Idea By Scottdee
Ok since these parts are extremely old, and prone to breakage here's an idea. As your building a set , keep a bowl with water as hot as you can stand it. Keep your ties and such in the hot water and take them out as you need them. The heat makes the plastic more flexible . And the ties DON'T break as often.
Idea By SRSLUG19
There is another source for motors that i have recently discovered, i was looking for an old tape plaver around the house but could not find one, then i realized i had a really old VCR, after about 20 minutes of tearing the thing apart, i found TWO motors in the VCR that work off of batteries
Idea By SRSLUG19
Another thing i have found at the local Westlakes ACE Hardware store for track was plastic coated clothes line, the stuff is super hard to work with but comes in several different colors to make a very custom look and if you are patient enough, when you have it all adjusted, it will not go out of allighnment, it is a pretty permanent thing. But looks GREAT.
Idea By Satanhanx
Instead of using the belts to drive the lift, try using the gears from a lego set. It seems to go a little faster, but when I used the belts on my old set, it would only work for a minute or two at a time. The lego gears don't have that problem. Just don't use the very small ones, because if you put too many marbles on it, it will break the smaller gears. Lego also has a small motor that works very well too, it takes 4 C batteries, but is much quieter.
Idea By John Dresty III
As you know, you can get pipe stock at various hardware stores and such. I discovered some poles also that were too thin to be replacements but which fit INTO the standard poles smoothly. The use of this is that now I was able to reliably extend the height of the elevator by inserting the inner poles inside the large poles. While Bandai did produce pole extenders (N1 or something), they suck beyond belief, and the poles would be very bent and such, which while ok for support poles is unacceptable for the annoyingly tempermental elevator.
Idea By ScottDEE
You can repair broken cross ties and other broken spacewarp pieces using Testors Liquid plastic cement #3502. Allow plenty of time for it to dry, like overnight.You can also use this same cement to permanently lock into place pieces of your coaster ,once they are in the position you want . You can lock into place U1,U2,U3 combos. You can also lock into place A1,B1,C1 combos.
Idea By BartMan
For the brittle cross ties I found one solution I used to be able to
successfully assemble a run. I found a nail the diameter of the track and
attached it to my soldering iron. Then I just slid the holes on the
crossties down over the heated nail so the hole was slightly enlarged. I
sure wouldn't recommend this for anyone wanting to retain the sets resale
value. But it worked for me because I wanted a set I could build.
Idea By Nightmare Tony
Motor hint: use tape recorder motors from old tape recors. They run at 6 volts and run much quieter and longer than the supplied ones.
Ball hint: Pachinko balls. The Iron Horse cannot use the regular balls at all. Pachinko balls hug the track much better and very rarely fly off the track. I've been able to do some wilder things with them. They run slower, though. A great source of pachinko balls, check out www.Eldoradogames.com for Eldorado Games in Anaheim.
Idea By James Daly
REALLY scratching up the
surfaces of the spacewarp ball bearings makes them run faster and climb
the hills and loops better. Use a very heavy grit sandpaper to do it.
Idea By ScottDEE
Drill a board such as Particle board or Plywood with 5 MM holes in a
7/8" grid with Holes at the cross lines. You can make any size of
replacement Baseboard you like for a very low cost. I personally like
the idea of finding a friend who is a woodworker and Having a nice
stained piece of oak made into a Baseboard.Spacewarp becomes a Very
Beautiful Piece of modern art.
I was recently at a plastics supply dealer and they had 1/2" clear Acrylic balls. They make for a really cool addition to your spacewarp, since they are transparent. They ran $0.15
Idea By ScottDEE
Home Made Cross Ties
DOWNLOAD Cross Tie Template 814K
Idea By ScottDEE
Lighted Cross Ties
Idea By ScottDEE
Ferris Wheel Lift Click to Enlarge
Idea By ScottDEE
Launch Tube Lift Click to Enlarge
If you have any ideas or tips that you have invented that you think would help other people please email them , and they will be posted here. Thank You.
