Custom models of Sheikra, TTD, Insane and now Manta!

[themeparkman25I get wet for Manta!]

^^ and ^Too be completely honest, I have never though of using anything else beside balsa wood. I am spacing his name right now, but the guy who builds all the wood coasters and built the model of Led Zap, he used wood so I just kind of assumed I should too. I hope what I have done with the wood though doesn't look too bad, I put a lot of time into them.

I wasn't knocking the use of balsa, just curious as to why you chose it. As a model railroader, I use a lot of styrene for projects, thus my curiousity. I'm more comfortable using it, so I keep grabbing more.

Perhaps you could do a test in styrene, and compare the end results? That might be interesting.

Keep up the good work!

Is styrene a foam? They only kinds of coasters I have made so far have been B&M and Intamin, which one would styrene work best for? If it is a malleable round tubing, that would work a hell of a lot better than solid copper electric wiring. I am definitely curious to know if there are better ways of doing it! Thanks

Excellent, excellent job on those. I can't wait to see the finished Insane and TTD models.

Edit: Whoops! I wasn't paying attention!

What do you mean whoops? I'm just wondering, Ill get them done eventually. Insane before TTD

[mcjacoBeer Man]

Is styrene a foam? They only kinds of coasters I have made so far have been B&M and Intamin, which one would styrene work best for? If it is a malleable round tubing, that would work a hell of a lot better than solid copper electric wiring. I am definitely curious to know if there are better ways of doing it! Thanks

www.plastruct.com/

Take a look at them. Styrene is a plastic. You can use liquid glue which will literally "weld" the pieces together. It comes in tube shapes, flat sheets, just about anything. Check out your local hobby shop, they should have it in stock.

[Vekoma Fan BoyThat random nerd]

^Don't forget Evergreen Styrene, Matt!

http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/

Also, to those who asked, Styrene is not foam, but the beady white stuff commonly called styrofoam technically is styrene. (Not true DOW Styrofoam I mean). Styrofoam is expanded polystyrene. Modeling styrene is not expanded and is more of a plastic than a packaging material.

[mcjacoBeer Man]

^ Gracias! I could not for the life of me remember the other company!

[themeparkman25I get wet for Manta!]

How well does the stuff hold paint? And thanks to both of you for showing me those links!

[mcjacoBeer Man]

Very paintable.

Oh, not trying to sidetrack you, just giving you other options. Your work thus far is very impressive.

[cfcI've gone pantless!]

I'd just like to add that I had trouble enough building plastic monster models from kits when I was younger. Your coaster models are very impressive.

[themeparkman25I get wet for Manta!]

Mcjaco- I will definitely check out styrene on the next coaster I make. I was browsing the evergreen site and it looks like it will make models a lot easier to make. I am hoping to knock out Insane before the school year is over (end of April!!) and TTD shortly there after (Say memorial day) and then after that I will be looking for another project! Any ideas anyone?

CFC- Thank you! Ill admit, the people on coastersims kind of tore the model apart and that kind of sucks to hear. I know it isn't completely accurate but I still didn't think it was that bad. But I just want to thank everyone!

Now, I actually dug through all my pictures on my computer and found just a few, old and blurry ones of TTD. Bear with me, I know they aren't good, but consider it a sneak peek!

[BelgianGuyJason X versus the Robot Space Donkey!]

Man I can imagine this took a long time to build, then go figure if you try to make a wooden coaster out of Balsa wood and make the supports out of 2mm beams all the way!!!!!

[Jack RimerDonkeys give me orgiastic scream!]

The people on CoasterSims tore the model apart? What a surprise! (sarcasm). I think your models are great. We get torn apart too (CoasterDynamix) on enthusiast sites. As an enthusiast and model builder, you are well aware of where your models deviate from the real rides and you don't need a bunch of know-it-alls telling you. At least you follwed through on building a model. Most people like to talk about what they would build, name their coaster, then never do anything of substance.
Keep building and take solace in the fact that there are people who understand the work and dedication needed to tackle such an ambitious project.