HAPPY HOLIDAY

Yes, it’s that time of year again – so we wish all our readers the compliments of the season as we carefully steer a PC course between celebration and not giving offence. There was a time when the 25th of December could be celebrated as a Christian festival but it has long since reverted to its Saturnalia origin and consumption is the name of the game. So, what would you like for a 25th December gift? Can the family be persuaded to go down to the local Marks and Spencer and investigate the “Big Boys Toys” section, or will you specify exactly what you want and provide the name of a suitable supplier – “One boxed GRB, please – yes, I know it’s only one part, but I don’t like to ask for too much”. There is certainly plenty of Meccano about, be it Nikko new or red and green traditional. Among our own members interest in (and modelling with) blue/gold seems to be undergoing something of a resurgence. Some people still use (to very good effect) nickel plated Meccano from early last century.

This bumper edition of the MSS Newsletter contains a lot of reports of exhibitions where, in most cases, a healthy interest in things Meccano was demonstrated by the public. In addition the recent Harrods exhibition seems to have been a great success (see Meccano on the Internet section).

In Scotland we have three new members of the Society and membership is now almost 50. Things Meccano are looking up! A good Modelling New Year to all our readers.

* * * * * Club Meeting, 20 November 2005

The meeting was held as usual in the Smith Art Gallery and Museum, Stirling, at 2 pm. Those present were Bert Hutchings (Secretary), Alan McDonald (Treasurer), Philip Hore, Jim Berrie, Angus Plumb, Robert Jones, Dick Martin, Alan Blair, Gordon McMillan, Tim Edwards (Webmaster), Ken McDonald, Ian Soutar, Chris Shute, Jackie Inglis, Jim Wood, Alistair Nicoll, Bobby Brown, Desmond Smith, new members Margaret Tattersfield and Douglas Carson, and visitor Bill Jack. There were apologies from Jim Gregory and Jim Craig.

Exhibitions: the Scottish Vintage Tractor Association were very impressed with our exhibits at their annual show at Scone Palace on 10 and 11 September. The Treasurer reported a nett loss of approximately £170 from our own annual exhibition on 24 September, with a very low public attendance from an inexplicably-quiet city centre. Club members also exhibited at, or visited, the Cathcart Model Railway exhibition on 29 and 30 October; the NEMS exhibition in Darlington on 5 November; and the Greenock Model Railway exhibition on 12 and 13 November. These are reported more fully elsewhere in this issue.

Future exhibitions: Alan Blair assured us of a repeat invitation to next year's SVTA show. Members suggested more attention to table space, lighting, and underfoot conditions. There were no specific suggested venues for our own annual exhibition, Perth City Hall being closed, so this event in September is likely to be our major one for the year. There are dates elsewhere in this issue for Skegness, Scone, Cathcart, Darlington and Greenock. Chris Shute offered to inquire about us using the foyer and adjacent exhibition room at the Glasgow Science Centre for a suitably-themed display, and the consensus of the meeting was that the best choice of date would be around February 2007. There was considerable discussion of the future of our own annual show, with a majority but not unanimous view that it would

1 incur continued financial loss unless it could be piggy-backed on another event. Even advertisements and handouts at other venues, in the run-up to a dedicated event, were felt unlikely to give a good enough attendance.

Treasurer: the Treasurer reported nearly 50 members, excluding some outstanding renewals and including several new ones. One was from Banchory, for whom Angus Plumb had transported a No.10 set from a dealer at Darlington.

Newsletter: the Editor took note of the need for a slightly larger print run.

Website: the Webmaster was in the process of adding pictures from the Perth exhibition.

Other business: because of recent interest in 1934-41 models, the Secretary described changes in parts during this period, and passed round different varieties of plates as illustrations. A fuller article is elsewhere in this issue. Jim Wood from Cupar had brought along an incomplete 1958-64 display model of a motor chassis, remembered in dealers' windows by several other members. The model is sun-faded, but from Jim's museum background he is inclined not to replace any of the parts, but just to motorise it again. Jim also showed us a small-scale Trevithick locomotive from a 1943 Meccano Magazine, but said considerable adaptation had been necessary. Tim Edwards passed round a No.1 outfit box with a striking pre-war blue/gold label, which had been included with a recent large purchase of manuals. Tim is studying the year-to-year differences found in 1937-41 instruction books, and his findings may appear in a future newsletter. Alan Blair continues to work on his large fairground gallopers model, and passed round a neat friction clutch unit which Stuart Borrill had custom-built for him. Chris Shute brought out a coin-operated model of an acrobat, and explained how he had used a weighted arm to solve the problem of stopping the model after a certain running time. Alistair Nicoll passed round a fractured steam pipe from the 1929 Steam Engine which he had purchased at Montrose in August, which will be quite tricky to replace. Ken McDonald and Robert Jones both reported new Meccano sets in Marks and Spencers - the Spitfire again, a remote-controlled 6-wheel vehicle (with 3 for the price of 2), and several other sets. Other members reported seeing Meccano sets of various sizes in Debenhams and in Woolworths. Robert Jones had found a commercial source for 3/8" steel balls at £6 per 100, and the address was made available. Angus Plumb had a nicely-strung No.3 outfit showing the black parts introduced during the 1951-52 shortage of brass and nickel caused by the Korean War.

Future meetings: see Dates for Your Diary on inside front page. Bert Hutchings, Secretary * * * * *

2 NEWS OF MEMBERS

This should really be “News of New Members” as no less than three new members came to the meeting at Stirling minuted above. Douglas Carson is returning to Meccano after a long break and resurrecting a couple of sets that he has. Margaret Tattersfield had visited a couple of Perth Exhibitions and is interested in mechanisms. She has quite a large collection of Meccano. Bill Jack has no Meccano at all (yet) but came to the Scone event and was sufficiently intrigued by what he saw to enquire about membership and come along to the first available Stirling meeting.

All three are very welcome and we look forward to seeing them at Stirling and at some of our exhibitions.

* * * * *

BLUE/GOLD PERIOD VARIATIONS

by

Bert Hutchings

Several members are now building or planning models in 1934-41 colours, so it seemed useful to summarise the principal changes in parts during this period, particularly for those who do not have the "Meccano System" book.

Blue/gold begins with the lettered outfits A to L in 1934. The new fibreboard plates nos.188- 89-90-91-92 were intended only for visual filling-in, or for gentle curves. Short strip plates 193-4-5 (5h x 5h-7h-11h) were for load-bearing, in slightly thicker metal than the postwar 196-7 strip plates. Both types of plate had square corners, but there were relatively few of either of them in the smaller sets. The no.187 road wheels were gold with maroon rims, and a short boss riveted to the inner disc. In 1935, the boss was lengthened and riveted to the outer disc, and the easily-damaged fibreboard plates were replaced by new thin metal flexible plates of the same sizes.

1937 brought in the familiar numbered series of outfits 1 to 10, with quite a lot more flexible plates in sets 5 and above, but still square-cornered. Road wheels became red with white rims; parts 44, 125, 126 and 126a became red instead of gold; parts 22, 22a and 24 became red instead of brass; and the 1 1/4" wheel disc in red was introduced. In 1938, all the short strip plates were dropped, replaced by the same sizes of flexible plates, and all the flexible plates and the 196-7 strip plates got rounded corners.

In the last six months of 1941, flanged plates 51-52-53-54 appeared without their gold cross- hatching, and Mazac bosses replaced brass ones on parts 19b, 22 and 24. Production ended by Government order after 31st December, but a few small blue/gold sets were scraped together from shelf stock for sale in 1942 and 1943.

* * * * *

3 A MECCANO AUCTION

by

Alistair Nicoll

On August 27th 2005 a very rare occurrence took place in Montrose when a vast private collection of Meccano was auctioned at Taylor’s Auction Rooms. The list of what was on offer was published before hand on internet and looking at it, I reckoned that there might some material of interest to me. Viewing was on the previous Friday, so I offered my wife a weekend break in Montrose – a good way to celebrate a birthday, I thought. So we repaired to Montrose on the Friday morning, booked in to an hotel, and went to view the collection on the Friday afternoon. The auctioneer had invited both BBC and STV local news people to come along and one had to make ones way around TV presenters and their cameramen as you viewed the lots. The sale was featured in the local evening news on both channels that evening.

The collection, it turned out had been the property of one elderly gentleman who is now resident in a nursing home. He had evidently amassed it over several decades as everything was there from a “Mechanics Made Easy” set to Hyper Space and Meccanoids sets. The man had obviously been an avid collector. Quite a number of sets had never been opened. Several had been opened and one or two parts taken out and the rest left still in its plastic packing. A comparatively modern number 10 set in its cabinet looked like a possible good buy until you opened the drawers and realised that somewhere between one third and one half of the parts were missing.

There were several drawers and cabinets absolutely full of strips, girders, rods, wheels, gears, etc. etc. While many of the parts in such boxes were very common and often in poor condition, some of these boxes contained numbers of very rare parts examples of which were Signal Arm Home and Signal Arm Distant. There were many others but you had to search through drawers full of Meccano parts to find them and be prepared to buy the whole drawer full if your heart was set on one or two parts. There was one drawer full of Meccano spare parts still in their original individual yellow cardboard boxes. Another collection of wrapped spare parts is illustrated. Every Meccano part you have ever heard of (and probably many that you haven’t) was represented somewhere in the collection. A problem for me was that the drawers and cabinets full of parts were so full and the parts so varied that I could not see me having a use Lot 694: a collection of wrapped spare parts for anything but a small fraction of any one lot.

For instance, what would you do with a box of several hundred Angle Girders (including thirty or forty 24½" ones) of all colours? There were lots of motors (i.e 50 or 60) both electric and clockwork. A lot of literature was also on offer. A complete list is given at the end of this article and you will see that, in most cases, you would really have to see the lots before you were sure of what you were getting if you bid for them.

4 So what about the sale itself? About thirty people attended. Many had come from south of the border. We were all able to be seated on chairs that presumably formed lots for one of the following weeks auctions. There were also participants who had left sealed bids for certain lots and others who participated (from overseas) by telephone. As each lot came up for auction a picture of it would be displayed on very high quality flat TV screens. When bidding you had to display a card with a number on it and this was used to identify you. I found it all quite exciting and had to discipline myself to only bid for the lots I had identified at the viewing on the Friday. There were only three of these and that was many less than I had originally thought before the viewing.

Bidding was started at the upper of the two reserve prices. Very occasionally the auctioneer had to go down from there but even then bidding usually advanced to well in excess of the upper reserve price. Some items really surprised me - for instance, £120 for a Meccano manual printed in Chinese!! What on earth did someone want that for? Another high price (in my opinion) was £900 for a complete set of Meccano magazines in red binders from 1940’s Meccano manual in Chinese onwards. This material will all become available on CD – some of it already is.

The Mechanics Made Easy set went for £660 (up from a reserve of £20/30!). One lot of very great interest was No 696. I had never seen (or even heard of) Meccano Dynamometers before and the lot, which consisted of three of them, went rapidly from an absurdly low reserve of £60 to £500 at which point the bidding stalled. Just as the hammer was about to fall it started again and went to £920, thus disappointing one bidder who had travelled from south of the border to bid for this one lot and had been prepared to go to £500. How did I do personally? Well I got a Meccano Steam Engine (one of two originals from before the Second World War). Parts of it are a bit corroded and it will need some work done on it but I hope to restore it to working order. There were several more modern steam engines as well but I wanted an original. I also got a collection of sets which were incomplete but there is a reasonable collection of parts including four of the yellow Meccano metal boxes which can be incorporated into models.

Lot 687 ; an original Meccano Steam Engine

5 I did bid for two Elektrikit sets (which were complete), but dropped out of the bidding at £120. They eventually went for £220. The lot was two sets and I only wanted one and this illustrated the fact that the lots were mostly very large and not suitable for the individual collector or builder.

The sale as a whole realised £23900 for the seller. The buyers did not have to pay VAT. Instead they had to pay the auctioneers commission which added a percentage to the bid price - of 17½%!

I am indebted to Robert Wilson of HRCA for providing the photographs.

A complete list of the lots, reserve prices and prices actually paid is given on the following pages.

LOT DESCRIPTION Reserve Sold NO. for

601 3 MECCANO SETS INCLUDING HYPER SPACE, MECCANOIDS 30/50 35 MOTORISED CONSTRUCTION SET & SPACE 2501 602 MECCANO "ELEKTRIKIT" & CATALOGUE WITH NO:3 20/30 80 HIGHWAY VEHICLES SET 603 2 MECCANO MULTIKIT CRANE BUILDING SETS BOTH 30/50 75 UNOPENED, AND COVERED WITH ORIGINAL SHRINK WRAPPING 604 DRAWER & CONTENTS OF MECCANO WITH 2 LIFT OUT TRAYS 20/30 580 INCLUDING GEARS, CRANE, HOOKS, FLANGED PLATES, CURVED STRIPS, BOAT CHIMNIES, etc 605 MAMOD MECCANO SP3 LIVE STEAM ENGINE UNUSED BOXED 20/30 65 WITH INNER PACKING 606 MECCANO NO:E20B 20 VOLT ELECTRIC REVERSING MOTOR 80/120 85 (UNUSED) IN BLUE BOX 607 MECCANO "MAGIC MOTORS" CLOCKWORK IN BLUE BOXES 20/30 25 608 MECCANO ELECTRIC MOTOR, REVERSING IN BROWN BOX 40/60 80 WITH GAMAGES PRICE LABEL 12/6D 609 2 MECCANO ARMY MULTIKITS AND 2 MECCANO COMBAT 40/60 50 MULTIKITS (4) 610 MECCANO NO:5 OAK BOX ONLY 20/30 42 611 MECCANO NO:167 GEARED ROLLER BEARING IN BLUE BOX 60/80 270 612 DRAWER & CONTENTS OF MECCANO INCLUDING 109 FACE 30/40 440 PLATE WHEELS, 20 A PULLEYS, NO.200, CURVED PLATES & LIFT OUT TRAY WITH NO. 113 GIRDER FRAMES, PERFORATED STRIPS ETC (30-40) 613 THE NEW MECCANO SET NO.4 IN BLACK DESIGN BOX 40/60 220

614 3 MECCANO SETS NO.S 1, 4, 5 & EXTENSION SET FOR 1 & 2, 102 20/30 30 SET & 2 EMPTY CONVERSION BOXES 615 MECCANO 3A ACCESSORY SET, UNOPENED & STILL WRAPPED 30/50 45 IN ORIGINAL BROWN PAPER 615A SHOE BOX OF BOXED OR WRAPPED MECCANO PARTS 20/30 85 INCLUDING NO.138 SHIPS FUNNELS, 162A, 109, 95B ETC

616 EARLY MECCANO NO.1 'MANUAL OF INSTRUCTIONS' WITH 20/30 120 GAMAGE BENETHINK RETAIL LABEL PRINTED BY TAYLOR GARNETT EVANS

6 LOT DESCRIPTION Reserve Sold NO. for

617 2 MECCANO ELECTRIC MOTORS E20R IN BLUE BOX & E0 20 IN 20/30 42 RED HALF BOX 618 MECCANO INSTRUCTION MANUAL, INSTRUCTIONS PRINTED 20/30 120 IN CHINESE CHARACTERS FOR THE EASTERN MARKET, PREWAR 619 CONSTRUCTION TOY 'MECHANICS MADE EASY AN 20/30 660 ADAPTABLE MECHANICAL TOY' IN ORIGINAL TIN BY ELLIOTT & HORNBY OF LIVERPOOL 620 6 EMPTY MECCANO BOXES IN BLACK LIVERY INCLUDING 2 X 20/30 25 NO.1, 2 X 2A ACCESSORY SET, NO.3 & NO.5 621 16 MECCANO INSTRUCTION MANUALS 20/30 50 622 MECCANO ACCESSORY OUTFIT NO.7A WITH 7 & 8 30/50 65 INSTRUCTION MANUAL, ALL PARTS STILL TIED IN WITH GREEN CORD 623 DRAWER & CONTENTS MECCANO INCLUDING PULLEY, GEAR 20/30 520 WHEELS, FLAT PLATE & LIFT OUT TRAY OF SPOKED DRIVE PULLEYS, STEAM SHOVEL BUCKETS, DINKY BUILDER, ETC. 624 MECCANO NO.167 GEARED ROLLER BEARING IN BLUE BOX 50/70 440 625 SMALL 6 DRAWER CHEST & CONTENTS OF MECCANO, SOME 80/120 1550 IN MECCANO BOXES & TINS, ELEKTIKIT PARTS ETC (80-120) 626 WOODEN 'MECCANO PARTS' BOX WITH CARDBOARD 10/20 22 DISPLAY ON LID 627 DRAWER OF MECCANO PARTS INCLUDING NO.143 30/50 340 CIRCULAR GIRDERS, DOUBLE ANGLE STRIPS, ETC. 628 PART & COMPLETE MECCANO SETS INCLUDING SUPER 20/30 35 HIGHWAY MULTIKIT, HYPER SPACE, NO.2 MOTOR, 2000, NO.1 629 MECCANO NO.6A WOODEN BOX WITH LIFT OUT TRAY; BOX 30/50 140 ONLY 630 6 MECCANO SETS INCLUDING 3M, JUNIOR, COMBAT, 2 30/50 28 HYPER SPACE, 2000 & CONSTRUCTO BIG TRUCK SET 631 MECCANO MA (MECHANICAL ARMY) SET IN GREEN BOX 30/50 210 632 MECCANO OUTFIT NO.10 IN ITS OAK 4 DRAWER CHEST WITH 150/200 720 INNER CARDBOARD PACKING 633 MECCANO NO.7 SET OAK BOX WITH 2 DRAWERS & LIFT OUT 50/70 560 TRAY BOX ONLY 634 DRAWER OF MECCANO RUBBER TYRES & WHEELS 20/30 100 635 LARGE COLLECTION MECCANO NUTS & BOLTS 20/30 90 636 MECCANO 'ELEKTRIKIT' SETS WITH INSTRUCTION MANUAL 40/60 260 637 31 MECCANO INSTRUCTION MANUALS 40/60 85 638 DRAWERS OF MECCANO VARIOUS 30/50 120 639 4 DINKY BUILDER SETS 3 X 1A & 2, ONE STILL WRAPPED IN 30/50 55 BROWN PAPER 640 MECCANO NO.8A ACCESSORY OUTFIT ITEMS STILL TIED IN 60/80 130 WITH NO.9 INSTRUCTIONS 641 BOX FILE & CONTENTS OF BOXED MECCANO SPARES 40/60 440 INCLUDING NO.37, 59, 12B, 62, 62A, 35, 57C ETC (40-60) 642 MECCANO EO 2O ELECTRIC MOTORS IN BLUE BOXES, ONE 30/50 42 WITH INNER PACKING 643 4 MECCANO CLOCKWORK MOTORS ALL BOXED 20/30 42 644 3 MECCANO E15R ELECTRIC MOTORS, 2 WITH INNER 30/50 65 PACKING, ALL BOXED 645 2 MECCANO LIVE STEAM ENGINES, 2 BURNERS IN OFFICE 30/40 70 646 9 BOXED MECCANO POWER CONTROL UNITS & 11 UNBOXED 30/50 50

7 LOT DESCRIPTION Reserve Sold NO. for

647 COLLECTION OF MECCANO ELECTRIC MOTORS, 6 RATIO 20/40 240 GEAR BOXES, BATTERY BOXES ETC, SOME BOXED 648 6 MECCANO SETS NO.1 CLOCK, ELECTRONIC CONTROL 30/50 160 SET, HAND GENERATOR, CATERPILLAR TRACK, SUPER TOOL SET & MO SET 649 4 DRAWERS OF VARIOUS MECCANO 30/50 420 650 2 MECCANO 167 ROLLER BEARINGS 50/70 420 651 4 MECCANO SETS INCLUDING NO.1, 2, M1, C 30/50 35 651A VARIOUS MECCANO IN WOODEN BOX WITH EARLY 40/60 48 CATALOGUES 651B ‘MECCANO PARTS’ WOODEN BOX WITH CARDBOARD 40/60 120 ILLUSTRATED LID & NO.4 & NO.6 EMPTY BOXES (3) 651C BOX OF MECANO INCLUDING 2 CLOCKWORK MOTORS AND 30/50 25 3 MANUALS 651D MECCANO SET NO.5 IN PAINTED BLUE WOODEN BOX WITH 120/180 260 INSTRUCTION MANUAL AND STANDARD MECANISMS MANUAL 652 'MECCANO PARTS' WOODEN BOX WITH CARDBOARD 30/50 42 ILLUSTRATED PARTS LIST ON LID 653 MECCANO CRANE CONSTRUCTION SET MOTORISED WITH 30/50 25 MANUAL & NO.2 MOTORING SET (30-50) 654 4 MECCANO 1A ACCESSORY OUTFITS & MECCANO GEARS 60/80 60 OUTFIT 'A'

655 3 DRAWERS & CONTENTS OF MECCANO 30/50 980

656 DRAWER & CONTENTS OF MECCANO NO.162 BOILER 30/50 55 COMPLETE (44) 657 3 BOXES LOOSE MECCANO PART SET ETC (20-30) 20/30 35 658 5 MECCANO SETS INCLUDING NO1, 2, 4, 5 & SUPER 30/50 50 HIGHWAY MULTIKIT 659 JUNIOR MECCANO SET 'A' & A DRAWER & BOX OF JUNIOR 20/30 25 MECCANO 660 10 MECCANO INSTRUCTION MANUALS 20/30 20 661 COLLECTION OF MECCANO MOTORS INCLUDING 6 30/50 200 ELECTRIC & 11 CLOCKWORK (17) 662 MECCANO LIVE STEAM ENGINE IN YELLOW BOX 30/50 360 663 MECCANO NO.167 GEARED ROLLER BEARING, GEARED 50/70 340 BEARING PLATE & 4 X 167A LARGE TOOTHED QUADRANTS 664 3 MECCANO SETS NO.2, 3 MOTORCYCLES & SET 'A' 20/30 25 665 18 MECCANO INSTRUCTION MANUALS (SOME 30/50 50 DISTRESSED) 666 3 MECCANO SETS NO. 0, 3A ACCESSORY OUTFIT & 60/80 45 ANOTHER ALL IN BLACK LIVERY BOXES (3) 667 9 MECCANO INSTRUCTION MANUALS 1920'S & 1930'S 50/70 140 668 3 DRAWERS OF VARIOUS MECCANO (30-50) 30/50 160

669 4 MECCANO SETS INCLUDING NO. 3M, 5, SUPER HIGHWAY, 30/50 32 COMBAT & NO.5 SITE ENGINEERING SET BOX 670 670 MECCANO OUTFIT NO.10 GREEN PAINTED WOODEN 40/60 210 BOX WITH 2 LIFT OUT TRAYS, BOX ONLY 671 6 MECCANO STANDUP CARDBOARD SHOP ADVERT 60/80 120 DISPLAYS

8 LOT DESCRIPTION Reserve Sold NO. for

672 CARTON OF MECCANO ACCESSORIES, MOST IN MECCANO 80/120 840 BOXES OR WRAPPING, SOME UNOPENED 673 2 MECCANO ELECTRIKIT ELECTRICAL SETS (2) 60/80 220

674 MECCANO NO.'E' SET WITH BLUE PATTERNED PARTS 60/80 60 WITH LIFT OUT TRAY 675 MECCANO MAGAZINES IN RED BINDERS 1940'S ONWARD 40/60 900

676 6 MECCANO SETS INCLUDING 2 X NO.2, NO.4, SUPER 30/50 40 HIGHWAY, 3 MOTORISED CONSTRUCTION SETS & JUNIOR POWER DRIVE SET (6) 677 3 DRAWERS OF VARIOUS MECCANO (30-50) 30/50 160 678 MECCANO NO.6A ACCESSORY OUTFIT STILL WRAPPED IN 60/80 70 ORIGINAL BROWN PAPER, UNOPENED 679 WOODEN MECCANO SET BOX IN RED WITH 2 LIFT OUT 40/60 90 TRAYS 680 MECCANO NO.2A ACCESSORY OUTFIT & NO.5 SET IN RED (2) 50/70 40 681 MECCANO NO.2 AEROPLANE CONSTRUCTION SET (100-150) 100/150 280 682 12 MECCANO INSTRUCTION MANUALS (30-50) 30/50 60 683 6 DRAWER COLLECTORS CABINET FULL OF SMALL 80/120 2300 MECCANO PARTS 684 7 MECCANO VEHICLE 'ACTION PACKS' & 2 X MO ELECTRIC 20/30 30 MOTORS IN ORIGINAL SHRINKWRAP (9) 685 'INVENTORS' MECCANO SET 'B' IN BLACK LIVERY BOX 40/60 80 686 24 MECCANO INSTRUCTION MANUALS 50/70 110 687 MECCANO LIVE STEAM ENGINE IN ORANGE BOX, BURNER & 30/50 320 FUEL IN OFFICE 688 DRAWER OF LARGE MECCANO PULLEYS SMALL GEARED 50/79 620 ROLLER BEARINGS & LIFT OUT TRAY & CONTENTS 689 BOX MECCANO EPHEMERA INCLUDING PRICE LISTS, 20/30 260 FOLDOUT MANUALS, ETC. 690 6 DRAWER CHEST OF MECCANO PARTS 200/300 1200 691 2 HORNBY COMPANION BOOKS, THE MECCANO SYSTEM 10/20 80 1986, THE MECCANO MAGAZINE 1916-198, 1987, BOTH DUST WRAPPED (2) 692 13 MECCANO INSTRUCTION BOOKS 30/50 120 693 MECCANO ‘M’ 280 LIGHTING SET 80/120 200 694 BOX WRAPPED MECCANO PARTS 30/50 300 695 6 MECCANO INSTRUCTION MANUALS INCLUDING 1914-1915 30/50 85 PRIZE MODELS, MP31, 31.2A ETC (6) 696 3 MECCANO DYNOMETERS INCLUDING 47 TENSION & 40/60 920 COMPRESSION, 47A DYNOMETER TENSION & 48 DYNOMETER COMPRESSION CIRCA 1951 697 COLLECTION OF TINPLATE MECCANO MODEL SIGNS 20/30 150 VARIOUS SIZES 698 MECCANO PARTS CARDBOARD SHOP DISPLAY SIGN 15/25 35 699 2 HORNBY COMPANION BOOKS VOLUME 2 THE MECCANO 10/20 70 SUPERMODELS REPRINT 1980 DUSTWRAPPED, VOLUME 7 THE MECCANO MAGAZINE 1916-1981 STILL IN PLASTIC WRAPPING(2) 700 VOLUME 1, THE HORNBY COMPANION 'THE PRODUCTS OF 10/20 15 BINNS ROAD' REPRINT 1981 DUSTWRAPPED 701 MECCANO OIL CANS (2) 10/20 190

9 LOT DESCRIPTION Reserve Sold NO. for

702 WOODEN BOXES NO5 (WITH INTERNAL GLASS LID), No.6 30/50 100 WITH 4 TRAYS 703 WOODEN BOXES 2 NO.6 BOXES AND 6A BOX 30/50 190

* * * * *

FARMING YESTERYEAR AT SCONE PALACE

by

Ken McDonald

On Saturday and Sunday, 10th and 11th September 2005, The Meccano Society of Scotland, courtesy of The Scottish Vintage Tractor and Engine Club, exhibited at SVTEC’s 29th Rally held in the extensive grounds of Scone Palace. The weather was kind, especially on the Sunday, which was the public day, and we were provided with a marquee ideally located at the entrance to the grounds, above the door to which our Meccano Exhibition Banner was erected by Bert, Alan and Bobby with an ingenious arrangement of poles and string. As a result we received more visitors than I can ever remember at one of our exhibitions.

Meccano (almost) alfresco – The exhibition centre at Scone

The Saturday was for SVTEC members, affiliated clubs and organisations only and most of the morning was spent getting our exhibition set up. During that process a continuous trickle of visitors wandered in to see what was happening and gradually as we got ourselves organised it became a pretty constant flow for the remainder of the day, which was very satisfying for us. However, it turned out to be a mere taster for the public day on Sunday.

From 9am on a bright sunny morning, before some of us arrived, the public poured in and the marquee was filled with visitors during the whole day, with people still trickling in as we were closing down after 5pm. It was so busy that it was difficult to find a moment to snatch a bite of lunch or dash for a comfort break and the level of genuine interest was a delight.

10 Perhaps people who are passionate about restoring vintage vehicles appreciate the enthusiasm we have for our hobby and also enjoy the nostalgia aspect. We even received a couple of enquiries from people involved in other exhibitions and at least one person requested information about our Society. It was a marvellous opportunity to demonstrate the wonders and delights of our hobby and thankfully the Society rose to the occasion and put on a splendid show with a good range of interesting and eye-catching models, which comfortably filled the space provided.

Positioned just inside the entrance on the right, Bert Hutchings had his Meccano Colour Variations display, a nickel ‘hands-on’ Hammerhead Crane, a Locomotive, a number 6 manual Racing Car in blue and gold and a Steam Tipper Lorry from the same manual, both specially constructed for this exhibition. Bert also displayed a bound volume of January to June 1939 Meccano Magazines, which he encouraged visitors to peruse.

Next to Bert, Ian Soutar had his interesting Breakdown Truck collection showing the different Meccano colour combinations over the years, some Military Vehicles and a Junior Meccano Play Tray, which was well used on the Sunday with such enthusiasm that at the end of the day a magnet had to be employed to locate various small parts in the grass beneath the table.

In the first corner Alan Blair had his Gallopers Roundabout in progress, which ran very smoothly and promises to be a very fine model to look forward to seeing in its completed form. Alan also displayed a very neat South-Seeking Chariot and an immaculate Ship Propulsion Engine.

Occupying most of one end of the marquee Bobby Middlemass had a brilliant eye-catching layout comprising his magnificent prize- winning nine foot long Tower Bridge, flanked by his highly detailed Glasgow Tram and one of his fine Table Engines, all in sparkling blue and yellow, which received much attention and admiration.

Bobby Midlemas’ Tower Bridge with Coronation Tram Car in background

11 At the right end of the rear wall your reporter was located with his Blackpool Tower, Daedaleum and Primus Display. At the next table Jim Berrie had brought a collection of models in red and green including a Steam Plant, Showman’s Engines, Meccano Car, various other vehicles and a working Window Display Model. Towards the close of the Sunday afternoon Jim’s display became smaller and smaller as items were snapped up by visitors leaving him with almost only his table covers to take home. Ken and son with his Meccano and Primus exhibit

Bobby Brown had a very fine large Coles Mobile Crane in yellow and zinc, which was operated continuously to the delight of the viewing public.

Next to Bobby, Jim Gregory displayed his delightful Tram Layout and a small Hornby Train Layout, which he added to with a purchase on the Saturday from one of the many stalls in the Show Field. Both layouts ran continuously and created much interest, as did his Clyde Puffer and various small vehicles.

The left corner was taken up by Jackie Inglis, who, as so often, provided a wide range of entertaining models in pristine red and green including her Paddle Steamer, Diver’s Helmet, Steam Engines, Weight Lifter, Cyclist, and Showman’s Engines: Altogether a most attractive display with plenty of movement to grab the attention of the passing throng.

A pensive Jackie Inglis with her display

12 Chris Shute occupied the remaining space at that end of the marquee and round to the entrance with a huge range of fascinating creations dominated by his magnificent Robot Gargantua. Among the many other models were Percy the Ping-pong Porter, his Multiple Matchbox Manipulator and its follow-up, the Perpetual Packaging Processor that includes Percy, a Compact Robotic Arm, Clockwork Horse and Cart, a Chris Shute’s Gargantua towers over the Forth Bridge number 10 set Orrery, Tricky Track and Land Rover which which was shown at the last Society meeting, Stomping Hexapod, and a very clever Clock built entirely with parts used only once, that not only kept the time but also had a cuckoo, a leap-year indicator, a calendar and displayed the phases of the moon. It was justifiably a first prize winner at Henley in the early 1980s. At various times Chris had a number of eager young helpers to operate his models including his Robot Gargantua.

The splendid large Forth Bridge model, which had been donated to the Society by the late David Stokes, had been brought along, but regrettably there was not sufficient space to erect it and it lay in sections in one corner where it was spotted by a number of visitors and examined with interest.

On the Sunday more exhibitors arrived to add to the show. Stewart McLaren brought his large number 8 manual Mechanical Man in post-war red and green powered by a clockwork motor, Desmond Smith brought a small agricultural tractor, and the centre of the Marquee was filled by Peter Harrison and Les Stephen with a range of models including a Ferris Wheel, a large Showman’s Engine in yellow and zinc with a smaller one in blue and yellow and Meccano Aeroplanes and Cars. They also brought a display of Hornby O-gauge Railway items and Dinky Cars and had intended to have a running layout, but the table width was too narrow. However, it was still an impressive and attractive show.

Angus Plumb also looked in on the Sunday as did Angus Annan a former member and Society Treasurer in the early 1980s, when we used to meet in his home village of Blairlogie. It had been many years since we last saw him and it is to be hoped that he will return to the fold sometime.

Our exhibition was of course only a very small part of a huge show of vintage vehicles and machinery of all kinds and two of our members were also exhibiting vintage treasures. Ian Soutar was showing his very fine 1960 Standard Vanguard Vignale Estate and on the Sunday he parked outside our marquee a newly acquired shiny red 1967 Austin Gipsy Fire Engine originally used in the Wolseley car factory and a Coventry Climax Engine mounted on a Trailer, which had originally been used by the BNFL Fire Brigade. Alan Blair had a splendid 1947 David Brown VAK1C Cropmaster Tractor with rare Transport Box on which your reporter and Jim Berrie were given a ride around the Show Field on the Saturday.

13 From the point of view of The Meccano Society of Scotland it was undoubtedly a most successful weekend. It was thoroughly enjoyable and so rewarding to have such a large number of interested visitors and we hope that the SVTEC viewed our contribution to their Rally favourably and would welcome us back. Alan Blair deserves our grateful thanks for making it possible and for all his hard work with the organisation.

* * * * *

ANNUAL EXHIBITION 2005

by

Alistair Nicoll

The last Saturday in September once again saw the Meccano Society of Scotland’s annual exhibition staged in the Lesser Town Hall at Perth, a venue which has always seen good attendances and lots of interest in our displays in the past. It was therefore with a feeling of some foreboding that one drove in to Perth on the Saturday morning to find the place peculiarly quiet. Where was everyone? Parking outside the hall to unload the models was no problem at all. The car park at the South Inch was more than half empty. For no apparent reason, Perth collectively was not around on this Saturday. So it turned out at the hall. This must go down as the most poorly attended exhibitions I have ever been at. For most of the day it was just the exhibitors themselves who were around and it was more like a Menstrie without the competition than an annual exhibition. This was a pity really as we put on a very good show and this in spite of missing three stalwarts. Bobby Middlemas was convalescing abroad. Ed Rebecca was hors de combat with a medical condition and Jim Gregory was fully engaged with his ecclesiastical duties.

Ian Mordue’s Blocksetter Joe Etheridge’s Blocksetter

14 Fortunately we had the support of three NEMS members who have been with us in the past George Roy, Joe Etheridge and Ian Mordue. The exhibition space in the hall was therefore full and there was lots to see.

Joe Etheridge and Ian Mordue had brought their blocksetters – both built for Skegness – and both magnificent. Ian’s was an accurate scale model of a real blocksetter which was situated at South Shields and was voted into first place when the prizes were distributed.

Just beside Ian Mordue was Ken McDonald’s display featuring an “Automatic Racer” This was – according to its builder – “based on model number 5.24 in the pre-war Meccano instruction manual number 31.57 for outfits 5 - 7, but with improvements and embellishments, some gleaned from other modeller’s version of this novelty”. In the view of the members of MSS it was rather more than that and it was awarded second prize. Ken also had a dockside crane in The Automatic Racer poised for another journey red/green red/green powered by a No.2 clockwork motor.

Opposite him, George Roy had his agricultural machinery display with a traction engine, thresher and baler all operated from one small motor using a belt drive. He also had a showman’s engine, a small beam engine and an excavator using the Bowden cable control incorporated in the latest Nikko sets and allegedly not yet available in the UK. Beside Ken was Tim Edwards with a huge display of models among which were his magnificent Beyer Garratt loco in red/green, a large number of models from modern Meccano including the Spitfire, the ball bearing clock and the Braiding Machine. This latter fascinated members of MSS who voted in to third prize position. Tim also had quite a major display of modern Meccano including the Spitfire, Concorde, Tower Bridge, Big Ben and the Ferris Wheel. His display was completed with the ball bearing clock, rope making machine and remotely operated maze game. Across from Tim was Alistair Nicoll with his orrery, Meccanographs, colour mixer and some remote operated vehicles. One of these was the radio controlled car and the other an IR controlled bulldozer

15 The intricacies of the third prize winning Braiding Machine

The McMillans had their tinplate ‘O’ gauge Hornby layout at the top of the hall. Opposite them was Alan Blair with his immaculate little double expansion marine steam engine, a south facing chariot and his developing model gallopers roundabout. Beside Alan was the table of Meccano for children to use to construct models supervised by Ian Soutar. Given the attendance it lay unused all day.

Bobby Brown brought along an ensemble of very large models of construction machinery comprising a Scania articulated unit with low loader and Caterpillar miming truck on board. There was also a Scania tipper lorry. All the models were in yellow/zinc. Beside Bobby was Jackie Inglis’ entertaining and varied display of thirteen models including the diver’s helmet, paddle boat and Ferris wheel. Across the passage from Bobby and Jackie was Bert Hutchings with a hand operated crane, a blue/gold racing car, steam tipper lorry in red/green and a Midland 4-2-2 loco from the 1937 L manual in post war red/green. Next to him, Jim Lamberton had a model of a 250 ton dockyard crane. This model contained no less than forty four 12½" Angle Girders. Passing on you then came to Chris Shute’s display which as well as Percy (the Ping Pong Porter) also included 2 match box manipulator machines, the Hexapod walker, Konkoly’s horse and cart, a performing acrobat, a model land rover (infra red controlled and said to be “partly built”) and two remote controlled robots. By far the biggest model Chris had on display was his take on “Little Joe” which happily trundled around a complex track apparently built with at least one week’s production of Binns Road flanged plates. The exhibition was completed in the far corner of the hall by Robert Henderson’s Hornby Dublo layout.

Jackie Inglis presented the Jim Finlayson Trophy to Alan Mac Donald – an imaginative award which was acclaimed by all those present. Overall it had been a most eye catching and fascinating display. It is a matter for great regret that the Perth public absented themselves.

16 CATHCART MODEL RAILWAY EXHIBITION

Once again MSS was invited to put on a display at Cathcart and once again the Society produced an interesting and varied collection of models most of which had been seen at Perth a few weeks previously. The change this year was a comparatively late decision by the organisers to ask us to fill five tables instead of our normal three. We rose to the occasion with Bert Hutching coming on both days with the same display that he had at Perth. Alistair Nicoll also came on both days with his Perth models although one of the Meccanographs had apparently evolved or metamorphised into something rather more complex (and less reliable). On the Saturday Chris Shute and Jackie Inglis came, both with their Perth displays although Chris had added an interesting small tram route with an automatic reversing mechanism which caused the tram to go to one end of the route, pause for significant time, and then go off to the other end where it paused again. The timing was all done with a separate little all-Meccano mechanism which did the switching on and off the electric current and as well as arranging the pauses. In the afternoon Martin Donoghue turned up with his hand operated orrery and his Meccanograph, based on SM 13 but considerably developed so that it now draws multi-lobed diagrams.

On the Sunday Chris and Jackie were replaced (at very short notice) by Ken McDonald who brought along his Automatic Racer, Primus display and the fishing boat in harbour, a prize winner at Perth last year and since featured in a CQ article.

As always at Cathcart it was a busy and interesting day with two MSS visitors on Saturday and (all the way from Poland) Jim Craig on the Sunday.

* * * * *

NORTH EASTERN MECCANO SOCIETY ANNUAL EXHIBITION, DARLINGTON, 2005

A PERSONAL VIEW by Ken McDonald

This year, on Saturday 5th November, the North Eastern Meccano Society’s Annual Exhibition was held in a new venue, St. Cuthbert’s Church Hall in the Market Place. This location, in the heart of the town on a busy Saturday, provided an excellent opportunity to attract passers by and there seemed to me to be a steady flow of visitors throughout the day.

The hall was filled to capacity with thirty tables of exhibitors showing a wide range of interesting models creating a suitable buzz of excitement with plenty of colour and movement. In fact there were so many items on display that it was a job to fit them all in comfortably and Sally Etheridge’s Children’s Play Area had to be excluded on this occasion due to lack of space.

17 Bert Hutchings, Desmond Smith and your reporter represented The Meccano Society of Scotland as exhibitors and Alan Blair and Angus Plumb also made the journey down from Scotland. Bert had his Meccano colour variations display, his popular ‘hands-on’ nickel Hammerhead Crane, and a Railway Crane and Racing Car both in blue and gold. Desmond had his very neat Agricultural Tractor and Trailer, which was seen at the Scone Palace exhibition, and your reporter had his ‘Automatic Racer’ model, which was shown at Perth.

The first prize was awarded to Ian Mordue for his splendid South Shield Titan Blocksetter, an immaculate, highly detailed and beautifully operating faithful representation of the prototype, which also took first prize at our Perth Exhibition, and Ian Perrins won second prize for a very attractive display of two identical Steam Ploughing Engines operating a plough back and forth between, faithfully detailed in pristine red and green. There was a three-way tie for third prize with Joe Etheridge’s Blocksetter, Rob Mitchell’s All Electric Steelworks and my Automatic Racer. The Bradley Cup was awarded to Brian Chaffer for long-time support of the club and consistent production of excellent models and Brian, as last year’s winner of the Frank Beadle Memorial Trophy, selected Ian Perrins to receive it this year. The junior prizewinners were Richard Watson and James Lofthouse.

Although my Automatic Racer had thankfully run all day without a hitch, I was astonished to find myself in the same category as Joe and Rob. Those who attended our Perth Exhibition will have seen Joe’s very fine Blocksetting Crane; a truly impressive construction, a photograph of which was featured in CQ 69, and Rob’s Steelworks, third place winner at SkegEx 2005, is to me awesome. I first saw this enormous model in its early stages of development at Darlington in 2000 and again still in progress at SkegEx 2001, and as I did not manage to get to SkegEx this year and having read Chris Shute’s report with photographs in the September Newsletter, I was delighted to have the opportunity to see it in its completed form on this occasion. I have great admiration for the scale and complexity involved and the smooth operation of the various movements that he has achieved. It took him four and a half years to construct, which does not surprise me. I understand that it is to appear in a forthcoming issue of Constructor Quarterly, which is a treat in store for subscribers to that excellent publication as there are so many interesting features to study in detail.

As well as his prizewinner, Joe Etheridge had other models including his imposing Fairground Rotawheels, which we saw at Perth, and Ian Mordue had his very fine Tracked Excavator seen at last year’s NEMS exhibition and well worth another look.

Brian Ashton had a selection of his entertaining arcade games, which are a regular feature of these exhibitions and always attract a great deal of interest. One I had not seen before, but was featured in CQ 63, is an Allwin Arcade Game, which had a clever trigger mechanism to shoot ball bearings around a vertical circular track and a coin discharge mechanism, all constructed with his customary ingenuity and skill to be elegant in appearance yet robust enough to withstand operation by eager young hands. I was also fascinated to see his version of the GMM 49 Automatic Loom by Dr Keith Cameron, a photograph of which is in CQ 48. Michael Whiting, whose speciality is devising and constructing orreries, displayed this year another fascinating creation, Trans Neptunian ‘Planets’, which showed the relative rates of revolution around the sun of large objects discovered in the outer regions of the solar system. He also had a most unusual depiction of the Big Ben Maze constructed near York to mark the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot. Michael’s version was formed with green strips on a large base of yellow flat plates.

18 John Herdman, whose models regularly feature in Constructor Quarterly, had a variety of walking mechanisms and a rather scary remote controlled Matilda Robot Basher from ‘Robot Wars’, a photograph of which is included in Michael Denny’s report on SkegEx 2002 in CQ 63. George Roy once again displayed his Demonstration Motor Chassis, and his very neat Beam Engine and excellent Agricultural Traction Engine that we saw at our Perth exhibition. Barry Richardson had a number of models including a Whizzy Dizzy Fairground Ride, based on a model by Dr Keith Cameron featured in CQ 29 and a very nicely modelled James Coombes Table Engine, and the Harker family displayed a range of attractive models, amongst which I particularly liked a small tractor operated by a clockwork motor.

Of the many other models, those that particularly caught my eye were Brian Chaffer’s Victorian Single Cylinder Whitmore Steam Engine in gleaming red and green, Fred Thompson’s Fairground Octopus Ride in yellow and zinc which ran smoothly all day with a nice undulating movement, Denis Edward’s Railway Service Crane in shiny red and green, based on the Number 10 Outfit model, Tim Royalance’s simple but effective bouncing marble machine and Geoff Rowlinson’s Mobile Workshop, which was a large yellow lorry with rear mounted crane and had sides that opened upwards to reveal a range of belt-driven machines.

There were three dealers to tempt us to part with our cash. Mike Rhoades and John Thorpe had their usual large array of attractive wares and Stuart Borrill from Skegness had his splendid range of beautifully made and very reasonably priced brassware.

At closing time our departure from the hall was accompanied by the pealing bells of St Cuthbert’s Church, which seemed a fitting climax to another most enjoyable day in Darlington, and throughout the evening car journey home I was treated to countless fireworks displays.

* * * * *

GREENOCK MODEL RAILWAY EXHIBITION

For the first time MSS was invited to exhibit at his show and the society was represented by Tim Edwards, Bert Hutchings and Alistair Nicoll all of whom brought along the models that had previously been exhibited at Perth or Cathcart (or both).

What distinguished this event for us was the excellent organisation. Vehicles could unload under cover in a wide passage way outside the town hall (even if it did mean temporarily using the Provost’s parking space). Cars could then be moved to a free car park nearby. Five tables (as promised) were set up for us and we were located in the buffet which meant that effectively everybody who came to the show passed by the Meccano stall. Both Saturday and Sunday were characterised by an unending

19 flow of people giving little time for eating or comfort breaks. Eating was, by the way, one of the unexpected pleasures of exhibiting at this show. All exhibitors were supplied with free tea and coffee and cakes, brought to their stalls and an excellent lunch menu was also available at modest cost.

A number of members of the Greenock club made very favourable references to our display and we have been promised a further invitation next year.

Greenock is highly recommended as a venue for Trainee operators with Bert Hutchings displaying your models to an interested and mini-blocksetter. numerous public.

* * * * * MECCANO ON THE INTERNET

The Spanner newsgroup has been very active of late largely with detailed questions about set layout, etc. However a couple of interesting items that caught the eye were the following: Meccano Crystal Radio set One of these came up on e-bay and at the time the picture below was published, it had reached £1550! Nevertheless it is a beautiful piece of workmanship and gave Meccano boys of the period a chance to be right at the cutting edge of technology. The picture was put on Spanner by Tony Press. P.S. it reached £2300 with 7 minutes to go.

Nikko

Geoff Brown of North Midlands Meccano Guild had been heavily involved with the recent Meccano display at Harrods and, in so doing, had come in contact with some of Nikko’s European sales staff. He submitted some thoughts on the development of Meccano under the Nikko banner:-

Perhaps I had better declare my hand and give you some sort of reasoned view about current Nikko affairs.

The Harrods exhibition was the result of several months of work behind the scenes between Nikko UK, the Millers and Geoff Wilson of the NMMG and fronted by myself. I can tell you that it is Nikko's avowed intention or mission statement to put the name MECCANO back at the top of the list of recognized mfrs of construction and mechanical toys. The exhibition at Harrods served to demonstrate to children and more particularly their parents (the purse holders) the link between modern Meccano and its glorious past - and I can tell you without fear of contradiction that NIKKO were delighted with the outcome.

20 So why the push on the plasticrappo and seemingly alien products? If you'd been with us at the press release day in Harrods you'd have seen the answer all over the place in the toy dept - THAT IS WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING AND THAT IS WHERE NIKKO HAVE TO MAKE AN IMPACT TO STAY IN THE GAME AT ALL -HENCE THE T-REX AND ROBOT KITS.

But rest assured that they have no intention of giving up on metal Meccano. The other line of their business that concerns us is that they have recognized the buying power of all the major retailers - not just toy people as we have already seen - and are prepared to design and sell metal kits in bulk to anyone, be it M & S, NEXT, WILKO or TESCO, Nevertheless, when challenged on the subject by Terry Pope at the launch, they also claimed that they will not forget the small retailer as well - and that is a point that we mean to keep the pressure on them about. I am also very glad to report that, in the area where we started ages ago to try to come to an arrangement with them about providing material for the large numbers of people who see Meccano at our shows and want to know if they can buy it there and then, they have promised greatly increased direct support for us. This is taking Meccano to the public in our favourite way.

In case you've not seen it, a quick look at their 2005 catalogue reveals that of the ten categories of Meccano toys - from the magnetic sets to the 'Speed Play' kits and 'Meccano Heroes' - four are traditional metal nut and bolt sets. These are 'Multi Models'. 'Design', 'Special Edition' and 'Monuments'. Within those categories are no less than 31 sets, ranging from the Design Starter to the Concorde and Monuments. If there is not a traditional progression, that is simply because the market won't support the concept at the moment. No one does that sort of thing. But if the market changes - and it surely will, fickle and volatile that it is - their time may come again.

I'm glad to report that we will be seeing Nikko again in the New Year, once Xmas and the ToyFair season is over and we look forward to continuing the dialogue with them and reporting back adult hobby views.

To conclude, we few members of the NMMG have promised support to Nikko in whatever way they think fit. This is not to say we necessarily approve of all their Meccano products - T REX and the ROBOT don't appeal at all to me personally and I also had the pleasure of telling them I wouldn't give the loco kit house room as it was such a lousy repro of a loco! (We all had a good laugh over that!) But it does mean that we do share their ambition to put the name MECCANO back at the top of the list of household names in the toy business.

Who could possibly disagree with that? * * * * *

21 22