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| The gauge |
Last Saturday was the summer meeting of North East London Meccano Club (NELMC). At each meeting we we have a themed challenge. The only rule is that the model has to fit within a theoretical 4½ inch cube and loosely have to be capable of falling into the subject category. The more obscure the better! The official gauge is used to check the model's dimensions.
What is Skegness known for? Well, you may say
SkegEx or Butlins, but it also has the Skegness Stadium; home to all sorts of short-circuit motor racing. As the subject of our challenge this time was a four wheeled vehicle it seemed fitting to celebrate the fact that stockcar racing is participated in just a few miles from the home of the biggest Meccano gathering in the world!
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| Mini-model stockcar - Click to enlarge... |
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| ...and from behind |
My little model is of a freelance stockcar not based on any particular type or class but incorporating some of the more obvious features like the enormously oversized name/number roof spoiler. If you are not familiar with this type of racing just Google: F1 or F2 stockcar and select 'Images' the model was built using standard and Evolution parts. The narrow strips full of holes don't look too out of place on this type of model and allow the model to look lighter at this scale
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| The underside shows the stockcar's simple construction |
The car measures just a shade under the maximum length, 4½ inches. I was working to a size that left me a bit of room but the bolt heads are significant in this scale and guess who forgot to take them into account! It was all good in the end as there was at least a couple of thousandths of an inch clearance. I thought about taking the gauge apart and rebuilding it making sure the maximum opening had been achieved by exploiting the hole to bolt tolerance to its maximum...
...Thankfully such action was not called for.
Ralph.
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