As you all know by now, my interest in tracked models and toys covers a lot of territory! Yet another variation in model railroading which I find interesting is the model roller coaster. These are cool as part of a train layout, or as stand-alone displays.

They didn't have much on the market back in the 60s, when I was a kid. All I remember were the tin litho, wind-up Chein toys, and similar. I couldn't afford them on my allowance(and still buy Hot Wheels, anyway). Perhaps those of you who are parents are aware of K'nex, and Roller Coaster Tycoon building sets. K'nex has been selling these for a dozen years or more, and they currently offer several different coaster kits, which shows that kids today actually like these things(!!!)

For some years, the German model kit maker Faller have made neat HO operating amusement park ride kits, including several compact steel-type roller coasters. CoasterDynamix is now making O scale kits to build custom-configurable modern steel coasters, and recently made available the first HO kit for an operating, old-fashioned style wood coaster.

I am surprised to see the amount of interest in coaster models, as evidenced by the material on the web. I've had a few model building ideas along these lines, and I'd certainly be interested in hearing what others have planned, or built.

i seen the roller coaster kits would like to see a operating one seen one at a model railroad show but it was just for show not a working model .

i seen the roller coaster kits would like to see a operating one seen one at a model railroad show but it was just for show not a working model .
Here are some links for operating roller coaster building sets/kits:

http://www.eurorailhobbies.com/, for Faller HO kits.

http://www.coasterdynamix.com/, for O scale steel coaster building sets, and an HO wood coaster kit.

http://www.knex.com/bigbuilds/index.php, for the recent K'nex coasters.

http://www.miniatureamusements.com/index_content.html, for the Roller Coaster Tycoon building set. It is designed for younger kids, and has a car accelerator, rather than a lift chain.


Here's a great resource page for model and toy roller coasters:

http://cec.chebucto.org/Mod-Toy.html

thanks toyroy lots of neat stuff . one of those would make a nice winter project .

those look awesome

any vids? would LOVE to see these in action.:dude:

faller still makes rollercoasters that do function with optional motor kit, they also have working water slides (with the optional pump of course). these are in ho scale, however the cheapest i found one of these coasters was 229.99 at a hobby shop WITHOUT the motorizing unit

very cool :thumbsup:

This is Jack from CoasterDynamix. I am glad to see a few posts here about roller coaster models. We have a couple videos on our site, in addition to numerous videos on Youtube posted by our customers.