2003 Meetings

October 2003

David Northcott had a lovely model of a vintage bus based on version he had seen at MW Models.

Sam Medworth entertained us with some simple yet charming models of acrobats from set 0-1 manuals.

Neil Bedford brought a heavy-duty differential he had designed.

Richard Smith had the latest version of his block setter and had been working on the Corsair fighter plane shown last time (see below), but was experiencing difficulty getting everything to work inside the ‘skinned’ version.

Malcolm Hanson had two examples of ‘Klipit’ construction sets. Hobbies of Dereham in Norfolk, famous for their fretwork kits, first manufactured these in 1917. They contain wooden parts, which are held together by a variety of metal clips. The larger of the two sets even has a range of gears in it. However, they do not seem to have been too popular as manufacture stopped some time in the 20s. The fact that one of the sets is unused and the other is hardly used is further evidence of their lack of favour.

July 2003

New member Neil Bedford brought a sophisticated mobile crane with all the movements you would expect and driven by an ex car windscreen wiper motor.

His young daughter, Forest, was not to be outdone and came with a selection of models she had built including a scooter, jeep and helicopter.

David Northcott has been in close contact with the Argentinean firm of Exacto who found a picture of his Bugatti model on the club website. They were so impressed they send him all the brand new parts he needed to build the model again as a prototype for a kit they are going to produce in collaboration with another Argentinean firm who make replica Bugattis.

Richard Smith had built a skeletal model of an American Corsair fighter plane of WW2. He is attempting to get all the mechanics right at which point he will build it again from ‘clean’ parts and an add a ‘skin’ to the model he has built already. This way he will be able to display the models together with one demonstrating how the other one operates.

Ron’s supermodels of the day were the Stone Saw,the motorcycle and sidecar and the Single cylinder Steam Engine. He now has over 20 supermodels built at the same time.

The weather allowed us to have an outside section which suited Sam’s contribution to the evening. He came with two steam-powered models. One was the supermodel Steam Shovel, adapted to use the 60’s Mamod steam engine, and the other demonstrated the Constantinesco torque converter, a fascinating device that rendered conventional gears on a car unnecessary. Both operated happily in the great outdoors.

Malcolm showed a display of Meccano electrical and electronic sets through the ages.

January 2003

Philip had created a "balance" game using his own published instructions! Ron's nickel model of the day was a Meccanograph built from the original 1918 manual. Ralph showed us his latest loco model, "Big Bertha", the Fowler designed 0-10-0 that was built specifically to bank trains up the Lickey Incline on the LMS route to Scotland. By way of amazing coincidence both David Northcott and Tony Lavender had built the Canadian published instructions for an accurate orrery. Tony had yet to complete his but could get some tips from David who has his working, but apparently in the opposite direction to the real thing! Malcolm brought a No8 set model of a robot in 50's red/green, although the design dates from 1939. He also brought items from his collection of Mechanics Made Easy sets. These will feature in forthcoming articles he has written for Constructor's Quarterly.