So here is my Smiler-esque thing I was attempting to make for Plantoris' contest that I obviously didn't finish. I've always wanted to make something like Smiler, and its most recent incident increased that interest. The goal of this ride is inversion whoring to the max without using the Intamin 4 barrel rolls in a row thing and without requiring the massive hole Smiler is currently placed in. I've "honored" trenches the original has, but I'm trying to go for something more clone friendly. I'm trying to pay homage without going full 100% Gerstlauer, so hopefully my shaping isn't too odd. I'd like to pay homage to Smiler's "area of extreme attention and interest", but my bowtie is more like a traditional bowtie and less like Smiler's warped corkscrews that are vaguely like a corkscrew. The ride has roughly 110ft of elevation change between its highest point and lowest point. RCDB gives The Smiler a 98ft drop, which I'm assuming is the total height difference, so hopefully I'm not going too huge compared to the original.
So far it has 9 inversions. I'm shooting for at least 16, preferably 18 or 20. It has a pre-lift barrel roll, corky drop thing, a sea serpent (2), Gerstlauer's "immelman", that is really a very overbanked turn, a wraparound cobra-rollish thingy (2), and a bowtie (2). I wanted to avoid having a vertical lift but I can see how it's needed by design now since I've been making this, but it would be nice to squeeze in another inversion after what I have before the second lift. I wanted to make the lifts form an X in aerial view but real estate is limited so IDK. Ideally I could do the thing Mystery Mine does after the second lift before the final brakes to throw in another inversion, but we'll see. I'd like to stress that I'm trying to avoid going too heavily into terraforming so that the ride ends up a bit more standard, but again we'll see what happens.
For the second half I'm planning a twist to half loop (Smiler's first non-cork/barrel roll inversion after the drop), squashed loop (Junker's loop), and another twist to half loop that leads in a cobra roll that will somewhat mimic the "danger zone" of Smiler and not exactly mimic it. You'll notice my bowtie isn't "right" at all compared to the real thing. No point in trying to totally recreate the ride when a recreation already exists that is way better than what I could have done, so this will hopefully be my spin on it.
If you guys have any suggestions on throwing another loop or two in there let me know. I'm open to quite alot of ideas, included an inclined loop I scrapped because I felt the rider's needed a break from the G's. Layout so far is a bit ugly visually in my opinion, but supports may add a layer of complexity that makes it "work" when I get to that point. Again if you guys want to see a traditional vertical loop or something somewhere let me know and I'll see if it works with my skill level/vision.
And in closing, anyone know where I can attach a cage to some B&M floorless trains so that I can replicate the 4 car Gerstlauer Infinity coaster trains somewhat? Also please excuse the tire lift. All rides I make are in "shuttle mode" until I finish them.