Wellington Meccano Club Meeting Report June 2003
by Bryan Jones.
The Wellington Meccano Club's June meeting was held at Konini Primary School in Wainuiomata on Friday 6th. Seven members were present, plus MWT visitors Robin Rye and Daryl Anderson The object of their visit, and the main business of the evening, was to demonstrate the new tractor incline challenge, and formulate a few rules of combat.
Simon provided an incline in the form of a 1200 mm length of MDF, inclined at about 25 degrees to the horizontal. He demonstrated a rubber-tyred tractor with four wheel drive, which was able to climb to the top of the ramp. Laurie had a tractor with smaller wheels, also rubber-tyred, and it could almost reach the top, but was limited by a lack of adhesion. He did show, however, that it was very good at driving downhill! Lloyd Spackman and Daryl Lundy brought longer wheelbase designs, Lloyd's being based on a dragster, and Daryl's being an interesting combination of a centre driving axle and front and rear stabilizers. Both of these designs had adhesion problems on the slope and a lack of power.
The rules drafted after much discussion were as follows:
1. Models to be powered by a single No. 1 Clockwork Motor.
2. The tyres, wheels or track etc. used are to be genuine Meccano parts.
3. The tractor is to have a maximum wheelbase of 7.5 inches, and a maximum wheel
track width of 7.5 inches.
4. The tractor is to start on the flat at the foot of the ramp, with its front
wheels touching the edge of the ramp. It must climb at least one metre up the
ramp.
5. The ramp steepness will be increased until; the winner is determined as the
tractor which climbs the steepest slope.
Other items were brought for display. Simon gave a quick demonstration of the Railway Breakdown Crane, seen at the Hawera Exhibition. Laurie had a large roller bearing, based on the 9.8” circular girders and lots of 1/2” pulleys. This is to provide the turntable for a crane, and once we managed to get it back together with all pulleys "on-track" it moved quite smoothly. Lloyd brought a splendid little model of a Jeep, in yellow,, blue and chromed parts. It had a simple working steering mechanism, and was from a plan posted on the Internet by a French modeller. Daryl and Robin brought a display of French set manuals dated 1982, some set pieces from that era, other advertising literature from the Red/Green period, and a nice tarpaulin covered four wheeled railway wagon, featuring the French soft plastic large "plate" as the tarpaulin.
The Club's AGM was held informally, with no reports being presented, but the following officeholders were proposed, accepted and duly elected: President: Bryan Jones; Treasurer: Lou Nichols; Magazine Notes: Lloyd Spackman.
To finish off his term as president, Laurie noted that a proposed exhibition which was to be held at Capital E had not eventuated, but that there might be a possibility of a static display. Simon mentioned the idea of having a non Convention year get together, which would be held somewhere central such as Turangi. It could be held in March before daylight saving finished, but not at Easter, so as to minimize the problem of finding accommodation. The meeting would take place on the Saturday afternoon and be rather like a club meeting, rather than a big convention affair. The meeting finished with supper at around 10 pm.
Next meeting Friday 1st August, Konini Primary School.
