Martin Smith
Member
All that is surely still all in place? It must be like and abandoned ride in there now. It would be so interesting to see what it’s like now. Someone somewhere must know!
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Pirate Adventure
- Thread starter Harry
- Start date
Themeparksandy1981
Member
Staff have been in there and have taken pictures but they not allowed to put them on the internet. The Dark ride database pictures were taken during the time the ride was been stripped out in 2019.
Please do not upload the entire book to the site.. It will be a lot of scanned pages and that will be a heavy load on our server >.>
Themeparksandy1981
Member
The wood they put up on the building looks awful
James no5
Member
It's better than anything
That honestly looks shocking. They could've at least painted it to match in with the already existing facade. As Elise said hopefully something will be done/added to it.
Kam
Member
Most pneumatic animatronics in Pirate Adventure were solenoid valve controlled, but yes the solenoids themselves were controlled/configured using computer software, using bespoke cicuit boards which were built by a Golding owned company. Obviously very few animatronics (bar I think the captain on the ship in the battle scene) had complicated movements beyond 3 or 4 motions, so a raspberry pi and relay board coded using Python would work just as fine in programming the basic ones now, with the solenoids input signals corresponding to specific units of air pressure being delivered to the (usually two) pneumatic actuators used for each figure. The programming can quite easily allow for repeated cycles of motions over periods of time too.
The difficulty of dealing with these kinds of equipment arises when you need animatronics with complex movements, especially when you're using a number of double acting actuators in unison for things like smoothed out motions or facial movements. The type of cannons that were used in the Pirate Adventure battle scene were also harder to programme as the cylinder 'recharge' time needed to deliver the large scale back and forth movements of the entire cannons was a lot longer, at least using the actuators that were already built in to them.
Interesting fact: the three Farmer Studios animatronics added in 1996 still used the original 1990 built air compressor as a feeding source. I would have thought they would have built a new compressor to save them needing to network all the way to the original compressor, but clearly the piping network was easy to work with, even going all the way to the front of the Pirate Adventure queue- line.
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Themeparksandy1981
Member
I think it was the 2 pirates that were in the queue line as 1 of them sat on a shelf reading a book and the other just moved his hand back and forth in the hammock.
Kam
Member
They were Horatio (the parrot sitting on the treasure in the station), Peg leg polly (the other parrot who used to be next to the front entrance of the ride, inside a cabin, removed last year), and the Book reading sailor, which I am in the process of restoring. Pictured below:
The small pipe you can see directly next to his feet is the inlet pipe responsible for the first part of his two way leg motion. There is another pipe around the back of the cylinder responsible for the second 'retraction' part of the motion moving his leg back in to its original place. Both of those pipes would usually be set up to a single two way solenoid valve using push in connectors.
The sailor is in far better condition than some of the other pirates, mainly because he was up on a perch and out of reach
He's actually reading an old 1990s Leicester catalogue, which makes complete sense given Farmer Studios' old home location. It's full of old company listings within the Leicester area. I took a picture of the book here, taken around car park for the park main office in 2020, shortly after he was removed.
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Themeparksandy1981
Member
I wonder if the parrot was removed so they could restore him back stage.
Do u hope to get him working again?
I do wonder if the sound and speaker system is still all in the building?
Do u hope to get him working again?
I do wonder if the sound and speaker system is still all in the building?
Immelmanloop
Member
The speakers are probably too old compared to the Ohm ones around the park to want to salvage, so probably.
Themeparksandy1981
Member
The pirate sign started to show itself again
Also I had a look in the bush and pieces of the frontage is in there
It’s so light no wonder it came away from the building
Also I had a look in the bush and pieces of the frontage is in there
It’s so light no wonder it came away from the building
Themeparksandy1981
Member
As I had a go on the dodgems today I noticed by the door way that so of the concrete blocks had been replaced in the wall.
Themeparksandy1981
Member
Tree removal round the side of the pirate adventure building
Euro Theme Park Archive
Member
Going on when I was a theme park AV technician this sounds like pretty normal pneumatic animation. It would be very simple to run new airlines for the additions, Id never expect a new compressor to be added just for a couple extra animations. The main compressor would be huge to run the whole ride, outputting a far higher pressure to what ends up at the animations themselves so I'm sure would have extra capacity, the pressure at the animations end is then regulated to whatever is needed.
Not sure what you mean by cylinder recharge time cos to change the speed of a cylinder you just change its regulated pressure. A larger cylinder would just need to move slower to not damage itself over time.
Pneumatic animation is super basic and relies entirely on regulation and springs to smooth things out, which is why they often look terrible if not looked after as the regulation goes out over time and needs fine tuning. Often parks will just not maintain this and you end up with jerky movements.
I was lucky to meet with some of the animations designers from Golding Leisure and he remembered the sheer amount of animated figures was huge!
Kam
Member
Here is a picture of one of the Pirate Adventure cannons
Compressor I am using for the sailor's leg motion pictured below:
Also important to note that the cannons were not designed in the same way as the other pneumatic animatronics within the ride, and actually had larger piping than the standard 2.5mm diameter pipes used for most double acting motions. The cannons themselves had a sudden "jerking back" movement, which propelled the cannon (which is pretty heavy in and of itself) backwards quickly along a rail underneath, during the firing motion, to mimick the recoil movement of a real cannon.
The cannons inside the fort during the battle scene didn't have the large encasing that the other cannons had. You can see the rails underneath them here, after they had been removed from the fort in 2018.
The cannons also had a separate pneumatic driven action, with a large burst of air resonating through the metal tube inside the gun barrel, which created the deep "Boom" sound from the cannon, timed to occur as the cannon moved backwards. As I'm sure you will remember, the cannons on Pirate Adventure in the battle scene were incredibly loud. It's one of the reasons I'm scared to restore them .. I don't want anyone thinking I have some kind of firearm !
Regardless, to deliver the sudden burst of pressure, given the size of the piping & size of the cylinders, the cannon uses a small air receiver built next to the actuator fitted to a valve, underneath the cannon. Because of this, It doesn't matter how much excess pressure you provide to the cannon, it always moves at the same speed and makes the same sound when both of the cylinders actuate. But providing more bars of pressure leads to less of a delay between actuations.
In fact, from what my good friend Dan has told me from his own 8 movement Pirate animtronic restoration, playing around with the air regulation did not change the speed of the cylinder movements for his animatronics , either. But it did create time lags between movements. So I suspect that this is not just limited to cannon movements.
Cool, I hope it was a good experience
With only the 3 animatronics , you could quite easily control them with a newer, smaller compressor. One of the basic portable compressors pictured in packaging here provides enough bars/CFM for multiple pneumatic motions, and is quite easy to set up. My logic is that having the two pneumatic systems separate would have meant less complication during servicing and maintenance, given that they were built during different years, and specced by two different design studios. But Farmer Studios connected it up to the main compressor for the ride regardless. It's just an interesting observation.
Compressor I am using for the sailor's leg motion pictured below:
That's not how the animatronic in question worked within Pirate Adventure.
Also important to note that the cannons were not designed in the same way as the other pneumatic animatronics within the ride, and actually had larger piping than the standard 2.5mm diameter pipes used for most double acting motions. The cannons themselves had a sudden "jerking back" movement, which propelled the cannon (which is pretty heavy in and of itself) backwards quickly along a rail underneath, during the firing motion, to mimick the recoil movement of a real cannon.
The cannons inside the fort during the battle scene didn't have the large encasing that the other cannons had. You can see the rails underneath them here, after they had been removed from the fort in 2018.
The cannons also had a separate pneumatic driven action, with a large burst of air resonating through the metal tube inside the gun barrel, which created the deep "Boom" sound from the cannon, timed to occur as the cannon moved backwards. As I'm sure you will remember, the cannons on Pirate Adventure in the battle scene were incredibly loud. It's one of the reasons I'm scared to restore them .. I don't want anyone thinking I have some kind of firearm !
Regardless, to deliver the sudden burst of pressure, given the size of the piping & size of the cylinders, the cannon uses a small air receiver built next to the actuator fitted to a valve, underneath the cannon. Because of this, It doesn't matter how much excess pressure you provide to the cannon, it always moves at the same speed and makes the same sound when both of the cylinders actuate. But providing more bars of pressure leads to less of a delay between actuations.
In fact, from what my good friend Dan has told me from his own 8 movement Pirate animtronic restoration, playing around with the air regulation did not change the speed of the cylinder movements for his animatronics , either. But it did create time lags between movements. So I suspect that this is not just limited to cannon movements.
Cool, I hope it was a good experience
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Euro Theme Park Archive
Member
If you already have a large compressor which would usually have more than enough headroom, adding another compressor would mean maintaining 2 compressors instead of just easily tapping off one. The small one you have in the photo is not really for industrial use.
Im confused, this is a bit like saying the speed of my car doesn't change with how much I press the pedal. The purpose of regulating pressure at the cylinder end is to set speed, maybe there is a problem with the cylinders, presumably they're very old and no longer in great condition so don't move as they should.
This sounds like a slightly different method then so yes probably more difficult to programme, from what you describe it sounds like they use what's usually called an air spring to achieve that burst motion. Im interested to see this if you have a photo of the cannon system?
I have my own Farmer Studios animatronic I rescued from Terror Tomb, maybe I should make a video on how it all works one day!
Kam
Member
It works just fine, and has done over long periods of time. In fact I was recommended to use this particular compressor by a former Golding leisure employee, who had specced most of the Pirate Adventure animatronics, during the rides construction. Like I said, you wouldn't need an industrial grade compressor for those 3 in particular. The electrical power required to operate a compressor and solenoids for all of them is so low it could be done through your house mains. While they were of a very high design standard, they were only a small set of additions, added to jazz up the queue line.
Yes, you are indeed getting mistaken. I'm not talking about the physics of the cylinder. I'm talking about the pressure provided to pipes that lead out from the animatronic, which , using push in connectors & relief valves, we have piped up to our own solenoids/manifolds & air compressors.
No matter what pressure is applied in to the animatronic through the piping , above a certain level of pressure, the motion is always capped at the same speed. But as observed, what happens when more pressure is applied is that the movements become less delayed, and start to move more constantly. The cylinders aren't actually in that bad of a condition, the issue with pirate adventure's pneumatics was primarily the piping network not being maintained, and leaking out too much air due to corrosion.
I will provide some pictures of the cannon mechanism for the forward and backward 'recoil' motion, shortly. I cannot provide images of the gun barrel cylinders at present though, as they are encased inside it.
There were 4 types of cannons that Golding Leisure design used within Pirate Adventure
- Pneumatic gun cannon: the one pictured above which shot out pressurized air to create the boom sound
- Smoke canon: which also shot out pressurized air, but combined that element with a smoke machine which dispensed in to the barrel
- Strobe cannon: which just flashed while it moved backwards.
- The cannon above the bridge in the burning town, with a pirate next to it: this one was unique and had all of the other elements combined
There were approx 128 figures altogether. Some listings put it at 90, but those are only including the pirate figures, and not the other animated figures.
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