, but they're hard to see! Here is my first one:

Here are some photo matches of Harry Traver's famous Crystal Beach Cyclone (1927 - 1946), between the real deal and the model I built during 2000-2002 - it now sits in the National Roller Coaster Museum at Dollywood (I think it's still there). My model of the Airplane will be more visibly accurate than this.

UNACCEPTABLE! I was so excited to be adding on the second deck that I didn't pay much attention alignment. In this BE view, the black lines indicate where properly straightened bents would be, but as you can see, the top half is sort of leaning towards the right. NO!!! Once I had them straightened (as much as I could) I immediately installed two full length end to end ribbons, and then the diagonals (left to right down) to hold the newly straightened bents in place. Just because I thought it was a nice photo.

I have a few places where I like to work on this. Cutting pieces I do at one place, painting parts at another, at the coffee house I assemble the sections and at home is where I'll put it all together. I don't like being cooped up at home, I like to be out amongst people - this is the perfect place, it's also the same place where I built the Traver Cyclone 12 years ago!

Great question! I'm not sure if the track on the Airplane was ever painted. One thing is certain, during the final years it was not painted. Since I'm going for that older look, I tried Model Master's "Green Drab". I selected it after I tried various color matches - and the one that makes that track stand out (so that one will be able to stand back and actually follow the whole circuit) is what is pictured. If the track was colored green, it would have blended in too well - and if the tracks and the catwalk were both the same color, it would have been too much and I like that subtle difference between the two.

I'm trying to be spot-on as much as I can, and the track gauge is pretty easy to use so it's fairly simple (and important to the final look). In order to make the coaster work, the model would have to be engineered in a way that would change the look of the finished model (a REALLY tall lift hill and probably an abbreviated pathway. The track will be built so that MAYBE I might have a train that can roll over part of it, but - I'll worry about that when the time comes.

Yay. Finally ready and started to install the upper deck (the first horse-shoe turn after disengaging from lift chain).

Stepping back a couple of weeks, here are my track- gauge clips at work.

Another view of the lower deck. I've put in the inside handrails along the lower track run, and I'm in the process of placing on the catwalks.

Here is a more recent photo, taken after I place on the lateral diagonal bracing on the inside of this curve. I can't wait to begin adding on the upper deck (bents are ready and waiting in the bin to the right.) I'm a little disappointed with the photo quality here.

Time for an update. It seems like I've been working on this one section forever and I'm not anywhere near done. Things are coming along on the section with the fan-curve beneath the turn off the lift hill. Keep in mind, I'm going for an aged and weathered look.

Testing my "Track Guages" which will maintain consistant distance between the rails. They're really beefed up as they're sure to be used and abused. The 'track' here is just for an example of how it works.

Whoo hoo. The stakes for the first 180o of the section for the first whirlpool have been planted! As far as the bottleneck section, I added more bents on either side for a good lead in and exit for the lower trackage, which I'm currently laying. Right before I add the upper half, I'll take and post a photo. From what I've seen so far in a test assembly gives me goosebumps. Can't wait to share.

General Fred Church coaster stats. Attached is the section of the Airplane coaster and its typical measurements of boards and distances. Basically, you can tell about how tall a Church coaster is by counting up the ribbon boards in 5' increments. The BP Giant Dipper is almost the same, except it uses 6"x6" supports and 4"x4" lateral diagonals. See previous entry for track size detail.

I love stumbling across little helpers at the hobby store. These microbrushes are great for applying a VERY small amount of glue and paint. Here they are helping me dab some glue on the cleats for my catwalk template.

Here is a color test for the catwalks and possibly the track. I'm going for a more 'aged' look so I'm trying to weather the boards a bit. Any votes?

Just the latest shot. This weekend I made the opposite side sub track and started the pattern for the sub track on the adjacent run. I added more lateral cross bracing and some paint detail. I can almost feel the SWOOP as I do a mental POV.

And here is the latest, taken the morning of 12/12/12. The 6 remaining bents have been risen, connected with primary ribbon connectors. One run of sub track is almost done. In the background, you can see the upper portions of the bents which will be put back in their proper place after all the track on these two runs are built and painted.

A good, but blurry, view of the top of the internal fan curve located within the bottleneck (First turn/drop).

The pieces I’m using to make up the sub track are scaled 2 x 2’s which, in actual measurement, is 1/32” x 1/32”. Yipes. So I took eight sticks (the standard laminate width is 8 pieces), taped them together at one end, and drew marks in 2’ increments all the way down. Then, I threaded them up through a loom that I made (see the clips?). Then I keep one stick in place and pull the others down 2’. Then I pulled 6 sticks down two more feet, then I pull 5 down two feet…and so on and so on to get that staggered effect. Not as easy as it looks or sounds, trust me.

Fred Church had this particular design patented right before construction of San Diego's Giant Dipper. An improvement patented by Church, patent US # 1741286 "Laminated construction for roller coaster tracks" filed 5/1925 and issued 12/1929 uses multiple layers of square stock for laminations in the track layers (Panel 12). The square stock allows bending in both lateral and vertical planes. The upper layers are still boards, since they must function as upstops.