Meccano Model Exhibition 2005
Report written by Chris Warrell for our January 2006 Newsletter
Saturday 15 October 2005
Eltham United Reformed Church
Eltham
We had a very successful exhibition on October 15th 2005. There was a good show of models, and three of the exhibitors were visitors, so all available table space was filled.
Plans had to be changed at the last minute when dealer Mike Rhoades phoned in sick (in fact, both he and his wife were recovering from illness) and their new camper van was misbehaving. As it turned out there were more than enough models to fill the spare tables, and it meant that Dave Taylor had us all to himself! We also had a very successful raffle with three Meccano set prizes, held over from our auction earlier in the year.
Visitor numbers were down to probably our lowest ever with only a little over one hundred visitors – we still made a small profit, though. There’s no obvious reason for the low turnout; publicity was the same as it’s always been, and we had the usual free plugs in the main free newspapers. As you can see from the cutting below, we had a good write up in the News Shopper in the week following the exhibition, despite the incorrect caption for Adrian Ashford’s bus!
News Shopper article
Models on Display
Jim Arthur — Broad gauge locomotive; Ferris wheel; Walking Chinaman.
Adrian Ashford — 0–6–2 Tank locomotive; London Transport TD type single deck bus; Sliding bed car recovery truck, designed by Terry James; Triple and side lever marine engines, from 1934 Meccano Magazine articles.
Geoff Carter — Forth Bridge, designed by Chris Shute and published in Constructor Quarterly; HMS Illustrious (to go with bridge), designed by George Illingworth and published in Constructor Quarterly; 1918 Bates Steel Mule Tractor, designed by Bruce Geange and published in the New Zealand Federation of Meccano Modellers Magazine, powered by a pre-war Magic motor; Walking tractor, from a 1930 issue of Meccano Magazine powered by № 1 clockwork motor — this model was over 30 years old; Stomping hexapod designed by Chris Shute (Constructor Quarterly); Bugatti and articulated tanker, both Bernard Périer designs from Constructor Quarterly; Set models — Spitfire, Big Ben, Empire State Building, ‘survival’ vehicle (Master Connection series model); Tracked crane — Merkur model.
Peter Clay — Tower of Hanoi model; Overland vehicle; Mortar mixer; Calais factory-made motorbike; Caterpillar tractor.
Andrew Couzens — Flat bed lorry; Diesel locomotive and carriage on Meccano track.
John Cowdery — Aeroplane with a 9-cylinder radial engine; Ferry ship from 1950s № 9 set; Concorde; Seaplane; Rowers.
Geoff Davison — Blackpool Tower with operating lift; U. S. type ‘Big Rig’ tractor and trailer; Showman’s traction engine; Theme set locomotive and tender; Sports car; Radio-controlled car and theme set; Field gun; Army truck and anti tank gun.
Jim Ellicott — Concorde set model; Biplane factory model; Three mini models; Two space vehicles; Micrometer.
Brian Elvidge — Mechanical horse and trailer; Cyber car.
George Foard — Four small amusement models: Colour mixer, optical illusion, intermittent motion and circus cyclist.
John Gay — Snowdon rack railway.
Leslie Maher — Remote control dockyard crane in red/zinc. The joystick has been rewired.
Frank Paine — Vast display including dealer’s Tower Bridge model; 4–4–0 locomotive; Ferris wheel; Two trams; Steam derrick; Traction engine; Old sets and display cards.
Eric Smith — Harley Davidson Electra Glide motorcycle.
David Smithers — 37 ton steam crane.
Tim Surtell — Teacher and weightlifter; PCB etchant agitator, used for helping speed up the etching of the copper pattern on circuit boards.
Chris Warrell — Four small cranes; Mini narrow gauge train set.
Alan Wenbourne — 1:6 scale Hummer; Differentials; Two planetary gear boxes.
Douglas Windibank — Space centre, built with Special Edition set 0521; Special edition set 7080 motorised crane; Wwing boats from set № 7/8 manual; Engine shed; Three wheeled motorcycle using set 6700; Crazy Inventor clock from set 7651; Motorised sports car from set 7700; Tallon Tek ‘press together’ construction kit № 20 in plastic.
Guest Exhibitors
Allen Berman (North East London Meccano Club) — He brought a giant block setting crane, Super Models Leaflet 4 in restored red/green Meccano; Steam shovel, Super Models Leaflet 19a, with an MO electric motor instead of the 1929 steam engine, but it works well.
Eddie Oatley (Henley Society of Meccano Engineers and North East London Meccano Club) — He brought a paddle steamer engine.
Dick Watson (North West Meccano Guild) — He showed a gear cutting machine; Synchronous motor (from issue № 2 of Meccano Magazine Quarterly); Asynchronous motor and opposed 2 cylinder engine (Elektrikit E12 and E24); Constructor generator driving Meccano windmill.