SKY ROCKET
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
MAY 4, 2010 |
| Welcome back to another construction update for Kennywood's newest coaster, Sky Rocket. It's been a few days since our last update, and a large amount of work has been completed since then. Following the installation of the coaster's corkscrew, steel began to rise for the first drop and entrance to the top hat. Fast forward a few days, and about 95% of the coaster's track is now installed with only a few more pieces of track remaining. This update will be full of great looks of the construction site, and maybe even a few surprises near the end. Let's get rolling... |
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Today's update will start off with a look of the now completed inverted top hat. Most of this was put up over the weekend and finished off at the start of this week. |
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As you can see, although this element is not your traditional Premier Rides inverted top hat, the turn is actually extremely overbanked and with that much bank it's going to feel like your inverted while riding regardless. |
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Another view of the completed inverted top hat. This coaster just looks great in so many different angle. |
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A look at all the progress that has been made since our last update. |
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Work started on the coaster's barrel roll today, however it was not completed. I would look forward to it being connected to the turn up to the second drop very soon. |
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Since our last update, the first piece of the first hill was also installed, marking the start of the spined track. Also, the last three elements that need to be installed can all be seen within this shot (first hill, barrel roll, second drop). |
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All of these supports have been newly installed, however I don't think work is ready to proceed on the first hill just yet... |
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Another shot of Sky Rocket's top hat and the work completed on the barrel roll thus far. |
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As you can see, several more supports have been placed for the second drop, and you can see that this drop isn't going to be as "vertical" like we initially thought. |
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An overview of what is left to be built on Sky Rocket. It should only be a few more days until the circuit of the coaster is complete. |
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On a side note, you might notice that the crane is now off the construction site. Where the crane was sitting was directly overtop these three footers, which still need to receive their cement "caps" before track supports and track can be placed on them. |
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Not exactly sure why this footer hasn't received its cap yet, but I'm sure it will be receiving it soon along with the other three footers seen in the last photo. |
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Oh hey there Mr. Corkscrew...it's getting awfully difficult to see you from outside the park with all these other big elements being constructed! |
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In other news, all of the remaining supports that are left to be installed on Sky Rocket have been transported to the construction site. This might hint that we could see quite a bit of vertical construction in the coming days, and possibly even the topping off and completion of the coaster's trackwork. |
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Another look at another bunch of supports that have no arrived on site. If you look very closely in the background, you can actually see the supports for the barrel roll ready to be put up. |
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And what's that I see in the distance!? For our surprise in this update, I give you the coaster's station building which has popped up quite suddenly. Several readers have claimed all of this work was completed today. Obviously these workers are on a mission to get this ride open soon. |
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As you can see, the station building is pretty high off the ground and will have the same color scheme as the coaster (take note of the blue floor beams). |
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Just another shot of the newly constructed station building. This building will certainly be towering overtop the park midway. |
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Ok, you get the point...here's the station with its blue floor beams. :) |
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If you look closely you can actually see that some ground work has actually been completed in the area of the launch and the futue queue entrance to the station. |
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Not sure what the tarp is set up for, but if you look closely you can actually see the cargo container containing the coaster's PLC sticks out quite a bit from the perimeter of the station building. Hopefully this won't become the cool new place to spit your gum on! |
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Another building that has recevied quite a bit of work is the "shed" that contains the coaster's compressor, flywheel generator, and some other components. |
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Look closely and you can see what looks to be the beginning stages of construction on what might be the photo booth for Sky Rocket. |
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Workers have also been hard at work on setting up and configuring the LSM motors for the coaster's launch system. |
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And we will close this update out with a nice view of Kennywood's skyline which is now full of all kinds of Sky Rocket goodness. Look forward to this view changing dramatically in the coming days! |
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Thanks for checking out today's Sky Rocket Construction Update brought to you by Kennywood Connection. Stay tuned for another update in the coming days as more supports and track start to rise at Kennywood! |
Thank you to KWC member Myself for providing the pictures used in today's construction update! |
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