The Rotorvator Fairground Ride
Built by Santiago Plicio in March 2007
This is a Swing-boats Fairground Ride of my own design with two swinging arms rotating in the opposite directions. It was at the back of my mind for some time, but I had to wait for the previous one, “The Spider Rider”, to be dismantled before I was able to start on this new design.
The size of the tower determined the size of the arms and the cars. A heavy duty rod and fittings were used to fix one arm to the main body, the other using a conventional thinner axle. Using two gears (part № 31), I was able to achieve the reciprocal movement, and using three more of these gears provided extra support to the whole assembly; a second tower at the back provided the extra support needed.
To hide the wires a copper tube was used, and three low voltage transformer lights illuminate the inside of the motor and gearing system. Two hinged doors for access, embellishments, steps, kiosk and other details give the model an attractive look.