This was another well attended meeting with some people just coming for the camaraderie without bringing a model. Thanks to Dianne for providing the food and many thanks to those members who helped her in the kitchen.
Below is a summary of the models on display.
Mark H-S displayed a beautiful looking model designed by KonKoly which Mark embellished a little. Konkoly was prolific in his designs, about 200 of them in the Supermodel range, all of which could be made from a set 10 (with perhaps a few additional parts). The action of the horse motion was very elegant, and the overall effect very pleasing. Mark noted that this was the first time he had used a drift in a model (the lance).
On a historical note, Konkoly's horse towing a chariot was featured in Meccano Magazine in 1965 for which he got no credit. Furthermore, it was used in July 1966 in an official advert, again without credit.
Kevin D buys job lots of Meccano to supply his red and green building needs. With the leftovers he has managed to build a couple of nice models; a mobile crane and a set 6 digger.
Barry showed his collection of:
Meccano
Mission The Universe
1997– 1999
Meccano first introduced Mission The Universe, consisting of five sets in late 1997. In early 1998 they added four more new Mission The Universe sets, they then continued for two years until 1999. The first five models focus around the one main model - the Space Base.
The Space Base had three battery pack units, one driving flashing landing lights, another driving a searchlight, and finally the last one powered the motor driving the lift assembly. It is also the only Meccano themed sets to have a large, 167b flanged ring included as standard.
The observation base was equipped with a real magnifying lens.
The space X-plorer was equipped with retractable motorised feet, enabling two different configurations for landing and flight.
The interstellar cargo unit had a special magnet attached to it along with a battery operated spotlight.
The detector unit was a ground base vehicle with a motor for forward and reverse operation
The Meta-cruiser was equipped with a magnetic telescopic arm.
In 1998 at least two of the sets were also supplied with a moulded plastic space surface launch pad on which to display the model (very similar to what Lego were doing at the time).
Neil brought along two models. The first (shown previously) is a customised VW Split-Screen transporter pickup, with 'barn-find' flat-tank Norton racing motorcycle combination. It features a working drive, steering, and a 'working' air-cooled engine in the rear. Old parts were stripped and then repainted in genuine VW colours. The wheels are intended for a R/C car but look good on the model. The windows are cut from a cake box, and the 'VW' badge on the front is a much-modified brass 8 hole wheel disc.
The second is a Model 5.1 'Tipping Lorry' from 1954-61. Built from very tatty parts as an 'ornament' to sit on an empty shelf in his garage. Interesting in as far as the plan has the worst steering mechanism he has ever seen, and a front grille design which cannot actually be constructed as shown.
The Field Gun built by Andrew not only looked good but actually fired a projectile. The 'shell' was a plastic collar firing off a rod down the centre of the barrel. When operated it was surprisingly powerful, so looking down the barrel to see why it didn't fire one time was a bad idea (especially as it was a hairpin trigger!) This was a set 8 model.
Chris F has spent 4 to 5 months rebuilding and says he finally has something which is perhaps worth sharing. This started out life as a small modification of the classic 'Super Model' 32, but it is now changed in many ways: mainly one flywheel and four cylinders rather than two flywheels and two cylinders (he never could understand why two flywheels were necessary, other than perhaps for Meccano Ltd to sell more Channel Segments).
The main change, though, is driving the motion entirely by the magnetic action of Elektrikit coils, rather than a standard electric motor. The coils represent the steam cylinders of the prototype, and Elektrikit built 'valves' to represent the original steam valves. There isn't a lot of power available from these small coils, so the most difficult bit of building the model was reducing friction sufficiently enough so that it would actually run. He originally tried only two cylinders, each made up of three coils, but couldn't get reliable running on 12-13 volts. It did sometimes run for a while, but as the coils heated up the current (and therefore the power) reduced and the thing stopped. Also he could see that there wouldn't be nearly enough power left over to drive a centrifugal governor.
He obtained some extra coils and built four cylinders each consisting of two coils. The hope was this would increase available power by 33% or so (8 coils instead of 6). Alas it wasn't so. But he then realised he was powering the coils for too long; some of the time power was being wasted, and (worse) sometimes even acting in the wrong direction. By fine-tuning the timing he realized he could feed up to 24 volts to the coils . They are all wired in parallel, but only one pair (of four pairs) is powered at any given time. With this 25% duty ratio, the coils can accept 24 volts without getting too warm. He still had to add some heat-sinks to the coils though, to enable the action to run for a reasonable time.
If the model stopped running while unattended, one set of coils would have 24 volts applied continuously which would definitely burn them out. So he utilised the centrifugal governor as a 'fail-safe' switch. If the motion gets below a certain speed the commutator makes contact with electrical ground. This in turn switches a relay (made from 2 further Elektrikit coils hidden in the firebox) which turns off the 24 volt supply to the main cylinder coils. An unwanted side-effect of this is that the system won't run from a standing start, so he added a couple of override switches (one for each pair of cylinders) which need to be manually depressed in order to provide initial voltage to the coils. These override switches are also invaluable in setting up the timing while slowly turning the flywheel by hand.
It's entirely standard Meccano and Elektrikit, with the exception of the addition of a diode across each set of coils to reduce electrical interference to the outside world. Original Elektrikit never supplied these but should have done! He wondered how many neighbours' radio reception was upset by some Meccano Boys playing with Elektrikit?
John's fairground ride was called 'Nebulaz', built to an instruction booklet. John put his own twist on it by installing the motor on the top instead of having an external motor at the base. At present this also means the battery is at the top, otherwise an external battery would require a slip ring to transfer the power to the rotating structure. The rotating base is a thrust bearing using half inch diameter balls (instead of a 3/8 inch ball cage) which gave extra clearance to accommodate gears. Watching this model in action is mesmerising.
Richard S showed his forklift truck based on John Sharp's design. Richard preferred to use a modern motor rather than the E15R in the original design. Almost all the shafts are properly journaled using double arm cranks and bush wheels. The photo shows it on its side to display the workings underneath.
His second model was the lifting shovel from a number 10 set. It did originally use an E15R motor but this was noisy so he replaced it with a modern motor.
His last model is a work in progress of a road tar spreader. It is based on a 1960's Barber-Greene machine (type BG220B). It will have an Archimedean screw mounted transversely to spread the tar evenly to a regular depth.
There has not been any progress on Steve's perpetual spiral staircase due to long overdue diy commitments at home, and bizarely a lack of sector plates. Of all the many sector plates he has, he discovered that they were made in two different depths (as well as the obvious two different lengths).
As each stair tread must be identical in both size and colour, but there were not enough of the right ones. However, working with what was available, Steve brought his assembly jig which ensures each tread assembly is identical. Each tread is loosely assembled and placed into the jig and positioned accurately before tightening.
Chris B brought an interesting display of four types of intermittent drive. This particular display has been used as a demonstration piece at Scout meetings. Three of them have appeared in Meccano Magazine and the fourth is from a Dave Harvey 'inching' clock. He noted that when using the three toothed quadrants it was difficult to find three that matched up.
Eric had intended to build a gantry crane shown in an old photo, but was taken by an interesting looking truck in the foreground instead. About twenty of these trucks were commissioned to be built and were based on a Fordson Tractor. It will be an uncomplicated model with steering but no differential. He said that if it goes well he might build a trailer for it and possibly the gantry crane as well for a diorama.
Eric's second model is also a work in progress. His grandson wanted him to build an 'Army ship', which Eric took to mean a battleship. This model is of the 1912 British Navy vessel - The Iron Duke - which saw service up until the early part of WWII then was scrapped in 1946. Its sister ship - Emperor of India - was demoted to become a gunnery target ship before being scrapped. The turrets will rotate, and the gun barrels will elevate by the use of a small motor in the turret.
Another great display of non-Meccano construction set models was shown by Richard G. Some of these alternative systems didn't last for very long, one existing only between 1913 and 1918. The large sailing ship is an Australian system and is almost identical to Meccano but with a smaller range of parts.
Pete displayed his Burrell Showmans Engine which he built long ago. He mentioned that during the build he found the wheel axle too weak resulting in it deflecting. The solution came from Richard S who made a bigger diameter axle but with the exposed ends turned down to look like Meccano axles.
His Signal Gantry is a new model built using Nickel parts from a 1922 set 7 model plan. This set 7 was the largest Nickel set made.
He also had a Refrigeration unit built from an American Erector Set 9½. It seems that from 1935 to 1957, all Erector sets were numbered with the addition of ½. How strange!
The factory display windmill has belonged to a few club members, and is now currently owned by Pete. He also had a 1916 non-reversible 4V motor supplied to Meccano by Lionel Trains which at the time was owned by Gilbert (owner of Erector) and a 1920 Meccano's own 4V reversible motor.
Mark B displayed his Marion Shovel, type 125 - Electric. He first showed this under construction in July 2022.
