This ride is a classic Intamin giga-coaster with a first drop of ~350'. My vision for this ride is something that would have been built in the 05-07 timeframe (just after TTD and KK).
As of right now, I'm working on supports. There has already been substantial work done on the 3ds and the custom train textures are pretty much done. Over the next few weeks I am going to hopefully finish the supports for the first ~30% of the ride and continue work on the massive station building.
Its been a long time since I've updated this. I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to work on this over the past month, but I have been making progress. I have finished about 65% of the supports (~4000' of track supported out of ~6200'). I've also done a little bit of work on the station but not much. I will try to post some new pics on the project page sometime in the next few days.
About the first drop, I was going for a slightly different feeling than other Intamin gigas. I wanted to make the first drop float the rider out of their seat instead of pulling them out. Because of this g's are lower just after the crest of the hill. That makes this section of track bulge outward a bit more than you would see on MF or I305. It also decreases the max angle on the drop by about 7?.
About the first drop: I have had the opportunity in my life to talk with several people who have been to space and they have all described the moment when the space shuttle main engines (SSME) finally cut out and everything just floats up. This is what I was trying to mimic. It didn't go as well as I had liked over the very top of the hill (a parabolic top looks really bizarre) but once past that point, I think I captured that feeling.
Things I've been working on: 1. Custom footers (49 of 144 done) 2. Exit station done 3. Coaster control room almost done 4. Main building entrance 5. Surrounding park (using CS park pack)
There are some pictures of the footers on the project page (1 picture on grass and another in the station building). I'll probably post new pictures in the next 3-4 days.
I got 3ds Max about 3 weeks ago and have been spending my coaster building time learning how to use that instead of working on Mission Discovery. Nevertheless, the novelty of 3ds max is wearing off and I'm getting back to work on this, so it shouldn't be much longer.
My plan (for now) is to use it to create objects for my new tracks. Possibly when I get much more familiar with the program I will delve into modeling rides using 3ds.
Good news! I spent a fair amount of time working on this ride over the weekend and it is coming very close to completion. Using 3ds max I was able to do a large amount of the remaining work in a much shorter timeframe. I would say that the ride will go on the exchange possibly later this week or early next week.
Mission Discovery (NL)
Posted - 04/06/2010 : 8:59:57 PM
