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IT’S TIME

“To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven” or so it says in the

in the Book of Ecclesiastes. In some ways nothing has changed since the period several

hundred years BC when the words were written. We still mark our year by major festivals

although some of them, like the Scottish Hogmanay, are in severe decline or, at least, major

change. However those of us interested in sport still associate February/March with

international rugby, March/April with the Grand National and the Boat Race, May/June with

the soccer Cup Final and the start of test cricket, June/July with Wimbledon and the Open

Golf Championship – and we could go on but you can fill in the rest for yourself.

Those of us interested in Meccano associate July with Skegness – a town in Lincolnshire

never visited by many of us but the scene each summer of a three day Meccano extravaganza,

reports of which simply fuel a desire to get there one year. Meccano enthusiasts in Scotland

associate September with our annual exhibition, October with the Cathcart Model Railway

Show, November with the annual NEMS exhibition at Darlington, and August, November,

January and March with Society meetings at Stirling.

For the past four years, we have added May to our calendar. The Annual Constructors Day at

Menstrie is a whole day opportunity to get together and have a look at models and a

discussion with builders. The Scout Hall is an ideal venue and plentiful food is available (at

no cost) all day. By the way, the no cost feature, means that those of you who don’t come are

giving a modest subsidy to the rest of us – thank you for that!

Seriously, though Constructors Day is a great day out. You can arrive when you like and

leave when you like. Food, friendship and Meccano chat is on tap all day. Partly built

models provide lots of talking points. There is also the race. Our fourth such event this year

is a competition to build a model that will go as far as possible powered only by a falling one

pound (avoirdupois) weight. The model height is limited to three feet. (Full rules governing

the race are to be found elsewhere in this issue). Previous races – notably a hill climb – have

produced a lot of excitement and we are hoping for lots of entries this year. Winners and

losers alike will receive the same prize to wit, a great interest in the performance and design

of their vehicle.

“There’s no such thing as a free lunch”. That is not a Biblical quotation – and it’s not even

true. Come along to Menstrie on May 22nd

and find out!

* * * * *

Club Meeting, 18 Jan 2004

The meeting was held as usual in the Smith Art Gallery and Museum, Stirling, at 2 pm.

Members present were Alan MacDonald (Treasurer), Desmond Smith, Philip Hore, Angus

Plumb, Jackie Inglis, Gordon Macmillan, Chris Shute, Alan Blair, Jim Berrie, Ian Soutar,

Dave Stokes, Tim Edwards, Alistair Nicoll (Newsletter Editor), Bobby Brown, Francis

MacKay, and Bert Hutchings (Secretary). There were apologies from Jim Gregory.

Club exhibition 2004: the provisional booking of the Perth Lesser City Hall for the 25th

September is still being held. The exhibition is expected to include the Macmillans’ pre-

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war’O’ gauge layout, Robert Henderson’s Hornby-Dublo exhibit, Dale Smith’s exhibit with

Bayko and other Binns Road products, and a space for Stewart Borrill of Skegness with his

replica brassware.

Treasurer: the Treasurer hopes to arrange exhibition insurance more economically with the

Grosvenor Manx agency. He reported that we had 43 paid up members.

Newsletter: the editor was congratulated again on the most recent issue.

Web Site: Tim Edwards said that he would discuss the intended new format of the newsletter

with the Editor, then put some information about it. He also agreed to credit Bobby Brown

with the Terex tipper lorry from last year’s exhibition, which was currently shown as being by

an “unknown” builder.

New members: Alan Blair of Crieff told us that he was a retired mechanical engineer, who

had started on Meccano immediately after the was but with quite a large pre-war collection.

He had acquired more Meccano since then, and found us through the web site. Francis

Mackay also found us through the web site. He said that he was a military researcher, grew up

with Meccano in the Family, and had visited one of our very early exhibitions in the Guide

Hall in Glebe Avenue. He had recently resumed an active interest in Meccano after buying

some sets.

Other business: Desmond Smith showed us a hand-operated windmill made from the current

version of Junior Meccano. Alistair Nicoll reviewed the race rules for 22 May, and Chris

Shute agreed to bring a scale for checking the weights. Angus Plumb showed an

accumulation of non-Meccano parts for members’ interest, and some of them were identified

for him. Jackie Inglis had a motor vehicle built from a “Mek-Struct” set, and the parts in it

were admired for their quality and finish. Chris Shute amazed us all with a demonstration of a

mechanical binary counter. Jim Berrie ruefully told us that he had tried to assemble one of the

current small single-model Meccano sets, the dragster, and had been quite horrified at how

fiddly and unsatisfactory it was. The meeting agreed that this experience, and the news that

Calais were outsourcing a the production of many parts and sets, was not at all confidence-

inspiring for the future. Philip Hore showed us a model built from the Czech “Mer-kur”

Meccano look-alike, and agreed with Jim that he was very disappointed to see how poorly

Calais now compared with other manufacturers. If we want to interest youngsters in Meccano,

it looks as though it will have to be with the older parts and models. Dave Stokes had brought

the auction catalogue for a sale in Rugby on 31 January, including some Meccano items of his

own and a number of others. He also showed us a nicely restrung 1934 blue and gold “E”

outfit. Tim Edwards had obtained one of the remarkable new Meccano sets for building a

Renault Formula 1 racing car. All the parts were metal, except for the wheels of course, and a

huge proportion of them were of entirely new shapes, for realism. This contrasted quite

strangely with other sets currently coming out of Calais. Tim said that at the moment the set

was only available from Renault dealers, but later it may be available more generally.

Bert Hutchings, Secretary

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Club Meeting, 21 Mar 2004

The meeting was held as usual in the Smith Art Gallery and Museum, Stirling, at 2 pm.

Members present were Robert Jones, Angus Plumb, Gordon Macmillan, Chris Shute, Ian

Soutar, Dave Stokes, Alistair Nicoll (Newsletter Editor), Bert Hutchings (Secretary), Jim

Gregory, Bob Middlemass, Jackie Inglis, Alan Macdonald, and Desmond Smith. There were

apologies from Alan Blair and Bobby Brown.

Treasurer: the new shield for the club trophy is still to be attended to. A Quote from

Grosvenor Mark for insurance for club meetings and the annual exhibition was competitive

with our previous arrangement for the exhibition only, and the meeting agreed that the

Treasurer should proceed with it, subject to satisfactory terms for including the Macmillans’

‘O’ gauge layout in the exhibition cover. The Treasurer further reported that we now had 45

members.

Newsletter: the editor circulated the latest version of the rules for the race on 22nd

May, and

these will now be published on the web site. It was agreed to appoint two adjudicators on the

day from non-competing members.

Other business: Dave Stokes had an article from the Daily Telegraph, previewing the sale by

auction on 8th

and 17th

April of a large number of items rescued from the Binns Road factory

just before it closed in 1979. Bob Middlemass had the current copy of the Runnymede

Meccano Guild newsletter, for general interest. Jim Gregory had been exploring possible

alternative exhibition venues in Stirling, but none were within our price range. He hopes to

organise another mini-exhibition in Auchterarder in June. Ian Souter passed round a photo of

a nicely-proportioned crane built recently by a new member, Jim Lamberton, and also

informed us of the dates and venues of forthcoming toy fairs – 9th

May at Ingliston, 15th

May

in Aberdeen, and 16th

May in Perth. Alistair Nicoll showed us two of the fridge magnets with

Meccano motifs from the Robert Opie series. Chris Shute’s contribution was worth a whole

newsletter article to itself, and is scarcely done justice by these abbreviated notes in the

minutes. He had constructed a belt of 25-hole strips attached by bifurcated paper clips to

every fourth link in two sprocket chains, and an intermittent drive which advanced the belt

one strip at a time with a pause between. An ingenious sensing mechanism could detect, at

each pause, the exact combination of free holes and bolt-occupied holes in successive strips,

and accordingly actuate a counter, or a selection of mechanisms. Computer-aware members

recognised a great similarity to Jacquard’s card-controlled damask-weaving looms of nearly

two centuries ago. The device was full of fascinating and reliable little elements of

mechanism, as we have come to expect from Chris, and he hopes to use it to replace the

unreliable paper tape control program of the Gargantua block-stacker. Angus Plumb showed

a simple “Tower of Hanoi” executive toy with five different sizes of pulley, reminding us that

Meccano can be just for fun, too, and a specimen of a rather poor Russian Meccano-like toy.

He also had news of a “Meccannuity” exhibition at Ironbridge, with exhibits particularly

designed to attract and interest children. Finally, he asked if anyone could shed light on some

“new model leaflets” which he had acquired recently, in the same style as the manuals of

1962-70, but not outfit related. However, nobody present had ever come across such leaflets.

Robert Jones had brought along a No.1 Dinky Builder outfit, which aroused some comments

and reminiscences. Jackie Inglis had built a model of the “south-seeking chariot”, which has

appeared in various versions in outfit manuals or M.M. articles. She was unsure if she had

arranged the mechanism properly, but several members agreed that it was working just as it

should. Desmond smith had brought along a No.3 outfit of the mid-1950’s with the parts in

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nice condition, and was able to learn that the correct manual for it should be the two boys and

dragline with a yellow cover. Alan Macdonald brought out a substantial model of a marine

engine under construction by Alan Blair, and asked members to pass on any remarks or

suggestions for improvements to the builder. Bert Hutchings had recently bought Vo1.1 of the

Hornby Companion Series, “The Products of Binns Road”, direct from New Cavendish Books

who said that it was one of the last few copies in their office. The price is now likely to

escalate until the volume is reprinted. Finally, Bert showed a simple jig on which he had been

able to quite realistically re-hank cord after wetting and near-drying it, and he passed round

examples of its results.

Further meetings: Open Day and race on Saturday 22nd

May at Menstrie, meeting on

Sunday 22nd

August at Stirling, annual exhibition on Saturday 25th

September at Perth Lesser

City Hall, and meeting on Sunday 21st November at Stirling.

Bert Hutchings, Secretary

* * * * *

NEWS OF MEMBERS

Two new members appeared at the January meeting of the society in Stirling.

Frances MacKay is a writer of books about the two world wars. He still has the Meccano that

he “grew up with”. Twenty two years ago he went to the exhibition held by the Society in the

Guide Hut in Stirling and took his daughters along who were “fascinated”. However, after

that his interest waned again until recently he gave a Meccano set as a present to his brother in

law. He then found the Society’s page on Internet and joined.

Alan Blair spent his working life as a mechanical engineer with the former Hydro Board

based in Crieff. He has “a lot” of pre-war red/green Meccano as well as some nickel plated

parts. This collection was added to throughout the 1950’s and early 1960’s. Having retired,

he now hopes to return to the hobby and to building models.

Lastly, and sadly, we have to report the death of David Lawrence’s wife. David who joined

MSS a couple of years ago, lives in the USA and is now on his own. In spite of his grievous

loss he has kept active and taken a lively interest in the formulation of rules for our Falling

Weight Race.

* * * * *

FALLING WEIGHT DRIVEN VEHICLE COMPETITON RULES

The following set of rules governing the Falling Weight Race, to be run at Menstrie on

22nd

May, were agreed at the society meeting held at Stirling on March 21st.

1. The only source of motive power for the vehicle shall be a falling weight of not more

than one pound (454g).

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2. The weight must be detachable for verification. Included in the material weighed must

be the method of attachment (hook, etc) used to attach the weight

3. The weight must remain on the vehicle throughout its complete journey.

4. With two exceptions, all parts of the construction must be Meccano or Meccano

replica parts and appear in the ISM Inclusive Parts List. The only two exceptions are

the weight itself and the cord (if used).

5. The overall height of the model is not to exceed 36 inches (914mm).

6. The model must start spontaneously on being released.

7. The winner will be the machine that travels the furthest distance in a straight line on a

single fall of the weight.

8. Each model shall be allowed three runs, the longest distance achieved being the one

recorded for that model

9. Proxy entries will be accepted.

10. The challenge will be decided at the May 22nd

2004 meeting.

* * * * *

MECCANO ON THE INTERNET

Spanner has been very busy of late with up to 50 and more contributions sometimes in a

single day. Regrettably, quantity has meant a considerable dilution in quality and a lot of

trivia is posted. Nevertheless some pearls are concealed in the sludge and the following

efforts from Tim Robinson in California are illustrative of this.

INTERMITENT MOTION MECHANISMS

I had a requirement for an intermittent motion mechanism which would cause an output shaft

to rotate by exactly one revolution when activated, be positively retained when not in motion,

and operate with an input constantly turning.

There has been too little Meccano content on Spanner just recently so for the builders, here is

a picture of what I came up with. It works very well.

Plate 1

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The two key elements are a cam made from two semi circular plates and a 1" corner bracket

with a 1 1/8" flanged wheel as cam follower, and a clutch made from a pair of 50t contrate

gears. Input is from the sprocket at the lower right, and output can be either from the shaft

carrying the cam, or the one geared to it by the bevel gears.

Tim developed another drive shown below about which he said:-

Here is a somewhat larger version I am planning to use. I needed a mechanism to locate a

prism in one of 4 positions and to be able to rotate it in 90 degree steps.

I used semi-circular plates again, and with a 1" triangular plate only just visible in the picture

to support the slotted strip it's possible with some fiddly adjustment to get this to work with

almost no play at all as the threaded pins pass in and out of the gaps created between the 1/2"

pulley and the edges of the semi-circular plates.

Plate 2

He finished the series with the following:-

A couple of weeks ago I posted pictures of an intermittent motion mechanism. My

requirement then was a mechanism with a continuous input which, when triggered, would

cause the output shaft to rotate exactly one revolution and stop at a well defined position.

It turned out that what I really needed was this generalized so that with two separate triggers

the output shaft can be made to turn one revolution in either direction on demand.

Plate 3

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Attached is a picture of my solution to this. Whereas in the first version the cam directly held

the clutch in engagement, in this one the cam holds one of two latches each of which holds

one of the clutches in place. I also found that to make it work reliably I had to beef up the

framework and the sliding element considerably so as to get rid of all flexing.

Plate 4

Plate 5

Our own member, David Lawrence published another interesting mechanism and supplied the

following write-up about it:

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VARIABLE SPEED CONE DRIVE

by

David Lawrence

I was trying to remember what the trigger had been that set me thinking about this design. I

believe it was when I was building several of Andreas Konkoly's wonderful 'Horse & Chariot'

models. I loved that model, I made the horse four times before I thought I got it right. Each

of the horse's oscillating legs were operated from a pn518 1" Bush Wheel. Up to that time I

only had one of these in my parts box and it was looked upon more of a curio and seldom

used in model making. I almost never build to plans. To me the fun of this wonderful hobby

of ours is in doing something entirely different. I had once or twice looked at the ring of holes

on an unlikely pitch diameter and wondered why they were made to this special size. I also

never understood - and still don't - why this was an Elektrikit part, but then I am not into

electrics.

Anyway, that only explains that I was thinking of this particular part - and you can't make a

model from a single part - the idea for the model itself perhaps goes back to a book of very

old mechanical equipment I got hold of a couple of years back. It struck me somewhere along

the line that one could use one of these odd pn518 Bush Wheels in conjunction with a regular

Bush Wheel and if you put them both on an axle and if you put axle rods through each of the

holes you'd have a nice tapered cylinder - well the outline of a cylinder anyway. The next

thought was that if you had two of these tapered cylinders you might be able to use them like

cones on a cone drive, it being believed that a belt doesn't need a solid object to use as a

pulley only the framework of one.

There's usually at least one feature that goes right for you on a project like this - and seldom

more than one - and mine was that when using two of the smallest driving bands to the right

tension, the cones came out at the 1/2" Meccano pitch. This was helpful for to put threaded

adjusters at either end would have introduced a lot of unnecessary complication. I powered

the set-up with a ready-built (I mean I had it in my box) hollow-shaft drive, where the 700

motor and its worm reduction outfeed are journalled on the shaft itself thus eliminating all

alignment and mounting considerations. I never put more than two bearings on a shaft, so I

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broke the shaft and placed a couple of that useful work-horse pn27f Multi Purpose Gear at

the input of the Cone Drive to act as a misalignment coupling. The rods forming the cones are

restrained in position by the French pn59b Mini Locking Collar. To effect the speed change

the twin belts are urged along to their new desired position by a parallel rod with two

couplings gripping short axle rods. Surprisingly this speed change can be achieved with very

little effort when done whilst the drive in motion, and probably should not be undertaken if it

is not.

Have you noticed, as soon as you build a model like this you immediately see something

similar? IM No.40 reports on the Dutch Meccano Guild meeting at Benthuizen and shows a

photo of a vehicle chassis model by Erik Beek (of Belgium) having a Continuous Variable

Transmission. It's twenty years since I was last in Holland and Erik Beek doesn't use pn518 as

far as I can see.

* * * * *

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