Electric
dreams.
After
building, and then blasting away with, the K'Nex K-Force Flash Fire Blaster, we were keen to try something else from the construction toy
company's range. As many of you might know, K'Nex are known for their
Ferris wheel and roller coaster sets, so we delved into the thrills
and spills world of miniature rides with the K'Nex Electric Inferno
Roller Coaster.
This set, which is targeted at kids (and y'know, big people too) aged nine years and over, features 639 pieces. However, some of those parts are pretty big, as when constructed this coaster is almost three feet tall and includes 14 feet of track coiled around it's whacky structure.
The
build took us about three hours all together, split over a couple of
evenings. Unlike the Flash Fire Blaster, which had lots of very small
parts to clip together, the Electric Inferno features mostly long
rods, especially during the first half of the build when you create
the base. In fact, when starting to put it all together we were left a
little perplexed as to what all the small clips and weirdly-angled
rods were actually for... but then all became clear later.
It
was a fun build to be sure, and thanks to the easy-to-follow
instructions we're quite sure kids younger than nine could give it a
go too. The only tedious part of the whole thing was clipping together
the dozens and dozens of chain pieces which are used to hoist the
small-wheeled car up to the top of the tower. It's really worth it
though!
The
K'Nex Electric Inferno Roller Coaster is so called because of the
inclusion of a small green electric motor, powered by two AA
batteries. This drives the aforementioned chain to pull the car up,
then pushes it over the edge to quickly zoom along all that track,
looping loops and even inverting. Such is the momentum that the car
then automatically reattaches itself to the chain, to be pulled up
again and start all over. So you can leave this thing going all day,
with a new ride every ten seconds or so. As in this clip:
— The Test Pit (@thetestpit) July 20, 2016
Although
it looks quite flimsy, with the track section held in place with
simple small-scale clips (we had no idea that K'Nex parts came in
standard and also half-size pieces), it is surprising robust. You're
able to pick the whole thing up and move it with two hands; so long
as you make sure you're holding that central tower, which is the
strongest and most engineered section.
And, just like the blaster, the fun doesn't end there. Even if you leave the tower and electric motor parts in place, the track assembly can be reconfigured into whatever your heart desires. Changing it all about is a very simple job, and we had fun discovering what works and what doesn't, to get the car to return to the start and latch onto the chain. Even if it doesn't, it's a tonne of fun to try!
We loved the K-Force blaster, but we think we definitely enjoyed building and playing with the Electric Inferno Roller Coaster set more. Granted, once built it's hard for kids to 'play' with it, as it sort of just does it's thing without intervention, but as a project, and as an on-going construction toy, it's great.
£39.99
