June 2012 Newsletter
June 2012 Newsletter
Issue 143
This was one of our informal quarterly meetings where our members showed off their latest Meccano creations.
At around 2:00pm we had a short committee meeting, followed by the Model Tour in which members were invited to give a short talk about their models — in particular their entries for the Secretary’s Challenge!
Report written by Chris Warrell
Watch our video of the show
The following SELMEC members were seen in several areas of the Magic of Meccano Show at Kew Bridge Steam Museum on 21st – 22nd April 2012.
There were plenty of other exhibitors from around the country plus the usual three Meccano dealers.
Gallery
- Tim Surtell — Lightning Leap buzz-wire game.
- Jim MacCulloch — Small crane and other various vehicles.
Water for Life
- Greg Clarke — Kangaroo crane (Saturday only).
- Chris Fry — Various vehicles and mechanisms etc (Sunday only).
- Chris Warrell — Royal Victoria Bridge, MeccanOlympics entries etc.
- Dave and Marilyn Taylor — Meccano sets and spares for sale.
Main Hall
- Peter Clay — Meccanograph.
- Ivor Ellard — Large display of railway vehicles on multiple track layout.
- Simon Greatrex — Meccanograph.
- Brian Maunder — Meccano parts for sale.
Boulton and Watt Hall
- Frank Paine — Large historical display of models and sets.
- Doug Windibank — Various small models.
- Geoff Wright — Three buses.
- Adrian Ashford — Carousel (Saturday only).
Mezzanine
- Alan Wenbourne — Rolling bridge, chassis, gearbox etc.
Visitor numbers were down this year, especially on the Sunday when it clashed with the London Marathon. Ralph and Sue Laughton couldn’t spare the time to exhibit, but were spotted visiting on Saturday.
An impressive model of Titanic by Darren Bonner
I was told that, sometime in 2013, the museum is having a major refit so we might have to wait until the year after for the next Magic of Meccano Show.
Report written by Alan Wenbourne
Modelzone, at the Medway Festival of Steam and Transport, Chatham Historic Dockyard, was hosted by the Medway Modelling Club (MMC) on Sunday and Monday 8th and 9th April 2012 inside 3 Slip.
Being a local, I set up on Saturday afternoon, arriving just after 2:00pm. The mezzanine deck inside 3 Slip is some 30+ feet above floor level with stairway access (50 steps) at both ends and a lift at the far end of the building. After a little reconnoitre, I discovered that I could drive into the building and get close to the lift for unloading (not sure if this was legal, but it went unchallenged). Terry Plaw of the MMC said I could re-arrange the 12 tables. As there was plenty of space for the eight of us, I did so to enable us to back onto the balustrade, where the power supply was located. John Cowdery and George Foard arrived soon after me. The lift was being well utilized but we did not have to wait too long between trips. One disadvantage of this venue is that it can be cold, because such a massive building is not heated.
The mezzanine, with part of our stand visible to the right
The lower floor bay under the mezzanine contains all kinds of heavy machinery; presses, guillotines, marine engines, various army vehicles, boats, small submarines, amphibious vehicles, loading shovels, mobile cranes and more.
Santiago Plicio’s fairground ride
The rest of the crew arrived and set up on Sunday morning and we had a good day (except for the cold conditions) with a steady flow of visitors showing great interest in the Meccano displays. I noted on several occasions that the Meccano tables were generally busier than any others! The MMC consists mainly of plastic kit modellers and some war games and diorama layouts; other clubs were also represented and there was a model railway layout.
John Cowdery’s display
George Foard’s display
Outside there were vintage and classic motorcycle, car, truck, van, bus and military vehicle displays. A full size saddle tank loco ‘Ajax’ hauling tank wagons passed to and fro along the dockside all day. Traction engines, steam rollers and scale model steam vehicles were running and on display, and there were organs, live band music, various stalls, and people dressed in funny clothing (Dickens characters*) on parade.
Tim Surtell’s Lightning Leap buzz-wire game
Douglas Windibank’s display
(Editor’s note: They were Steampunk enthusiasts — a movement that combines sci-fi and fantasy with Victoriana — and steam! — with a bit of HG Wells and Jules Verne thrown in.)
The usual all year round attractions like HMS Cavalier, submarine Ocelot and gunboat Gannet were open to visitors.
Alan Wenbourne’s London Eye
Monday brought rain and fewer visitors to the event, but the mezzanine proved a good refuge for them and our Meccano models were much admired. Due to the weather, the organisers moved the closing time back an hour to 5:00pm which meant we were able to break-down and leave earlier than scheduled after a busy and tiring couple of days. I had some issues with the mass exodus and limited capacity of the lift, which I am reporting to the organisers.
Andrew Couzens’ tanker
Chris Fry’s display
* Some of these characters were wearing goggles, either on top of their heads/hats or around their necks. I asked one young lady, “What’s with the goggles?” She replied, “to prevent me getting arc eye when I am welding!” Ask a silly question…
Just part of our stand — it was too long to fit in one photo!
Report written by Chris Warrell
About a year ago I offered to run a Meccano night at a church group in Eltham called the Saint Luke’s Fellowship. They meet on a Friday night (in the church hall where SELMEC used to meet) between Easter and October and they either book a speaker to give a talk, or run their own ‘in house’ activities such as Whist drives etc.
I happily forgot about this until early 2012 when they asked if they could pencil me in their diary. The date was set for Friday 27th April — between the Magic of Meccano Show at Kew Bridge Steam Museum and the Holy Trinity Meccano Club meeting.
The Fellowship gets down to some serious modelling
The idea of the talk was that I was going to get them to build a model from an instruction leaflet. If you remember, James May did this with some school children who attempted to build a crane from a 1950s № 4 outfit with fairly disastrous results. In my version the age profile was somewhat different, with a large proportion being of pensionable age. Would the OAPs fare better than the kids?
The start of building
The model I chose was the Travelling Crane from the 1938 № 2 set. It had a separate base, representing a quay with rails on the edge, so I thought that, with the group being divided into teams of three or four, each building their own model, one person could start on the base and another on the superstructure. I had built the model in about 50 minutes so thought that the hour and a quarter allowed would be enough. It wasn’t!
I was pleased that Brian Leach offered to come along and both of us were able to give assistance to the groups as required: One group needed more help than others, because they had only two active participants, and Brian did quite a bit of the building for them.
Of the five groups, two virtually completed the model with just a little help, one completed theirs with a lot of help from Brian and the other two managed only the base of the model and one or two sections that couldn’t be bolted to the rest. Two or three teams tried to add the wheels before the legs had been bolted to anything else, with the result that everything kept falling apart!
“Now, you hold the wheels there while I build the rest…”
Brian and I had both brought models and various magazines and manuals to show (before they got down to the construction). I’d also brought some sets from various eras. The setting up of all this took a chunk out of the two hours available. There was only a short time to demonstrate the models.
I think that most of the Fellowship enjoyed the experience. They all seemed very absorbed in the building: They normally break for tea at around 9:05pm but it was more like 25 past before anyone realised what time it was! Many of them stopped only briefly for tea before getting back to the modelling.
A team effort
At the conclusion Rosemary Keogh (one of their committee members) said that she was now going to dig out a new Meccano set that she bought a couple of Christmases ago. Let’s hope she does and that she, and other Fellowship members, might be encouraged to come along to our Meccano Show in October.
The top three models complete — just!