Giant Block Setting Crane
Main parts ready for final assembly.
An idea for an articulated bogie, based on Andy Knox's design, but without sliding couplings.
Two sets of bogies now made up.
Lower tower and all bogies assembled.
I have now built four sets of bogie assemblies and started on the tower structure, the top part of which is based partly on the Fishguard blocksetter. The 32 wheels, are all driven and are all articulated so should fit the rails perfectly (except for non-roundness of some flanged wheels!)
Testing the bogie drive
Temporary addition of a Powerdrive to test the gearing to all the wheels. First try, the front 16 wheels went forward and the back 16 went backwards!. Second try, the left side went forwards and the right side backwards! Third time lucky. Powerdrive set for 3:1 and the travelling speed is about right (4 wheel revs per minute, as per the Fishguard instructions)
Roller race This uses pastic spacers as rollers. It only has 16 of them, not 60-odd as the Fishguard design has. If they crack under load I'll replace with brass collars.
Roller raceside view - Nice and slim
Major assembly stage. First trial of fitting the jib onto the tower. It revolves! But also shown me that both roller bearing plates need further support in places. My counterweight at present is several hundred old 5.5" strips bound together, but will be partly replaced by a lead-acid battery later.
Engine house fittings. Hoisting drum is not yet fitted with its cable. The pseudo steam engine runs on a separate motor from the other 4 actions. Mayeb I should add some 'pipes' between the boiler and cylinders etc.
Battery, controller and counterweight. Currently using a connector as an on/off switch, until I find something suitable.
Jenny or Crab. MP 143 refers to this a Jenny, MP169 as a Crab. Anyway, it appears to run correctly along the jib without catching on my handrails. Not tested under much load yet.
The cab. 'Silver' flexible plates from the Big Ben set used for a roof.
Racking drum and gearing. Also an access ladder. The strips at the bottom of the photo are a cover for a Powerdrive motor for the traverse function. The yellow casing looked wrong and had to be hidden!
Inside the cab
Bogie
Jenny (or Crab)
Full Size Bicycle
Below are some photos of an (almost) rideable bike made entirely from Meccano (except tyres & tubes, and non-standard ball bearings).
A smaller Bike
Tin Lizzie
"Tin Lizzie" as featured in MM, Sep. 1969, with new roof
Based on article in MM 1969, but with a few improvements (new roof and corrected suspension).
"Tin Lizzie" as featured in MM, Sep. 1969, with new roof and corrected suspension.
Twin Model T's
I built the first (red/green) one a few years ago. Decided that since these were nearly always black ("any colour you like as long as it's black") that I should build a black one.
A set of four - different scales!
Built for my 2-year old grandson. The largest 2 are motorized. The largest has remote-control power and steering, the bodywork is mainly copied from Richard Smith's design in Runnymede guild magazine, June 2019
