steambc

VERY impressive, hillflyer. I grew up literally next door to Rye Playland, so I practically lived there. I was born the very same year they tore down the legendary Airplane Coaster. I would have loved to have ridden that beast. Your attention to detail and ability to weather are remarkable. I had an idea... Why not build a train car that you can mount a tiny camera to, and film a stop-motion ride on the model? I'm sure you can match the speeds and energy variables by mimicking the YouTube ride video. How great would it be to actually film a ride on your own model?! I'm currently restoring two real, full-size Mangels Whip cars and one Caterpillar car. None of them are from Playland itself but of course Playland is still running its Whip ride. They actually run it full-speed. So fast, in fact, that the cars go up on two wheels once they swoop around the ends. We lost the Caterpillar long ago. I actually have the virtually un-findable canopy mechanism so I'll probably have a push-button inside the car and motorize the mechanism so a canopy rolls over the occupants. Why? one may ask... Well, why not? If you can do it, then do it, I say. I found your thread as I was searching for details of how, specifically, wooden tracks are constructed. There's actually very little information about that out there. You've answered all of my questions about that. I know you've received many kudos here on this thread but I must say that your work is astounding. If it gets monotonous, consider the joy you are providing to those who are following this thread and to those who will view your model many years into the future.