Millennium Force needs a repaint for 10th anniversary....

I think for Millenniums 10th birthday next year that is in DESPARATE need of a repaint. I would love to see bright blue paint on the tracks again and even just flat gray paint instead of the more expensive silver for the supports. I was just wondering how long it will take to paint it since the track itself is so much more intractate with all of the cross supports that are part of it. Raptor, Corkscrew, Mantis, Iron Dragon, and Magnum (in that order I believe) were probably much easier repainting projects because of the much simpler design of the Arrow and B&M tracks. We know it can be done since SFNE has painted Superman into the new Bizarro.

I also was wondering how awesome the paint quality must be since SF just painted the new purple paint for Bizzaro right ove the existing red without any kind of primer. I know that it will be very expensive to do, I would say at least a $1,000,000 honestly. I thought that Raptors repaint cost $500,000. And that was how many years ago?

I also believe that MF needs a paint job this offseason. When leaving the park on halloween, I noticed rust spots on the structure that were clearly visible. I'm sure they know it needs to be repainted, and I have a feeling it will. I mean, construction crews and materials are already out by MF's turn around for STR. It would be a lot of work, but I'm sure CP has it in the plans.

I have some left over blue Millennium spray paint in my garage from when I fixed my blue millennium van that also had rust spots. All i have to do is drive up to CP and sneak in the park with my can and spray the track until it runs out. I can just head over to home depot and buy more when its used up. :)

Millennium **NEEDS** a paint job, it has for some time now.

I can understand not doing it every season of course, it must be a nightmare painting something of that size.

Here's a random question for MF's birthday;

On the final overbanked turn into the station, I have (at least I think I have) caught a glimpse of a concreted area that looks like it was originally designed to be "extra queue" space, or something of that nature. I apologize for the vague description, but was this used, possibly during the opening season? Just curious.

I believe it was, yes. Not sure why its still there, but I suppose there's no reason to tear it up, so why bother?

I believe it was used for more than just the first season, maybe even the first 2-3 years. It had lots of temporary queues which have since been removed.

Back on the topic of paint...Sometimes I wonder how CP determines what gets paint and what doesn't. Seems like most of the steel coasters would be on a pretty regular schedule as far as when they need it.

They are. 1987-2004 = 17 years

1989 - 2006 = 17 years

2000 - 2010 <> 17 years

I didn't notice Millenium as much, but when I was there for Halloweekends it seemed there were some parts of Raptor (the lift in particular) that looked really bad.

^^ 1994 - 2002 <> 17 years

Raptor probably needs a paint job more than millenium. And not just for cosmetic reasons either. Everytime it rains it sprays rust water onto its riders for awhile. Its not very pleasant.

I think they will paint it this year. The new ride is right next to it and everybody is gonna see how ugly Mille is. I don't think they want a faded blue monster by their new shiny ride.

clevelander said:I also was wondering how awesome the paint quality must be since SF just painted the new purple paint for Bizzaro right over the existing red without any kind of primer.

For the most part nowadays, you can paint over existing steel paints without primer (I've worked with a few types at my place of work). There's many new kinds of paints that actually need no primer. The only thing they really have to do is sand down any areas that need sanding.

And I swear it looked as if many of the supports back in 08 were primed or sandblasted in preparation for repaint in the 08-09 offseason. But that was obviously not so. It would make sense to make her look good for her 10th bday. I sure hope they go through with it.

^Maybe they moved it back along with the building of STR to save money.

I was noticing a need for a paint job the last time I was there, '07, so something tells me that by now it must be desperate. TTD wasn't looking too great either...

JuggaLotus said:
They are. 1987-2004 = 17 years

1989 - 2006 = 17 years

That's the weird thing, it seems like Arrow's are about 17 years, while B&M's are about 8 (Raptor '02, Mantis '04). Either way it doesn't make sense to me. Wouldn't they be using 'basically' the same type of outdoor paint?

I can imagine that painting Millenium is a monumental task by hand, especially the track.

However, it would be a fun design project to create a "paint car" that would move along the track under its own power. It would include a nearly 360 deg paint enclosure outfitted with spray nozzles. The car would move slowly painting the enclosed section from all angles as it traverses the ride. The paint, compressors, and motor/generator could be stored in a tow car behind or in front of the paint car (or it could be fed a hoses from the ground). The track supports would be done by hand.

As a certain captain would say "Make it so #1".

Awesome idea, Rapids. Given the track geometry, electrostatic painting would help considerably, though I'm not sure exactly how you'd do that on a coaster.

It seems to me whenever a coaster is repainted by hand the quality and durability is MUCH better than factory. Take Manits for example, that coaster was in BAD shape as far as the paint went in just a few short years. The purple supports turned into a very pale and almost chalky pink. The new paint that was handpainted on with rollers was a much thicker coat and the colors have stayed much more vibrant over the few years since the repaint, opposed to how quickly the factory paint had faded. Vekoma coatsers seem to be the worst with very bad fading happening in 2 seasons in some cases and deteriorating very quickly after that. I just really hate seeing patches of unmatching touch up paint on the supports and track. It makes the coatser seem like a rust belt car that has spraypaint covering the rust and it looks really bad as seen here, http://rcdb.com/489.htm?p=8215

I'm sure we will see some new paint on MF for its 10 birthday along with a nice celebration as they did with Magnum.