Thursday, September 24, 2009

New Project - Cable-Stayed Bridge


I have begun to work on a K'nex cable-stayed bridge with what I hope to be a 25-30' center span. So far I have a prototype for one of the main supporting towers complete, but it turned out smaller than I had expected, falling 2' short of my plans. When completed, if all goes as planned, the bridge will measure over 60 feet long and be supported by 8 pillars (2 main towers, 3 smaller towers on either end).

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Compact Model Rollercoaster


This is not K'nex, but it is still a building system so I decided to post it. I built this model roller coaster in one afternoon from about 700 pieces and contains about 25 feet of track which twists into three inversions, all barrel-rolls. The entire model fits onto a space only five feet long in between two bookshelves.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

21 Foot K'nex Tower


This is a K'nex tower built by myself, Simon Olson and Sam Ihlenfeldt in a little over an hour. It measures 21 feet tall and only 3 inches wide, which could be a record for a height-thickness ratio but it would be too much work to validate that, this is just for fun. The ground the tower rests on is on a slight slant, and the tower collapsed 30 minutes after completion, nearly landing on a surprised biker! The tower has been moved to a more stable location where it remains standing.
The base of the tower is weighted down with bricks for stability.