How to Build a Roller Coaster
How to Build a Roller Coaster
One of the places that many Americans spend their summer is at theme parks. The major draws at theme parks are roller coasters. While many people generally like roller coasters, there are a few that are obsessed with them. If you have always wanted to own your very own roller coaster, there are a few ways to do it. Here are some tips.
Obviously, most Americans don’t have the land, space or money to build a roller coaster in their backyard. Generally roller coasters cost millions of dollars, employ several engineers and dozens of laborers, not to mention it must pass safety and building codes in your location. However, even though you can’t build a life size roller coaster, you can still have fun creating roller coasters that are almost exactly like their full size counterparts.
Hobby Coasters
In many hobby stores across America, you can purchase prefabricated parts that fit together to create your very own roller coaster. What many roller coaster enthusiasts do is first create a design of a coaster on paper. You can easily create a design on graph paper figuring out the height, loops the coaster might have, special corkscrew turns, etc. Once your basic design is complete, you might want to go online and check whether this design is feasible. There are several programs available that can help you build and design virtual coasters. These coasters use real world physics to determine if your coaster will work. Once you have a working coaster design, you can go to almost any hobby store and purchase prefabricated coaster parts. Just like a Tonka Toy set, you can easily put together your hobby roller coaster piece by piece.
Toy Roller Coasters
If you are looking for an affordable and quick way to enjoy roller coaster building then you might want to purchase toy roller coaster sets such as SkyRail Roller Coaster, Millennium Builder and Coaster Dynamix. These toy roller coaster sets usually cost less than $100 and will give any coaster enthusiast hours upon hours of fun.
Electronic and Mechanical Coasters
It should be noted that the fastest growing segment in the roller coaster toy category is electronic and mechanical coasters. While other types of toy roller coaster sets use physics to propel their roller coaster, electronic and mechanical coasters can use batteries, mechanical belts and electricity to power the roller coaster, light up the track and work the coaster lifts. These sets are a little bit more expensive than other toy coaster sets, but for those that enjoy the sights and sounds of a coaster they are lots of fun.
Roller Coaster Diagrams
For coaster hobbyists, it should be noted that forums and coaster enthusiast’s web pages usually have diagrams and images of completed coasters. For a person looking to enjoy this hobby, these sites are a great place to go and learn more about design and materials. You will also learn how to get the most out of your coaster.