Terra Coaster Question

Regarding the German 400 footer @ Heide Park: As Rollergator said, the future of it is in question. If and when it does get built it won't be opening until at least next year. Well this might disappoint some people I personally don't really care one way or the other. Out of the Intamin Mega/Giga/Etc. coasters that have been installed or are being installed to date (MF, the SROS rides, Expedition Ge-Force and Goliath) MF is the largest one and also the one with the dullest layout. I'd much rather have a 150 footer like the new Goliath over a huge ride with sweeping turns and little in the way of actual elements any day.

Hopefully some of these new Intamin twisterish designs will start reminding parks that size *isn't everything* in the coaster world, even when you're talking about steel.
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If any crane is used for a Tera coaster, it will probably be the Kroll K-10000. There are only 2 of these in the world, and actually feature 2 cranes, there is the arm that is 300 feet long, but is only 275 feet in the air, while there is a shorter crane, 125 feet higher in the air but only 100 feet long. I can see that crane being used for maybe 1 month, it just depends.

The URL to the Kroll K-1000 is http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=tower-crane.htm&url=http://www.towercrane.com/

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Nessy: Ride of Steel
Webmaster of Digital Coaster - http://digital-coaster.com

For that tall they could use a center post crane. A center post crane is used for construction of most skyscrapers. They look like this.

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TiM Schroll
gocubs7@hotmail.com
LED ZEPPELIN

*** This post was edited by MFRULES on 3/10/2002. ***

just put the tower in the middle. i tried to edit it but it didn't like me.

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TiM Schroll
gocubs7@hotmail.com
LED ZEPPELIN

What if they just built two very strong couple-ton towers and but a bar in between them. That way it would be like a pulley with strong cable and the towers could be removable. Do ya get it?

It would be a tower cran, just like Jim Fisher said. It could be anchored to the towers themselves as it went up.

A crane isn't even needed. Heck, bamboo is used to build skyscrapers all over Asia. It is stronger and doesn't have much, if any, wind resistance. In regards to the Terra.... IF it is built, I can only hope it has some drama, and not just a big drop. Sooooooo boring....
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What's wrong with a helicopter? Or an Air-Crane as it's called? The best known example is the Erickson S-64 which has a maximum lift capacity of about 20,000 pounds, more even. In its biggest operation, it carried out 176 lifts over two, two-day periods, a total of 1,100 tons. Can do 100 lifts a day with full support.

This photo demonstrates how it could assemble a coaster. It is actually assembling a crane! :) Here's another of it assembling a powerline support tower not unlike one of MF's. Erickson Air-Crane site.

The 750ft limit on Intamin's Gigacoaster is most likely due to the design itself, not construction limits.

Oh, BTW...

It's spelled tera coaster, with one r. Terra is Latin for "earth" or "ground", which makes it sound like a terrain coaster.

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RCT hypercoaster crazy!

Taipan: You will notice that the helicopter is being used to assemble the crane that will do the real work. As I said before they have a nitch, but in most cases including just about any coaster construction that I can imagine are not the best solution.

Nessy: The Kroll K-10000 is a heavy lift crane. It would be total overkill for coaster construction where the pieces are no more than a few tons. What you need is height. The top of MF was set with a mobile crane using a jib. A jib is an extension that is added to the end of a crane to increase its height and reach at a major sacrifice in lifting capacity. You can get by with this in coaster construction since the pieces are not very heavy.

Here's a link to the MF topping. http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/inside_park/rides/thrill/millennium/construction_archives/mftopping_aerial.cfm The crane for a 400 footer would probably be the same just taller. Beyond 400 feet it might start to change.

*** This post was edited by Jim Fisher on 3/11/2002. ***