The Spiralizer Fairground Ride
Built by Santiago Plicio in October 2016
After having shown my freelance Propulsion model at the 2016 WLMS and SELMEC meetings, I decided to build an additional attachment of the rotating unit part of the model as a different amusement park ride experience that could be offered but that can be incorporated into the same base, tower and axle. In short, offering different set up options for the owners.
From there my Jekyll & Ride concept emerged and I claimed it to be the world’s first double or split personality amusement park attraction. This was a twin loop ride with one at each end with rotating but self-levelling carriages.
It had been such a busy period in 2016, with five Meccano events, meetings and exhibitions with only seven day gaps between them that it had not offered me the time to create brand new concept models starting from scratch, and so I opted to re-imagine some of my existing models instead, turning them into new ones saving on some of the lacking time.
So with the 2016 SELMEC Meccano Show approaching next, I decided to build a third version of the same model to once again sport the same base from the two previous incarnations and with this I redesigned the rotating unit of Propulsion to add eight loops instead of the two in the Jekyll & Ride, eight flange rings, eight circular girders, eight circular strips and eight face plates were used for each loop and eight swinging cars free rotating in each.
Lots of new supports and additional parts to enhance the model were also added and pretty soon the new model was completed and tested, and the results were very satisfactory indeed.
I must admit that I prefer the satisfaction of creating completely brand new models, but like the idea that recent efforts have given my models lots of new options and extras, and now in this case instead of just two, my model’s true identity is spiraling out of control and can now claim to have many split personalities.
As a matter of fact, I realise that many of today’s mod-cons, tools and daily accessories all come with many useful attachments or optional extras, and so why should fairground models be any different, and perhaps more of my new models could be built and using this system.
So now with a mind spinning name needed to reflect its current identity, ‘The Spiralizer’ was born and now is ready to play. Catch a ride on it now, while you still recognize what it is that threatens.