© Brandon Davis School of Thrills: Brandon Davis's first record-breaker stood 28 feet, higher than the rafters of his school's gym.

Brandon: I'm doing fine, just got my ninth ride on the bull, El Toro that is, today. And you?

Josh: I am doing great, getting ready for my vacation coming up. To start off, we got to start with a record you hold with K'nex, the tallest and fastest K'nex roller coaster ever made. Like to explain how you did this project?

Brandon: Well, I studied Kingda Ka, in pictures, in person, and I watched every show about it on TV. I am a member of SSCoasters, a K'nex website, and I saw this thing called a rubber band launch, and then I saw a 20 foot Kingda Ka model! I didn't have enough pieces then to do such a thing, but I kept wanting to. So then, Jogumpie, (Jochem-loos) built Olympus, the world's tallest K'Nex roller coaster at 25 feet. That's when I designed it. I was in a gazebo with my friends, and we were all talking about it, a 28-footer! I don't know why we thought 28 feet, I just came up with that number. Then, in school the next day, I drew a 7-foot pull-out, which turned out was going to be waaaay too small. So then I designed the 14-footers, and I was on my way; the rest was in my

© Brandon Davis A Towering Accomplishment: Davis's original model was a recreation of Kingda Ka, the world's tallest roller coaster.

head. From October 6, 2005 to February 28, 2006, the construction of the world's tallest K'nex roller coaster would continue. K'nex donated more than 8,000 free pieces and Six Flags Great Adventure gave a $500 donation for pieces. I obviously modeled the coaster after Kingda Ka, and planned to have a loop, but due to time constraints, that didn't work out. It worked out fine though, a 28-footer on the 28th of February. It launched like a slingshot of rubberbands, 54, into a 14-foot pull-out, and then it went vertically for roughly 10 feet, and twisted left, over the top hat, and spiraled down.

Josh: Wow, must have taken a lot of time to plan and make. When you first finished the track work and such, what happened the first time you launched it? Did it make it over?

Brandon: No, I believe it made it over on the fifth launch. At first I didn't launch at full speed, afraid of what might happen, however, when it did make it over, it reached speeds of up to 65 m.p.h.! One thing though, I don't suggest such high speeds for any K'Nex coaster ever agian, especially faster. As soon as the g-forces applied to it in the pullout on some launches, the trains exploded. K'Nex weren't built for such speeds! I mean, literally, it shattered. Even the track got messed up. Lots of downtime with the media, that was horrible when it wouldn't work when they were there.

© Brandon Davis A Tall Tale: Plans for Dive, the newest K'nex model from Davis, call for a thirty-seven-foot tower and rubber band launch.

Josh: Did you go through a bunch of rubber bands with your rubber band launch?

Brandon: Three bags worth! I had three strings, and sometimes they'd snap, and ouch...

Josh: And the biggest question I must ask: where would you build this mega meachine? I mean, you won't be building this inside a living room, or outside where nature would take its toll on it.

Brandon: I built it in the school gym, where kids destroyed it twice during construction... It reached up higher than the rafters when completed.

Josh: So once you knew it worked, what did you do to introduce it to the world, or atleast the media?

Brandon: Well, when the media first arrived, it was down, and I had to fix the pull-up. Then I got it working after about an hour of repair. The entire eighth grade was in the gym. Counting down 5...4....3...2...1! And then either "oohh" when it didn't make it, or a roar of "YEAH!!! WOO!!!!" when it did work.

Josh: Sounds like you had a blast. Now once everything was done and over with, how did you take it down, and where are the pieces now?

© Brandon Davis No End in Sight: Dive's track plunges thirteen feet into a dive loop. From there, the layout includes an "inclined batwing."

Brandon: It was much harder to put up than take down, because the school was supposed to get me a cherry picker to put it up, but they only got it to take it down. I disconnected the middle, and someone in the cherry picker held the back, then lowered it down slowly. I had to keep it in sections because it was supposed to go to the Freehold Mall, but that never happened. The pieces are currently all over the living room now.

Josh: I'm sure your parents love having it in the living room.

Brandon: Ha, well, some are being used in El Toro, and some in Dive. And yeah, my mom hates it.

Josh: Speaking of El Toro and Dive, care to explain about these current projects of yours?

Brandon: Sure. I recently started El Toro! Go figure. Well, it is going to be a 1:29 scale model clocking in at six feet, six inches tall! I recently wrote a letter to Great Adventure asking them if I can put it there, by the real one. I'm still waiting for an answer. I'm also waiting to top off my forty-foot coaster, Dive.

Josh: A forty-foot-tall roller coaster now? Sounds like you're soon going to make a 456-foot-tall one! Like to explain how Dive will work?

© Brandon Davis Next to be Unleashed: The next K'nex recreation on the agenda is a plastic version of Six Flags Great Adventure's wooden El Toro.

Brandon: Well, Dive is a simple coaster. I think so anyway, but not everyone else does. It will also be propelled by a rubber band launch system. Then it will soar 37 feet vertically, where it will twist into an inverted top hat, then spiral eight feet vertically, and then into a thirteen-foot vertical drop followed by a six-foot dive loop! Then, it will have the first ever inclined batwing made from K'nex.

Josh: Interesting. How far into the project are you right now and where are you building it?

Brandon: Well, the coaster is done, I'm just waiting for my friend John to come help (he helped with it) to top it off.

Josh: Awesome. Can't wait to see that topped off and ready to go. Now explain about your new project, El Toro!

Brandon: Well, El Toro is my biggest, figuratively, project yet. I'm going all out. I want this to be the best model I ever make. I'm even going to try to make magnetic brakes! As a matter of fact, I'm sketching it on graph paper right now. It will feature a seventy-six-degree drop, too (about seventy-six degrees)! I hope to make it have speed and g-forces through the entire model. It will be, as I mentioned earlier, a 1:29 model. So far I have the bottom of the lift, tire drive / brakes behind the station, the station, and the top turn started. I'd say I'm at about eight to ten percent done.

© Brandon Davis Down to the Detail: Davis is attempting to recreate El Toro's support system along with the layout.

Josh: Truly amazing. How do you plan on making your El Toro similar to the actual ride other than just the layout?

Brandon: I am going to try to copy the supports exactly, too. The magnetic brakes also came from it. I'm even working on using a real motor for the lift.

Josh: Now back to what you said earlier. What do you plan to do with this coaster when finished?

Brandon: I'm really hoping to put it in Great Adventure, near the real El Toro. I already know Six Flags is affiliated with K'nex, because in K'nex's most recent newsletter, it gave a $10 coupon to Six Flags and mentioned Kingda Ka, so my hopes are high.

Josh: Well man, I really hope it happens. I hope we could come down to get an exclusive video of the ride. Well good luck on Dive and El Toro! Before we go, you plan to do any more rides in the future?

Brandon: Well, I plan on making a coaster, the Lake Monster (my own design) near the lake by my house, and have it go out over the water and come back, and I want to make Medusa and some other real coasters. Unfortunately, school and football will start, so I won't have as much time on my hands.

Josh: Well, you've always got next summer! Thanks for doing the interview, and hope to see your El Toro with the real El Toro real soon!