Star Gazer II Fairground Ride
Built by Santiago Plicio in September 2009
The Star Gazer was my freelance model of a large fairground ride. Eight cars or boats supported by eight arms in a rotating hub on top of an oscillating bridge is located on a heavy duty axle with some wheels underneath to support the structure. The ride will start rotating and the bridge will start rising to a horizontal position and will tilt in the opposite direction until it reaches another 45° angle to return back to its starting position and so on. It resembles an astronomical radiotelescope.
This new model I call the Star Gazer II is a much larger, heavier and sophisticated model. The cars have been re-designed, as has the bridge, the steps, and so much more of the model. The number of parts has been increased to hundreds and the whole model has been raised to make the model well over one metre in height.
The motor has been re-positioned as the quadrant pinion was lower than the previous model and so was the redesigned tilting bridge. The base suffered a lot of changes and need to be reinforced due to the increased weight of the model. The motor simply drives the huge and heavy moving canopy with only a small rubber band and having changed the gearing system the speed has been increased to a very fast rotation which is surprising for such a heavy structure.