canyons

At Universal Orlando they touch up the paint everynight while the park is closed. They do the same thing at Disney, which is why it looks so good years later.
I don't see CP doing all that just to make it look like it did when it opened. But if they use the right color then when it does fade it will just look like reall rock.
I figure that it is the same thing that they used on Thunder Canyon, and if it looks that good this many years later than I have high hopes for Maverick.

We're basing this on what Universal Orlando thought was a good idea... in Seuss Landing they built that whole ride that looks like a monorail that you walk under, only to discover the engineers hadn't factored in the weight of riders!!! While the foam may work, I think I'd look elsewhere for great ideas.

That's actually a myth, and one of many. Others include power issues, emergency evacuation concerns and a really bad control system.

In the theme park industry, you wouldn't use the same material to make lifelike rockwork from that you would to make cartoon towns. They're two totally different effects. By nature of the material exit is talking about, it has a glossy finish. Rockwork like on Maverick shouldn't be shiny. If it is, its gonna look like bunk.

Wouldn't the paint/sealant dictate the finish, rather than the the base material?

^ Yes, it would. They also use it to make fake rock. See also the rocks by MF's tunnel.

Just because it's "foam" doesn't mean it is the same "foam" that everybody's used to. It's not like they take leftover McDonald's coffee cups and paint them or something. Chemicals can be wonderful.

I stand corrected Jeff, I was actually laying in bed last night thinking about it and remembered what it was... they didn't have an escape route if the ride had stopped due to power failure etc. They would have had to go up with apple-pickers etc to get the riders off the ride. I knew it had something to do with not factoring in the human element... It's been a few years since my friend that is a manager there told me about it. They say the mind is the first to go!!!

Though I see you say it's still a myth... what was the real reason?
*** Edited 10/4/2006 1:54:08 PM UTC by Vanessa***

Most "toon" structures like the ones exit pointed out are EPS (expanded polystyrene) foam with a sprayed on urethane hardcoat over a steel structure. In my work, I've never come across someone using that system to make exterior rockwork. Interior, sometimes, but I've never seen it used in an exterior rockwork application.

All of the exterior rockwork I've ever seen is gunite (concrete) over a wire mesh and steel structure. Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids and the Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom are all made with this technique.

I still refer to it as a myth because, as best I can tell, the revised and functioning ride would still have the same problem. Unless they engineered it so that gravity will let it roll to a point where there is an escape platform in the event of a power failure, I don't know how it's different.

And even then, similar rides are all over the place, like PKI's helicopter thing in the kids area. Not sure how that's different, or why the IOA engineers would've been worried about it.

You know what... there are escape platforms on the revised ride. They were just starting to hack it apart when I was there in March, so I didn't see any of this at the time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6fdvuXZcI8

Most extruded polymers used in plastics and coatings have the pigment impregnated right into the material, and so frequently require no 'finish'. That being said, I suspect Tim is right. The canyons will probably be formed from sprayed concrete over mesh forms.

I may be incorrect (again) but I was under the impression that in the original design the cars were to move freely of one another and the speed would even be controlled by the drivers, and they could 'bump' the cars in front of them. The new ride actually kinda redid the whole mechanics with a centrally controlled chain of cars. But again, I just heard this from a friend who managed a ride at the park.

e x i t english said:
So far, everything has held its color pretty well here:

http://www.coastergrotto.com/photo.jsp?pic=32p07.jpg

So, I don't know. I'm sure there's some upkeep needed, but I think you'd be surprised.

Thats because they re-touch spots every night at IOA. All of that is hard styrofoam. *** Edited 10/4/2006 7:52:35 PM UTC by FPWarriors20***

^ Yes. I was pointing that out because someone said that foam stuff never looked good.

Granted I agree with Tim, foam is mostly cartoony. I'm pretty sure it will be concrete sprayed on to mesh backing. Then again, knowing CP's track record with theming, it could go a lot of different ways.

There's two ways to look at it, in my opinion. Because CP likely doesn't want to invest heavily into the theming, they might choose the (presumably) cheaper route and use the foam, which would likely fall into disrepair sooner or later. Alternatively (and more likely, I would think), they could use sprayed concrete, which may (?) cost more now, but will last longer.

They're gonna use the gunite guys. Its the same stuff they used on Thunder Canyon.

Why can't they use masonry again and take some rocks and stick them together like they would do when putting an actual cinder block wall up or a normal brick wall? I think that would work, I've seen houses with that rock look to them on the outside. And it's beautiful!

Its also not cheap. Sprayed concrete on a mesh surface isn't terribly expensive.

When you use real stones, there's also the chance of one falling out over time and crashing onto the ride. That's not a good thing. Plus, that stone you see on houses (unless its a million plus house) is fake stone. They're also applying it to a flat surface, not making an amorphic canyon out of it. The gunite is way easier to make fake rockwork out of with less risk of individual stones falling out. In Ohio's freeze/thaw climate, anything you mortar together like that has a tendancy to crack and break off over time.

Yeah, my folks have cultured stone on their hous and I sure wounldn't want one of those hitting me a 50MPH. If memory serves, it's not cheap at all for even the cultued (fake) stone, much less real stone.