Model Superstar ride by S&B Models

This model fun fair ride was built by S&B Models, for more information and pricing please contact them directly:

info@sandbmodels.com

http://sandbmodels.com

The Superstar is a 1/24th scale working model fairground ride. It can be bought as a kit or pre-assembled – visit the above link for more details! Filmed here at the Nottingham Goose Fair Model Show 2017

This model Waltzer looks just like the real thing!

You won’t believe that this is a model and not the real thing! S&B Models’ latest kit is this amazing detailed Waltzer ride.

This model fun fair ride was built by S&B Models, for more information and pricing please contact them directly:

info@sandbmodels.com http://sandbmodels.com

Take a close-up look at the latest model now available from S&B Models, a 1/24th scale miniature Waltzer ride. This is the first one to be completed and was built for Ray Grieve. It features a stunning light show, made using thousands of RGB colour-changing LEDs.

Percival’s Waltzer – a travelling nightclub?!

One of the UK’s best presented Waltzer rides is the ‘Disco Rider’ of William Percival. A stunning sound and light-show make this ride more visually impressive than many nightclubs!

Video recorded over the course of 2016 and 2017, with footage from Stamford Fair (2016 and 2017), Nottingham Goose Fair (2016) and Loughborough Fair (2016).

Tap the photo below to open photo gallery.

Crow’s EXCITER – worth the wait?

After what feels like a decade of waiting, the new Exciter ride of Dane Crow has made its debut appearance at the Conisbrough Ticklecock Fair.

Known to the public as “Exciter”, the new ride comes from British manufacturers Tivoli. Tivoli are perhaps most known for their Orbiter and Extreme rides that are slowly beginning to saturate the UK fair scene – so this new innovation is certainly welcome.

New? Are you sure?

Those who are familiar with their funfairs will certainly see some familiarity in the design of the Exciter. Named by Tivoli as the ‘Warp 10’, Exciter is a modernised version of the ‘Force 10’ – or Tip Top – which was originally introduced in 1980.

Whilst largely similar to the Tip Top, the USP of Exciter comes in the form of its seating. Replacing the enclosed cars of the 80’s are modern ‘dangly-feet’ three-seater cars with a bonus party-trick hidden up their sleeves – the ability to tilt.

When the tilting feature was first rumoured there was quite a lot of excitement in the enthusiast community. People began to visualise a system similar to that of the Air rollercoaster at Alton Towers where riders lie fully on their fronts, creating the illusion of flight. But as the years went by, it became apparent that there was clearly a delay with the construction of Exciter – believed to be due to the implementation of these tilting seats.

It was therefore somewhat disappointing to find out that the seats actually only tilt about 40 degrees forwards and return to their upright position before the ride accelerates to its full speed. Ah well.

Debut event – Conisbrough Ticklecock Fair

The Exciter finally made its public debut at the Conisbrough Ticklecock Fair on 13th April 2017. So what do we think?

There’s no denying that the ride is presented in an immaculate condition, as is the case of most rides operated by the Crow family. On closer inspection the attention to detail becomes apparent – from the laser-cut designs on the perimeter fencing to the Disco Smash speakers fitted to the back of each of the 12 cars. The LED lighting package is stunning, however has lost some of the impact that it would have had if the ride made its debut when it was originally intended to, due to LED lighting becoming the norm across many of the country’s rides in the past 24 months.

Was it worth the wait?

To put it simply, not really. Whilst there’s no denying that Exciter is a solid addition to the UK fair industry, it just doesn’t really tick all the boxes for us. At the end of the day the ride experience is essentially spinning in an unbroken circle for 3 minutes, and therefore somewhat nauseating to ride. Whilst the tilting seats are a good idea in theory, at the moment they’re not being utilised very effectively and go largely unnoticed whilst on the ride. Take a look for yourself in the full onride cycle below:

BUT don’t just take our word for it. It seems to be a bit of a generation thing – having read many comments on the internet it would seem that Exciter has gone down a treat with the older generation who have fond memories of the original Tip Top. To this extent, Exciter should be a big success with all ages – the oldies who remember the original and the young’uns who’ve never seen one before and think it’s something new.

It’s worth remembering that it is the Crows that were responsible for the first ‘lifting twist’ (Cyclone), and they do have to be admired for their innovative foresight – even if the final products are a little odd. What next, a tilting carousel?!

We wish the Crows all the best with Exciter and look forward to seeing it over the course of 2017!

Awesome LED light-show on a model Ferris Wheel!

This awesome miniature Ferris Wheel has 3640 RGB colour-changing lights! It was built by S&B Models for David Wragg.

We posted a video of this model being built-up last year, but since then the lighting has been completely reprogrammed by Steven Wilcox.

☆ Model Statistics
Based on: Lamberink RL45 Ferris Wheel
Scale: 1/24th
Wheel Diameter: 1760mm
Wheel Height: 1870mm
36 Arms and Gondolas
3640 RGB SMDs/LEDs
Build up time 3.5 hours
Model designed and built by S&B Models
Lighting programmed by Steven Wilcox

☆ Model Ferris Wheel on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ModelFerrisWheel/?fref=ts

☆ FOR MORE INFO & PRICING, please contact
info@sandbmodels.com
Unfortunately Hold Tight Riders are unable to respond to requests for purchase information, please contact S&B Models directly.

Inside Ice Mountain: The UK’s only travelling indoor rollercoaster!

Hop on-board the crazy Ice Mountain rollercoaster at London’s Winter Wonderland. This spinning rollercoaster experience is sure to impress you as it navigates its way through a frozen cavern inhabited by (fibreglass) polar bears and penguins!

Now in its fourth incarnation, Ice Mountain first appeared at Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland in November 2013. The spinning rollercoaster has travelled the UK with owner James Mellors since 2001, albeit without the building and winter theme.

More commonly known as Magic Mouse or Cyclone, Winter Wonderland is currently the only event at which the ride is enclosed in its Ice Mountain disguise.

Ice Mountain pictured without the building

Like a fine wine, Ice Mountain has certainly got better with age. It’s safe to say that its first year at Winter Wonderland, 2013, left many feeling short-changed. Apart from the external facade, there was absolutely no internal theming and the experience felt not too dissimilar from driving around a dark multi-storey car park.

With the intention of rivalling Hollenblitz, a (brilliant) indoor travelling coaster in Germany, Mr Mellors certainly had his work cut out to be able to return to Winter Wonderland for a second year with Ice Mountain. And thankfully he didn’t disappoint. 2014 saw the inside of Ice Mountain transformed into a fantastic dark-ride experience to rival many of the UK’s best (but do bear in mind that the UK doesn’t really have any good dark-rides).

Subtle changes each year have led to 2016’s Ice Mountain being the best incarnation to-date. As well as speeding past polar bears and penguins you can expect to see plenty of lighting effects, the ‘northern lights’ and a crazy disco section where the rollercoaster car itself spins and leaves you feeling suitably dizzy!

Ice Mountain is open at Winter Wonderland from 18th November 2016 until 2nd January 2017 – have you ridden it yet? Let us know below!

The brilliant ICE JET Matterhorn ride of Gerald Reeves

WOW! This is Gerald Reeves’ ICE JET Matterhorn rocking the show at the Nottingham Goose Fair 2016. Sit back and enjoy the ride!

Ice Jet was built by Bertazzon in 2012, and was originally owned by Frits and Johan Ropers of the Netherlands. It was sold to Gerald Reeves in September 2014. Despite this, 2016 was the first appearance for the ride at the Nottingham Goose Fair.

Percival’s Waltzer at Stamford Fair 2016

William Percival’s Maxwell Waltzer at the Stamford mid-lent fair 2016. One of the best looking Waltzers in the UK, with a fantastic sound and light show.

Check out this stunning LED Breakdance Car

Intershau Augsburg is a large fairground trade show that takes place over in Germany. The 9000 square meter event, which ran from the 22nd – 24th January 2016, played host to over 80 exhibitors offering services from various sides of the industry.

One of the most interesting items on display was this new take on a Huss Breakdance car, featuring hundreds of pixel-mapped RGB LEDs.

Full details of this concept have not yet surfaced online, however we believe that it was exhibited by German steelwork company “Stahl- und Anlagenbau“, or SAD for short. The company are currently focussing on modifying existing travelling fairground rides to ensure that they meet the new German DIN 13814 standards that must be complied with by 2017.

DIN 13814? These new regulations affect many of the older HUSS machines travelling in Germany, and require the rides to be modified to add aditional strength to certain components. It is believed that these new regulations are influenced by the increase in average rider weight since the rides were originally designed.

The LEDs on this are stunning, with endless possibilities to produce different chasing effects. Take a look for yourself in the video below!

Image/video source: Der Kirmesfan on YouTube

Danter Attraction’s stunning Big Wheel

Billy Bates opens brand new Twister Ride

For those who are fans of the Funfair, Bates’ new Twist will be no surprise to you. We’ve been lucky enough to be able to follow the construction of the rides thanks to regular updates on the Billy Bates & Sons Facebook Page. This ride has been the source of large amounts of excitement due to the fact that it will be the first Twist ride to feature a complete SMD LED Lighting Package.

As you can see in the above photo, the colour changing LEDs have been matrixed and programmed so that they are able to be used as a big “screen” – so as well as your typical lighting patterns, the ride will also be able to display scrolling text on the booms!

The ride’s first fair is now underway at Abbey Park (Leicester). Whilst the event started on Friday 27th March, the Twist didn’t debut until Saturday 28th – believed to be due to showman’s superstition that it is bad luck to open a new ride on a Friday.

The photos used in this post are sourced from the Billy Bates & Sons Facebook page. We hope to see the ride in the flesh for ourselves soon and produce a video to showcase the lighting package. In the mean time, Fairgroundking1 has uploaded a video of the ride in action which you can view below.

Meccano Euro Star Big Wheel

Fantastic model of a ferris wheel ride made by John Molden. The ride has  recently been enhanced with the addition of 1500 LEDs fitted by Michael Molden, all controlled by a custom flasher chip built by Roger Thorpe.

Filmed at the Churchdown Fun Fair Extravaganza 2011

Meccano “Extreme” Orbiter

This is a video of Roger Thorpe, Barry Wilcox and Steven Wilcox’s model of the Extreme Orbiter ride, filmed at Long Eaton model show 2008.

The model is in 1/8th scale and took them 18 months to build. It is made with Meccano, but you wouldn’t be able to tell, this thing is SO realistic. Enhancing the ride are literally thousands of LEDs, but the fact that the model functions exactly as the real ride does is dam impressive!

The model quite rightfully won the ‘Best Modern Thrill Ride Model’ trophy at the Long Eaton show.

The video really doesn’t do the model justice, but gives a good idea of just how..awesome.. the model is.