hillflyer Posted September 24, 2013 Author Share Posted September 24, 2013 Random Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted October 7, 2013 Author Share Posted October 7, 2013 The bad news was, I needed surgery for my broken wrist. GOOD news is, I don't have to wear a cast and my recovery will be much quicker. Â I can't quite work on anything really complicated, but I can still make bents! Guess what section the top row is is going to be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zingoman Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 I'm guessing that's the lift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted October 16, 2013 Author Share Posted October 16, 2013 A couple of recent pictures: Â ONE is the beginning of the lift hill almost connecting two of the turn-arounds. Â TWO is what happens when my green-eyed partner gets upset because I gave MY phone number to an old friend who recently went homeless. Â A broken wrist, a broken model. What to do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zingoman Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 This is a crime! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoogleNexus Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 (edited) . Edited February 16, 2018 by GoogleNexus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subject_12 Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Christ, this must be difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted October 21, 2013 Author Share Posted October 21, 2013 Fixed and ready to proceed! Â I also have to raise all the ledgers on the lift hill up 18" (scale). Something went weird. Â The Grease 2 DVD is Dennis'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted November 12, 2013 Author Share Posted November 12, 2013 Nothing Earth-shattering this time. Biggest news is my wrist is much better, flexibility still a little tight. I'm able to pick up where I left off 2 months ago which was building the Airplane's infamous whirlpool-dive. Â Photo 1: Working towards closing up the spiral. It's not hard to imagine the entire track in place with a train zooming on down - swwiiiish! Â Photo 2: Just an interesting angle, although I can see I need to tighten up and straighten some of the cartouches. Â Photos 3 and 4 - Comparing an old photograph against the model. This process helps me determine what I need to adjust or tweak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 Photo 1: At the car after an afternoon of working at the coffee shop where I finished the main frame for spiral's mid-section. Photo 2: At home, trying it on for size. Photo 3: Another angle that shows the two ends of frayed track that I have to 'weave' together. Making them meet is sure going to be an interesting challenge. Â Next I have to draw a full-scale section of the complete spiral so I can be sure all the footers are landing in the right place. At the car after an afternoon of working at the coffee shop where I finished the main frame for spiral's mid-section. At home, trying it on for size. Another angle that shows the two ends of frayed track that I have to 'weave' together. Making them meet is sure going to be an interesting challenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted December 1, 2013 Author Share Posted December 1, 2013 Making seemingly slow progress but actually quite a bit is done. The two halfs of this circle have been permanently connected and the rest of the ledgers (diagonal boards that immediately support the track and catwalks) have been installed. Next is to weave the track in between the two ends. This is where the spiral bottoms out. The track in the background is soon to creep across the new ledgers in the foreground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted December 23, 2013 Author Share Posted December 23, 2013 So what's in the bag? My cheap Target backpack has been faithful to me since 1988. It's had several purposes over the years, now it serves as my portable tool bag for my model. Â Let's take a peek inside... The Bag All departments removed From L to R, My trash bin for scraps, my sticks from Evergreen Plastics, my tool box which features a tin of paints and a box with tweezers, glue, clippers et al, and paint brushes, a black box of clips and clamps, a small "Warheads" tin where I keep track templates and clamps, and then my file folder full of mostly notes and photos. I've finished the subtrack for the drop-curve off the trim brake (upper) and the lower portion of the spiral (bottom). Note the handrails too. The only thing that's keeping me from finishing the upper layers of track is the lack of track pieces, I need more scale 2 x 2s. Santa..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted December 29, 2013 Looks like this would be a mishmash of total fun. The taller bundle o' bents leaning towards the left make up what will be the top crest over the lift hill. Â This is also the very first photo I've downloaded on my new laptop! Â Happy New Year Everybody! Â Tim Cole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrbuzz Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Pretty incredible work you're doing there. I can't wait to see the finished result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 The lift hill rises! The highest point pictured here, will be very tippy top of the coaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 (edited) Construction of the lift hill continues. Just a series of shots of it in place. Up and over then swish! Squint hard and you can see me sittin' at the top of the lift. Edited January 28, 2014 by hillflyer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Secret: Â I'm using actual tar to gob on the structure where you might find grease, in this case, the area around the pull chain. Not gonna say where the tar comes from...but I've been doing a lot of smiling lately! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GayCoasterGuy Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Wow! All I can say. Looking good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 Carving in to the lift hill to create a path for some lower trackage that needs to barrel through there, Â Photo 1) Before the carving. This would be the POV from the front seat towards its destination. Â Photo 2 & 3) Carved. Â Photo 4 & 5) The structure for the lower trackage. Â Photo 6). The structure for the lower trackage merged in with the lift hill. (It is just set in there, its not affixed yet.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrbuzz Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I love this model makes me want to build another one myself. Can't wait to see the finished product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 This shows how I transferred a sliver of structure from one section to another for the purpose of building accessibility. The area I've been working on is circled in red. My goal is to construct the track (blue line). This is how the train would approach the merge into the underpart of the highest part of the lift hill A view looking the other way. This lower run of bents were easier build by first making it as part of the lift hill structure. But trying to merge the track would have been difficult to manage due to accessibility issues. So after I merge the lower run in to the lift hill, I strategically cut out the merged section along with part of the lift hill. And now it's merged with the lower trackage of the bottleneck. The track will be much easier to extend out of the this tight area. When that is done, I'll be able to place the lift hill back on top. A higher view of this area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arby Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I love seeing the updates! Keep it up. I'm not sure that I have the patience to build something this detailed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 Thanks. There are certain things in life that I am really very impatient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Hi everyone~ Â I'm back working on tracking the spiral. It takes a good savings of patience s every time I lay subtrack. It also takes a lot of patience to put the ties on exactly right or they can start looking slanted - there is an optical illusion where it looks right from one angle, but lopsided from another. Adjusting that all while trying to keep an exact 3' center distance between the ties was a bitch. So I came up with the following solution. I make a centipede of 2x8 6' long ties glued temporarily to a 2x2 spine - spaced 3' apart on center. This is the subtrack on which the ties will be placed. I think I'm getting better at the laminating. I've noticed on PTC, Allen, Dunn et. al. the ties are always on the bottom. Church's twisters required more of a spring acting subtrack. Same section of track with the spine of ties added. It's SO much easier. Weeee, I'm not far from finally closing up this gap! Within the frayed mess of track sticks from where I left off, I have to start weaving in new layers. So I spread apart the rails and separated the layers. Hmm, first merge encouraging. Next I place on the next layer using three 4x4's as a substitute for 12 2x2s. I'm out of sticks I need to make the next layer, so watch out soon, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillflyer Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 (edited) I thought it would be easier to resume laying sub-tack from the bottom up. (boing). Â I didn't leave much wiggle room to splice into the existing track so it was really hard to separate the layers. Â But eventually I did and was able to make two pretty good slices. Â I was able to merge into the two ends seamlessly! Much to my delight it was very easy. I was finally able to start merging the boards of the new sub-track in to the older. The blending of the two ends turned out almost seamlessly. I think that if the Airplane had never existed, we would never know that an all-wood coaster could do a stunt like this. Edited February 14, 2014 by hillflyer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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