Meccano Model Exhibition 1987
Reports written by Peter Clay and Robin Lake for our September 1987 Newsletter
Saturday 10 October 1987
Eltham United Reformed Church
Eltham
This, our 9th exhibition, was reasonably well attended by enthusiasts and the public and was a tribute to Chris Warrell who masterminded the organisation, etc. I was contacted by several prospective members (and parents!) and look forward to seeing them at our meetings. Congratulations to everyone who attended, brought models, contributed and sat on the ‘door’.
Models on Display
Jim Arthur — 12 car Ferris Wheel; Wartime fire appliance with gas producer trailer; Demonstration model of equestrian movements; Boom for blocksetting crane; Level- Luffing crane; Showmans traction engine; Set № 10 outfit combine Harvester.
Ike Ascher — Power plant based on a Gilbert Erector design of the 1920–1930 era. Also selling half-price Meccano by the packet.
Adrian Ashford — Base of a mobile crane as yet uncompleted based on the Coles type once made as a Dinky toy; Pre-war LT TF type Green Line coach driven by PDU through 3 speed and reverse gear box and spur differential, mounted on narrow strip springing.
Stan Bedford — Listowell and Ballybunion trestle monorail locomotive and track.
Peter Clay — Agricultural tractor with underslung cable drum and forward and reverse drive, drum or travel being selected by lever in the cab. Also with working steering and simulated engine(a Marxpile motor) with rotating fan behind radiator grille.
Geoff Davison — BO BO Diesel locomotive based on Austrian railway prototype; British 9.2” type railway gun.
Gareth Dean — A lorry with crane and a ‘bumper’ car.
Melvyn Down — ‘Hillybilly’ type car with drive, doors and steering operated by a № 1 clockwork motor; Novelty clock with Crouzet mains motor and a fork lifttruck based on a survivor from 1950 still working in a timber yard.
Roy Goswell — An attractive red and silver double-deck tram (E15R Motor) on 3½” gauge track; 1959 David Brown 2D tractor with centre tool attachment driven by Emebo motor; 1916 tractor (red and green) powered by non-reversing motor with a gearbox providing single speed forward and reverse.
Ron and Christopher Gould — Man pushing a loaded handcart.
Eric Humphries produced a little box of the most rusted parts ever seen, which had been given to him by an old gentleman who ‘knew it would be valuable one day, so he had never thrown it away.’
Robin Lake — Platform weighing machine; Clockwork motor tester; Hammerhead crane. Position control demonstration; Amsler planimeter; Trailer steering H. G. vehicle; Automatic stop for clockwork motors; ‘Magic’ windmill.
Leslie Maher — Two speed epicyclic gearbox with 3½” gear ring. Level-luffing crane with grab — overall height 4’ — driven by 5 DC motors. 65 axle rods and 64’ of angle girders were used.
Ian Masters — Two motor coaches in yellow/blue and in blue/gold; A shortened motor coach converted into a recovery vehicle; A lorry chassis.
Frank Paine — A hammerhead crane about two-thirds of the Supermodel size, built by his 11 year old son Oliver Paine; Toyshop display model of Tower Bridge.
Frank Palin — Supermodel № 11 single cylinder steam engine in red and green and other parts rescued from a Portsmouth destroyed in a World War II air raid.
David and Derrick Ross — A very neat 1903 Gordon Bennett Napier fitted with artillery wheels, and a ‘case’ bulldozer from the Matchbox № 16 model.
David Smithers — A steam engine and small workshop with overhead shaft driving a drill, lathe and sawing machine plus two stationary figures and a trolley, all neatly ‘boxed’; Shipyard crane.
Noel Ta’Bois — Plastic Meccano clock running for 20 minutes on one winding. Fitted with an automatic rewind mechanism built from standard parts and powered by a Powerdrive unit, this clock won a prize at the 1987 Henley show; Sundial line computing jig; 1914 clock; Granddaughter clock; Equinoctial sundial; Strip and plate bending machines; Embroidery frame; Grandfather clock; Chiming clock; Woodpecker; Meccanitian.
Also present were John Elliman, Stephen Gay, Bert Halliday, Ralph Laughton, Bill Lovell, Keith Patey, Stephen Pearce, Fred Pragnell, Eric and Joyce Schoolar, Richard Threlfall and Chris Warrell.