Colossus, a coaster model that breaks all records

[OrlandoRocks]

http://thrillnetwork.com/stories_view.php/1444/colossus_coaster_model_breaks_records.html

Mar. 10th, 2006 -- Towering more than 600 feet and longer than 3,000 feet, Colossus is one of the largest coasters of its kind. At least it would seem that way if you were a 1 1/2-inch-tall K'nex toy figurine.

 Colossus is the brainchild of Brandon ("siestakey" on ThrillNetwork), an ambitious 14-year-old who set out to recreate one of his favorite roller coasters, Kingda Ka, out of the popular plastic building toy K'nex.

Kingda Ka is the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world. Using a hydraulic launch, it sends riders up 456 feet at 128 mph.

Brandon first dreamed up this project during the summer when he visited Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, N.J., for the first time; however it wasn't until September that he put his ideas on paper during algebra class and started hashing out the details of such a mammoth project. But there was one problem: where to build the 28-foot-tall model. Brandon eventually decided to approach his school about the project.

"It was really the only place to do it. I would have done it in the parking lot, but there was no place to put it, plus the road is curved," said Brandon when he was asked why he chose to do the project at his school.

Brandon showed his sketches of what he hoped to be a working roller coaster model to Howell Memorial Middle School Principal Chuck Welsh, who eagerly allowed the model to be built at the school even though no one was certain if it would actually work.

"I don't [know if it will work]," said Brandon. "I don't think it will make it over on the first try. If not, I will modify the launch track."

With a location secured, Brandon needed to obtain the large number of K'nex pieces necessary for the coaster. This wasn't an immediate problem because he already had three K'nex Screamin' Serpent and three K'nex Rippin' Rocket model roller coaster kits along with various other building kits. Even with the abundance of pieces he already had, it was clear more would be needed. He wrote K'nex and asked for sponsorship of the project. Over the next five months, K'nex donated more than 8,000 pieces.

 With the help of a few eager friends, construction on Colossus began on Oct. 6. As the project progressed and grew larger it was moved from a classroom to the school stage and eventually to the gym. School personnel were supportive of Brandon's work. Teachers often stayed late to allow him to work after school, and janitors let him into the building on weekends.

Construction started on the two massive 7-foot-tall pullouts that would form the base of the tower. However shortly into the project, Brandon decided they were too short and started over; this time making two 14-foot pullouts. The first pullout was finished in October, but the group's first setback would occur shortly after. That pullout was destroyed in December. They later rebuilt it only to have a similar fate happen in January. On the third attempt the group was able to build a pullout that would stand to see the conclusion of the project.

The pullouts weren't the only problems the group faced. They encountered many more setbacks as the towers collapsed because of inadequate support or accidents. They experienced setbacks when the occasional mischievous middle schooler would break part of the ride.

"One day I walked into the gym, and there was a dodgeball in it about 12 feet high. Obviously this was done intentionally," said Brandon. "I just went up and took it out and snapped the pieces back together."

 To aid in guarding the model coaster against future dodgeball attacks and fellow students, Brandon placed hockey nets around the tower when he wasn't working on it and taped signs to it asking people to please not break the model. Because security was a problem for the ride, Brandon even considered installing a video camera to ward off students who wished to damage the ride or at least telling them there was a camera.

Eventually the project drew the attention of Six Flags Great Adventure who read about it in the local newspaper. The park offered to help Brandon by donating $500 to defray some expenses from the construction of Colossus.

Once the two 14-foot pullouts were complete, Brandon was confident that the project could actually be finished. He next turned his attention to the most important part of the ride: the launch section. An innovative design was needed to launch the 3-inch-long K'nex cars 28 feet in the air. A system that used rubber bands to build up kinetic energy was used. Brandon build a strong structure at one end of the 30-foot launch track in which he tied many rubber bands together to form a long rubber string. He then pulled the rubber bands back until they were taut, placed the car on the slingshotlike lunch track and let go. After making some improvements on the system, Brandon was able to get it to send the K'nex cars careening down the track with speeds he calculated at being in excess of 55 mph.

Construction continued with the upper half of the tower, which was built on the ground in a second 14-foot-tall section that would later be hoisted onto the top of the pullouts. Work on the top half of the tower went quickly. The top hat (the top of the tower) was completed Jan. 17 and placed atop the second half of the tower a few days later.

With the help of his father and his sister's boyfriend, the massive sections of the tower were merged on Feb. 28. The three hoisted the sections on top of each other while standing on three 14-foot ladders they rented from Hope Depot. Once everything was connected it was time to test the ride. Much like most real life roller coasters, the train didn't make it over the tower on the first attempt. But the train cleared the top of the tower on the fourth try.

 He showed off his working roller coaster model to students at the middle school the next day during an assembly that was attended not only by students and faculty but local media as well.

Brandon hopes that Guinness World Records will recognize his model as the largest working roller coaster model in the world. However, Guinness did not respond to the e-mails he sent early in the project. He took the tower down in large sections in case they would want him to reassemble it.

Even if Colossus isn't officially recognized as a record-breaking model, it's still one of the most impressive K'nex roller coasters to date.
What's next for the young coaster designer? He says he is planning on building a recreation of Great Adventure's Batman & Robin: The Chiller in his bedroom.

Photo Gallery :http://www.thrillnetwork.com/gallery/Colossus-Knex-Roller-Coaster-Model

[sir clinksalot]

That's pretty cool.

I wonder if there is any video of it out there.

[rjholla2003]

I looked at pictures of it earlier and it's very impressive.

[OrlandoRocks]

I wonder if there is any video of it out there.

The video is here: http://www.thrillnetwork.com/features/knex