Last Saturday...

...we, the North East London Meccano Club (NELMC), held our Autumn  meeting in Hainault. Currently, for my sins, I am Secretary of the club and I initiated a challenge. to the members The challenge involves building a model from Meccano, the extended range parts or even other systems. The only rule is that the finished model must fit through the gauge (made from four 5½ strips bolted together to form a perfect square) in all three dimensions. In other words It must fit inside a 4½ inch virtual cube.

The first challenge was called for the July meeting, the subject being a time piece or a clock.  We had a good sprinkling of entrants. My model (well, you have to show willing!) was of a giant pocket watch...

The pocket watch

Last Saturday the subject of the challenge was a two wheeled vehicle. Thinking that everybody would produce motorbikes and pedal cycles, I opted for a cart - guess what so did everybody else. That is except one member who entered an mini aeroplane! More information regarding the club can be found on the NELMC website: http://nelmc.org.uk

My not so unique hand cart

Club challenges have sent Sue and I down all sorts of paths we would never have ventured down otherwise. Most of the time they are simple little models that can be ingenious or just amusing. every now and then they get a bit out of hand and we end up building something huge; our funicular railway was a case in point. If you don't know what I am talking about have a look HERE.

Earlier this year, another competition set us off on another huge undertaking, the Merry Mixer, featured earlier on this the blog. To find the old posts enter 'Merry Mixer' in the search box at the top, right of this page. The original competition was running on a toy steam engine forum; The subject was to build a fairground ride. The model got way too big for the competition so we withdrew it and entered a smaller model that can be seen HERE . However, the Merry mixer has been growing over the past few months but, as we reported a few weeks ago, we are in the process of a spot of rebuilding. More news on the merry mixer soon!

Ralph.