Realistic working model

For a serious hobbyist with Modeling experience. 500 dollars is not all that much. My father used to routinely buys "Toy" tractors that cost well in excess of 300 dollars. I have bought HO Locomotives at 200 dollars and woudl love to get my hands on some 600-700 dollar Brass ones out there.

500 may be slightliy out of reach but it is not too far out of the ballpark. I woudl be willing to purchase somethign in the 200-400 range.
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If given the choice I'd choose a hamburger over a hotdog anyday of the week.

I also want to point out that the best bet for a Model of this Magnitude would be to do it in HO scale, that woudl be 1:87th. 75 percent of all model railroaders model in HO and they constitute a very large number of people who would use the model on layouts and such.
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If given the choice I'd choose a hamburger over a hotdog anyday of the week.

Jack, I just want to second MF's comments... if you can create it in 1:87th, you may reach a wider audience that includes model railroaders. $500 is beyond my price range currently, but I know serious model railroaders who might be willing to pay that much for a quality addition to their layouts.

Im not sure if this was mentioned but the coaster jack R. is working on, what kind is it.

$500 is not much at all. Those coasters on modelrollercoasters.com go ofr A LOT of oney. Up to $7,000!

After doing a Google search I found this site that actually tells you how to build your own models. www.rollercoastermodels.com

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Top 5 SFGAm Coasters: 1) Deja Vu, 2) Raging Bull, 3) V2, 4) Batman: The Ride, 5)AE Blue
*** This post was edited by SFGAMan 8/10/2003 12:35:57 AM ***

Hi guys. I'm back from a long weekend. The scale is O-gauge. It is the smallest you can go and still manufacture parts that can be assembled by non-modellers without breaking things(essential if we are to take this mainstream someday). Again, this is going to be a limited production run. If it is successful you will maybe see us take it to the next level,but there is no gaurantee it will catch on.Not everyone appreciates coasters as much as we do! As for the price, making molds is very expensive. We have been working on this for over three years so we have thousands of hours invested and we haven't even sold one kit. If you were to try to scratchbuild this model it would cost thousands of dollars and the level of detail would probably still not be as accurate. The train analogy is correct. Think of this as the LGB of working models. It is definately hobby-grade not toy-grade.

Just for comparison, Cummons Scale Amusements is the leading company for operational HO scale pre-assembled cast metal carnival rides. One of their models will set you back almost 500 dollars and two years (that is how long the waiting list is.) Therefore, a larger scale similarly detailed roller coaster model for the same price is really a steal - out of my price range, but a steal none the less. You can find out more about Cummons' models on their website.

Best of luck on your models.

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http://coasterfuge.vze.com/

Those are really nice.

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http://said.uc.edu/students/oakleysd/cp/CP.jpg
Now tell me Cedar Point is running out of space.

This sounds very cool! I'd send $500 tomorrow for an accurate model like you describe. I can't wait to see the final results!

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I'd rather be in my boat with a drink on the rocks,
than in the drink with a boat on the rocks.

I better start saving up. But what kind of coaster style would the model be of?

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Top 5 SFGAm Coasters: 1) Deja Vu, 2) Raging Bull, 3) V2, 4) Batman: The Ride, 5)AE Blue

The model is of a B&M inverted.We will be setting up a site that shows pics and will allow anyone interested to get on a waiting list. Look for this in the coming months. Things are moving quickly on the project so we'll keep everyone informed.

singing: Merry Christmas to me...Merry Christmas to me...!!

Wood - anything else is an imitation

This sounds absolutely amazing. I'm going to start saving up for mine right now! Where do I sign? lol.

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The Coaster Kid

An invert is definetly worth it, with a wooden coaster, $500 seems high, but an invert is worth $500 from what you have talked about. Sadly I wont be in the market for such a model though.

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http://said.uc.edu/students/oakleysd/cp/CP.jpg
Now tell me Cedar Point is running out of space.

This is certainly an exciting concept, and one I have hoped for a while would be brought to fruition.

In my mind, I see a large market existing for specialized kits of this kind in higher end amusement park gift shops. When I say specialized kits, I simply mean including the pieces neccesary to create one (somewhat non-customizable) real rollercoaster. For example, if you were able to strike a deal with Cedar Fair for the rights to, say, Raptor or Talon, and create kits for one or both to be sold in the parks and online. I wouldn't be surprised if parks are highly attracted at the opportunity to sell such merchandise that is not only a big ticket item and a potential big seller, but is also a great form of advertisement. In my eyes, your biggest shot of selling something like this to the general public is in amusement parks, where you can take advantage of their burst of excitement and sudden fascination with roller coasters.

Of course its impossible for me to say, but I would venture to guess that if you were creating a "pre-fab" model with one basic set-up, you would need far fewer pieces than one designed to accomodate a variety of designs, and therefore could cut down the price a bit. Good luck with whatever method of sales you attempt, and be sure to keep us posted!

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-Jon
I'd Rather Be Riding Roller Coasters

Thank you all for the encouraging words.

I tried to build a model for a 9th grade engineering project. I didn't work because it was way to hard for the method I using: heating pieces of plastic in an over and then conforming them to the righ shape. I also made 100's of crossties, but they came out different shaped, so I was screwed. I got an A- on the project though, mainly for my CAD drawings.

I like Florida's idea about having kits in the parks. The only problem is that this is still a model, and since the dynamics would be very different from the prototypes, it wouldn't work if the track centerline was precisely scaled down (I'm sure Mike has thought of this.....!). The height of the elements has to gradually decrease, thus a profile of, let's say Raptor, next to a model of it, would look very different. Models lose speed quicker than most of us like them to, so it is necessary to account for that by starting with a lift that is higher. Now, these trains should keep their speed fairly well due to the large scale, but it is still important for everyone to know that the model they build can't be an exact replica. You'll still be able to do the same elements and track layout, it just won't look quite the same.
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Brad Sherman
While you're waiting here in line, better take a little time for meditating, cause he's waitng......he's The DEMON

I thought this too until I saw Chris Brewer's "perpetual motion machine" coaster at the Coney Island Ice Cream Shop. Wow, that thing went forever! It set new standards for train efficiency. I get your point , though.

Does anybody else plan on building a model?

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YOUNGSTOWN 2010

Brad, I've seen the wheels that will be used on this model and spun one of the bearings in my hand. Lets just say that I could have fallen asleep waiting for it to stop:-). They are very efficient for a model, and the friction losses have been substantially reduced. There won't be as much friction involved with this model as you might think. I'm just trying to save up some extra cash for this kit, which is hard to do for this 41 year old college boy without a full-time job.

Wood - anything else is an imitation