Raptoralex's defunct coasters
Giant Coaster Fuji-Q https://rcdb.com/2073.htm
You pretty much have the weird coaster market, Jetcoasterfan. Also, that link doesn't help at all because there's no art.
Great recreations. You might be interested in a FB group that was just created a few weeks ago. Its about Defunct Coaster Recreations. Someone on their has just done the Bobs at Riverview. I helped him out a little bit with it. Here is a link
Here is a pov of that Giant Coaster.
I am not making your weird Japanese coasters, Jetcoasterfan. That's your thing.
It was a coaster at fuji q. You can add it in with your moonsault scramble.
He literally just said that he's not going to do it. Please respect that.
I've got the track down. That was the easy part. It took a few goes at the shape of the pretzel, but now it's right. The supports will be the difficult part. What an odd coaster.
Really cool to see someone recreate this, part of me wishes this ride still existed, it looks absolutely crazy. However, I definitely feel like the pretzel still needs some work, the entrance and exit should be more vertical and the valley more circular.
I found this all in 2 min :
POV better quality:
POV Nolimits
I've some line drawing from its Japanese patent. It might help.
Slalom, maybe u have an link from the patent ?(not for me but for Alex)
You can download from this link because Google patent doesn't have any drawing or full patent.
Okamoto MSC Patent
Cool find! Patent drawings may not be to scale so they don't work as the best sources for that, but still so cool to see that the ride was patented.
-Ride_Op
Strange, it seems Walt Disney Productions was involved in this patent.
Nice find! Thanks for the patent drawings. I found most of those images and POVs you linked earlier. I also have that last image, but it's much smaller. I'll get to shaping the pretzel. Looks like I have the two towers right.
Tip for Alex: the style settings screen offers multiple options for cross tie density. I think it would match the real one closer if you add some style nodes so the high G area has more cross ties.
-Ride_Op
I know. I haven't seen the cross ties in detail yet, but the second spike goes from high density to normal at the bottom of the curve. I have that corrected.
Better shaping on the pretzel, and the cross ties have been altered. I also have more support work on the towers, including the beginnings of the arches.
Edit: Upon further research, most of the supports were light gray. Only the supports in the pretzel were white. I also have finished the supports on the spikes.
You're going to mock me, but this is the rudimentary way I build coasters. I don't have 3-D modeling software (when did Sketchup become in-browser only?), nor do I have the time or patience to learn it. I tried it before and couldn't even get a texture on a simple pyramid shape, and that was after YouTube tutorials. I'm not intelligent enough for that. My building is all by hand too.
Anyway, that's the explainer for the next set of images, which are the beginnings of the pretzel supports. The tracks are temporary. I am using them to shape the supports. These are going to show up for a short amount of time and mostly motion blurred in the video, so I don't think perfect detail is necessary. Also, I'm a big, dumb idiot and can never do anything right, so this will suffice.
Moonsault Scramble POV.
Up next will be Idora Park's Wildcat. I am building the original version from 1930, which had a curving drop. That was reprofiled (I don't know when) to the high turn and straight drop. Here's an image from a book about Herbert Schmeck that shows the original drop.
The transition from (simple terms to explain) half cork to half loop in reverse (so the first inversion) has too much of a lat/flat turn feel at the very crest of it. I just checked with the POVs and it didn't seem to be shaped that way.
Comparo:
^Very flat-turned looking
^Harder to tell without watching, but actually smooth-rolled throughout
Otherwise, looks great. Supports look awesome.
^ Thanks. Yeah, I couldn't exactly get that roll right. Not my best work, but it's still fun. The G's are intense.
Progress on Wildcat:
Keep in mind this is the original version, which operated from 1930-1933/34. The first drop plus hill after the second turnaround were reprofiled to what most photos and videos show. I think I will make both versions for the video.
I still need to work on the terrain. The non-lift-hill half of the ride was on slightly lower terrain than the lift side. I also will make the tunnels out of custom supports because the default tunnels don't work with it.
Here is a good pic of the fan turn half. !https://rcdb.com/450.htm#p=4886
I've been on a bit of an uninspired streak. Can't think of any coaster designs, styles or even names. So I've turned to re-creating defunct coasters.
My first was Cyclone Racer at Long Beach Pike. This Church-designed and Traver-built twin coaster operated from 1930-1968. I spent about two months to create it.
My second project was more difficult. It was the famous Cyclone at Crystal Beach, which ran from 1926-1946. This Traver coaster was considered the most intense ever built. It took me a few months to make this too. I did a lot of research and even had a large copy of the blueprints (thanks to my girlfriend, who has access to park archives and printed me a copy). It's probably my favorite recreation.
My third was a steel coaster, The Bat. This early suspended coaster at Kings Island had a short life span, 1981-1983. This coaster was especially difficult to research. I found a photo of an old brochure that showed the overhead layout and some photos from a few angles for supports. This was my most ambitious project and took about three months. After this, I had to take a break, not just from building but from NoLimits altogether.
My next project is going to be a bit easier. I've started the track work and have the specs pretty much correct. I have to work on the shaping of the inversion and get the length closer to accuracy before I start on the supports. This is Moonsault Scramble, the first coaster over 200 feet tall. It operated at Fuji-Q Highland in Japan from 1983-2000 and pulled a stunning 6.5 G's.
I have a few ideas for other defunct coasters to recreate, including Blue Streak at Woodcliff park and Bobs at Riverview. Overhead photos and layouts help the most when researching. If you have any suggestions, pointers or resources, I'd appreciate them. I'll update this as I work on Moonsault Scramble, unless I forget.