Six Flags Over Texas (SFOT) Discussion Thread

[texcoaster]

Am I missing something here?

 

Why are people pointing out all the little faults of the track? The article I read said that the ride won't open until the 2011 season (May). This is a huge project and Im very sure that Six Flags or Rockey Mountain won't let the ride operate until everything is perfect. These guys are professionals and they know what they are doing and are very sure of where the track doesn't fit correctly. Testing a ride (I heard) is 50 hours of operation without a fault, say the projected opening date is memorial day - testing could not start til April.

 

If Im missing something, please let me know.

 

I must be missing something. The opening day for SFOT is March 5, not May. Where did you read that the projected opening is Memorial Day? Even at Lone Star Coasterthon they weren't saying anything other than "spring" and when pressed about the possibility of it opening with the park on March 5th, they said, "that would be nice, but we aren't going to nail down a specific day. It will open when it's ready."

[Edited to add: that came from Steve Martindale, SFOT president, not the Dippin' Dots guy]

I think that folks are pointing out the areas that still need work as a response to all the posts that are from people wondering if testing will begin in the next few days.

[Zingoman]

^And what he said

[KDcoasterMAN]

^Also, it should be considered that these pictures were taking about a week (or two) ago. Many of these gaps and "issues" may be already fixed...

[jray21]

Am I missing something here?

 

Why are people pointing out all the little faults of the track? The article I read said that the ride won't open until the 2011 season (May). This is a huge project and Im very sure that Six Flags or Rockey Mountain won't let the ride operate until everything is perfect. These guys are professionals and they know what they are doing and are very sure of where the track doesn't fit correctly. Testing a ride (I heard) is 50 hours of operation without a fault, say the projected opening date is memorial day - testing could not start til April.

 

If Im missing something, please let me know.

 

Yes, you are missing something. You forgot that the internet makes people experts in everything. The people that are pointing out the little faults have more experience and knowledge than the builders. The builders have no idea what's going on, so they regularly follow this site to see the problems, and see how they should fix them.

[Zingoman]

People, please just READ the posts! You are taking them out of context. Where on here did ANYONE say how they need to do the job? Nobody is saying that. These are progress reports to show what IS done, and what is NOT done. That is all, so stop accusing people of being know-it-alls when nobody is doing that. I did not post those pictures and say "oh wow look how dumb they are! The track isn't ready but they think it is but I know more than them! ". Go pick fights somewhere else. This thread has been very peaceful till now. Read things before you go throwing around your sarcasm.

[BrandonR]

And let's not forget that the number of "flaws" we can point out from photos is directly proportional to the quality and number of construction photos we get access to. This ride's construction has been covered in detail by people who have access to the construction site and are able to take very detailed photos. If every ride was photographed with the same level of scrutiny I guarantee there'd be just as many other minor issues/gaps/misalignments. Like I said, tolerance stackups on roller coasters is a very major issue.

[chadster]

so with the very probable change in the queue design, one wonders if they will move the flashpass entrance as well . I'm guessing not as they generally control the number of people allowed on the platform at the entrance to allow for pass holders to walk up and on within a few trains.

[coastercrutchfield]

^ The flash pass entrance has always seemed like it's been in a good place for me (right in front of the stairs like most other flash pass lines.) Unless they build a completely different queue that dumps them into the station like Kingda Ka or like any Batman: The Ride.

[DBru]

People, please just READ the posts! You are taking them out of context. Where on here did ANYONE say how they need to do the job? Nobody is saying that. These are progress reports to show what IS done, and what is NOT done. That is all, so stop accusing people of being know-it-alls when nobody is doing that.

 

And I'd like to thank you (and all the others) who have put so much time into sharing these progress reports with us. Some of us find them very interesting and really appreciate being able to view unique shots that we couldn't see anywhere else.

[Mechanic]

^ Times two! I have enjoyed the photos and reports of the ongoing progress a great deal. Please continue to post updates as often as you feel they are pertinent. A few little gaps during construction don't bother me a bit and I completely understood the context of your photos showing them.

[King]

Thanks! I appreciate the updates too. I won't get back to the US until the middle of the summer, but I'll be at SFOT within a week to ride it. Maybe SF will give the Rattler the same treatment in the near future.

[aceospades1250]

I'm a little curious as to why there are so many gaps in the track. Just fuck ups from the RMC guys or is it due to the wood structure shifting?

[ScottBrown]

Didn't they say there was going to be a metal strip running over the top like it does on a wooden coaster?

[coastercrutchfield]

Didn't they say there was going to be a metal strip running over the top like it does on a wooden coaster?

 

No, this is the final track.

[BrandonR]

Didn't they say there was going to be a metal strip running over the top like it does on a wooden coaster?

 

No... Why would they put a metal strip on top of a metal track for a train with polyurethane wheels?

 

I'm a little curious as to why there are so many gaps in the track. Just fudge ups from the RMC guys or is it due to the wood structure shifting?

 

Well just imagine trying to design a ride on top of an existing ride's supports and then try to account for the thousands of variables and variations in every aspect of the ride. No ride is perfect. Like I've said over and over again, the tolerance stackups with roller coasters is pretty amazing when you consider how many things have to be accounted for in the dimensional variations.

[jray21]

People, please just READ the posts! You are taking them out of context. Where on here did ANYONE say how they need to do the job? Nobody is saying that. These are progress reports to show what IS done, and what is NOT done. That is all, so stop accusing people of being know-it-alls when nobody is doing that. I did not post those pictures and say "oh wow look how dumb they are! The track isn't ready but they think it is but I know more than them! ". Go pick fights somewhere else. This thread has been very peaceful till now. Read things before you go throwing around your sarcasm.

 

Sorry, my post was in no way meant for your pictures. Unfortunately, since the re-design was started there have been a ton of know-it-alls. There has been a ton of 'experts' that were saying that there is no way the wheels would fit between the bolts, that it was a design error, etc. People also said the layout was wrong, the banked turn wouldn't be supported, etc. The problem is that people tended to state them as fact. Instead of saying, "Gee, what a neat design, those bolts on the top look different," they would say that the designed is flawed, that RMC screwed up, and how would they fix it. Robb even asked the RMC guys at IAAPA about it to quiet everyone up because they swore that RMC screwed up. Your pictures are great, and I love looking at them, but there are many people that are jumping to conclusions about the gaps, the supports, the bolts, the windows, the cars, etc.

 

As for the Texas Giant. I can't wait until it's open! They still have a ton of time to finish it, so any 'problems' that seem to be on the ride do not worry me at all. It looks like it will be an intense ride, and I will definitely try to head out there for a ride!

[chadster]

Something tells me SF will spend as much time as needed to tweak the ride out before it's opened. Even with the track tweaks that will need to be done before they push, they should still end up with a considerable amount of time vs I305 for test and tune before the start of the season(as long as the weather hold up). If it's not ready by the first of March, so beit. I'd rather ride something thats done right, i.e. brakes adjusted, lift speed acurate, sensors reporting correctly, computer up to speed, etc, than something that's rushed into play. I suppose that's why they haven't made a big to do about any first rider auctions yet, when they know for certain, they will say.

[aceospades1250]

Like I've said over and over again, the tolerance stackups with roller coasters is pretty amazing when you consider how many things have to be accounted for in the dimensional variations.

 

English plz.

[coasterlover420]

^Hypocrite

 

I think all the speculation is premature. I mean, positive or negative, nobody knows what the end result is going to be (at least on this forum). All I know is I need to make a stop in Texas this year

[BrandonR]

Like I've said over and over again, the tolerance stackups with roller coasters is pretty amazing when you consider how many things have to be accounted for in the dimensional variations.

 

English plz.

 

I explained this in an earlier post but who knows how many pages ago that was. Basically, nothing that is manufactured is perfect and has some amount of variation in the dimensions of the design. It's why parts have allowed tolerances next to dimensions, for example, this piece should be 3 feet plus or minus .25". Those are tolerances, and engineers have to account for the variation in each part when designing something that can be assembled.

 

Tolerance stackup is what happens when you start assembling a ton of those components together. So let's say for a steel roller coaster you have a footer, which has its own tolerances, and a support, that has its own tolerances, and another support (its own tolerances), and a track (more tolerances), etc. Well when you start adding up all these tolerances there's a bigger-than-0 likelihood that things can be "off." Typically it's the fault of tolerance stackups when you see either gaps or things being too big and not fitting. My whole point was that when you think about the size of a roller coaster and the number of components they're made of, it's kinda amazing these things can fit together in the first place without even more problems.

[viking86]

This thread is like a Discovery Channel documentary. "Oh no there is a tiny gap in the track its gonna destroy everything, they might as well just take it apart and go home"...

[CP_RULES]

^^To make it even more simple, think about it like this: If each piece of track was just 1mm too short, and there's 1000 pieces of track, you'd end up with a 1 meter gap. It costs considerable amounts more to manufacture a part with extremely small tolerance (a.k.a. an extremely small margin of error) so there tends to be things like gaps which can be fixed very easy and for less money.

[coasterlover420]

^Exactly. It's easier to just make 1 meter more of track than it is to toil over millimeters during manufacture. If you look at Goliath at SFMM there is a piece of track right before the brake run that's probably not any longer than a meter in length, and I kind of doubt it was designed that way. Although I doubt a coaster would have 1000 pieces of track spanning its length. Maybe more like 200 or 300.

[Coasterking0385]

Something tells me SF will spend as much time as needed to tweak the ride out before it's opened. Even with the track tweaks that will need to be done before they push, they should still end up with a considerable amount of time vs I305 for test and tune before the start of the season(as long as the weather hold up). If it's not ready by the first of March, so beit. I'd rather ride something thats done right, i.e. brakes adjusted, lift speed acurate, sensors reporting correctly, computer up to speed, etc, than something that's rushed into play. I suppose that's why they haven't made a big to do about any first rider auctions yet, when they know for certain, they will say.

 

 

They gave away a seat on the first ride on the facebook page. I didnt win crap!

[Zingoman]

This thread is like a Discovery Channel documentary. "Oh no there is a tiny gap in the track its gonna destroy everything, they might as well just take it apart and go home"...

 

That is fascinating! Who said that in this thread?

 

I still think people are acting like other people are making mountains of mole hills when they really aren't. I think the biggest exaggerations in this thread right now are people saying that people are picking things apart, and saying RMC doesn't know what they are doing. Nobody has said that. People are just reacting to the things they haven't ever seen in a project before. Like it's been stated, we don't normally get to see projects so close and with such scrutiny so a lot of these things we just haven't seen before. People are allowed to be surprised and confused, and by doing so they certainly aren't saying they know more than anyone, or saying the project will fail.

 

BTW, sorry for taking certain things personally earlier. After my batch of photos it seemed directed at me. Thanks for you guys who spoke up for me though! Honestly I'm just thrilled to be able to help keep people up to speed! I've always lived far away from the excitement and now that it's nearby, I gotta have people to appreciate it, and share it with!