K-NEX Vertical Vengeance coaster.

Wow, this thing is pretty big (5ft tall when completed).

Click here.

I noticed that the train travels on the outside of the track in the pictures? Pretty cool though. I have built countless layouts with my Screamin' Serpent kit in my day. I also wonder how K'nex managed to pull off a vertical lift?

I think Target has them on clearance for $14.98. Unfortunately, they are all sold out in my area. It looks like a fun kit but I'm not willing to pay more than around $20 for it plus I picked up the Corkscrew Canyon waterslide kit for $8.50 from Toys R Us last month and I haven't even started on that one yet.

Dude go to youtube and type in "colosus(icantspell) k'nex"

28 foot knex coaster

Got one as a Christmas present.

The chain clutches on the cars are spring loaded and the vertical lift works fine, but boarding the coaster would not be for the faint of heart, as the cars are upside-down at the base of the lift.

The curves are banked at a full 90 degrees to go around the tower. That's a concession to the track design: the rails are rigidly attached to the track ties, so it is not possible for the track to bend through a flat curve. Which is fine; the cars have only one axis of articulation, so it is not possible for them to navigate a flat curve.

Right now I'm tracking the 'alternate' version of the coaster; it has a more conventional lift and a flat track lead in to the base of the lift.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

It's similar to the Six Flags Vertical Velocity kit from a few years ago, especially when it comes to the track configuration that Dave just mentioned. I like the ability to easily make dramatic curves but I don't like the fact that all curves have to be banked 90 degrees. I tried to redesign the lift to make it so the cars load on the upright direction but that proved difficult so I changed the layout so the cars load on a flat stretch of track before dropping and turning upside-down to engage the lift. That's all I got done though... I have the lift done but never found the time to add track with a layout of my own. One of these days I'll find the time, I think.

Another problem is the use of small K'Nex pieces- they're really cool but I don't like the fact that I can't use spare pieces from other K'Nex coaster kits, which was probably the idea all along. Overall it's a nice coaster kit to have but I prefer the Screamin' Serpent and the Rippin' Rocket.

Wait. . . a Vv kit? What?

I like K'nex and have quite a few sets that I share with the children in my class. I love the first coaster set that they sold. Even the car was made from the basic pieces and when built correctly, works very well. (Each year my class re-assembles it along with about 20 other models.) The only thing that drives me crazy about it is when I have to move it to take to a show or to a display, it's a huge pain in the behind as it is very cumbersome.

Also, it's getting harder and harder to find the correct length of tubing for it, as it has long been discontinued and the current orange tubing that is available isn't long enough for the course without splicing.

The Vertical Vengence just doesn't feel right to me. I know K'nex was trying to do something in HO scale to appease model rail-road hobbyists, but the parts just are missing something.

I will invite everyone again to see our annual display when it gets closer to April. This year we are featuring a huge marble run (going over the K'nex bridges) and a ton of Rokenbok along with the ball towers, coasters, rides and simple machines. *** Edited 1/19/2007 2:10:59 AM UTC by Richie Reflux***

RR - They definitely sell the purple Serpent tubing on the K'nex website. It's not as flexible as the orange track, but it should work just the same.

http://www.knex.com/building_toys/screamin_serpent_rc_tubing.php

Coasterfreaky -> Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, the original orange tubing is somewhat smaller in diameter than the purble tubing for the Serpent or the Red tubing from Rippin' Rocket (Which are identical to each other.) I actually use the wider tubing in the ball towers because it performs better.

On the original roller coaster, the thinner orange tubing works best under the gray wheels.

Yeah, there was one of those Six Flags-licensed coaster kits a few years ago called Vertical Velocity or V2. It was nothing like the Intamin Impulse coasters- it was a lot of twisted track with cars that "hung" riders upside-down under the track. The arrangement actually worked a lot better if you designed the ride as a B&M floorless coaster, for which the cars were close to perfect.