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CMC Meeting, December 07

The next meeting of the Christchurch Meccano Club is on Friday 1st February 2008. There is no January meeting.

The December meeting is the traditional "break-up" meeting of the Christchurch Meccano Club.  There was no challenge this month, but plenty of models came along including some old favourites.

The models

Donald brought his latest model, the Grandfather Clock supermodel, which is pretty much finished but still needs fiddling with (as clocks so often do). Still, it runs, although it doesn't keep fantastically good time yet.

To the right are various models that were on display, new and old. I don't have full credits for all of these, sorry.

Graeme brought along yet more tuning cars, including his modified version of the new green large tuning car. Note that this green is yet another variation in Meccano colours, as it isn't anything like the same green as the small tuning car next to it.

To the right are some mobile cranes, one made with the modern vintage construction set and others made along the lines of the "outfit 00" challenge from a couple of months ago.

Anyone know who brought these? Gosh, I was terrible collecting names in this meeting, I must remember to write things down next time. Sorry again!

Here are some more small models, and a picture of our esteemed Treasurer looking thoughtful. What on earth can the matter be? Well, just because there was no challenge didn't mean everyone got off scot free.

A small quiz was placed before the assembled members, to identify ten unusual Meccano parts, what was unusual about them, and roughly what date they were from. You can see, for example, a nickel boiler, a green digger bucket, an MME part, and other oddities.

The winner of the quiz was Graeme, with Neil second and Hugh third.

To the right, that bastion of Christmas models (no idea why), the Meccano outhouse.

And before we finish, we note that Neil didn't get the chance to attempt a challenge model using parts of a GRB. Well, he wasn't going to let us down, was he?

The December meeting is always "bring a plate", and Neil of course provided a two-level cake stand made from his favourite two large circular parts. As one would expect in Meccano circles, the napkins are to protect the GRB plates from the cream rather than the other way around!

Club News

The major club news was the Meccano display at Ballantyne's in Christchurch. This display worked remarkably well, and produced a great deal of interest. Within three days of it opening, the store had run out of Meccano outfits (at least, all the metal ones). More than two weeks later we managed to convince the store to order replacement stock from the distributor, and this arrived the Monday of the week before Christmas. Again, by Thursday there was no stock left.

It might appear that this was a successful display, but it doesn't bear thinking about how much more Meccano would have been sold had they had the stock in the four weeks leading up to Christmas (and indeed after that – the display didn't come down until the second week of January). If you hung around in the toy department you could hear people coming and asking for Meccano outfits every 15-20 minutes, and all being turned away. What a shame!

But whatever it did or didn't do for the store or the sales of Meccano outfits to kids, it certainly provided some publicity for the club (which was of course the main reason we did it). It'll be interesting to see whether we are asked to do it again, although other stores in Christchurch have already expressed an interest.

The CMC Challenge – "Making Music"

Build a Meccano musical instrument, which should play a recognisable tune, preferably without skilled operation.

The Competition

At the CMC meeting in February, all club members present will vote for their favourites, and the one with the most votes will win.  In the event of a tie, the most senior disinterested club member will have the casting vote.

Definition of ‘Meccano model’

As usual, you can use any Meccano part ever made and sold as Meccano, or any reproduction part that is structurally identical to a Meccano part. Parts may not be cut or deformed such that they cannot be used for their intended function again. You can cut a part 1 down into a 1a (it becomes a reproduction part), but not down to a 9” long strip (which has no Meccano equivalent).

Cord, driving bands, and springs may be of any type. Motors (if used) must be genuine Meccano, but wiring and power supplies need not be. Non-Meccano washers may be used in your model solely to protect the paintwork.

For this challenge alone, a piece of wood or a membrane may be used as a sounding board. In addition, any number of strings of any material may be used to create the sound.

The February meeting

There is no meeting in January, as usual. The next meeting is Friday 1st February, 2008, at St Johns Church, Ferry Road, Woolston. Bring a friend!