The Airplane Model project

[G Force]

Its a shame this isn't getting more attention, as its probably one of the most difficult coasters to model, due to the elements and layout. The quality of this model is quite impressive, and I can't wait to see it complete. Wonderful work.

[hillflyer]

Major development: Some of you who follow this thread will remember I was involved in a domestically abusive, sometimes violent relationship. On 9/15/13 his actions caused me to fracture my wrist and I had to have surgery. That left me with a scar down my wrist that looks like I tried to commit suicide. In December, his carelessness caused significant damage to the bottleneck portion of my Airplane coaster. Frustrated that I was broke and I could not buy him cigarettes this past Valentine Day, took to my refrigerator and started throwing jars, bottles, tubs - one jar of sauerkraut landed on the model but it did no damage miraculously enough. The he choked me and tripped me again so I re-injured the same wrist.

 

He was the total antagonist of this model project. I was never totally free to work on it without having to put up with his childish need for constant attention. There is, A LOT of angst, anger, and depression that was used in the making of this model.

 

Now he is gone, I had him arrested and he's currently incarcerated and I have a restraining order. I hope he is put in to a group home for the mentally ill because that's where I said he belongs.

Note the jar in the center - this must have bounced off the blinds and landed straight dowm.

The real Airplane

10 sections waiting to be fused are temporarily in place for comparison.

[CoasterB]

The picture of all the sections together looks great. You have done some much work on this. I can't wait to see this finished because its going to be incredible great work!

[Password121]

It's amazing to me that you've been able to continue through what you've gone through. The project itself is awesome in every sense of the word, and I applaud you for everything you've done and gone through. For this, all I can say is...

[hillflyer]

Several projects on the burner at the moment. I like that because I have a choice of things to work on what I feel like working on at the moment. I can decide to put on some catwalk, or make some track, do some painting or detail work.

Followers might remember that on Pg 24, I talked about how I had to go back and replace the lateral 2 x 4 'x's on the inside of the bottleneck to 4 x 8s wedged in between the uprights. Well, I have to do the same thing to the inside of the 1st spiral. For easier access, I tipped the spiral on its side....a view of a coaster you don't see every day.

And example of what I'm doing. Note on the left, the errant 2 x 4s glued to the outside, on the right, the corrected 4 x 8's.

Feeding catwalk up through the bottom of the structure on the 2nd spiral. Beats having to get there from above.

[hillflyer]

During times if I'm in a waiting room or on a lunch/dinner break I sketch out ideas, mostly diagrams of how I'm going to build something. Here is my first draft of some landscaping ideas I have for the finished model.

 

Plus I'm building what I call the Beginning of the home run, as the train exits its final lap around the turnaround.

 

And Dennis, the model's antagonist, is in jail and I have a 5-year restraining order and a 3-year protective order on him so ... he won't be coming near this model again.

Here is my first draft of some landscaping ideas I have for the finished model.

The beginning of the final run home.

It's a small piece, not most the posts are cut away and there is curving track right underneath.

What it will look like attached, after it is all trimmed and straightened and pretty.

[Cj1990]

The model is incredible, but I wanted to particularly reach out and applaud you for being able to pull yourself from the situation. So sorry you had to go through that. My last relationship went through a few moments like that. Never broke anything but black eyes and bruises definitely happened. It must feel like a big weight had been lifted of your shoulders. Hope you're doing OK in general after this!

[hillflyer]

The model is incredible, but I wanted to particularly reach out and applaud you for being able to pull yourself from the situation. So sorry you had to go through that. My last relationship went through a few moments like that. Never broke anything but black eyes and bruises definitely happened. It must feel like a big weight had been lifted of your shoulders. Hope you're doing OK in general after this!

 

Thanks, but it wasn't that hard because what happened on 2/14 I've predicted in my head many many times, and friends also told me it was going to end the way it did (A rage bad enough for him to be carried out of the house by Police) So I was prepared, but the hard part is, is he has the reasoning and emotional maturity of an 8 year old you see screaming in a toy store when he doesn't' get what he wants. He would not, would not leave my house and having to sit through two months of living with him after giving his 60-notice, I couldn't bare it. I think I saved his life, actually, with the careless attention to his health, that should say it all. He is type one diabetic but he still ate cereal, ice cream, ding dongs before bed time. Several times I had to literally save his life by giving him sugar when his level fell below critical. Plus, he's a double amputee (legs) as a result of his neglect. He has absolutely no redeeming qualities and never had anything to contribute to our society, except maybe keeping the tobacco and coffee companies in business.

[ECZenith]

Hill flyer,

 

I am sorry to hear of your troubles and I am happy to hear you are in a better place now and can resume doing what you love. Respect to you for sharing your story and I wish you happiness in the days ahead.

 

I frequently check this thread for updates and I find you amazingly talented and cannot wait to see the Airplane finished!

[hillflyer]

Last December a good chunk of the bottleneck curve was blown out when my (now) ex was trying to open some Venetian blinds when the assembly came crashing down on to it. The damage is SO inconsistent with how he said it happened, but whatever, no apology or any sign of remorse, that said it all.

 

We're finished with that now.

 

So this weekend, I finally took a really good look at the damage and what it will take to fix. First, I carefully removed all the broken and misplaced bents, most of which I thought I could reuse. Then I placed 4x12" horizontal stringers to help hold up the replaced bents.

 

When I was close to done, I hated the way it was looking, with bents pieced back together with crooked splices...BLECHH.

 

So I decided to make brand-new bents for some of those that were in worse shape than I first thought. More photos on THAT process coming soon.

Last December a good chunk of the bottleneck curve was blown out when my (now) ex was trying to open some Venetian blinds when the assembly came crashing down on to it. The damage is SO inconsistent with how he said it happened, but whatever, no apology or any sign of remorse.

So this weekend, I finally took a really good look at the damage and what it will take to fix. First, I carefully removed all the broken and misplaced bents, most of which I thought I could reuse.

Damaged bents are removed and set aside for inspection.

I placed 4x12" horizontal stringers to help hold up the replaced bents.

hen I was close to done, I hated the way it was looking, with bents pieced back together with crooked splices...BLECHH.

[hillflyer]

Give you an idea the size of the model, it will be near the same size as my "Full" sized bed.

 

What I've done is draw to scale, each of the three corners. Then I positioned them where they are supposed to be in relation to each other. All the straight parts in-between (that are built) need to be filled in.

 

The red line is (basically) where I'm going to divide up the model in to three sections, the purple is the (basic) boarder of the finished base.

[hillflyer]

Here are a couple of before and after photos of the rebuild of a portion of the bottleneck turn of the Airplane coaster after Hurricane Dennis plowed through it last December. Re-assembling this section was like when they rebuild the top of Colossus after the fire. Photos of the rebuilding process are on the previous page.

Before

After

Before

After

[FilmoreISnAZN]

WOW! Looks practically seamless. Great job! It's truly such a joy to watch the model of such an iconic coaster develop into a beautiful piece of art. It's also so incredibly inspirational to watch you conquer all of these hardships that you've encountered.

[hillflyer]

All of you probably know I've been building Rye Playland's extinct coaster the Airplane in sections. However, none of the divisions in the 10 sections will be the same as when the piece as a whole is divided in to three.

 

In other words, when the whole thing is one solid piece I would THEN divide the coaster up into three parts.

 

But it would be much easier to make those cut-aways now. They are easier to do now than later, plus it will make connecting all those other sections together much easier. Here is the part where the train leaves the internal fan curve. Such precision...lol

This is the first surgical separation of where the main base will split. Note the laminates that compose the track bed.

I made my first run of footers. The short pieces that look like ties will be turned into one long solid footing for each bent. Another unusual trait of the Airplane as most coasters had one footer for every single post, like at Belmont.

Same description as above, just the other side that better shows the track interweaving I'll need to do.

The internal fan-curve exit being threaded into place.

[hillflyer]

More work installing the exit structure and track from the internal fan curve inside the bottleneck curve. Blending the bottom sub track was a BITCH, so I worked on it from the top down. That was different, I'll try not to do it again.

 

Also, the bridge over the second spiral was looking very ill and I decided to replace it.

Testing the tie spacing between the two merging sections. Typically the ties are spaced 3'-0" o.c. I was off one foot on the merge.

All layers of track are completed. Note the tweezers holding the splice in place. This will connect the exit from the internal fan curve towards the "Bridge" that I am replacing.

Track painted. As of now, I'm installing the catwalks.

The bridge (upper part) in its unsatisfactory state. This is one of the hazards of making the model in transportable sections, they can get a little banged up, especially ends that are left hanging.

Bridge is out. Replacement to be installed soon!

[CoasterB]

The progress is looking amazing. Love seeing the updates. My model is on a slight break at the moment but i haven't forgotten about it. hopefully I will be able to post an update soon on it, just need to find the time

[hillflyer]

What a weekend. Aside from misplacing my cell phone, it was a productive couple days. I spent my spare time bouncing back and forth between the bottleneck section and the second spiral bridge.

The bridge linking happy hill and the last horseshoe curve has been repaired. Replaced is more like it, completely new.

The dead end in the foreground leads to the bridge mentioned above. This primarily is supposed to show the construction of Happy Hump ttaking riders to the internal fan curve under the bottlneck

Topping happy hump and headed towards the internal fan curve. Directly above this dip would be the peak of the lift hill.

Another shot of the replaced bridge

Looking at the drop off happy hump. You can't get this angle normally as the lift hill would be in the way.

Edited April 13, 2015 by hillflyer

[G Force]

Can't wait to see this finished, probably one of the best coaster models I've seen. The track is just so smooth and crisply built.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

The last picture looks great! You have paid so much attention to detail, you cant even tell its a model! Keep up the great work!!

[hillflyer]

DAMMIT!! Sometimes I don't know what's wrong with my head, perhaps I should ease up on the weed.

 

Last night I found out that the profile of my Happy Hump is WRONG and I have to lower the peak (shown where is should be in red) by FIVE feet! Fortunately it's just a matter of lowering the ledgers. The track will still hold its shape going a little lower so its no big issue but DAMN! Stupid mistakes.

[hillflyer]

General plans for the Airplane Station house.

There are more but I picked these three.

[hillflyer]

Finishing up the happy hump. These are the last views before I start test fitting the top of the lift hill. Iam really looking forward to that.

[Bag_O_Laughs]

This is amazing, you are inspirational!

 

Now i'm contemplating making my own model roller coaster. It looks extremely time consuming though.

[hillflyer]

Yes, it sure is, especially when recreating every detail.

 

If it were an out and back, I could have finished three by now. And you have your whole life ahead of you, it's time consuming but once you start, it finds time for you.

[StLCPfan]

Yeah, but dude it's one thing when it's your passion and a fun pastime. You are a model building MASTER who shares his gift with the rest of us. YOU ROCK!