See 2024 Scrapheap Challenge for a description of this year's challenge.
Each year at our Club Spring Exhibition, we hold a Meccano Scrapheap Challenge. These challenges such as Tug of War and Climbing a Meccano chain with a clockwork motor, are intended to promote innovation. They are lots of fun, and often fiercely competitive.
To ensure fairness, we impose restrictions which vary for each event but are designed to keep the challenge within most peoples’ resources. For example, the use of only No. 4 set parts (1945-58 set), power by a No. 1 clockwork motor with standard spring or Meccano electric motor powered by 2 x AA batteries.
Scrapheap Challenge: This topic is discussed at our January club meeting each year and notified soon after. That gives three months to conceive, design, construct and test your entry before the annual club exhibition. Everybody is very welcome to have a go.
Year | Winner | Challenge |
---|---|---|
2024 | Steve Briancourt | Most accurate clockwork model to go round an object and hit the target |
2023 | Steve Briancourt | Best model using restricted number of parts |
2022 | Sam Medworth | Ping pong ball through target hoops |
2019 | Ian Jeeves | To travel exactly 20ft autonomously. |
2018 | David Miller | Stationary model to pull a known weight a given distance |
2017 | Sam Medworth | To launch a projectile, to land on a target 12 feet away with the greatest (repeatable) accuracy |
2016 | Philip Drew | A race between Meccano vehicles driven forwards by a fan and/or propeller (or multiple fans and/or propellers |
2015 | David Miller | A no 1 clockwork tractor pull |
2014 | Neil Bedford | A walking device of at least 6 legs powered by a no 1 clockwork motor |
2013 | Steve Briancourt | A device that would take as close to 30 seconds to descend 3ft to the floor |
2012 | Neil Bedford | Baked bean powered vehicle - furthest travel wins |
2011 | Sam Medworth | Fastest electric motor vehicle - 2AA batteries |
2010 | Sam Medworth | Caber tossing machine - furthest distance wins |
2009 | Neil Bedford | Square wheeled vehicle race |
2008 | Richard Smith | Straight line vehicle with a no 1 clockwork motor |
2007 | Sam Medworth | Accelerating vehicle with a no 1 clockwork motor |
2006 | Tony Lavender | Crane lifting capability with magic motor drive |
2005 | David Miller | Rolling vehicle - furthest distance from fixed slope |
2004 | David Miller | Chain climbing mechanism with a no 1 clockwork motor |
2003 | David Miller | Climb a slope - steepest climb wins |
2002 | Malcolm Hanson | Clockwork powered tug of war contest |
2001 | Malcolm Hanson | Throw a 24a wheel disc onto a target 15ft away |
2000 | Ron Garside | Clockwork powered vehicle |