The 2000 Exhibition, St. Luke's Church Hall, Bath
by Sam Medworth
Although a much smaller affair than previous years, there was a good range and standard of models, as follows:
No 9 set Factory, Blue and Gold, Coin operated theatre, complete with sound, strip bender and an SM 3 Motorcycle and Sidecar. Ron Garside.
Servetti's Trolley Factory - under construction and a No 5 set Clockwork Car. Andy Cope.
Bulldozer,blue/yellow/zinc, from 1949 7/8 set manual. Grahame White
Tractor and Bailer, blue/yellow/zinc, from 1949 7/8 set manual. Grahame White.
1924 Bugatti type 35 sports car - scale model. David Northcott.
Easter Bunny with revolving bowtie! Warren Bishop.
Derrick crane - hybrid SML 6/36, with joystick control of slewing, luffing and hoisting and (almost) level luffing. Sam Medworth.
Hand Loom and Small models - ex Elf petrol promotion. Sam Medworth.
Stiff Leg Derrick - SML 6.
Single Decker Bus, clockwork powered, with gearbox incl reverse and steering.
Meccano Ltd. Aero, Car and Boat models - beautifully restored. Michael Edwards.
Pre-1914 clockwork car, nickel. Michael Hutchings.
Builder's Truck, Mobile Crane, Fairground Dodgems - 2 operating independently with very realistic action! 1914 monoplane as built by the original owner of the set on Christmas Day!
Forth Bridge - restored Meccano with miniature steam roller. Bishop.
1913 "Eiffel Tower", Horsedrawn cab. Mervyn Bishop.
Scrapheap Challenge 2000
This new competition attracted 10 entrants. The challenge was to build the vehicle powered by any Meccano motor that would travel the furthest on a single winding. The winner was Ron Garside, who had stayed up until 3am that morning perfecting a vehicle with 4" wheels running in Elektrikit pinpoint bearings and using his most powerful motor. This travelled 4 times the distance of the nearest rival - 13.5 lengths of the hall! Ron will keep the cup until the next challenge...