Rainbow (ride)

Rainbow is the name of the amusement park ride created by HUSS Maschinenfabrik of Bremen, Germany which is now HUSS Park Attractions of Budapest, Hungary. The Rainbow was manufactured from 1983-2000 and is often confused with its cousins Ali Baba (ride) and 1001 Nachts but there are major differences between the ride designs. The HUSS Rainbow has developed a vast fan base due to its large stature, smooth ride and bright lights.

There were only 42 units produced which were found in many counties from Canada, United States, Australia, India, Africa, the middle east, Asia and Europe.

Still today there are several Rainbows still in operation mainly in the United States and Europe. The most recent refurbishing was unveiled at the January 2014 South Florida Fair owned by Wade Shows.

The popularity of the classic ride has sparked its own (independently managed) Facebook page and several websites and forums dedicated to the Huss Rainbow.

The Rainbow was developed in the early 1980s from the design of the Ranger (ride) also built by HUSS. Its gondola holds 32 passengers in 3 rows with 2 persons per seat. An electronic controlled lap-bar (similar to the ones installed on HUSS Pirate rides - but shaped very differently) holds passengers in. Later some models were required to upgrade with seatbelts for added safety.

The Rainbow came packaged on 3 (possibly 4) oversized trailers or installed as park models. It took a crew of 4, about 6 hours to set up and 4 hours to tear down. A crane is used to erect the main shaft.

4 hydraulic motors drove this large beast.

After set up, the Rainbow stands a stunning 20 Meters (66 Feet) tall with an incredible on-ride rainbow in lights, and a large bright sun face in the middle of its long white main arm.

The overall theme varied slightly from unit to unit, Some seats were Orange, Some blue or white and the main arm displayed a V shaped stripe of varying colours. Of course, once it was sold its new owner could change it to fit their internal theme. The gondola sported illuminated clouds underneath which was one of the many trademarks of the rides style.

The ride is run manually with a joy stick, apparently some models were programmed and ran from push-buttons.

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Wikipedia