The Circuit Breaker Fairground Ride
Built by Santiago Plicio in June 2019
Looking back I know I have a long tradition of creating fairground models more than anything else and in that theme it is not always easy to come up with anything new! I have had on hold for a long time to try myhand at creating a roller coaster effort but know the challenges involved will be many and each time I think them through it puts my head in a spin and I end up with a completely different model and this one is another example, though despite the head spin I don’t think I will continue to put off the roller coaster idea for too much longer.
In the meantime, to create this model I started dismantling a previous fairground model to free up enough working parts so I could start yet another new fairground ride.
It is a big model with a circular horizontal platform which rotates with its eight rider cars which is built with circular plates and seats.
At the front entrance arch I have placed four dancing men powered by a motor and a large curved arm holding a light to light the whole moving unit. This same arch is reinforced with an added second one fixed just a few inches behind. The rotating part of the unit is made with 24 flanged sectors, powered by another motor. To enhance the overall appeal of the model ride I decided to add a smaller children’s ride which sits at one end of the new model and secured by two long bolts fixed to the main base.
I am still working on my aim to get the eight cars of the smaller ride to rotate in synchronisation with that of the main unit, and have tried achieving this is so far by adding extra pulleys to each of the cars and a long string passing through these pulleys going to a smaller one which was attached to the main structure, however I was not convinced even after a long modification that this was going to work perfectly, so for the time been I have put that aim on hold.
It is a big and heavy model and for transportation the only things that can be removed to make it any lighter are the eight cars and the smaller children’s part of it.
Continuing to create new fairground designs is getting harder, and it is more difficult to think of new shapes or ideas, and I wonder which one it will be that eventually breaks the circuit and forces me into tackling my roller coaster effort. I guess only time will tell; maybe this one will prove to be the circuit breaker.
The ‘Circuit Breaker’ — stopping even thrill riders dead in their tracks!