Australian Amusement Fanatics

Next weekend is the Blacktown show(or known as tarp city ) which goes from 14th-16th at the blacktown showground on Richmond rd. Has been a good little show over the years with the showmen's guild in charge of the rides but they decided to go with Osburne fairground attractions for a bit of a change this year. U can also buy $30 unlimited band at westpoint shopping centre before the show but on show day its $35. Good lineup:

Kamikaze(think its called skymaster)
Yoyo
Sizzler
Dodgems
Starchaser(like thunderbolt)
Tornado(tiltawhirl)
Giant Slide
Heaps of kids rides
Some inflatables

Hopefully will head out on one of the days. Hope it doesnt rain If i do go expect a review with heaps of pics

Cheers
Top Gunner14

Skymaster is all setup at the showground. Its an ARM Skymaster. Nothin else is there yet

Thanks for the info Topgunner; hoepfully it'll be a good show with no rain.

Not a bad ride lineup; it's been years since I've ridden on the Yoyo, probably since it was at Tomteland I think. It would've been good if they had brought Splash Canyon down; the amount of rain we've had lately would've filled up the pool it operates in no worries!

The Hangover is an ARM Skyflier too isn't it?

yes the HANGOVER is a modified skymaster.\


since when did we have a chance yoyo? or is it not

Yes a chance yoyo. Hangover is skymaster with screamer cars. Shame with no SC

The Chance Yoyo is somewhat different to the Waveswinger as the chairs tilt backwards and forwards as they spin. It's pretty good although the chairs sometimes smash into one another fairly hard when tilting back which isn't always the best fun. the Yoyo is much more common in the US where it is harder but not impossible to find standard Waveswingers which are better in my oppinion.

Yes ben there r heaps of yoyos in the states

Went out to Blacktown Show yesterday with my dad. Was a good day, pretty cloudy and didnt rain which was great. The show had died down over the years and wasnt to big. Had a ute muster there instead of the horse events. But no animal displays which i thought was bad. Also met Les Osbourne. Asked him why splash canyon doesnt go to RES anymore. They had a political delema, its not that they dont want to do RES anymore, theyd still do it if they were could. He said we should all write to Michael collins(i think thats what his name was) whos the RES director to get SC back down. They also bought the Mad Mouse which was from adelaide. Its at Bathurst gettin set up wit splash canyon. Now onto my review.

Skymaster: Just came over from the states. Needed a new paint job and cleanup. Went on 3 times. The first 2 goes we went over the top 4 times and then that was it. But then gave us a longer go the third and that was lots of fun. And the motor sounded just like oneills ranger, Was very loud. But i luv the sound of the motors screaming. Good ride, needed a cleanup and a new paintjob.







Tornado: Never seen this tilt a whirl before. Looking nice. The ride was very rickerty. As u spun, the car would just shake so much. But had some fast spinning, not as fast as ive had on a tilt before. Sounded very old. A good long ride but, bout 4 min.



Yoyo: Never seen this before either. Looking pretty nice. A great fun ride. A long ride cycle too. About 5 min. I thought wed never come down. At full height, the ride tilted like it should but didnt spin so u didnt get the wave effect. But the seats would tilt backwards and forwards which was really fun. I kept makin tilt more. A good fun ride, could do with a new paintjob.



Sizzler: Looking nice and clean, went pretty quick and a good long ride. Very smooth sensation. And i noticed it was a ferrari manufactured sizzler too.



Dodgems: The track was looking nice, and has some nice sleek new cars mixed with some battered older ones. Had a good long ride, the cars didnt go too fast but lots of crashing as always.



Starchase: Wasnt working when we arrived but kicked back over later on so i could get a ride. Have never seen this model before either. But, needed a good cleanup and paintjob, no offence, but just looked like a matterhorn with a marquee stuck on top. But i was suprised with how fast it went. Went very quick and almost as fast as thunderbolt. Gathered speed quick too, and went backwards which was fun as always. But there was no commentating or interaction with the riders either which is always fun if u hav someone like that. They said something at the beginning but u couldnt understand because the speakers werent loud. But a fun ride and good long ride cycle.





Well theres my review, enjoy this one cause its the first and last blacktown show for me. The show decided to hav a change this year with osbournes instead of the showmens guild. When they didit, last year was top gun, music trip, hurri, dodgems, cha cha and others that i cant remember. Anyway enjoy!!!

Cheers
Top Gunner14

Great review Topgunner, so why would you not go back next year, cause it actually sounded like you enjoyed it.

Yep a great review Topgunner. I should've headed out to Blacktown this weekend because it sounded like fun! I doubt whether Splash Canyon will be back at the RES; interesting info about the Mad Mouse. It seems like regional show goers will get to experience it for a change.

Glad you had a good time.

My personal opinion about getting onto Sydney, is that you have the newest, but not exactly the best rides, just show that you brought it in this year and your on.

Thanx for ur support guys. Sydney is now focusing on the newer rides. Not getting in older classics. I did hav a good time at the show. The rides were alright but just the show itself wasnt great. No ring events, no animals, not the atmosphere u want at a show. And it was alright, cause i was basically on the rides by myself and could just walk on. And i dont think the showmens guild r doin bathurst, cause all inderpendents like osbourne, phelan and others r goin. Good, maybe better rides at castle hill!!

Cheers
Top Gunner14

Top Gun, thanks for sharing those - the last (and only) time I saw that YoYo was at the Royal Melbourne Show on top of the side show building around 1990.

Had not seen a recent photo of the Star Chaser either - I notice that the cars / ride are Reverchon (from the t-bar restraint).

That Sky Master must've been made by ARM under license from Fabbri - it is virtually identical in its mechanics with a few small differences.

Would that Tilt be Youngs?

Zamperla wrote:
Would that Tilt be Youngs?

no thats definatly not 'Youngs' tilt-a-whirl

i_dunno wrote:

Zamperla wrote:
Would that Tilt be Youngs?

no thats definatly not 'Youngs' tilt-a-whirl

ahahah this is what i call irony

This is and always, for as long as I can remember been Osbornes Tilt, it was John Osbornes, father of Les , then it was, I beleive purchased by Les.

Yes the tilts is les'. And the starchase's bars r just like reverchons likeon the flashdance. Except FD r bit newer and cleaner. I dont think the skymaster was under license cause all of ARM's skymasters look like that

Hmm... looking at those pics the harnesses look Identical to Flash Dance's System. But i'd have to see the ride in person to determine it. But thats one Matterhorn that i'd never seen or heard about until this post. And I really hope that Skymaster gets a paintjob QUICK! Cause it looks like spew, and thats without the spew!

??

If he has to wait till winter to paint it that says a lot for the rest of his gear that they have had for years considering they could do with a good paint job. The tilt was owned by Bourkes Amusements and now its Lesleys. If they want to get back on the capitals try buying something new not old and crap, the reason slash canyon is not on Sydney is not political its because it was a hassle to have there, accidents, water didn't pull in the people.

The Starchase and Yoyo used to run at Tomteland. I haven't ridden Starchase for ages but I think the lap bar is similar to that used on Flashdance but it doesn't come down as far, giving a bit more room in the cars. I don't remember it being anywhere near as fast as Matterhorn or Thunderbolt but it has been a few years since I've seen it so it's probably had some work done on it since.

I do like the look of the Multi Colored seats on Starchaser, I also reckon with a good overhaul it could give Thunderbolt and Alpine Express a good run for it's money. However i'd need to judge the ride for myself. About how long was the program on the ride? Because if I remember correctly, Thunderbolt's cycle was a rather short one.

Starchase went for a long cycle. If it was done up really well, as u said hurricane it would give both TB and AE a run 4 their money. It goes pretty fast too. almost as fast as thunderbolt. But needs some interaction too

I'll agree with you on the interaction thing. A good ride needs the operator interacting with them. Or at least something like Space Roller and Cyber Party has (The various sound clips and THUMPING music) To create that atmosphere.

Yeh they needed some good speakers not like the povo ones they had on starchase where u could just hear the music and it sounded crap.