2016 July

SWMC Meeting 16/07/16
We had a small but very pleasant gathering at Richard Smith’s home. The club has effectively been given the bulk of the significant stock of second-quality Meccano which Malcolm Hanson previously had stored in his garage. We we will be disposing of this and (at Malcolm’s request) dividing any profit between the SWMC and a chosen Cancer charity (Thanks Malcolm!). This Meccano is mostly in ‘very well played-with’ condition and we were able to begin selling some of this during the meeting. We are not looking to make very much money, hoping instead to find good homes for things amongst the membership. There will be further sales at our October gathering.
As always we had some interesting models on display, starting with a very nice AEC flat-bed lorry in medium red and green by Chris Bates. This model featured a three speed and reverse gearbox following an Alan Wembourne design (but built as a mirror-image in order that the gear lever would be on the other side) and with a differential on the rear axle. Chris is thinking about adding radio control to this model and we look forward to seeing this in the near future.
Andrew Jefferis brought along a crane from a 1928 Meccano Magazine which used a sideplate motor and incorporated worms into the hoisting and luffing mechanisms so that no brakes were needed when these functions were taken out of mesh. Despite a little gear crunching this model worked very well. Andrew also showed us a plate rolling machine to his own design, recycling a broom handle to make the rollers and three micromodels – two of which were traction engines and one a motorcycle.
David Northcott brought along his Model T Ford, featuring a very interesting gearbox and smart appearance in red and gold parts (not a common colour combination but quite a pleasing one).
Martin Arnold showed us the very neatly modelled tractor unit from the Set Ten Tractor and Dumper model in YBZ parts. This featured a two speed gearbox and E20R motor. Everything worked as it should and the smell of ozone transported us all back to the days when we all depended upon these worthy old motors.
Pete Evans (or should I say “Skegness award-winning Pete Evans”) brought along some superb Hornby cars from the 1930’s. I hesitate to call these ‘Constructor Cars’ as strictly speaking, one of them was not. There were a blue No 2, a red No 1 and a red No 2 constructor and then a lovely non-constructor car with its original box and instructions – really charming stuff.
Rob Curling, accompanied again by his wife Angie,  brought along the chassis of his Coles Crane, developed from the Tony James Set Ten plan using photographs of a real one at Swindon and Cricklade Railway as a guide. This model is being built in YBZ parts and will hopefully replicate a feature of the original which meant that turning the steering wheel to the left would always turn the vehicle to the left, regardless of which direction the cab was pointing – clever stuff.
Our host Richard Smith had some models on display including a lovely dark red and green pontoon crane and a neat tipper lorry using nickel parts.
Neil bedford brought along his Camel Trophy Landrover – a small but busy model featuring working suspension, lights and radio control.