2009 May Exhibition

We had another very successful show at Tockington Village Hall in May 2009 with a good range of models for us and the public to enjoy.

Neil Bedford gave a final run out to his Scammell truck and he and Forrest also brought a broad selection of trucks and tractor models.

Pete Evans had two restored shop display models along with two model steam engines, a dockside crane with its partner ‘Henbury’ loco, and a nice No 6 outfit of the dark red/green period.

John Day showed us his ‘drop tower’ fairground ride along with another fairground model he is working on, which he hopes will eventually be fully automated.

Geoff Bennett dazzled us with his large model of a SRN4 hovercraft. This had pivoting propeller pylons, opening rear and front doors and would simulate hovering.

Mark Bridle displayed his Stothert and Pitt dockside crane which now boasts an ingenious automatic grab of his own design. (Mark used a large black cylinder motor as ballast and unfortunately this has now gone missing. If by any chance you picked it up by mistake and wonder where it came from please contact him on 01275 341235.)

David Worth went to the other size extreme by bringing a collection of small models, many of them made from modern kits.

David Northcott had his beautiful orrery.

Andrew Cope displayed his block-setter and grandfather clock along with an impressive bulldozer based on an Eric Taylor design.

Sam Medworth brought contrasting models of Stephenson’s Rocket, one modern and one from a 1930 MM design. He also had his operating windmill. He demonstrated the range of gears in Plastic Meccano by building a Meccanograph that was enjoyed by the youngsters.

Richard Smith had his block setter in dark blue and yellow.

Ralph Clark’s locomotive of the day was a GWR broad gauge example.

New member Brian Bowditch exhibited a fine showman’s engine together with a steam wagon.

Malcolm Hanson came with various shop displays and wind-the-handle models together with his blue/gold “K” and “Ka” outfits. Examples: ball clock, jacknife bridge.

The "scrapheap challenge" for this year was to build a vehicle with SQUARE wheels to race the length of the hall; "first to the other end wins!" It had to be powered by a Powerdrive 6-ratio gear boxed Meccano electric motor and have a built-in power-pack (no trailing cables). We had 6 keen contestants, but none of the other 5 could get close to the speed of Neil’s square-wheeled boy-racer, so well done to him!

Winning entry

Many thanks to everyone, and especially the Smith family, for making the show so successful.