Shenandoah Shows knex carnival rides ™: May 2014

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Paratrooper threw the years.

The paratrooper is a ride I have had for YEARS. It has been threw drastic changes along the way, and went from not even racking at all, to taking almost an hour to rack. Look at the captions under each picture to learn when the picture was taken.

This was my first paratrooper. It has the proper seats, as they haven't changed much. It had not color scheme. It was incapable of racking, had no lights, didn't have a proper base, and had no sign. Also the outer ring isn't right at all. This was taken in late 2007, early 2008

This was taken in the summer of 2008. As you can see, I had inprooved it to an extent. The outer ring had been updated to be more accurate, the sweeps had hinges so it could be racked, and had a seat rack on the back. It still had no color scheme.

This was taken in the summer of 2009. The paratrooper hadn't changed much, except for a new gold seat, more colorful outer ring, curved shimmer pipe cleaners, and a middle light. It still hadn't gotten a color scheme, or a sign.

The next 2 pictures (above racked, below up) were taken in the spring of 2010. The paratrooper had went threw some major changes. It finally got a color scheme. It got an inner ring, new cluster light, a new base, new racking capability's. But it still lacked lights, a sign, and a few other things.

The 2010 version setup.

Here we are at the picture of the paratrooper recently. This was taken in the spring of 2014. It has gotten new braces, lights, all new sweep lights due to the real rides relighting, a new cluster lights, a sign, painted sweeps, and a control panel in front. As well as a more colorful base, and better racking.

As you can see, this ride has changed ALOT over the years. Check back for more threw the years posts. Also, a quick note, sometimes I post like 3 or 4 posts a day, so be sure to scroll down every once and a wile to see stuff you may have missed. Coming soon, the updated wayout swings, newly relit paratrooper, as well as more ride articles including the chair swings, the slide, the scrambler, Eli HY 5 ferris wheel, and the paratrooper. I don't know when those will be posted, but keep an eye out.

2 new updates

I posted about the seasonal process, and told that I was doing some work on my silver streak, chair swing, paratrooper, and slide. Well the paratrooper and silver streak aren't done yet, but the chair swings and slide are. Un believably, these changes were mostly all done in 1 day. Look at the caption, as some of these pics will be before, and some after.

before. (note no tarp, the tower is thinner, and the sweeps have no hinges)

After. The ride isn't fully up (feather lights not up and spacers not in place), but you can still see the changes.

Before. (feather lights, sign)

After. I realize its racked but you can still see the changes. I plan to do an article on the slide soon.

Soon I plan to post some older ride pics of how they looked in the beginning. stay tuned.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

The seasonal process

You might be wondering, wile real carnival company's setup run, teardown, repeat, over and over each season, what do I do each season. Well I do move my rides around, setting up and tearing down, just for fun. But also, they are always being updated. New lights, new pieces or improvements on racking. Like the scrambler was recently completely re designed to improve the look and racking. Also, all of the knex rides designs, correspond with a real ride in the world. So, If a company redesigns, like re paints their ride, I re paint mine. Like the Wayout swings, they were teal, now there yellow and pink. Also, other company's might bring the same type ride, but a different design. So mine changes. I also build new rides, and destroy others. Wile some rides like the paratroopers don't get much changes, some get drastic changes, like the swings, As well as small updates and changes along the way. Stay tuned, I plan to add new lights to my purple paratrooper, add a decorative tarp to the chair swings and silver streak, as well as completely re design the super slide, to improve the look. Until then, I leave you with this picture.

ride list updated

I have updated the ride list page. There are a few new rides and a few changes between seasonal or annual.

New silver streak

I know I posted I was building the silver streak a long time ago, but its taken a me a wile to get the pictures up and I have been busy. But here are some pictures of the ride.

racked

lights

the ride

The real life ride its based off of.

Eli HY 5 2 ferris wheel article

this is the Eli HY 5 2 ferris wheels. It has nothing but a cable for an outer ring, and is rim driven. These pictures are a tiny bit out of date, but the ride hasn't changed much since then. As usual, the action will be written under each picture.

The eli hy 5 wheel alone

lights on

The seat racks

The seats are taken off and racked there

The wheel must be rotated to get to the next seat

All seats racked

Support plates are attached. (more for looks)

The blue led lights are turned off,

And the rims fold in. The first 2 stay half down

But the rest are folded all the way in and held down by wire

rims folding

The wheel is moved each time to get to the next section

The rims are folded 95%

Now the last 2 are folded in

Rims folded

Support plates are racked

Now a few sweeps are disconnected

A support wire is put in place to fold the sweeps in place (tower to tower, not sweep to sweep)

1 section of the star is folded in

And the wheel wire is disconnected.

The winch is connected to the last sweep.

The remaining seats are held upwards by wire (done 3 times during folding)

As the sweeps fold, the star folds with it.

As the winch lets out , the sweeps fold. Unlike some of my other wheels, this wheel folds one sweep after the other, stopping on for a few seconds to disconnect the sweeps. My others must stop to take off the outer rims or spacers. (see expo wheel or wisdom wheel)