Medway Festival of Steam and Transport 2014
Report written by Alan Wenbourne for our June 2014 Newsletter
Sunday 20 April 2014 – Monday 21 April 2014
The Historic Dockyard Chatham
Chatham
We were invited again to exhibit Meccano models by the Medway Modellers Club at the Medway Festival of Steam and Transport on 20–21 April 2014. This year the Modelzone was held in the Smithy, which, as a large brick building, proved a much better venue. I arrived early Saturday afternoon to set-up and, as usual, Terry Plaw of the MMC was already well into laying out his several hundred small-scale model aircraft in rows of 35. He had organised the dozen tables we had requested along one side of the building close to a power point, which formed an aisle into which visitors would be channelled directly from the main entrance — perfect!
On Sunday the weather gradually deteriorated which generated increasing waves of visitors due to the showers, but at least it was warmer this year! Monday was a beautiful day with increased attendance and interest in our show. We were pleased to welcome Matt Goodman and Bryn Jones of the West London Meccano Society among Monday’s visitors.
The only real criticism was the lack of official direction signs to the Modelzone; our club banners helped in this respect. Overall it was a very successful event with a great deal of interest in our models; we also distributed a large number of the SELMEC Meccano Show flyers.
Watch our video of the festival
Our member and model line-up was as follows:
Tim Surtell
Tim Surtell’s models
Douglas Windibank
Douglas Windibank’s models
Andrew Couzens
Andrew Couzens’ models
John Cowdery
John Cowdery’s models
George Foard
- Mobile Crane, from a kit
- 1957 № 8 set Dennis Roadsweeper much improved (including bottle brush sweeper)
George Foard’s models
Chris Fry
- Kepler 16 Orrery by Michael Whiting but with flywheel drive and freewheel mechanism of his own design
- Railway Breakdown Crane, a modified version of a Set 7 model featured in the May 1960 issue of Meccano Magazine complete with match truck, diesel locomotive, flat-bed truck, brake van, track, buffer stops, footbridge and loading gauge
- Piper Cub monoplane and Triumph TR3A, both by Bernard Perrier from Constructor Quarterly; Modified 3 model set motorcycle
- Evolution Chopper motorcycle
- Starship Enterprise micro-model from a design by Ralph Laughton
- Flat-bed lorry by Bernard Perrier from Constructor Quarterly (one of his series of sector-plate inspired auto models)
Chris Fry’s models
Alan Wenbourne
Alan Wenbourne’s models
You can see more photos from the festival in our Facebook album.