[TC14] Wild Mouse Rollercoaster

[beerme]

I am new to this forum but have been building amusement park rides for a while now. I have done a Everly Monster, a HUSS Giant Enterprise and a HUSS Troika, all of which i have displayed at brickworld chicago over the last few years. Most of what i do i try to do in "minifig scale" which i have taken to be ~1:48 scale depending on how you look at minifigs. I also have several others underway, but will need more time to finish them properly than the contest allows. I have been trying to faithfully reproduce the original rides and have them function as the real life ones do. Sometimes the scale is modified to suit the minifigs and how they fit into the cars. It tends to make for large projects that then stretch the structural limits of lego which is a fun challenge in itself.

I had noticed at brickworld that coasters i have seen tend to go too fast and whip around the track. The model may be 1:48 scale but gravity remains constant, so a drop of 1 meter in real life is like a 48 meter drop for the minifigs. My solution is to start with a wild mouse coaster. There are many versions but basically the car goes along and them makes a sharp 180 degree turn and goes back and forth like a mouse running around. there is a famous one at Oktoberfest in munich that has 2 mirror image coasters with little cars that zip back and forth. It is fun to watch and i thought it would work in lego better.

I got the new lego rollercoaster kit soon after it came out and have been experimenting with it (and buying track on bricklink until i found it was in many cases cheaper on bricks and pieces when available...) I had been making plans to design my own track system by bending electrical wire, but the official lego track is worth a try. I noticed that it loses a lot of speed on the corners and drops. Going around a 180 degree corner seems to slow it to a crawl regardless of how fast it comes into the corner.

I have been successful at getting a prototype to work so far minus the lift hill. i am focusing on having it get through the course before worrying about how to get it up the hill. My cat has been mesmerized by the lego coaster and has been 'helping me' by pawing at the cars as they go by. It is fun to watch her as she is mesmerized by all of the motion.

 

Now: i need to figure out how to post pictures to this site so i can show you my progress. (if there is a faq, point me to it. i use a mac and iphone. maybe flicker can link to it?)

play well...

 

 

 

 

[beerme]

[deraven]

Hi beerme - that looks awesome!  Maybe this will help with sharing better pictures:

The paperclip/upload option on Eurobricks is only for very small images to be used in your signature line here on the board.  You only get 100K total, so even 1 regular image would push you above the limit of available space.  For sharing photos of MOCs, etc., you'll want to use a 3rd party service and I think most folks would recommend Flickr (if not one of the specifically Lego-oriented hosting sites).

Here's a tutorial on linking/embedding Flickr images in your posts: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/97921-flickr-tutorial/

[Jim]

Hi Beerme,

Welcome to EB! I'm glad you joined.

I recommend using Bricksafe or Flickr, where you can upload big pics and embed a smaller version here. Max is 1024 pixels wide.

If you need any help, let me know.

 

[Aventador2004]

Nice work so far. But how much is technic?

[Jim]

If the two pics you have posted comprise your WIP, than I need to say that that's not exactly what we are looking for. A rollercoaster is okay, but making it out of System bricks kinda defeats the purpose. You can use System bricks to do some decorating, but the core of the ride should definitely be Technic.

I recommend taking a look at some of the other WIPs to see what I mean.

[Aventador2004]

4 hours ago, Jim said:

If the two pics you have posted comprise your WIP, than I need to say that that's not exactly what we are looking for. A rollercoaster is okay, but making it out of System bricks kinda defeats the purpose. You can use System bricks to do some decorating, but the core of the ride should definitely be Technic.

I recommend taking a look at some of the other WIPs to see what I mean.

I was waiting for this comment. It looks too system.

[shadow_elenter]

I have to agree, this is not a LEGO technic MOC.
 

[beerme]

I think i misinterpreted the contest. I can share progress as i go, but please remove this from the actual contest.

As an experiment, i am attaching a link to my Enterprise ride which is probably more what you are after. My projects tend to take a long time to complete, sometimes years and i don't have enough time between now and september to do one.

Enterprise by doug pengelly, on Flickr