2024 July

Our July meeting was another great success with a very good turnout. We had a small sales table of Meccano and literature, and as always a superb spread for lunch. Many thanks to Bonnie for helping out in the kitchen and Kevin H for bringing a delicious cake. We also had a number of visitors throughout the day.

Brian showed a fine example of a tipper lorry.

Brian's shunting engine has proved popular with children so he has ensured that it is child-proof and robustly made.

Barry had an excellent display of various Dan Dare outfits - Rocketship Builder sets 0, 1 and 2, AJET Aero engineer and The supersonic Jet & Rocket Builder from the late Tony Knowles' collection which Barry has tinkered with.

The Eagle comic featuring the Dare spaceship builder sets went on sale via toy shops and advertisements in the Eagle comic. They were produced by a company called A and M Bartram in Birmingham.

They seemed very successful at the time and in early 1954 they were attempting to triple production at their factory. However, by late 1955 it appears that the factory had closed after less than two years of Dan Dare spaceship builder production. In the late 1950s a very similar set was available using many of the same parts called AJET. This, as far as we know, was a company that was run by a previous CEO from the A and M Bartram business and they still held the Patent for the Dan Dare spaceship builder series.

Hugh's Log Saw was based on the 1928 Supermodel plan No.10, which could be build using a set 6 of the time.  His improvements include a saw motor governed by a speed controller, and a separate power drive motor to bring the saw vertically down. The plans called for the drive to the Feed Carriage to be engaged by a Meccano dog clutch. This is probably not the best solution to engage drive as the dogs often just spun past each other without clicking into place.

Hugh's other model is a work in progress. It is based on the Grandfather Clock Supermodel plan No. 14A from around 1931. It is causing him a little trouble at the moment but we are sure he will crack this and produce another superb model.

Neil displayed two Series 1 Land Rovers - the original green short wheel base version and the new grey long wheel base version with recovery crane. The grey one has been upgraded with better steering, very small working differentials on both axles, a faster motor and a much bigger battery.

He also brought, for interest, a display differential which is possibly the most compact 'all pinion' differential which can be made from standard Meccano parts. The assembly is less than 1.5 inches long!

David N brought his Locomotive and Tender which is a 4-2-2 configuration built to plan No. 7.19. from a 1930 set 7.

Rohan, our newest - and by far the youngest - worked steadily through the day building a bulldozer. Several members helped him along the way and he completed the model by himself later that evening. Everyone thought he did extremely well and we look forward to seeing him again.

Chris went back to the very basics of Meccano with the Forth Bridge, replicating the original Supermodel from 1904.  The original was built by boys from the Bedford Grammar School, and was shown at an exhibition at the time.  Hornby was impressed and included the model in a Meccano build manual.

Kevin D brought a variety of vehicles built largely in blue, yellow and Zinc. The trench digger is based on a 1970's set 6 plan.  There was also a cement mixer, a mobile crane and a breakdown recovery truck.

Martin has recently started building again and brought along a bulldozer in yellow and blue. A very tidy looking model as expected from him.

Steve has at last managed to find time to start tinkering again with his perpetual stairs model. Because the mechanisms frequently got out of sync causing jams, he has improved the drive train to ensure gears maintain mesh and the chain cannot jump a sprocket tooth. The latter was achieved by using a Meccano Centre Fork set very close to the chain at its tangent point off the sprocket, such that the chain is unable to ride up over the teeth.

Furthermore, he has utilised the axial movement of the principal drive shaft which occurs when the drive torque becomes too high.  High torque causes the contrate gear clutch to separate, which moves the shaft.  This motion is magnified by a lever, which in turn trips a microswitch shutting off power to the supply relay. When the cause of the problem is resolved, a start button re-energises the relay to allow power to the motors once again.

Mark B's car chassis is built to Special Instruction leaflet model plan 7.1 from 1928. Notably, at the time, this plan only cost 3d. Mark was unhappy with the design of the differential so he upgraded it with his own improved unit.

Richard S showed a Bottom Dump Truck in red and green.  The lone turntable was built using some of a batch of ball bearings of differing sizes he had acquired, some of which lent themselves to the building of this very compact and free running turntable.

Colin's Tower Bridge is a very fine example of a Bascule bridge, with operational road sections which cycled between open and closed. It was built to model plan 203 designed by Tony Parmee, but with Colin's own extra touches.

Richard G's display comprised Nickel plated sets - all from 1924. Given that they are now 100 years old, they are in remarkably fine condition.

Eric's display of aircraft started with a Lego biplane! He said this demonstrated how fragile Lego models are because the lightest touch caused it to come apart. Compare this to the Meccano ones which are much more robust.

He built the green and red biplane from a single picture he found some time ago. He recently discovered that the model designer was in our club and that it wasn't a picture at all. It was actually a computer rendition generated from scratch, so Eric's model was the first time it had actually been built.

The high wing monoplane is a Meccano Airplane Constructor model.

The red plane is a work in progress. It will be a Sopwith Camel biplane but needed some additional work around the engine which Eric couldn't access easily. So he started it again - which can be seen behind the wing - and he regards the first attempt as a prototype! The car is also Eric's.

Philip brought his Burgh Island Sea Tractor - more can be read about this on the 2023 October page. He also brought a very nice Meccanograph.

John's Tower Bridge was also based on the one designed by Tony Parmee.  Basically, this model is from the 1954 set 9 Meccano manual.

This model is built with the set 10 and is fitted with an automatic mechanism which cycles the raising and lowering of the bascules.

Rob brought a variety of small vehicles made from the modern kits

Gregg displayed a hybrid tower crane. David J provided him with the sales booket illustrating a tower crane constructed from a mixture of standard metal Meccano parts and plastic Junior Meccano parts. David challenged Gregg to build a replica of the crane since he knew that Gregg has a large collection of Junior Meccano parts. Gregg had the ilustration enlarged from A5 to A3.

He did not follow the design exactly since the structure needed stiffening and some of the internals are not visible. The 9-hole strips are quite scarce, so he had to use blue and grey as well as red, rather than all red. Gregg is tempted to motorise the base of the crane, but using Meccano tank track rather than wheels.

Pete showed a selection of models from different eras.  The pre-1924 Erector tram uses the early wide braced strips for the roof, which contrasts to the later narrow braced strips seen on the post-1924 car.

Burrell Showmans Engine
Erector pre 1924 (USA)
Erector post 1924 (USA)
1930's Train with improvements to the original plan

The accumulator box is not a genuine Meccano one but has, in fact, been 3D printed. It has been designed to accept ordinary batteries inside, so can function like the real thing.