The idea
There's a new fairground coaster in the city: a wooden log flume!
Buy a ticket at the till, climb the stairs to the boarding platform and wait until the barriers open. Then, jump into the log car, close the safety bars and off you go!
After having passed the first semicircle, where you have been already splashed by the first water shooter, the chain elevator awaits you, carrying you up into vertiginous heights. At its top, suddenly a water splash passage appears, turning things even more wet, before the ride continues with the second semicircle. And finally, there it is, big time, the moment everybody has been waiting for: the huge drop chute! Your log car slowly bends over the abyss and, at an angle of nearly 90 degrees, you fall into the deep. Moments after, your log car enters the water basin with a huge splash and slowly glides into the boarding platform again.
Prior to exit the terrain, you buy a copy of the photo that has been taken while your log car was falling down the chute as a souvenir for your visit at the fairground.
The Build
The build consists of:
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Fully working flume track
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Roll-driven semicircles
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Chain-driven elevator
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Water splash passage
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Huge drop chute
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Roofed boarding platform with till
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2 water splash shooters
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4 color-coded log cars with 3 seats each
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7 minifigures
The Functionality
The complete flume track can be operated by the three cranks on the right:
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The left bottom crank drives the rolls in the boarding platform and the bottom semicircle; the rolls are all connected via a chain drive including a tensioner.
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The right bottom crank drives the elevator chain, which catches the front bars of the log cars with its hooks and lifts them up by push-and-pull.
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The upper crank drives the rolls of the upper semicircle; like for the bottom semicircle, the rolls are all connected via a chain drive including a tensioner.
After being carried that far, the log cars drop into the chute and slide back into the boarding platform, where the cycle starts over.
These mechanics can also be operated very easily electrically as the three cranks simply can be pulled out and directly swapped by M, L or XL power functions motors equipped with an axle 4L and two pins 3L each.
The Pitch
Since the development of the LEGO coaster system rails and cars, we've got a bunch of really decent and impressing roller coasters for our fairgrounds, but what is still missing, at least in my opinion respectively as far as I can see? Correct: a log flume that actually works!
It is basically as simple as that, so if you agree, I would be very delighted to receive your support or your comment, please don't hesitate to express yourself if you've got something on your mind about this build.
Thank you very much for your attention and enjoy the log flume ride!
Baron von Barron