This new model was built after Furiosity. I took the decision of dismantle the wheel and change the model to something else or easier. So I dismantled the big rotation unit and also the tilting top unit leaving only the tower and base.

I increased the height of the tower to over 1m and added on top a heavy-duty axle.

At this stage I knew what I wanted and built a large circular plate with eight arms of angle girders to support eight very long arms and cars to the model. These arms will swing at speed and perhaps increase the diameter to well over 1.5m.

Each arm with a car is about 1m long. I needed to fix a flat long plate so I can engage a motor connected to the rotating unit. After all was built I tested and I realised the motor keep cutting off. It was my transformer, so I changed the transformer and the model was great and worked well.

However the very long arms with the attachment to hold them at reduced speed created a problems and I was not happy with the result, so I dismantled all those fittings and reinforced the canopy so it was free of any movement and changed the position of the arms fitting so the very long arms work much better.

At the end it looks a nice and impressive model, which I name Furiosity Mk II as it evolved form the one shown at the West London Meccano Society meeting in March 2026.

After finishing my models The Disc Cutter and The Spider’s Bite in 2026 I decided to add another new model to the collection.

I built a base and a tower to support a tilting or swinging platform which holds the large rotating unit on top.

This unit is an eight arm fairground ride with eight struts bolted in straight angle to support or hold the eight cars.

On top of the swinging platform is a heavy-duty axle where this rotating structure which slides in to move freely.

The diameter of this wheel structure including all cars is 110cm.

Originally when I built this unit the eight struts for the cars were fitted in angle so the overall diameter was over 120cm, bigger than the space available in my car, so I dismantled all of them and repositioned them in straight angle not to exceed the space available.

The rotating unit was rather heavy and once fitted in its main axle on top needed weight balance so the movement of tilting up and down was smooth and easy.

The main motor came next, and fitted underneath the tilting unit with not much space available, so new adjustments were made, engaging the moving unit with double elastic bands from a pulley in the motor and a large circular plate with eight large bolts supporting wheel disc so the bands will go round them without coming out when in movement.

Changes and adjustments made the system perfect and working well.

Next was how to tilt the whole unit up and down from a tilting position to ride in the cars and then the big wheel will go to an horizontal position while at the same time were rotating.

So a second motor was fitted at the back of the base with a set of gears to be very slow in creating this up and down movement.

Once in the horizontal position the edge of the rotating structure came to be in line with the front of the base so I built a second smaller base as the main entrance to the ride to put it together attach to the main unit.

Judging for the scale of this model this ride could have been very big and very imposing.

Furiosity will scare you, so be brave.

Furiosity was built before the March 2026 West London Meccano Society meeting, a fairground model with a big Ferris wheel at the top of a tower which not only rotates, but also can tilt up and down from a moving platform operated with a motor. A second motor moves the model from a tilting position to the horizontal.

The rotating canopy could be slid in or out from a heavy-duty axle fitted at the top of the swinging platform.

After been displayed at the meeting I took the decision to dismantle the big wheel and change the model to a different one, which became Furiosity Mk II.

The sinking my fangs into the making of the new Spider’s Bite model started soon after the first South East London Meccano Club meeting of 2026 in January.

I had saved the large round canopy component with eight arms from my 2025 Momentum model which otherwise was now totally dismantled, and I set about building a new structure around it.

This started with a new base and a tower to support what would be the heavy rotating structure.

I really needed this model to feel distinctly different to the so many built in the past few years and that was the main focus.

As the model grew and slowly took shape it started to take a spider like semblance. I was mindful of trying to ensure the diameter of the structure did not exceed 3’ so that it would easily fit in my car, but I was pushing for how I could achieve extending that to 4’ or perhaps even 5’. That meant getting inventive with the construction process to overcome the transport limitations.

The ride’s passenger supporting arms were set at the full 3’ diameter but the trick was in the way the passenger cars were going to be designed and attached to hang freely, so they would only extend outwards when the model was operational. That didn’t have the result of achieving the full expansion in diameter I was looking for, so then I came up with the concept of having an extension on each arm which just like a spider’s leg could almost retract by folding them upwards.

Once this new diameter potential of the ride spin was realised, I had to then make all the alterations to the structure around it to accommodate its new rotating footprint. Similarly the canopy itself needed further modifications before I could achieve the precise position to mount it onto its supporting tower, from where it was a real moment when it finally showed itself rotating unimpeded and freely.

There were of course certain challenges each step of the way but the biggest challenge of all was in finding a motor and gearing system to be fitted to successfully engage a pinion to the large toothed circular double plates seating on top of many flanged wheels to drive its rotation.

The main entranceway part of the model was constructed as a separate add-on to the mechanical structure, again to be able to maximise the size of the overall model but not be hindered by the dimensions of my car boot, and this added another hint of overall satisfaction with what I feel had been achieved.

I like the idea that the ride is like a coiled up spider ready to strike, and how it expands into something much bigger and deadly, and with it resembling the form of a spider it is a welcome addition to a series that includes two of my early models, 2006’s The Spider Rider and 2009’s Arachnophobia.

The Spider’s Bite — sinking its fangs into its web caught riders and spins them to terrifying new heights!

2026 started and on the very first day I set about creating my new model of a rotating fairground ride that had to feel different from the many ones I have built since 1999.

I started by using a large circular plate made with 24 flanged sectors (part № 54) which I had had for some time, but I increased its diameter by adding one flat plate (part № 72) to each of the sectors, 24 in total — half in yellow and half in red.

To each of these two flat plates I bolted one curved strip (part № 89) and one double bent strip (part № 45) to hold the 12 cars of this ride.

I was not sure I would have enough parts for all the cars to be identical, so I had 12 large pulleys (part № 19b) and to each of them I bolted 12 yellow flat plate (part № 53a), each of them having a seat for the riders and a cross bar.

One small axle was attached to each of the cars so they would freely rotate when in motion. All the cars were fitted with a heavy counterbalance for a swinging action at rotation.

Next was the building of the main base made of eight large flanged modern Meccano 12½” x 3½” plates all in yellow. At the bottom of these plates I bolted some long double angle girders so the base was rigid and strong.

On top of this base I built a second flat platform made of another four similar flanged plates leaving a gap of 1½” so a motor can be fixed there to be connected to the circular moving structure.

I decided the platform would have to be in a vertical position, but originally I wanted this unit to go from the horizontal to the vertical with a motor and a complicated device, but being very heavy I decided to keep it in the vertical position saving a lot of hard work.

A heavy-duty axle bolted to this platform would hold the rotating large unit, and this needed to be re-positioned a few times until it was at the right distance for realistic loading and unloading of riders.

I also bolted a circular plate (part № 146) to its bottom with eight wheel discs fitted on brassy spacers so two heavy elastic bands could engage the motor once fitted underneath, and that proved tricky with only have 5cm of space.

I fitted the motor under the tilting platform and also the right type of pulley for the two elastic bands. I was relived when I finally managed to achieve the exact right position.

The first test of the motor worked but at certain intervals the transformer kept cutting out, and when I changed the motor for another one, again the same problem happened. Luckily I had a motor with a gearing reduction system built for another of my previous models, and when I fixed it to this one it worked very well.

Next was to build the front loading area with a type of a bridge, some of the usual finishing embellishments and fittings.

When the final test was made, the rotating unit worked like a dream and all the twelve cars swing freely at speed. Upon increasing the speed I did notice the cars go to a full turn which will made the thrill ride element much more interesting, However I decided it best to limit operating at those speeds for very short intervals only.

As standard practice for me these days, all of the cars and the rotating circular unit can easily be removed to minimise the overall heavy weight for transportation.

The Disc Cutter — Strapping in those who dare and cutting the wimps from the queue, and only then really turning the screw!

The original version of this fairground model was built in August 2025 and was displayed several clubs over the following months, but in November I decided to give the model a facelift.

Firstly I removed the heavy rotating arm with both cars and the ball ring where the ball rotates around its main axle, but then added new larger rings making three rings in total instead of the original one. I also added some new struts for support, making the overall structure not only bigger but much more impressive.

To better enable the removing of this heavy moving part of the model from its axles, I moved forwards the main front entrance arches which gave me room for the disengaging, but that mission was quite a big job as the arches were fitted with many supporting struts and railings.

Those same arches were increased in size by adding extra four curved strips to them with similar embellishments.

The main entrance was also redesigned with an additional large flanged plate, some new strips and angle girders.

The two free moving cars were also changed and behind the two of them I added a rings part no. 145 supported and bolted to the main rotating arm.

Finally a 20cm tall tower was built and fitted on top of the main twin towers behind,  this tower engage free unbolted into four long pins so it can be easily removed as the main arm to be displayed at meetings.

This new version of the Hamster Wheel has made the model bigger, heavier and even feels slightly aggressive, but in terms of uniqueness, it feels up there among one of my very best models.

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.

‘Plinocchio’ — The story of a boy who wanted to be a model.

We have all grown up with the story of the wooden puppet Pinocchio who wanted to be a real boy, but perhaps you haven’t heard this version!

In the original story, Geppetto was the wood carpenter model maker who wanted to have a boy of his own and so eventually carved one. Perhaps then I am the Meccano model maker who wanted to have a boy robot and eventually went on to make one.

The journey here first involved me making a Meccano mask that I could wear as a fun little surprise, but very soon that evolved to making a chest plate with it, and as such my first attempt at building a body-worn suit out of Meccano, which really brought out the boy in me and made me look almost like I was a robot in the model I affectionately named Metal Mickey.

After the amazing response I got from everyone that saw it and connected with it so engagingly, I was turbocharged in my efforts to evolve it further, and it was no longer enough just for it to be a metal cloak and mask. I had to complete the whole suit of Meccano armour if I wanted to become the whole walking and talking robot, and in that way the suit was added to bit by bit and the mask evolved with it to sit almost like a helmet in the upgraded version that I called ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’. It made me feel as excited and gleeful as a little boy.

How is it that some things can make us really connect with that childhood pleasure and how magic it feels when we make those kinds of connections?

That fuller robot-like suit went on to be equally well received by everyone that saw it, and every time the fantastic response made me feel just the same, and it was difficult to know how I would ever feel about one day having to dismantle it, such was the success of its creation.

Then I was asked one day, as the next step, why don’t I build a whole stand-alone robot, and that got me thinking. Perhaps there was no immediate need to dismantle too soon, but instead of having to wear the heavy cloak that brought out the real boy in me, why not help the boy Plicio become the robot he had never realised but perhaps always dreamed of being?

It was in this way that Plinocchio was wrought and not born. At first just some boyish fun behind a metal mask, who grew into the man in a full body suit but who still felt as gleeful as a boy, but who eventually achieved his destination and wish that the model maker who started constructing models from the gift of his mother when he was still only a young boy finally grew up and realised the model robot he was making.

Geppetto created a wooden puppet model, Pinocchio, who longed to be a real boy. I think I have created yet another model that reminds me of what magic that feels like, and of course you’ll know if I’m telling a lie.

As such, I have named him after the two of us!

To say this project had been on my mind for quite some time would be an understatement, but it was as such before I finally decided to bring it to life at the start of 2025.

The goal was to create a full-body Meccano armoured costume, beginning with a mask that would fit over my head, a chest plate, and armour covering my body from the waist down to almost my feet.

After so long having dreamed about making such a model, I was thrilled to see it coming together. However, I quickly realised it was a heavy garment to wear and it took several major adjustments to get it to fit more than satisfactorily.

To make it more wearable, I added soft, rounded padding on the inside of the mask to prevent it from hurting my head, which improved things, but it still remained heavy and slightly uncomfortable.

I then crafted shoes and an arm with claw-like fingers to be worn on my left hand for some fun dramatic effect.

As the January 2025 South East London Meccano Club meeting approached, I arranged with Tim Surtell to unveil the model at the event — but I kept the details a secret. I simply told him I had a new model in the car.

Around midday, I asked Tim to announce that a ‘new member‘ would be arriving through the front door with an unusual creation, and I entered, making a rattling sound and holding something in my hand.

I hadn’t quite anticipated the reaction I got; it was incredible. Everyone seemed to be amazed and taking endless photos, and after so long just thinking about making such a model one day, I was suddenly being offered so many warm congratulations for having done it.

Following that wonderful personal success, I showcased the costume at the next Runnymede Meccano Guild meeting and again at the next West London Meccano Society meeting. I was again met with such a reaction from fellow members, and so when I was later invited to a fancy dress party at the Spanish club on Portobello Road, I decided I may as well wear my Man in the Iron Mask Meccano suit model and ended up winning first prize for my outfit.

Actually, the reception I have enjoyed to the many nuts and bolted parts of my long-conceived Meccano-themed costume had been, up until that point, almost a little overwhelming, but I still personally wanted to improve the suit of armour further and so recently dismantled the original Metal Mickey version of it and started building the upgrade.

It is larger and heavier too, but a much better overall fit for my body. The new mask is three times bigger, but now the weight rests on my shoulders instead of directly on the top of my head, making it so much more comfortable to wear.

Once again I am filled with childlike excitement at donning my Man in the Iron Mask persona and, as such, looking forward to displaying my upgraded costume now that it has become something real and not just an idea that lived in my dreams!

The Man in the Iron Mask — Wearing out a passionate hobby by hiding myself underneath.

I have just completed my latest fairground model, the Hamster Wheel — the 85th model I’ve built since 1999. After so many creations, it becomes increasingly difficult to find new shapes and ideas that stand apart from the rest, but somehow I always manage to discover something fresh. This one, I must say, feels like it is amongst the most special and perhaps ranks as one of my very best.

The idea came after displaying my earlier Crusader model at Hollycombe. By the end of the show, a bolt had come loose and the rotating unit needed repairing. Back home, I decided not only to fix it, but to completely dismantle the unit and rebuild it with a lighter and different design. What I didn’t expect was that this change would lead me to create a brand-new machine.

I began by moving one of the towers, placing it at the far end and attaching it securely to the existing tower. I also increased its height and experimented with new parts and shapes. Next came a redesigned rotating arm: longer, lighter, and unlike anything I had built before. I constructed two new gondolas to hang from the double tower, though balancing them proved a tricky challenge due to the weight.

To strengthen the whole structure, I added a second arch behind the main one, giving the model a distinctive new profile. I also repositioned the motor to better drive the heavy-duty axle and the rotating unit. Once assembled, I was delighted with both its performance and its bold new look.

For decoration, I introduced something unusual — two circular frames made from curved strips, bolted together and mounted at the centre of the arm. Inside them, a rubber ball spins freely as the ride turns, creating a unique and eye-catching effect like the stone boulder that chases Indiana Jones in one of his films — but in this case, one that rolls endlessly round and round while the ride is in motion, mimicking the effect of a hamster tirelessly pacing on its wheel. I also fitted two Hub 118s to the gondolas for extra detail.

Although in recent years I’ve aimed for smaller, lighter models for easier transport, The Hamster Wheel turned out to be a large and heavy model instead. With its innovative hamster wheel adaptation, it ranks up there with some of my favourite so-called ‘supermodels’.

The Hamster Wheel is an imposing, daring ride, and is certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Thrill rides come and go, and fairground rides go round and round, but sometimes the excitement of going round in circles is something we can’t run fast enough from!

As the year 2024 was winding down to a finish and with too much spare time on my hands, I thought about creating a model based on a radical idea I had had for a long time.

Having suddenly committed myself to the idea, I started constructing in the morning of December 30th and was finished by the afternoon of the 31st just in time to ring in the new year!

In 18 years of being a member of at least five different Meccano clubs I hadn’t seen a model based on the idea and similarly after having seen hundreds of photos of Meccano models in endless magazines I hadn’t come across something like the one I had just built and so perhaps I can count myself lucky and hopefully claim to being the first with such a type model.

The idea is based on a large worn metal face mask; like the death mask of TutanMeccanoon but only worn by someone still living!

I wasn’t sure at first if I would be able to create a Meccano mask that I would be able to comfortably wear, but I persevered with the idea anyway and it wasn’t too long before I had found a way to pad out the inside to make it comfortable enough to be wearing.

After I had tested it out in the mirror I was satisfied with the mask but wondered if it would be even more effective if I covered up my shoulders and chest to make the focus on the mask more effective, and with that I decided to create more of a suit to make it feel more complete.

I could maybe go on and keep adding more body parts to it and the thought has crossed my mind to wear it at one of the coming Meccano meetings though I wouldn’t want anyone to think I was taking the Metal Mickey by doing so.

For now its still only a prototype and perhaps I might evolve it further depending on what I find in my armoury of 2025 coming.

The man in the iron mask feels like it wears a little bit heavy and it took some adjustments before it sat sturdily and comfortably on my head, and the rest of the outfit is similarly heavy, making me feel less like an Iron Man of the future and more like a Metal Mickey.

Some things just never grow old; you just have to find more inventive ways as how to mask the lines of longevity!

Here's a sneak peek at the latest version of Metal Mickey: https://youtube.com/shorts/yASjd0E7wLg

It wasn’t very long after finishing my last model called Momentum that I started with the development of yet another new one. You could say it was due to having gathered creative momentum that I soldiered on, or that I perhaps I am a un-fatiguing Meccano model ‘Crusader’ — one way or another the show must go on and in that way I try to constantly create something new to sail with it.

To free up the obligatory space and tied up spare parts, one of my older models had to make way, and the one named the Evil Eye was soon deconstructed, keeping just some of the features which I planned to make work with just some new modifications.

I decided to build a long arm with a boat at one end and a counterweight at the other, but to be easily removable for transportation and to be able to reconnect without too much fuss back in its place on top of the towers, mounted in the same two slots form the design of the previous model.

Those two supporting towers were firmly fixed down with as much rigour as possible to ensure they were free from any unwanted movements so as to be able to support the very heavy rotating structure.

I kept the position of the motor on top of the rear right-hand tower and three pulleys will engage to the motor with three elastic bands going round a circular plate fixed to the heavy-duty axle which freely rest on top and eight large washers bolted to this plate will secure the elastic bands from coming loose from it.

The seats for the riders have been fitted with strap facilities to comply with the necessary safety regulations of the times. Each new such addition I made such as the size of the boat and all the extra garnishing parts all made the unit extremely heavy, meaning that I also had to keep fitting more parts to the other end to keep the counterweight evenly balanced.

I’m not sure how many adjustments were made, but they were several and there were many more before the system worked perfectly smooth and rotated as nicely and easily as I wanted.

I know I have built more than a few models with the similar idea of a rotating structure mounted with either boats, cars or gondolas, and some that have been much bigger than this one, but I have always tried to ensure that they all have something original about them that makes them different to what I have previously managed.

It is a constant crusade to navigate new waters in each model design and every idea ebbs and flows and often comes to me in a torrent of waves and all I can do is to go with the tide as to where each new spark of an idea will willingly or unknowingly carry me.

‘The Crusader’ — taking cruising to a whole new and unstable level.

Over Christmas 2023 just for a change I decided to build a small model of a dinosaur which I named Pliciosaurus. It had four legs, a long neck and tail and very sharp teeth.

In early 2025 it was displayed in a Spanish club in Portobello Road with two other models of mine. After been displayed for almost two months, I removed the models and decided to dismantle the dinosaur.

It was Saturday the 3rd of May 2025 when I started dismantling everything from the model, keeping only the head. I knew we were having a Meccano exhibition at Hollycombe shortly where I would display two models — a brand new one named The Crusader and my Buccaneer galleon. At that moment I started thinking, why not re-build this into something new or different to add to the display?

So it was midday when I started adding a new neck to this head, which followed with most of its new body, until all I needed was its long tail and the two supporting big legs. It was about 5pm when I could not have believed that the new creature was built and ready for the Sunday especial day.

One thing I forgot was to add two small arms, similar to those of the T. Rex; however I hope I will do that shortly.

I came up with the name Meccanosaurus, a brand new species, born and fully evolved in just one afternoon, but millions of years in the preparing.

Meccanosaurus: A flying monster, terror of the skies.

It’s never easy choosing what to display at each forthcoming Meccano meeting, but one thing I know is that I soon get bored if I don’t have something new to bring with me.

The process of starting anew is at first something a little aimless and tedious as it almost always involves deconstructing an older model first, either to make the necessary room or to free up enough parts to move forwards.

It is normally at this stage that I start to come up with possible ideas of what I can create that is something new, and only then does the development of the idea gather momentum.

One such large model, which I had kept in my garage for a while, was stripped down to individual parts and components, keeping only a tilting tower section and part of the base, but both of which I completely re-designed.

I thought about keeping the large rotating drum that was fitted to the old model but eventually decided instead to reduce its design to half the size, making it easier to slide onto a heavy-duty axle, which I had fitted at the top of the new tower.

The fairground ride-based plan was to create a new rotating unit that would be mounted onto this tower, and that in turn would support eight arms in the typical amusement park shape and fashion we have become used to, with each arm composed of two angle girders in the shape of the legs of a large spider.

Motorising the movement of this rotating unit was a little more complex than normal but I set about using a double strung drive belt system to the motor fitted with lots of pinions and gears inside a compartment built on the side of the tower.

I was not however happy with the rather noisy mechanism due to the weight of the rotating canopy, so instead of removing this motor I built a second one and fitted it to the side of the compartment, but this proved tricky to get precisely in the required position and did not work as predicted.

I decided I had no choice but to remove both motors and replaced them with another geared motor which took many further adjustments until it finally was positioned in a way that effectively engaged the strung drive belt and motor and it was a great relief when the rotating canopy unit started to spin without disengaging. With the test carried out and providing a smooth and successful operation of the model, I was able to finally properly firm up the nuts and bolts to my satisfaction.

The model divides into four separate sections, which makes it easier to transport and not too complicated to set up, and its amazing how quickly the model all came together in just over five days. It’s a case of not knowing at first exactly what I’m trying to achieve nor how it will come together, but after each tentative start it soon gathers momentum.

Having built so many rotating fairground models in my time, it gets harder and harder to design each new model that feels valid or in some way different, but the sense of achievement I felt in completing this one, already makes it stand out among some of my favourites.

‘Momentum — you’ll not know how good a thrill ride gets until it starts!’

Here is a video featuring models from the Runnymede Meccano Guild's exhibition at Kempton Steam Museum over the weekend of 12–13 April 2025.

In my original model of this fairground ride, eight free-tilting carriages on eight rotating arms gave an exhilarating experience of being spun at extreme levels for short intervals periods reaching immense speed.

My main tallish structure was a type of bridge supported at both sides mainly for lights, name plate and embellishment.

The name came from the rotating rapid turning carriages looking like the blades of a food blender.

After it was only displayed at one meeting I decided to make a few changes. The main one was dismantling the original bridge and arch supported at both sides and creating a new longer bridge supported from the main front arch and entrance to the far end of the model.

Not only has the view of the model been fully improved, but the cars are all in full view from the side.

The arch was also modified and additional features added.

Finally I unbolted the eight cars to increase the length of all the arms by one extra centimetre in length so the overall diameter was increased.

When I built The Medusa (with its dome-shaped structure) I was pleased with the rather unusual finished shape and due to a short time to built it I decided to make this model medium sized, not very elaborate, and big and heavy.

After it was displayed at the January 2025 SELMEC meeting and later at the Midhurst Modellers Exhibition I decided to give the model a new shape, rather bigger and with eight cars instead of the four in the original model.

I changed the base making it longer and also wider. The new dome shape supporting the eight arms and cars was looking nicer, and the four cars also were changed to eight new cars with longer arm, increasing the overall dimension of rotation to about 1m in diameter.

The front entrance was also lightly changed and the edge walls with braced girders and yellow strips enhanced the overall look of the new model.

The Medusa Mk II is more dangerous, faster and takes you much higher than before. Will it perhaps intimidate you to dare ride in it?

An excellent description of Michael's impressive exhibition setup can be found in the Michael Edwards' Tramway System Manual, written by Michael's brother Phillip.

Having recently seen a video of a thrill ride based not in an amusement park but on the top of a skyscraper in the USA, I was inspired to create a model to replicate the ride’s main mechanical function.

The original Insanity ride at the Strat (formerly the Stratosphere) in Las Vegas has five mechanical arms with carriages and is a rotating machine on the very edge of the roof of the building, taking the riders in its carriages right over the edge with this huge drop underneath them.

The rotating structure is supported from a large arm in the form of an arch from where a large axle supports the five arms and ride carriages. These five arms spin, swinging more and more outwards as the speed increases.

A striking mechanical fixture which caught my attention were the straps attached to the main arms which were also supported on the same axle but move freely up or down as the speed accelerates or decelerates.

This made me interested in trying to replicate the action in a model ride of my own, though of course without the need of a skyscraper to do it. To that end I built a long arm well supported with a tower at one end. In my design and building of the arms supporting axle, my version can sport three carriage carrying arms instead of the five as seen on the real ride, though when I have more parts available I will be able to increase this to up to six arms.

The top end of this axle was bolted to two circular plates resembling a large pulley where a large elastic band would be connected to the motor.

The same axle will hold the main part supporting the arms and carriages and also the strips in an angle which will move up or down at speed have also been fitted to the swinging arms.

I was delighted to see how well and so smooth the system was working and how it runs on these axles just as is seen on the actual skyscraper attraction.

I was a great satisfaction to finally connect the motor and see it work as perfectly as the manually driven test did. It is a medium-size model and far from any of my biggest, but it was great to try out another type of challenge and master it.

Sometimes you can find yourself teetering on the precipice before you finally have your epiphany; lucky that wasn’t the case for me even though I did start this model on Monday 6th January which is actually the feast of the Epiphany, but I have found myself many a time on a white-knuckle ride such as a roller coaster or thrill ride about to go over or fall off the precipice, to know there are many much more exhilarating moments than being taken to the edge and back, and even then to be propelled albeit safely enough over the precipice.

Overall the model took me four days to complete, but only a moment to get motivated.

This model is from a set with 446 parts and a battery-operated motor. The car has two opening doors and the motor has a switch to both move the car forward and backwards. A rather pretty model which works beautifully well.

In terms of size, this model is medium-sized at best when compared to some of my other models and maybe not too elaborated either, but the main concept is an exhilarating experience of being spun at extreme levels.

It consists mainly of eight freely tilting carriages on eight rotating arms aimed simply to turn at such immense speed; it would test the nerve of the boldest thrill-seekers!

Having achieved that, I followed up by adding a tallish structure from where to hang an illuminating light and as an embellishment and two arches to complete the model’s look, and finally a name plate is sported on top.

The model was constructed over an eight day period!

When looked upon from above, the rapid turning carriages almost look like the blades on a food blender or wood shredder and that’s where the inspiration for the name has come from.

This ride’s aim is not to thrill by taking each new different turn, but to pose a new challenge to those who feel up to it.

Mankind’s courage was not designed to be in this way stirred up, but then who said this ride was supposed to be ‘Man-kind’?

This fairground abomination is designed solely to shred nerves, assuming anyone has a nerve to test it!

The Nerve Shredder — Taking whatever little courage you have left, and quickly spinning that conviction out of you!

This model is a dome-shaped structure with just four arms. Using several curved strips in yellow and red, they are connected to the four freely-connected cars that swing with the increase in speed.

The ride’s tower is firmly attached to a base built from four large flanged modern plates in yellow and red also extended with plates for the landing area and entrance way. It sits about a metre in height from where it holds a fixed heavy-duty axle, and from which the rotating unit is placed, consisting of a solid elaborated system powered by a motor connected to the framework which drives a rubber band pulley.

Due to the curved shape of the four arms, the motor positioning had to be fitted with an extreme amount of precision to avoid making contact with the rotating arms which are within millimetres of it.

Due to the potential extreme G-Forces at play the ride experience would consist of a series of short bursts of extreme speeds followed by more moderate catch-your-breath slower rotations that would leave you on edge anticipating when the next burst might come!

The speeds attainable by this ride would not be a sustainable healthy experience for thrill-seekers without moderating by applying the rapid speeds in short bursts.

I am rather pleased with the rather unusual finished shape of this model, though even the thought of being spun at such speeds makes my blood run cold, and even if I felt like I had the courage to ride it, I’m sure as I tried to move towards it I would freeze on the spot and my legs would feel like stone.

Perhaps looking at others chancing it would be as far as I might get, but then maybe even they would feel intimidated by its menacing presence.

The Medusa — Some rides look like they will thrill; this one ‘looks’ like it can kill!

After displaying my latest model of a Ferris Wheel at the SELMEC Meccano Show on 2^nd November 2024, I soon decided to give the model a new look, changing it’s name to ‘Evil Eye Mk II’.

The complete diameter of the wheel made with 16 strips (part № 1) were all removed and replaced by 48 curved strips in yellow and red for both sides of the framework. The overall round structure was also connected by 8 double angle strips (part № 48c) to reinforce the whole frame.

32 strips (part № 2), sixteen on each side added 16 inches to the overall diameter where the eight cars originally mounted on boilers now were fitted on eight circular girders rotating freely.

Eight flanged plates (part № 52) in green colour were also added to the framework making the whole wheel a lot stronger and also easier to transport.

The overall look of the model has been much improved, and it is stronger and more interesting.

Having constructed at least 14 different Ferris Wheel-based models in the past, I needed to come up with something different if I was to build yet another, and that was the thought I had on my mind when I chose to revisit them.

The classic amusement park ride is a long-established iconic mainstay installation at most fairs, and in most cases they always promise an experience that’s rather polite and civilised, and the experience of those who ride it is usually the furthest thing from feeling terrorised.

I guess I have always entertained the thought of doing something different, and yet for as many different thrill-enhanced incarnations of this model as I have achieved in the past, I felt in my bones that perhaps in their skeletons they weren’t so very much different!

I had to reinvent the very nature of the model’s carcass, if I was going to truly at long last slay that beast, and that thought alone was enough to get me started.

To free up available parts and also the necessary storage space, I started dismantling one of my earlier fairground based models (‘Hell’s Halo’) but decided on keeping the front main entrance, archway, and a good part of the base (though I had to increase its dimensions).

I built the two supporting high towers between which I planned the wheel to sit, but I was hesitant knowing the size and weight would only allow me to use a heavy-duty axle with the central hub made with two 118 parts. Was that going to really give me a core that was different to all that had come in the before?

I set upon another idea which was to use eight axles bolted to these two hubs, which then allowed me to construct the inner part of the wheel as much more of a narrow structure than I’ve ever come up with before, and which afforded me lots of so this part of the wheel will be narrow having a lot of free space in the inner half of the rotating wheel.

From the end of these axles I then constructed a wider and bigger frame more typical of the Ferris Wheel standing, but instead of mounting the passenger cars in the usual way, I thought to hang them instead from red boilers giving the outer part of the rotating wheel a very distinctive and muscular feel, but also meaning I had to construct the outer half as much as 8” wide, in contrast to its much sleeker supporting skeleton.

The eight boilers with the attached passenger carriages are made to be easily detachable which these days is a must for the ease of movement and transportation.

Thanks to the ample space afforded by the design of the axles from the hub to main frame, it allowed me to fit a motor to the tower and made for easy reach of the two inches to employ use of elastic bands as a drive mechanism from the hub engaged in pulleys which are attached to the motor.

Having built so many of these before and always been a passionate fan of the fairground myself, I believe I have achieved a first in this type of Ferris wheel configuration, and even though I have always sought in all of my previous similar wheel-themed models that they differ significantly from the traditional and nothing to fear of respectable shape, this time I can feel in my bones, the core of this one is different!

A new scourge of the polite and the civil is coming to the fairground, and after years of delight, and in the blink of an evil eye; the Ferris Wheel will have to move over.

Queue up to make the Ferris Wheel cry; a new incarnation is here at the fair. Dare you to look in its Evil Eye?

It had been a while since my last fairground ride concept thanks to a series of ship and robot themed models, and so suitably refreshed I set out about creating another.

Over the years designing numerous fairground models I feel I have virtually exhausted every conceivable shape and size and so the motivating challenge is always hoping you can come up with something new, and if at all possible, then also theming it as something imaginative too!

Without knowing for sure what I was going to build, I started by constructing a very long base where the new model will sit, whatever its shape, just to ensure that I wasn’t inhibited by the limited size of its feet.

The front of the base was to serve as the entrance to the ride, and a tilting tower was conceived to sit at the far end of the base to hold a rotating large canopy with eight passenger carriages.

Running unchecked with the adrenalin surge each new model design creates, it was soon evident that the new unit was not only large and suitably heavy, but with a diameter of 1.2m I had forgotten to take into consideration the internal dimensions of my car and how I would therefore transport it.

Not quite with my tail between my legs, but just as equally frustrating of course, everything I had built needed to be deconstructed and re-assembled in a slightly reduced redesign just to ensure that I could get the overall width to under 1.1m, but that impacted on all the fittings and structural support, and as such it took a whole day just to get back on track to where I hoped the model was going.

At that stage I was still not sure if the motor would be able to drive this heavy cumbersome unit, but I carried on stubbornly regardless, allowing myself to worry about such things later, and in that way I continued with the extra fittings, embellishments, balustrades, lights, etc.

What I did manage in my redesign was to create the construction in a way that it could be taken apart fairly easily into three main component parts, these being the base unit, the tilting tower, and the rotating canopy, and so I had more than overcome the challenges posed by the need to transport the model in my car from time to time.

It took me about 14 days to finish it but as I wasted one day in having to change it all, I lost out on one of the Sundays when I could have rested!

The test drive seemed to operate nice and smoothly, but it became apparent very quickly that the first motor driving the mechanism was not up to the challenge and an alternative upgrade had to follow quickly.

The overall base dimensions are 1.4m (length), 0.6m (width), 6” (height) and the overall model height is 1.3m. I have also included two sets of lights, a ticket kiosk, and a place for an advertising ride name and tagline.

The end product is yet another twist on a rotating thrill ride fairground attraction, but in my mind it can be so much more too. I also see it as a generating laser shooting defence mechanism, perhaps on standby protecting the earth from the threat from outer space and from the fury of its destructive meteorite missiles.

There was in the early 1970s an iconic collector’s flying ‘rocket’ kit model made by Wayne Keller of Estes Industries aimed at the older child and young-hearted adult which was also called the Cosmic Interceptor and looks like it would have been lots of fun to own and to construct and then test fly it too, though I myself never owned one. However I always believed a true Cosmic Interceptor that would be up to the challenge of protecting humanity would have to be a much bigger beast than a mere flying rocket, and something anchored down but with its eyes fixed permanently on the skies, and as such my new model idea is as much a fairground ride as it is a conceptual defence mechanism, depending on your point of view.

Take a ride in the Cosmic Interceptor — terrorising individuals at the fair while simultaneously keeping the population safe from the skies. Safely existing in a space where you still want to scream!

You would think having built eighteen different ship models since 2012 that I would have satisfied each possible design idea, but the opposite is true and I always find myself still reaching for that one last Endeavour.

Over the years they have all differed in one way or another, gradually getting bigger or slicker, and showcased different combinations of sail materials, rigging structures, hull shapes etc., but I have always fancied trying to achieve a galleon that seemed shaped straight out of a fantasy film, and with that desire I keep starting to build another vessel.

Yet once again despite having the idea in my mind, the final execution was not exactly what I had hoped for and the shape of my dreams eluded me once more. That said, I have achieved a very satisfactory hull shape which is much deeper than any before and with both turrets top decks in a pleasing tilting form.

This time I have added cannon in their portholes in sets of pairs and played around with different fixtures, but the main thing I did was in deciding to elevate the model on a purpose-made platform to make it stand tall and accentuate its shape.

The model was completed over a two week time frame minus the addition of sails which I am still pondering about adding.

Ship number 19 still hasn’t hit the nail on the head in terms of what I really envision, but it is closer than before and that I guess is down to countless previous never-giving-up ship incarnations. But this one is sailing closer to the destination of my desired horizon.

The San Tiago Endeavour — Taking an evolving trip to hull and back!