The Crown of Medusa Fairground Ride
Built by Santiago Plicio in November 2025
The original Medusa model was built in 2024 and was displayed back in January at the SELMEC meeting and then later in February at the Midhurst Modellers Exhibition.
It was a fairground model that had four passenger cars rotating at high speed, but that I later evolved when I upgraded the model and increased the capacity to eight passenger cars instead and named the new improved model the Medusa Mk II.
This upgraded version was displayed at the Spanish Club in Portobello, where it stayed for a whole two months, and once I finally managed to get it back home, I got the urge to make even more upgrades and maybe even change it into something new.
I decided to keep most of the existing shape of the rotating canopy but I increased its overall dimensions. I also changed the design of the eight passenger cars for completely new ones and also their new supporting struts.
To go with these improvements, I fitted the upgraded unit onto a much larger base so I could add a bolder front entrance, which is dominated by a similar archway as in the original, only much bigger, and a second arch with it in a tilting shape, which proved very attractive and way more interesting a design than in previous models.
A light was fitted right on top, and some warning signs and advertising added as part of the finishing touches.
Due to its heavier weight, the motor did not cope as well as it had with the design of its predecessor, and as such I resorted to having to replace the motor for a new one, but this also proved at first unsuccessful, and a third motor with a gearing system was employed and proved to be more successful this time. But that too was rather difficult to adjust and to fit within the very confined and limited space in the canopy, and so I had to change quite a few parts further to create the access and space needed.
The model is now the third in a series of evolvements and upgrades, and as should be the case with each new generation, it is easily the best of the three by far, reigning supreme over its two predecessors in terms of aesthetics, visual impact, and potential thrill power, and as such it deserves to wear the crown with its naming.