Meccano Show 2011
Report written by Chris Warrell for our January 2012 Newsletter
Saturday 8 October 2011
Eltham United Reformed Church
Eltham
There was just a covering of white cloud on the morning of 8th October and it was not too cold (a complete contrast to the high summer conditions of the previous weekend) — perfect weather for our 33rd annual Meccano Show. I arrived at 7:30am, thanks to a lift from Ralph and Sue Laughton in their huge Transit van, to find Dave Taylor, Frank Paine and Richard Marsden itching to get into the hall and set up. John appeared from his flat above the hall at around 7:45am (after a bit of prompting) carrying his Henry vacuum cleaner and we were soon in and rearranging the tables to our own layout.
For the first time, I had drawn up a plan of the hall and had allocated tables to each exhibitor. This seemed to work quite well and there was only a minimal amount of rearranging of tables in the main hall. Another first was the hiring of an additional room, the Dobell Room, along with the Penford Room that we normally have. With our four extra tables and the use of half a dozen low tables for models we had an additional 44’ of table space this year. It also gave more circulating space in the Sherard Hall. We could have probably done with a few more signs directing the public down the corridor, but when I went along to have a look, the Dobell Room was quite busy.
There was a bit of concern early on when we discovered that the low tables we expected had been arranged in a small room at the end of the corridor for the Russian class; we thought we’d booked the whole complex and wouldn’t be fighting over tables this year! John then enlisted our help to move some similar (but more colourful) tables belonging to a pre-school group down to this other room, releasing the church’s low tables for Ivor Ellard’s railway models. He was in the Dobell Room with four other exhibitors; the Penford Room contained the refreshments as well as John Gay’s model railway and other three exhibitors.
Models in the Dobell Room
Visitors look at the club history
The entrance lobby was adorned once again by Tim Surtell’s eye-catching Meccano Show logo and, underneath, a roundabout from Adrian Ashford. Tim had also provided a short history of the club on a banner that was along one wall in the corridor. Printed on several sheets of paper, it made interesting reading and brought back some memories with its inclusion of photos and exhibition posters from the last 35 years.
Download the History of SELMEC Banner in PDF format.
We may not have had the largest number of visitors this year, but still managed 233 through the door (a good number!), and with the additional room full of models those that came certainly got their money’s worth!
We did quite well with gaining new members, with one joining on the day and another a couple of weeks later, and several people taking information away with them; quite a few of these were for children. One woman said to me that she thought her son would like to join our ‘Junior Section’ of the club! If only…
There was no newspaper coverage of the Show this year, but we did get the usual announcements in various local rags.
Push-of-War
During the afternoon of the Show we intended to stage a ‘test event’ of a Meccano ‘Push-of-War’ contest. This had been suggested by Ralph Laughton and Chris Fry. Unfortunately Chris had to be rushed to hospital for emergency surgery the day before which meant it was not possible to run the contest. (When last seen at Hildenborough a week later he was making a good recovery).
The table allocated for the demonstration was just used to exhibit the two models that Ralph brought — different classes, so couldn’t compete against each other — and the model that Frank Paine brought which used large gears as wheels causing Ralph to worry that his table top might be damaged. Hopefully the event will be staged in 2012 when it will be part of our ‘MeccanOlympics’ competition.
Thanks
Grateful thanks go to all members and visitors who turned up with models, and those who didn’t have a model but helped out anyway. Special thanks to Peter Clay for sorting out the rotas and looking after the money side of things.
Special thanks also to our three tea ladies, Cathy Warrell, Rosemary Warrell and Cathy Claydon who spent the whole day serving the various refreshments to the exhibitors and public alike.
Cathy Warrell, Rosemary Warrell and Cathy Claydon
Models on Display
Sherard Hall
Peter Clay — Meccanograph; 3-wheeled delivery cart; Car from the new Xtreme series; Magnifying glass and his Dad’s army butcher wagon.
Harrun and Hanef Degia — Various small models.
Jim Arthur — WW1 battleship.
Dick Watson (visitor from North West Meccano Guild) — Meccano loom from 1953/4; Eccentric Meccanograph.
Richard Marsden — Tipper truck; Single deck half-cab bus; American 4–4–0 locomotive and tender; American railway carriage.
Frank Paine — Tower Bridge; ‘Schools’ class locomotive; windmill; Big wheel; Two Aero Constructor aeroplanes; Horizontal mill engine; Traction engine; Mamod powered hoist; Car chassis; Racing car; Flatbed lorry; Small helicopter; Various outfits — № 2A from 1929, № 5A from the1950s and set № 0 from both 1916 and 1927.
Simon Greatrex — Meccanograph.
Brian Maunder — Sales stand.
Douglas Windibank — Apollo space rocket; Five Space Chaos models; Space 2501 Federation Protector and blast deflector; Renault F1 racing car; Everglades hovercraft; Friction drive dragster from Xtreme set; Remote control car from Xtreme set; Garden swing from Spanner’s Secretary’s Challenge; Three-wheeled motorcycle; Quad bike; Snowmobile; Nano robot.
Brian Leach — 2001: A Space Odyssey film illusion.
Ivor Perrett (visitor from Runnymede Meccano Guild) — Armstrong Whitworth ‘Argost’ three-engined biplane; The Meccano Hillbillies skiffle group; Bluebird land speed record car; Meccano people — road repair gang, snake charmer, King Meccano and blacksmith.
David Tracy (visitor from Runnymede Meccano Guild) — Lightship, modified version of that featured in the April 1957 issue if Meccano Magazine; Midland 4–2–2 locomotive and tender from 1928 № 7 set; Armoured car from 1928 № 5 set; Submarine from 1928 № 4 set.
Santiago Plicio — Terror’s Ark fairground ride.
Dave Taylor — The usual array of Meccano sets, spares and literature from our resident dealer.
Les Chatfield — New member Les, who joined on the day, brought miniature versions of a Stuart steam engine and a 4-stroke petrol engine.
Chris Warrell — Royal Victoria Dock bridge; Bleriot monoplane; Van Gogh’s chair; Bugatti 35 car; Caravan; Red Arrows jet; Mini stiff-leg derrick; Perrier water bottle.
Adrian Ashford— Fell locomotive; London Transport TD single deck bus; Steam tug; Roundabout; excavator.
George Foard — Various novelty models etc.
John Cowdery — Robot family; Bedford lorry; Paddle steamer engine; Red Arrows jet.
Ralph and Sue Laughton — Nano fairground models.
Penford Room
Cathy Claydon — Bren gun carrier; 25 pound field gun; Military ambulance based on a Multikit model.
John Gay — Hornby Dublo OO gauge 3-rail system from 1938 with a layout depicting British Railways in 1950; Leyland streamline fire engine from the 1930s.
Alan Wenbourne — Mini London Eye.
Bob Palmer — Motor cycle and sidecar (SML3) using original 3” rubber rings for tyres; Car from Design series kit; Cuckoo in the nest built from Merkur parts.
Dennis Remnant (visitor) — A striking model of a 2–10–0 steam locomotive.
Dobell Room
Keith Patey — Bottom dump truck from № 10 outfit leaflet № 18; Freelance vehicle from William Sounes (aged 8).
Ivor Ellard — Gauge O railways with 23 feet of track using two rail and three rail pick ups with the following trains: A 4-car TVR high speed train; US style diesel switcher; US style 4–6–4 locomotive with rolling stock and a ‘Zeppelin’ car driven by a propeller.
Brian Elvidge — Windpump; Lorries.
Stuart Jones — Festival of Britain model; Space diorama.
Tim Surtell — The Lightning Leap buzz-wire game.