So, the latest model made it and was duly delivered to the organisers of the London Model Engineering Exhibition. There was that awkward moment when I wondered if I could actually get it out of the room where I’d assembled it! But with my son’s help and some running repairs we managed it.

Greg and I made it down to the show for the Saturday and found it on its own stand at the head of one of the aisles at the Alexandra Palace – lots of people were taking photos of it and reactions to it were good .

on display at Alexandra Palace

Boldly going –

The Starship Enterprise

Getting closer

Tech details: It was a challenging build – lots of compound curves and very few parallel lines. The outer rim of the saucer tapers downwards, the main body tapers to the rear while the top and bottom lines taper down at different rates, and even the long “cylindrical” engines taper down from 3.5″ to 2.5″ over their length. Well worth the effort in the end, though, I thought. 99% Meccano, with a little 1980s Erector (Meccano’s American cousin) for detail and some aluminium section to reinforce the pylons internally and prevent twisting under the cantilevered load.

Photographs – taken with my trusty Canon 350D SLR and a 10-18mm zoom wide-angle lens which adds to the sense of scale through its induced perspective. Adjust the exposure and other details in PaintShop Pro and PhotoShop and add in the backgrounds, these being commercially available from Deviney (“Ron’s Brushes”).