MODELPLAN 140 £5.60 Tony Parmee's Fairground Spider Ride A Set 10 Model Tony Parmee has produced yet one more of his special models for the No.10 outfit. It is a rebuild of a model he designed and built 25 years ago, based on a ride that used to be on Walton-on-the-Naze Pier. The original model was powered by an E2OR Motor, and, like the real thing, the cars would take off and free fall for a distance over the large hump when it got up to speed. He has since designed an automatic stop/start intermittent drive for exhibitions, with maximum torque to overcome inertia at the start, accelerating to 'take off' speed before decelerating and stopping. Basically the drive is via an eccentrically driven and rotating sliding shaft which moves a 1" Pulley fitted with ring into frictional engagement, at right-angles, with the edge of a 4" Circular Plate - thus giving maximum reduction ratio with maximum torque to start the ride - then slides towards the centre speeding up the output to about double the rate. Withdrawal of the Pulley slows the output down until disengagement for stopping. The frictional drive also acts as a slipping clutch, thus protecting the mechanism if jamming of the output occurs. The Braced Girder railings are not, of course, within the Outfit, but are attractively appropriate and not essential to the model. Instructions include sections on the Base Frame, Base Ring, Mechanism Housing, Centre Housing, Automatic Mechanism, Non-Automatic Mechanism, Running Deck, Rotating Assembly, Kiosk and Steps, Motor Cover Door, and Fence Surround. The model is illustrated by eight large and clear colour photographs. |