Report by Malcolm Hanson
We had a select but very successful gathering at Long Ashton Village Hall in May with a range of excellent models. A video of the moving models can be viewed on YouTube.
Pete Evans had the latest versions of his Trevithic Penydaren and Locomotion both with nicely running mechanisms.
He also had his Hitachi 670 mining shovel with a fantastic array of controls which worked impeccably via radio control.
Pete also had a vintage Paris taxi and a range of aero and car outfit models.
Neil Bedford came with a large range of vehicle models some of which were radio controlled. There was a Land Rover that we had not seen before, the BMW R75 outfit, a Bugatti racer, Leyland Coach and the Hagglund BV206. Neil really enjoyed having such a vast floor space on which to run his models!
Terry Childs had a splendid model of the Ffestineog railway locomotive Taleisin. This ran very reliably on a piece of homemade track with a distinct set of curves in it to show off the flexible nature of the loco’s twin drive bogies.
Sam Medworth had an adapted version of a 30s manual model of a Midland 4-2-2 loco.With this he brought a 20s model of The Rocket (a favourite model of his father’s) and modern outfit models of a digger, with Bowden cables and a small car. The latter was powered by a very impressive “pull-back-and go” motor.
David Northcott brought a small but beautifully formed “palm” orrery.
Mark Bridle came with an “in progress” model of a Jones Mobile Crane.
I had a Congreve rolling ball clock, a 1937 #10 outfit model of an aircraft carrier and working model of a Giant bee I had seen in Kew Gardens.
There were 7 contenders for the Scrap Heap Challenge but none of the others could cope with the speed of Sam’s leading entry. Made from light-weight modern plastic parts and with Elektrikit bearings it flew off with the prize despite having been involved in a spectacular practice crash!
