Top Gun (Flight Deck) Recreation (pics) & Help!

Yep, I never thought i'd say this again, but i'm working on something (relatively) big in NL. I'm trying to get this right as well. (Thank you Jakizle for showing me this compact little invert).

So far, i've gotten the drop, loop, turn around-helix thingie, and camelback down pretty well. Just trying to work on getting the trajectory of the second "turn around over the station and brakes before the lift s-bend thing". I'm having trouble as well...no matter how much I scale down certain parts of the ride or reshape them, I can never get the height, or the trajectory of the turn around to hit just right...

Is there a terrain difference i'm missing? The ride looks like it's set on pretty flat ground but I might be mistaken.

Overview of what I have so far:

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Pretty pre-drop and drop:

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Oh my GOD was this loop a pain (took me HOURS to get right):

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Am I missing something? Does this ride have a terrain difference?:

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Yes, that rides as pretty as it looks:

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Helpp me![:(]:

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edit - spelling mistake in above pic. [B)]

I think that your shaping needs some serious work. The drop needs to be steeper with more banking on the turn (watch some POV's, you'll see what I mean), the turnaround needs to be a bit taller with more banking on the apex of it and the 0g roll needs some work. When looking at an 0g roll, you want the heartline to be a perfectly straight parabola all the way through the element, but this can differ given more positive or negative G's. You also need to take the apex center of the roll and pull it down a bit from what I'm seeing. I realize that this is difficult to achieve when handbuilding, but I thought I might just let you know just in case you didn't. Lastly, the loop needs to be a bit tighter at the top with a bit of a tighter lead in and out. This will help the layout of the ride be more accurate to the real one. These are just my 2 cents, and I hope it helps.

Thank you for your help, and i'm not trying to judge you flickstah (I know you're trying to help)...but, lol, I did watch POV's, and I did do my homework, and I still can't get it right [:(]. I looked at many pics, and the loop shaping is older (it was an older B&M) not so tight at the top, pulls more G's throughout (mine hits 4 G's): http://rcdb.com/80.htm?p=1319

Turn around: http://rcdb.com/80.htm?p=1317

1st half Overview: http://rcdb.com/80.htm?p=145

Camelback: http://rcdb.com/80.htm?p=1320

I also looked at a google map and earth of this ride to see it's layout and size.

So...I think the only way to correctly SHOW what's wrong would be to share the track with people beforehand. So...you willing to test run it?

Also, Jakizle, help...please. You seemed to like this ride, you remember the experience at all?

Lol, if you want the ride experience I'm here to help. I live only an hour away from this park and I go all the time. I know this ride inside and out.

And yea, I'm just trying to help. Handbuilding a recreation is really difficult, so I'm not harping on you or anything. Again, just my 2 cents.

I think i know this ride in and out too, I live 5 minutes from this park. I always have a season pass.

This is horrible. It's supposed to be a wild mouse in a box.

Oh wait, wrong Great America.

Good luck. Despite its small size, it's not at all an easy ride to recreate. So many little but very significant trackwork details through. Be prepared! lol

i think it would be eisier to recreate an eisier B&M invert such as silver bullet

I agree with J, I tried doing a recreation of this ride and gave up after about 60 hours of work...it is a headache-an-a-haf

I wish I was better at No Limtis. I've ridden FD more than 300 times (I work at CGA, and it's my homepark), then I could give you more pointers.

One pointer I can give though has to do with the roll. Unlike the Batman clones, FD's roll is not Zero G, rather, it's very forceful. I don't know how else to describe it, considering I'm no NL expert. Still, I hope this recreation comes out well.

I wouldn't say the Batman clones are much of 0-g rolls either lol, despite the name. I prefer faster rolls like those anyways, though the rotation on Batman isn't as smooth as I'd like. Raptor and Dueling Dragons Ice are similarly fast, but smoother.

Thanks for the well-wishes guys.

I'll tackle this beast a little later today, I took some sim. pics last night, i'll put them up a little later.

If one of you wants to test please let me know, I want PERSONAL insight as much as possible. If I can't do this all by myself, i'm fine with that, help would be great, at least on getting the layout and such right, I want this to be a handbuilding ACHIEVEMENT! [:D]

Flickstah, rlrcstrlvr, and sunfire, (dcs...pwease?) the above is a shout-out to you, let me know!

edit - yeah, I took that in mind with the zero-g (camelback), it's not really so shaped to provide 0 G's (which you will always feel lat G's ESPECIALLY on zero-g like FD's) it's more shaped to force, yet gives you a weightless push in your seat feeling. And it's heartlined better than that pic. looks, i'm sure the real one is not a "straight" heartline as well. From the POV it looks like..it pulls you to left a little bit, which is what I shot for.

edit 2 - bump [:D]

I'd be glad to help out, to bad the park is closed for the off season and can't go get a ride on it to refresh my memory.

^That's just what I was thinking.

^ Last time I rode it was like over a month ago during the Halloween Haunt. I got so many rides on it, I never even had to get off because there was no line.



Edit: Bump

This might be on hold for a little bit...sudden rush of schoolwork has halted it. I'll work on it again maybe around Christmas break, or early January.

Don't keep bumping it! It'll happen just not now. Keep it in your mind though, I WILL come back to it!