The paratrooper

This article is LONG overdue, but I got the lights on and now the ride is ready for and article. This is one of the most complex ride I have, and is the oldest. It takes around an hour and 15 minutes to setup. The paratrooper. One of my favorite rides. The steps will be written under the pictures.

The ride is completely racked.

                                                                The power cord is attached

 An odd view of the lights wile racked. The lights remain off threw most of setup.

                                    The work panels and supports are un racked

                                                           And attached

                                                 The one on the back

 The inside compartment showing the tops, supports, and braces racked.

                          The side braces are attached

                                   As well as the brace spacer.

                                                   Now a tub is un racked

                                               And is set along side the ride

                                               They are usually set in rows of 4 on each side

                                             All the seats are un racked.

                             Now the control panel is un racked and sets in the corner until later.

                    The brace rack box is pulled out and set on the work platform.

                                                Now each sweep is unfolded, sometimes 2 at a time.

                                                             4 sweeps out.

                                                        All 8 sweeps unfolded.

              The sweep racks are detached and set under the back of the ride.

                                                   Now each rim iron is detached from the base

                                          and attached to the wheel. The wheel is moved around until

                                                          all 8 rim irons are attached.

                                                  Then the camel backs are unfolded

                                         Then the wheel is moved, and another is unfolded

                                                    all 8 camel backs are unfolded.

                                          Then the cam back supports are attached, 3 at a time.

                                          All 8 sets of braces are attached, and now the wheel is finished.

                                         The front work plate is detached and set aside.

                                      Now the control panel is attached. (its more for decoration then anything)

                                       More brace feet and spacers are un racked.

                                                         All of the ground work is finished.

 The lights are turned on. (the lights flash super fast between red green and blue)

                               Notice the unplugged strand of lights in the middle.

                                        The rest of the lights are plugged in.

                                                     All lights are on and working.

                                                    Now the ride is raised upwards.

                                                            Fully raised.

                                                  These hold it up wile the braces are unfolded.

                                                  2 back braces are lowered and attached.

                                            And the brace spacers are also unfolded forming an X

                                             Now 2 more ground braces are lowered on both sides of the sign.

                                              And the feet and spacers are attached.

                                              The wheel is raised and is almost complete.

                       Now the closest camel back is moved down towards the sign.

                                            First the top support is attached.(not done on real ride but necessary here)

                                                             The top is attached,

                                                       And held on by knex.

                                             Now the tub support is put in place,

   And the tub is attached, and held in place by knex. (sometimes instead of doing all 3 parts in order the top, support, tub, they will put on all the tops, and then all the supports, and then all the tubs. That adds around 15 minutes to the real setup and around 8 minutes to the knex ride setup)

                                                Now one seat is complete,

                                                 The wheel is moved,

                                                    and the process is repeated.

                                                     They are done in pairs to keep it balanced.

                                                              4 seats.

                                     As you can see the seats are in a pattern green pink

                                                                    6 seats

                                                                          7 seats

                                                       all 8 seats are now attached.

                                                   The ride is now completely up.

                                                            A side view of the ride.

                                                   The lights are off.

                                                        The real ride racked

The real ride up.

Soon I shall have a video of the lights on you tube, I will post when that happens.

New stuff

So its been  a wile since I posted. Well I have some new stuff to show case.

                                The sidewinder now has electric green led lights. The real ride doesn't have led lights but the led lights put off the super bright green glow the real one has.

                    The super shot now has tan and yellow pipe cleaners going up its length

                                         But when the lights are on, they are led lit.

                                         The scat is back and is better than ever.

                                                And also has electric lights.

             The hi rollers lights are on, and now the right side panel has cool white led lights.

                        The rapid slide has joined the midway, and now has flags,

                                                                  And lights.

 

                      A new wayout swings have been built, painted and lit.

                                                                    With led lights aswell.

                                      The hustler has been built. It now has better décor,

                                                           and lights aswell.

              The chair swings and other wayout swings now have electric lights.

 The new pink and yellow wayout swings shown for the first time here.

                              The expo wheel now has some new editions to it.

  The winch that folds and unfolds the wheel now has a motor on it, making it more efficient. (the sweeps also now have X shaped spacers in the middle. They are hard to see in these pics)

 An all new bally has been added to it. Its the first custom bally I have done. (see carnival terminology for bally)

The real bally mine is based off of. Fun fact, I estimate around 10-20% of setup/teardown on rides is nothing but décor. Such as attaching ballys (expo wheel), un folding feather lights (swings), attaching flags (expo wheel), putting together cluster lights (super shot), raising signs (slides), and other décor. In fact, around 60% of the hustlers setup is pure décor. Take away the signs, and ballys, and gate cluster lights, and it would take like 20 minutes to set up. (that's the real ride not the knex ride, the knex ride takes around 15 minutes to get up)
Other changes not shown here are the new skydiver, led RGB lights on the purple paratrooper, green led lights on the spider, red paratrooper, old paratrooper, eli hy 5 2, carousel, and dinosaurs now have electric lights.

New term

A new word has been added to the carnival terminology page. A bally. Its number 9 so scroll to the bottom of the page to view them.

Happy 4th

Happy fourth of July. I have been busy, and haven't posted much, but stay tuned. I recently built the massive skydiver, so pics to come.

The independence day themed, now destroyed century wheel.