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Melbourne Meccano Club Inc 1 MECCANO DIARY

Newsletter February 2002 Pag1

Secretary: Graham Jost 36 Gladwyn Ave BENTLEIGH EAST VIC 3165 9578 6850

MMC NEXT MEETING Sunday 14 April 2002 At Bri Phil Hall,80 Gardenvale Rd ELSTERNWICK (Melway 67 H7) 1.00pm Sales Table 2.00pm Meeting Starts Please bring a small plate of afternoon tea to share. FORTHCOMING EXHIBITION Scoresby Steamfest (NB Entries have now closed) Sat, Sun, Mon 9, 10,11, March 2002, 10.30 am to 4 pm each day. 1200 Ferntree Gully Rd SCORESBY (Mel 72D9) OTHER MECCANO CLUB MEETINGS. SEQMG Next Meeting: 20 April at 1:30pm at Frank Cherrys 47 Ballinger Crst, ALBANY CREEK, Qld. Ph: 3264 4279 Maylands Meccano Club (Perth) Meetings are held at the Maylands Meccano Club, 16 Kennedy St MAYLANDS usually on the first Tuesday of each month. Contact Ross Smith (Secretary) on 08 9367 8906 to confirm details Meccano Modellers Association (Sydney) Next Meeting: March 23 (arrive 1.30 2 pm) at Corry & Louise Boross. 8 Ascot Road, KENTHURST, NSW Please phone beforehand (02 9654 1396) and bring a plate. Annual Exhibition is on Saturday 27 April 2002 (10 am 4 pm) at Frenchs Forest Baptist Church, 615 Warringah Rd Forestville, NSW. Admission: Family $5.00, Adults $2.00

Website http://www.melbmci.ezhoster.com

MELBOURNE MECCANO CLUB INC NEWSLETTER

Issue No 1 February 2002

Buy and Sell

Wanted - Meccano Magazines Nov 60, Jun 61, Dec 64, Aug 72. Barry McDonald 03 5232 1296 Wanted - Meccano Magazine September, 1971 Bill Inglis, 03 5751 1846 For Sale Meccano Replica Parts Jack Parsisson 03 9789 5796 email: jackp@meerlu.com.au web site: http://www.meerlu.com.au

For Sale Replica Channel Segments Bill Inglis: 03 5751 1846 email: inglis@netc.net.au web site http://www.meccanonut.com/wri/ For Sale Meccano Cord Light red similar to that used by Meccano in the 1930s. $13 for 50m. Jim Osborne: 03 9596 4426 or Doug Ward: 03 5335 9444 For Sale - late 70s Meccano 4-drawer cabinet, aluminium handles Graham Jost 03 9578 6850 email: gsjost@melbpc.org.au

Kimball Mongers Kim Kahn Hillclimb Racer at Karralyka Centre

Photograh courtesy of Graham Jost

President Tony Press Treasurer Mike Maloney Newsletter Editor Bill Fitzgerald

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. Once again we had a near perfect

Melbourne Meccano Club Inc

We had three visitors to welcome. Buz Cousins has been into Meccano for many years, starting originally in England and has acquired an extensive collection over the years. Regrettably his personal circumstances preclude him from attending our meetings so he is not able to join as a member at present. Buz brought along a friend Michael Bankovski who is (severely) visually impaired but who would like to give Meccano a try. Michael is a hands on kind of person and compensates for his handicap by engaging in hobbies that require close up work. Our third visitor was Mike Wright an aircraft engineer who had Meccano as a boy and has re-discovered it in later life (familiar story?). But we had only one visitor to farewell (Buz Cousins) both Mike and Michael decided to join on the spot, which brings the attendance of members to 40 (have we ever achieved this magic number before?). But on the downside, sad to relate, we are losing two of our members. Wes Dalefield (see opposite) is leaving our shores after a stay of 16 months and has contributed much to our Club during that time. Was it really as long ago as that Wes? We hope to stay in touch, particularly through the NZFMM web page (http://www.dalefield.com/ nzfmm/index.html) of which Wes is the webmaster. Vern and Christel Ellis are also moving, but not as far, to Alice Springs an opportunity to set up a Meccano Club in the Top End Vern.

Newsletter February 2002

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glowing write-up in The Retailer) which makes it uncommon. Alan Middleton showed off yet another of his finds a very nice example of a Meccano No 2 Buzz [sic] Gear Set a Winner Gus Kraus advises that the reception by the to trade of the new Buzz Gear Set has exceeded he most sanguine expectations. It is truly a most engrossing product with stacks of educational and play value and I have not seen anything quite like it. In addition, the packaging is a credit with a magnificent instruction book on art paper containing simple directions and diagrams which make the construction of what, normally, could be intricate items, most simple. Gus constructed all the models illustrated in the book, photographed them, had line drawings made and wrote the text. Took him nearly a year. Glad to know that all that effort is paying off.

summers day for our first meeting for 2002 held at Jack and Carol Parsissons. You must know someone in high places to be able to arrange this every time Jack. As a result the mild sunny afternoon (after days of rain and cold wind) brought out members in droves with 38 members as well as 6 of their family members attending. Those who came along were: Ron Bassee, Edward Bolte, John Brand, Lindsay Carroll, Chris Comer, Wes Dalefield, Bill Davis, David Denner, David Doddrell, Bruce Douglas, Peter During, Vern & Christel Ellis, Bill Fitzgerald, Roger & Sandra Hall, Stephen Hatton, Peter Holles, Bill & Margaret Inglis, Reece & Alex Isaac, Paul Johnstone, Nigel Jolley, Graham Jost, Arthur & Lesley Kirkbright, Alan Lomax, Mike Maloney, John Martin, Barry McDonald, Mark Mason, Alan Middleton, Kimball Monger, Jim Osborne, Jack Parsisson, Carol Parsisson, Tony Press, John Riley, Graham Russell, Doug Ward, Roger Warne and Andrew & Alan Weaver. Apologies were received from Walter Bowers, David and Margaret Goss, Graeme Thomson and Doug Wilson. Informal proceedings began at 1 pm with members arriving to set up models, to display their wares for sale on the sales tables and to have a good chin wag. As always the first hour seemed to pass very quickly but our able Chairman Tony Press was able to call the meeting to order promptly at the official starting time of 2 pm.

Elektron Outfit from the 1930s

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Melbourne Meccano Club Inc

tooth pinion there is no boss since the gear rotates freely on an axle. An example of an 81 fold reduction gear box is shown in the photo. A 19 t pinion on the motor shaft meshes with the 57 t gear of a compound. The 19 t gear of the same compound meshes with (the 57 t of) a second compound on an adjacent axle. The 19 t of this second compound meshes with a third compound rotating freely on the same axle as the first compound. The final drive is taken by a normal 57 tooth gear. Look at the photo it makes it much simpler. Tony Press brought along an unused Buz Gear Set from the 1960,s an elaborate and well presented set somewhat like the Meccano Mechanisms set of the same era. Only a few of this Buz set were made (despite the

Newsletter February 2002

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Chairing of Next Meeting. By way of a change, our Vice President Jim Osborne will chair the meeting of 14 April 2002. So try to get along to find out how someone else manages the show. Exhibition Committee. Unfortunately we were once again not overwhelmed by nominations from those eager to participate. Graham Jost had indicated that he did not want to serve as Chairman and Kimball Monger agreed to take on this somewhat onerous task. But we finally managed to fill all 6 position as follows. Kimball Monger Chairman Dave Denner Bill Fitzgerald Graham Jost Jack Parsisson (as general Exhibition Coordinator) Tony Press (as President of MMC Inc)

zinc and it is fully operational. Unfortunately there is no photo suitable for inclusion in the newsletter. Sorry about that the editor will do better next time, Peter. Alan Weaver brought along his model of the Airship from the Crazy Inventors series. It is pleasing to see the youngsters getting into Meccano modelling. Graham Russell demonstrated specially cut compound gears that can be used to construct very compact reduction gear trains. The compound gear (see photo) is a 57 tooth gear and a 19

Advertising in Newsletter. Your Committee has formulated guidelines for this, particularly with a view to fostering item 4 of the Clubs Statement of Purpose. This item reads: [The goal of this Club is to foster all aspects of the Meccano Hobby including] the acquisition, disposal and exchange of parts and literature, for the mutual benefit of members. Advertisements need to be short (the editor will trim overly verbose submissions) and will be included only if space permits. For the moment there will be no charge although this could be reviewed later.

Exhibition News. Jack Parsisson reported that we have received invitations to exhibit at the following locations for 2002. Berwick District Show on 23 and 24 February. So it will be all over by the time you receive this newsletter. Melbourne Steam Traction Rally on 9, 10 & 11 March see back page for details. Model Train Expo and Hobby Show (World Vision Centre) in November more details later. Regarding the Steam Traction Rally,

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the organisers require a financial contribution towards the cost of their Public Liability Insurance. Jack has negotiated a rate of $9 per exhibitor for the 3 days and the Committee decided after some deliberation that this cost will be borne by the Club on this occasion. This is partly to encourage members to exhibit at these functions and also to recognise the very useful public exposure that the MMC Inc. obtains from being seen at them. We often get new members from such gatherings. Our Chairman, Tony Press expressed the Clubs thanks to those who do exhibit for the valuable contribution they make. Guest Speaker - MMC Inc. Web Page. Paul Johnstone continued the tradition of guest speakers by bringing us up to date with developments of the MMC Inc. web page (www.melbmci.ezhoster.com). Those who are regular visitors will have noticed some changes and improvements to the layout which facilitates navigation. If you have internet access and are not a regular visitor then you are really missing out on something and I would encourage you to have a look. For those without ready access, remember that in Victoria your public library has free access. Just ask at the desk and the staff will get you going. If you need lots of help, try and choose a time when the staff are probably not busy they really are in the business of providing a full library service to the public. For various reasons Paul has moved the site to a different server. It is still

Melbourne Meccano Club Inc

free but there is a limit to the space available and we will soon be reaching this limit. Rather than remove material, Paul has decided that he will decrease the size (and hence the quality) of the images that he puts up. The site includes much of the content of our bi-monthly newsletters, but the web site is not a substitute for the newsletter or vice versa. In particular, there are more pictures on the web site and they are in colour which makes them much more impressive than any black and white image on paper, regardless of the quality of the printing. Paul has also included links to members personal home pages, namely Wes Dalefield, Paul Johnstone and Jack Parsisson. Other links are to the International Meccanoman site and to the Meccano Web Ring (http://www.meccanoweb.com/ meccring/) which has links to over 60 Meccano related sites. Since 5 November there have been 358 visits to the site including many from overseas. So the web is certainly becoming an important way of making ourselves know. Following Pauls presentation, our President thanked him for this important contribution to the Club. Keeping the site up to date is no small effort and Paul does an excellent job here. Also, our web page has been the first point of contact for several of our members. Tony also recommended that members make the effort to have a look you will not be disappointed. Spanner Group. On a related topic

Newsletter February 2002

mechanised using the French motor and gearbox from the 1990s. Wes asked for ideas about a tensioning device for the tracks. One suggestion was to look at Bert Loves article in Meccano Engineer No 10 which describes the construction of two army tanks. But these models seem to only have a means for setting the tension while the model is being constructed rather than for maintaining a constant tension. Any other ideas? Roger Halls contribution was the motor lorry from the No 5 red/ green set. It had been constructed using beautifully refurbished parts (including the tin roadwheels) and was most impressive. As one member remarked weve all built that as a kid. I know that I did and it was one of my favourites. Graham Jost showed us his walking dog (which moves quite realistically) designed by Lynn Kraus (from Canada) all genuine Meccano we are assured even down to its eyes which are from the 1978 Meccanoids set. Peter During has now completed his Octopus Fairground Ride in yellow/

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Melbourne Meccano Club Inc

Newsletter February 2002

there is a world wide Meccano internet newsgroup run by Paul Dale in Queensland. If youd like to subscribe then send an Internet e-mail note to majordomo@lists.uq.edu.au with the words subscribe spanner as the body of the mail message. Do not include a subject - otherwise Paul has to deal with the request personally, rather the majordomo doing it for him automatically. But be warned, the general quality will not usually be what you expect. Most messages are not related to Meccano and of the ones that are, most are me toos. There are some pearls which can make it all worthwhile but you have to look at all messages to be sure of not missing them the subject line is often a poor guide. International Meccanomen. The January issue featured a centre page spread about the MMC Incs Centenary Exhibition, and jolly fine reading it is too. Anyone interested in joining the International Society of Meccanomen can contact our Secretary Graham Jost for details. Exacto (from Argentina) They have manufactured replica Meccano to a high standard for many years. Graham Jost has a copy of their February 2002 catalogue for those who are interested. Graham has been in touch with the manufacturers (Rovetta) who have advised that they will be offering blue/gold

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cross hatched plates (but they wont be cheap). Models on Show Ron Bassee has been building aeroplanes. He brought along the bi-plane out of the No 4 blue/gold but decided he could better and also showed us a modified version in red/green. Not content with this, he also produced an economy version where instead of flexible plates he used old tins cut to shape with tin snips. The whole model was finished in bright red and was most striking. Carol Parsisson (our only paid-up lady member) produced two models, a helicopter and a Formula 1 racing car. Both were only small but as Carol told me later, she wished to make a modest start so as not to show up the male members who do not bring models. (Point taken, Carol.) Wes Dalefield demonstrated the Light Army Tank from the 1970s Army Set,

Meccano Exhibition at the Karralyka Centre Ringwood East

A fine model, this. The gantry crane is rather neat, too and being hand-operated its mode of operation can easily be seen. John also had a red/green truck from one of the 50s Meccano manuals and a railway breakdown crane designed to run on Hornby O gauge track. Sandra had built a lawnmower from the 30-model set and Roger had the walking steamboat from the Crazy Inventors series and about a dozen other small neat models, each in impeccably finished parts. As Roger returned from the main hall for the nth time at the end of the day with a rather guilty look, he revealed a lovely boxed No 5 set in light red and green we didnt dare ask the price, but we think the grin said it all! Well done, Roger! Oh, I nearly forgot yes, we had plenty of interested visitors all day long. Many came back for a second look after visiting the main hall, and as well as the usual sprinkling from the UK, we even had one visitor from the US he wanted to know if we knew of any Erector supplies here!! A great day altogether - most enjoyable. Graham Jost

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Melbourne Meccano Club Inc Meccano Exhibition at the Karralyka Centre

Newsletter February 2002 Ringwood East Saturday January 19 2002

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. day saw seven noble The . MMC Inc souls brave the wilds of Ringwood East for this first exhibition in the New Year. The day was warm, and ended up decidedly hot, but we were comfortably cool inside the superbly airconditioned centre. In the foyer, on the left, with suitably arranged tables, was Dave Denner with his expanded Tricky Track. The main feature of this latest version is that he has incorporated a passing place, enabling two locos to be running on the track simultaneously. The first loco to arrive at this point stops until the second one arrives, after which they each proceed on their way. A very neat (and very necessary!) addition to the layout, Dave. The Crazy Inventors airship and helicopter and several smaller models completed Daves generous display. Kimball Monger was next with his Rider in the Sky and Kim Khan hillclimb racer running

on its dynamometer. The former had folks craning their necks skywards, the latter wondering what all the noise was about: Kimball had put in a resonant device to emulate the noise of this particular machine at full throttle, rather successfully! After Kimball Graham Jost had his Partridge Ball Roller and Penguin/Lego Staircase. Each performed creditably enough, though not as perfectly as he would have liked - he promises to do better at next showing. He was grateful that the noise from Kimballs racer even drove its builder nuts till he slowed it down to a more modest roar! In this group of tables Jack Parsisson was on the right with his Plough Tractor, Road Roller and Liberty Ship Marine Engine. Each of these performed faultlessly all day, demonstrating how things ought to be done. Well done, Jack! He also had his handoperated Schmidt Coupling and right-angle drive models for the fiddlers. Over along the window were John Brand and Roger and Sandra Hall. John had his Seaplane in fine fettle, complete with yellow-tipped black propeller spinning away all day.

Well, use earplugs if you dont like the noise!

Dave in pensive mood

now what else can I add to Tricky Track

John Brand negotiates with Graham Jost

(must be too cheap Graham, if John is interested!)

Kimball and Jack