I knew I had some more photos in my files somewhere…
I’ve added four more bikes to https://dovedaler.com/motorbikes-in-meccano/ to show how many different varieties of motorbike can be reproduced in Meccano with just a few parts. – and then – look out for Meccano’s latest brilliant series of adverts with the tag line – “If you can’t have it, built it!” this is aspirational advertising at its best – just what got so many of us into the hobby when we were children.
A wet summer when you can’t do much outside does make for more productivity in the workshop!
Discovering those cranes in the south of France set me thinking about the next model …..
So, some research on the internet followed, together with conversations with other Meccano crane builders, and the first signs of a new crane begin to emerge. Ultimately it should be around 5ft tall. What sets the scale? Well, apart from the obvious availability of parts, it is usually the round bits which one can’t change like the swivelling turntable or the wheels. You want flanged wheels? Unless you make up unusual versions you are basically limited to the small 3/4″ wheel or the larger 1 1/4″ option. Now start doing the maths – four set of bogies, each with 8 wheels arranged in pairs on floating mounts so that they are all in contact with the rails at any one point.
Fully equalised bogie for travelling dockside crane
Ensure that 50% of them are driven at a suitable scale speed. OK – you have 32 Flanged Wheels? 56 2″ Axles? 16 50-tooth gears and 16 Bush-wheels? 32 Corner Brackets? Then start building! Check everything is free running throughout construction – the 25-tooth pinion which drives both spur gears and which is itself driven by the worm gear on the transfer shaft from the motor is loose on the shaft as an idler so it is not affected by the weight of the crane on the shaft: this helps. And this is the result so far…. Lots of repetition – make one unit up, make another …. couple them together … and then the joy of powering the units up and seeing them travel for the first time … now to get on with the next level…
This gallery contains 4 photos.
So the great Skegness exhibition weekend has come and gone for another year. As the roads across Nottinghamshire improve the journey gets easier – I love the new dual carriageway from Bingham to Newark – but the trek across much … Continue reading
O.K., it’s not the most glamourous coastal resort in Europe, but for hundreds of Meccanomen and women and countless punters it is the must-be place each July. On the first weekend in that month the Embassy Centre on the Grand Parade is taken over by enthusiastic Meccano modellers who stage the biggest show of Meccano models in the country. There are big models to challenge even the most experienced builder, and small ones that can inspire the youngest child to have a go. There are dealers to satisfy
A giant Meccano windmill welcomes visitors to this year’s Skegex Show
your need for “just one more part”, news from Meccano UK of their latest products, and competitions that anyone can enter.
This year it runs from 6th – 8th July, and it’s open from 10 am to 5pm each day. Maybe I will see you there!
This gallery contains 6 photos.
Just back from a couple of weeks in France, away from the UK’s miserable weather, and that included one on week on the south coast at St Cyr sur Mer. Given all that glorious coast, what wonderful sights would you … Continue reading
| “Meccano” by Roger Marriott |
It is a brave man who attempts to write a history of Meccano, the metal model engineering system that proved so simple but popular in its hey-day that its very name entered the English language to stand for any modular constructional system. Bravery is required because it is a hobby that has acquired an army of bolt-counting historians and restorers who love nothing better than to pore over a new variant part or an undiscovered de
tail from the firm’s long history. Giants of the hobby like Bert Love, Jim Gamble and Geoff Wright have published definitive volumes about the hobby already, and the large and expensive New Cavendish series of volumes have surely detailed almost every aspect of Meccano’s life and products.
Strangely, though, there have been few affordable and accessible books about the history and development of Meccano for the casual reader, until now. Roger Marriott’s delightful little book came in under the radar as a surprise to many in the hobby and it has from its publication gained many appreciative comments from modern Meccanomen. Profusely illustrated it traces the history of the famous construction system from Frank Hornby’s first patent “Mechanics Made Easy” until 1979 when the Binns Road Factory closed in Liverpool. The last couple of pages underline the fact that while the UK factory may have died, the system is still very much alive, made in France and enthusiastically used and promoted by thousands of hobbyists around the world. Roger has worked closely with Jim Gamble (whose idea this book was) and others to produce a most rewarding book that opens up new delights with the turn of every page, bringing back a life-time’s memories. Any of the topics could be explored in greater depth and have been elsewhere, but as an introduction to the hobby and its history, or as an affordable souvenir of boy-hood memories fondly recalled, this would be hard to beat.
“Meccano”, Marriott, Roger; Shire Library, ISBN 978-0-74781-056-8
A5 paperback, 80pp, £7.99 US$15.95
OK – there is always a certain rivalry between Lego and Meccano builders, (much as there used to be between Amstrad and Sinclair in the old days) but respect where respect is due! I am sure someone could build this in Meccano – but it certainly wouldn’t be me! This is awesome!
The second I discovered this gif of a LEGO Mindstorms robot that’s been programmed to solve a Rubik’s cube, I knew I just had to share it. Not only does it combine two items near and dear to my inner-geek-child’s heart, it also counts gets my post counter off of 666, and who the hell wants to see THAT number lurking about?
So enjoy my 667th B&WB post, and let me know if anyone’s build one of these things that can open a beer. Oh wait…never mind!
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This gallery contains 31 photos.
Spring may have been rather delayed in these parts, but the third Saturday in May each year sees the Village Hall in Oxton, a village NE of Nottingham, blossom with Meccano models. That’s the regular date for the Spring Meeting … Continue reading
To be personal for once, if you will allow me, I’ve not had the best of years. The first three months I put up with sciatica, a sometimes crippling pain in my leg that meant even moving around was tricky at times, far less standing for any length of time or carrying weights. Not ideal for a builder of larger models! Then just as that was cleared I found myself going into hospital for a sudden operation to deal with a partially detached retina. All went well, mercifully, and convalescence follows. For a while, though, I have been coping with some odd visual problems as a result while things settle down again. Driving is OK, but looking down at small items near me is tricky, which again makes some Meccano building an interesting experience.
But so what? These are relatively minor things that hopefully will improve in time. I see no reason to act my age just yet, even if recently I have felt it! But these experiences have given me good reason to stop and think about other people in the Meccano world. I remain in awe of the models that many of our friends produce despite considerable difficulty. I know some who are profoundly deaf and others who have suffered strokes which have led to disability. Several work from their wheelchairs. Others are living with the most serious of ongoing medical treatment and make light of it. But perhaps the most astonishing example of triumph over adversity is seen in Terry Bullingham, an ex-serviceman who was blinded during the Falklands conflict. Far from giving up, Terry continues to build in Meccano. Some of his models are small and intricate, but his most recent was a Blocksetter! I try hard to be tidy, but I’m not, and so I struggle to find parts even when they are out on my workbench. How Terry copes in his circumstances I cannot imagine, but I salute him.
Perhaps the example of so many of our friends is a testimony to the spirit which our hobby engenders – we see a problem and we try to solve it. We are told that something can’t be done, so we try to find an alternative way of doing it. We take the parts and the abilities that we have and try to produce something special with them. A few Christmases ago the Spanner e-mail list challenged people to produce models using one of the smallest sets Meccano ever produced – and the results were astonishing! Our hobby continues to enable the triumph of the human spirit over a whole range of limitations. Perhaps that spirit may still have something to say to encourage this modern world of disadvantage and austerity. Our hobby has never really been about wishing we had more than the next person (and who really needs that many 5½” Strips anyway?) but about making something special out of what we do have. And from those of us who take delight in the work of those of you who do just that, our warmest congratulations!
dovedaler 