KCForce

In my opinion, anything would be an improvement over what the Mean Streak is today. It's probably my least favorite wooden coaster because of the heavy breaking which ruins any airtime and makes the ride basically a scenic railway. Imagine any cartoon you've seen with a Flying Carpet where the carpet moves along quickly while making little rolling waves rapidly and then changes directions rapidly, going left, right up and down. This is what the finale on the Giant felt like. It was (and hopefully will still be) one of the best coaster finishes ever.

I'm stoked. I live in Missouri and have a season pass to the Flags and Fair parks. I've always wanted to ride one of these and I agree, it'll be scary as hell only hanging by a chain 230-some odd feet in the air. I do really like coasters, but it is time for a lot of parks to start adding more thrill and family flats and replacing the flume rides they've removed. And if you haven't been to Six Flags St. Louis in a while, I hope this will get you to go. This park, hands down (I've been to 70 some odd parks) is IMO the friendliest park and has the best staff. Even better and more consistent than Disneyland and Holiday World (which IS saying a lot!). I know in the past they were awful having experienced myself, but it's like Worlds of Fun and Six Flags St. Louis switched employees. So, this is enough incentive for me to go opening weekend over to St. Louis from Kansas City, though I'm excited WOF is getting a Rockin' Tug with their expansion next year.

I wasn't too thrilled about the car wraps, but said there was one product that I wouldn't be too upset about, if it appeared on Shock Wave and that is Got2BGlued. See the picture and you'll understand why. Okay, back to the Giant. Peace. Appropriate for your "do" when riding any of Anton's rides!

Yankee Cannonball at Canobie Lake Park. At only 63' tall and 2,000 feet long, this woodie delivers. Lots of airtime for such a "short" coaster. Well paced, well maintained, single position PTC lap bars (at least last time I rode, quite a while ago) and probably the most underrated amusement park in the U.S. If you've never been, it's worth the trip and about 2 hours from Six Flags New England (115 miles).

Prowler, hands down. I've been on Roar West, Evel Knievel, Lightning Racer, Wildcat, Kentucky Rumbler, Terminator. Prowler is just insane, especially in the dark. It is non-stop action from the top of the lift til the brake run which today was 39 seconds. I've counted 16 points of airtime on this coaster. Pretty good when you consider the Voyage has 20. Definitely the best paced GCI, though all are pretty good at this. Roar West, Eve Knievel, and Wildcat also have great airtime. But Prowler hands down, in my opinion and riding experience.

Hands down, GCI Millennium Flyers. I also like the B & M trains on Diamondback. They were made for airtime.

I *love* this park. I visited for the first time in '08. It reminds me quite a bit of Joyland in Wichita. It's hardly ever crowded that I'm aware of. It's right on the Lake Okoboji, which is so clear you can see to the bottom in the shallow parts. It's in a beautiful location. The Legend is so underrated and just screams nostalgia. Powerful airtime on the last few hills. Also has a short "low flat" (flat straight section between hill's 3 and 4 (think of the former Sky Streak at Boblo, but a much shorter version). My thought is they may have removed a very small bunny hill at some point and time. I think a short tunnel would be a nice touch there now. I also love the single position lapbars on the PTC's. The park has some great flat rides too. I normally don't ride miniature railways, but the train was older, but in what appeared to be mint condition. The cars actually look like cousins of NAD coaster cars on the train. The staff was great too. It reeks of nostalgia!

Mine too. But I rode it the year it opened, 1978. (Somehow, I don't think you were even a glimer then. )

I just woke up my spouse who came out and was all, "What the hell are you laughing so hard at? Good lord, you've pissed yourself!"

When I was a wee lad, I used to love the Enterprise. I can't do them now that I'm getting up there. I would say now my favorite flat is a toss up between drop towers, gyro swings, and screamin swings. Hmmn, how about a Screamin' Gyro Drop Swing?

I'm all three, thank you. During really intense parts, I have an a rapid "he he he he" that sounds evil.

I had only seen one very small picture of this coaster before with a close up of the train. I love this picture because it shows most of the ride. It started out at Freedom Land USA, and then went to Wildwood to the Sportland Peir. Sportland Pier had a Gallaxy later on by the same name. Here's the info I found at rcdb.com: www.rcdb.com/2807.htm It's a very unique coaster, and one of the earliest steel coasters if it was around in 1957...I also have seen a picture in Robert Coker's Book that shows a steel coaster from the same time period of a similar type coaster that ran on a triangular track. But Matterhorn at Disneyland is still the first tubular steel track coaster from what I can determine, coming along in 1959. I wonder how it rode? Looks like it would be fairly smooth, but who knows?

I was just zipping around surfing the web and I found a picture from 1967 of the Meteor roller coaster that used to exist in Wildwood, NJ. A company is selling it, so I will not post it here, as I do not own the picture, but here is the link to the page on amazon if you'd like to look at this rare coaster. Quite cool actually. It's item #44. Enjoy. Oh, and has anyone here ever ridden it? (EDIT, oops, thanks so much Capatalize, I guess as they add items, it changes item number!) www.amazon.com/Meteor-Roller-Coaster-Wildwood-Photographic/dp/B00334A0OG/ref=sr_1_45?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1279870263&sr=1-45 Peace! KC

Prowler at Worlds of Fun on July 4th at 10:45ish in the evening, in the pouring rain, no rain jacket, soaked to the bone, after watching the fireworks for Independence Day in the pouring rain. But it was great, it was a walk on and really flying (and painfull for those that kept their heads up, we rode heads down to avoid the face-sting from the rain effect.) Oh, and the fireworks were very good for Worlds of Fun, we we're impressed!

Hmmmn, I was just saying 'wouldn't it be cool if Lego came out with a roller coaster", and low and behold. CD combined with Lego would make for some sought after holiday gifts for boys and girls of all ages... The new Side Winder kit (a shuttle loop model) has seats for Lego mini figures. I really like this. It will be cool to see what they come up with in the future with the Lego folks!

Thanks. This system works best with a styrene plastic flat track. I've tried other things (over the years) and this works the best, as well as being the easiest and most cost effective way. Trust me, I've tried tons of different ways. I'd say if you want to try something else, go for it, but unless you have hundreds of dollars (small wheels, bearings and axles can be quite expensive) to invest in a more accurate wheel system that has a good co-efficiency, I don't know of any other way. I get that you are NOT taking me to task over the way I make my models. That being said, some folks do. And I find out that none of them have ever built a successful working model. I find that people who have no expertise in a particular area are the first to attack something they don't usually know the first thing about. I've been modeling working coasters for almost 30 years now. My objectives for finding a way to model coasters were: fairly inexpensive, a good co-efficiency with the wheels (meaning rolls pretty well and somewhat produces realistic track layouts, simple and easy and quick to build, and to look somewhat realistic. I realize my track isn't realistic as it is a solid piece of styrene, but I have tried to make tubular track (too expensive and hard to work with), my flat track with rectangles punched out of the center (causes the track to be bumpy and not very co-efficient), and assembling two flat rails with cross ties (again too complicated and time consuming.) I always encourage folks when they ask me about something new to try it out for themselves and see if it works. And occasionally, I do learn something from someone else making a suggestion to me. There is very little I haven't tried with my models. Good luck to you. As for your question about the knex micro coasters (love the chain and motors, it's what I use on my models, I'd suggest googling miniature wheels and other working model coasters sites. Brads Coaster Station has a neat idea for an Arrow Demon (GA) model he was going to work, you may be able to use his wheel and axle idea in the Schwarzkopf style of coasters. Feel free to PM me or ask another question here, I'll try to help. Peace!

Nice report. I used to live in New England and have been to many of the parks. Storyland is a great family park, and the Polar Coaster is actually a fun little ride. Six Gun City didn't have a coaster when I lived there, so there wasn't much else to intrest me. Down the way from Storyland they used to have a fun alpine slide, it may have been at Attitash, its been a while. York's Wild Animal Kingdom used to have a Flitzer, my one and only Flitzer credit. From York's you were a only about 20-25 minutes from Funtown/Splashtown USA in Saco, ME south of Portland. It's actually a great park too. Excalibur is a very decent ride with a great first drop. They also have arguably the best indoor Scrambler ride in New England, The Astrophere, not for the ride as it's slowed way down, but the music and effects. Until I lived in New England, I had never seen or heard of an enclosed Scrambler. I like the one at Canobie Lake too, which is probably my favorite park in New England. Clean, variety of rides, nice staff and the Yankee Cannonball is a real surprise. Have you been before or hitting new parks you've not been too? Thanks for the memories. Peace!

I just woke up from a nap. I still feel like I'm dreaming. I never had the privilege to meet him, but I did meet his Mother, Pat on my first visit to the park last year in June. I know for a fact he was the person he was due to his parents. How? After meeting her, I have no doubt he was exactly like the guy many of us have seen in videos; bright, outgoing, an ethical businessman, and someone who took time for the parks fans. He learned it from her and his late father. Several parks could take a nod from the Koch family and start running parks the way they run their park. It would make them better, stronger and more appreciated, just as Holiday World is. My thoughts go to his wife, children and the rest of his family, especially his Mother. May his memory be a blessing.

The only model coasters still standing are two: The Zucker Express (I gave it to the couple whose wedding I made it for), and the latest coaster, the Falcon. Two reasons I don't leave them up. One, they can be quite large and though I have a large coaster model room, I don't build them to be transportable. When I want to build a new one, I usually take the previous model down. Two, I usually reuse some of the wooden support dowels on the next model. Eventually the paint gets pretty thick or the dowels aren't quite right for the new one so I'll use some new dowels in the new model. The largest expense is the track ($12 for a 4X8 sheet), dowels($10 for a few new ones), and aluminum support wire for the track($8 for 50 feet), and usually new material to build the new station for a new model (varies in cost depending on what I do). On average I probably spend around 30 dollars US for each new model, occasionally more. As I already have the train, K'nex micro coaster chain, chain channel for the lift and motors it helps keep the cost down. A scratch built train costs about $60-70 bucks for a six or seven car train. My current train cost more than that as the car bodies were custom built for me by a master coaster model builder in Germany. I attached my wheel system to his non-working trains. He actually builds models of coasters and other rides made by Gerstlauer. He also makes unbelievable static (non-working) Schwarzkopf coasters, including the Thriller and Olympia Looping (you can find his web address in the Shockwave Model video, though his site is in German, you'll see "gallerie" and most of his pictures are there.

Hi all. I thought I'd share my scratch built working model roller coasters with some pictures and some information. I've been modeling coasters for several years. Most of my models have been original designs, but I've started building some real life coasters in the past year. You can find the answers to most of your questions I suspect you may have on my YouTube home page in the channel description. Also there is (obviously) video of most of my recent model coasters for you to check out. Just click on my YouTube link over to the left under my name. Keep in mind, these are built from scratch including the trains. If you read the description on my YouTube page and your answer isn't there, please feel free to ask me. I hope you enjoy. Peace! Updated November 26, 2012 - Added the Tidal Wave shuttle loop from Marriott's - Page 12. An older model built a few years ago, "Flash". "Screamroller" actual coaster from Worlds of Fun. "Shock Wave" Six Flags Over Texas. "Shock Wave" under construction. My latest model, a custom design, "Falcon". I really like the way the station turned out. "Falcoln". I did an over banked turn under a waterfall, how cool (and wet) would that be on a real coaster? "Falcon" over all view.

I voted no at this point, as my spouse was laid off last year and just started back to work and we are trying to catch up on bills, so things that aren't necessities (though if my situation were different, I would have voted yes) are not being indulged at the moment. I did buy a couple of cd's this past year, so I helped contribute that way, and once things pick up, I'll buy more. I have a suspicion that others are in the same situation, and if things were different economy wise, they would jump all over it. I just don't have nor can I justify 40.00 extra dollars right now. Perhaps in 6 months, once we've caught up. Peace!

I was quite shocked when I heard this. It'll be nice to ride it again, and it's nice that it is staying in the Chicagoland area. Sorry big Mike, I *won't* count this as a new credit...lol.