schotj Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Hey all, I'm not new here by any means, I just don't post much at all. I am currently working on building a K'nex coaster and I would like all of you help!!! I started building K'nex roller coasters when the Screamin' Serpent kit came out several years back, and have had a blast with it. I have several models to my name...but I have yet to upload them to any site because of one major setback, I have NEVER completed a model, and had it running in a full circuit. Either I get bored with the layout, or I have run out of pieces. This time however I want it to be different. I started this coaster probably a year and a half ago...and after building the lift hill, first drop, and half of the first immelman, I stopped. This was the summer of '07, and since then the coaster has been sitting dormant. Now when I came home from college the other day my mom informed me that we have family coming over for Christmas, and since this half-finished project dominates the skyline of this room she told me to either finish it or take it down. I have time now that I am home without too many responsibilities to finish what I started so long ago. As you will see in the pictures I originally had the immelman curve off the the left...towards the wall. But I just altered it and made it turn towards the right. ONTO THE PICS!!! Last photo for right now. I tried my best to "hearline" this element. But given the constrictions of K'nex, this was the best I could do. Comments/Suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. If you even look at this thread, a comment would be awesome. Feel free to criticize all you want, I need to see areas where I can improve in my design. Also suggestions to what I should add after this element...and names of this coaster would be awesome. I really need to finish this hopefully in the next week!! Closer view of the immelman. I may need to add extra support to it...but since I am kinda cautious to running out of pieces, I will only beef up the support structure if I know I will not need the extra supports later on in the design. This is a picture of the new immelman I am building RIGHT NOW!!! I know...exciting real-time action. Anyways..I think it looks better than the previous one, and it also keeps the trains speed up pretty well. Quick photo of the station. It's not even close to my best work...I made it several years ago and kept it with a couple of my half-complete models. If I get around to finishing this design, the station will be a priority. But as of now this will do. I also plan on adding brakes to it. Again, a picture of the old immelman. The biggest problem I fear I am going to run into is lack of support pieces. One of the most important aspects of building these K'nex coasters is making sure the track is as sturdy as can be. If the train travels over the track and it wiggles....the train will lose lots of speed, which in turn affects the layout of the coaster. So far you can see how many support pieces I have used in the lift hill, and this first inversion. Since they are built so high off the ground, you need that many more pieces to keep the track sturdy. Here is the original immelman. Notice how it curves to the left...That was the original design. To keep it as close to the wall as to take up less space. But I was able to improve the design and use less pieces by having it exit to the right. For this piece of track I also used the stiff gray rods instead of the flexi-rods Another shot of the first drop from another angle. If you look closely, you can see that instead of using the green flexi-rods for the first drop I used the gray long rods. When I first started building I made the discovery that in order to have the train keep its momentum...you NEED to have the track as straight as possible. The slightest wiggles slow the plastic trains down tremendously. Therefor in order to keep the track rigid I replaced the flexi-rods with gray ones. There are still slight hiccups in the track, but the flow is much more even. This is the top of the lift hill. I have yet to install the chain...that will come last. Once I KNOW I have a complete and working layout I will work on that. This is an overview of the lift hill/first drop. It took quite a while to find a support structure that would be sturdy, and not take up too many pieces. This is what I came up with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrideseeker Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 WOW!! Your coaster looks really good! I love the shape of the drop, and supports on the lift are very interesting! Your station reminds me a lot of Dragster's station for some odd reason. As for the next element I say a vertical loop, or a sea serpent! Keep up the great work! ~Matthew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBru Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 This is one of the best Knex coasters I've seen! The elements look really well-shaped, and seem to flow well. Keep up the awesome work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King of Ka Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Great job! This is probably the first time I've really been impressed by a K'nex model (not that they're unimpressive; most of the ones I've seen are just sort of 'Meh'). Keep up the awesome work, best of luck in finishing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfkk339 Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 That's awsome! The first hill looks great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterGuru95 Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 It's looking pretty slick dude. After the immelman, you should put a banked curve (kinda like a GCI), then a in-line twist into a helix. ADMIN EDIT: All corrections to this post are bloded. This is your last warning. Check your PM box for additional links to Rules and the TPR Terms of Service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schotj Posted December 16, 2008 Author Share Posted December 16, 2008 Thanks everyone for the comments!! I appreciate them. I've worked a bit more on it tonight, but I have run into a few hiccups....nothing I shouldn't be able to overcome though. Hopefully a small update tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schotj Posted December 17, 2008 Author Share Posted December 17, 2008 **Update** Ok, so I wasn't able to post an update yesterday...but I got some work done in the past day and a half or so. After the immelman the track comes down to the ground, and then rises up into a sea serpent. (thrillrideseeker...I used your idea!!!!!!!!!!) I had to get sorta creative with the supports, building the track through the lift hill so I didn't have to build up from the ground. So far everything is going well. Excuse the mess. When I build pieces are scattered everywhere. They will be picked up upon completion. If you read this...leave a comment!!!!! Trying to find out what to do next. Also, any ideas for names??? Another view of the sea serpent. Overview of the sea serpent. I may need to boost up the supports on the second inversion because the structure shakes slightly when it travels through. Shot of the first drop with the sea serpent snaking its way around it. As you can partially see in this photo, I used many of the pre-existing supports of the lift hill to support these inversions First half of the sea serpent. The other inversion is tucked away behind the other supports. Overview of the entire coaster so far. It is at an awkward angle....but it's the only way I could fit the whole coaster in the whole frame. Completion of the immelman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuschSchoe Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 Looks awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBru Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 This model is too cool for words! Keep building, I love the layout so far, and it keeps getting better and better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinciDAWGS12 Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Wow it looks great! I sure wish I would of kept my K'nex sets Oh well great job and looking forward to the finished product! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamikazewatermelon Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 WOW! how long do you work on this each day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schotj Posted December 19, 2008 Author Share Posted December 19, 2008 WOW! how long do you work on this each day? Haha...too long. I really don't have anything better to do cause I just got home from school. I've probably spent like 25 hours on it since I've been home. The worst part is building something, then finding out the train doesn't make it all the way through....then you have to find a new element that will work. I'm almost done, and for some reason the ending always takes a lot longer to complete because I stop and start too often. I don't sit down and just finish it. I'll post an update tomorrow of what I have done, and what I have left to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillrideseeker Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 WoW! The coaster looks great, and I am really glad you used my idea!! The Sea Serpeant kind of gives it a compact look! I really dont know what you should do next though. Keep up the good work! ~Matthew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schotj Posted December 20, 2008 Author Share Posted December 20, 2008 Ok so I just finished the coaster. I'll post an official update tomorrow when I get around to taking pictures of it. I finished it much much earlier than I originally thought...and was glad that I had just enough pieces. The last helix is sparsely supported....but it completes the circuit. The lift hill is 6'4" and the K'nex motors are not strong enough to pull the chain and two 4-car trains. I tried rigging 3 up together, but that was a total disaster. Tomorrow I am going to fiddle with a motor of some sort to get the whole thing running by itself. But as of now there is a hand crank you can use to get the train to the top of the lift. Thanks to all of you who took the time to look at the design. Pics sometime tomorrow. It's currently 2:10 AM here on the east coast.....maaaad late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razor12 Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Awesome coaster! The drop and immelman look great. Every inversion is formed almost perfect. Good job man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FilmoreISnAZN Posted December 26, 2008 Share Posted December 26, 2008 Oh Dam!!! That is FRIGGIN good! I tried myself to create a coaster and it worked. But I cannot seem to make my coasters look as good as that! I cannot make it look Realistic. My supports are usually out of whack and awkward! Your supports though look like they would be used on a real coaster! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schotj Posted January 1, 2009 Author Share Posted January 1, 2009 Ok for all of you who have been waiting for the finale of this coaster....I applaud you. I have been out of town, and now since it is 2009 I will post the final update tomorrow. For all you West Coast nerds...you still got an hour and a half till 2009. Oh. the anticipation must be killing you. 2009 is soooo cool!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schotj Posted January 2, 2009 Author Share Posted January 2, 2009 OK! So after my first attempt at uploading pictures a different way...I came out a failure. So I just returned to the normal TPR way. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about....don't worry about it. This coaster is FINALLY done...and here for you to enjoy. I took a bunch of pictures today, but if you would like me to take more....I am more than happy to do it. It is a fully working model; lift hill and all. The train glides a perfect speed through the station and makes the full circuit. When I completed the circuit I KNEW I needed to have the chain work some how. So I strung up 4 K'nex motors and even they weren't strong enough to carry the train up the enormous lift hill. Ugh...what the hell. The chain wasn't even budging with the train on the lift hill. Desperate to find a motor in my house that could deal with the weight of the chain and the train, and work against gravity, yet have a low enough RPM to spin the gears, I set out on a search. I took apart my mom's Kitchen Aid mixer and found the motor in there to spin much too fast. Then I turned to an electric egg beater...NOPE fail again. I stumbled on a battery powered screw driver and thought...This is perfect!!! So I jerry-rigged a system that worked to carry the train up the hill Cliff Notes: I have a really fast chain because of an electric screw driver...but it works perfectly. Hope you all enjoy the coaster, because I had a great time making it. I hope I can put together a video of the raw coaster in action some time soon before I head back to school. Quick list of the elements... 1. 6'6" first drop 2. 4'5" immelman 3. Sea-Serpent 4. High Speed 90 Degree turn 5. Final 360 degree helix. ENJOY!! Now just onto the coaster as a whole. Interesting view of the sea serpent. Banked turn once again This is the 90 degree banked turn leading into the helix. Another similar view of the helix. The finale element of the coaster before making its way to the station is a 360 degree helix. I was seriously running out of pieces when I built this, so I did what I could. This is about as much of the coaster as I can fit into a single photo. Its super long and if I moved further back in the room, there wouldn't be enough detail. After the banked turn the coaster travels into its final element..... Quick overview of the first drop again and the sea-serpent. Upon completing the sea-serpent I needed to find a way for the coaster to make its way back to the station, and keep a relatively small footprint. So immediately after the two loops, the coaster speeds into an elevated 90 degree banked turn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Starr Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Pics not working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schotj Posted January 2, 2009 Author Share Posted January 2, 2009 Fixed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anfronee Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 This is pretty much one of the most impressive things I have seen in my life (Yes I am sheltered). Great Job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schotj Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 Haha thanks man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freefallbestrideever Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 How much did all those pieces cost? I have about half of room empty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schotj Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 I really don't know how much all that cost. I've been collecting k'nex pieces for the longest time. I've gotten several sets for Christmas, bought a one from a tag sale, and even scrounged my friends house for a Screamin' Serpent set. That's where I got all of the track...but the roller coaster sets don't come with enough supports to build one huge coaster. I have 2 ball machine sets the trampoline tower, and the original ball machine that I took apart and used for parts. If I were to count....there are probably well over 10,000 pieces used up in this coaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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