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Newsletter December 2003 Page 1

President Mike Maloney Treasurer Bill Davis Newsletter Editor Bill Fitzgerald

Secretary:Graeme Thomson16 Catherine StCANTERBURYVIC 31269836 7359Website

http://members.tripod.com/melbmci

MELBOURNE MECCANO CLUB INC NEWSLETTERIssue No 5 December 2003

Part of the MMC Display at the Dandenong Show - Nov 2003

Visitors are fascinated by Graham Josts Braiding Machine(Photograph courtesy of Graham Jost)

Page 12 Melbourne Meccano Club Inc

MECCANO DIARY

MMC Meetings for 2004

Six meetings are scheduled for the second weekend of every second month,alternating Saturday and Sunday.

Sat Feb 14 Jack ParsissonsSun Apr 18 Bri Phil HallSat Jun 12 Bri Phil HallSun Aug 8 Bri Phil Hall AGMSat Oct 9/10 Bri Phil Hall ExhibitionSun Dec 5 Lindsay Carrolls

MMC NEXT MEETING

Saturday 14 Feb 2004At Jack Parsissons, 7 Meerlu Ave. FRANKSTON (Melway 103 A3)

1.00pm Sales Table2.00pm Meeting StartsPlease bring a small plate of afternoon tea to share.A small folding chair is recommended for your comfort.

FORTHCOMING EXHIBITIONS

We have been invited to exhibit at the following venues. If interested please contactJack Parsisson on 03 9789 5796 (Email: [email protected]) for more

information.Gippsland Heritage Park Model Expo 2004

Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th of January 2004Lloyd Street Moe

Berwick Agricultural Show

Saturday 28th Sunday 29th February 2004Berwick Show Grounds, Princess Highway Berwick

OTHER MECCANO CLUB MEETINGS.

Meccano Modellers Association (Sydney)

Meetings are held at a members house normally on the fifth Saturday of a month.Contact Malcolm Bookeron (02) 9451 8807 for details.

SEQMG

The next SEQMG meeting is on Saturday 31 Jan 2004at 1:30pm at Frank Cherryshouse: 47 Ballinger Crst, ALBANY CREEK, Brisbane (Ph: 07 3264 5362).

Maylands Meccano Club (Perth)

Meetings are held at the Maylands Meccano Club, 16 Kennedy St MAYLANDSusually on the first Tuesday of each month (NB: Probably not Jan 2004).Contact Ross Smith (Secretary) on 08 9367 8906 for details

Meccano for Sale

One of our former members, RonBassee has decided to dispose of his

Meccano collection. Contact Ron atTraralgon on (03) 5174 9375 for moreinformation.

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Lindsay Carroll, Bruce Douglas, John Stark & Wal Maynard

L to R: John & Sue Cockerell, Sandra & Roger Hall, Jim Osborne, Bruce Douglas, John Brand, JohnEdgar, Patrick Russell-Young, John & Yvonne Stark, Barry McDonald, John Riley and Allan Weaver.

The final meeting of the MMC was heldat the traditional location of LindsayCarrolls on the usual balmy summersday made to order you might say!How many of us realise that having theDecember meeting at Lindsays is atradition that dates back to 1986!Thank you Lindsay for being awonderful host once again.Attendance comprised 38 members, 5family members and 3 visitors.Members present were: John Brand,Lindsay Carroll, John & Sue Cockerell,Chris Comer, Peter Dalliston, BillDavis, David Denner, David Doddrell,Bruce Douglas, Peter During, JohnEdgar, Bill Fitzgerald,Roger & Sandra Hall,Stephen Hatton, JohnHutchinson, Bill &

Margaret Inglis,Graham Jost, ArthurKirkbright, MikeMaloney, John Martin,Wal. Maynard, BarryMcDonald, AlanMiddleton, KimballMonger, Jim Osborne,Carol Parsisson, JackParsisson, Tony

Press, John Riley, Graham Russell,Patrick Russell-Young, GraemeThomson, Catherine & (son) AlexanderTritt, Jeff van Hees, Doug Ward,Andrew & (son) Allan Weaver, andMike Wright. Apologies were receivedfrom David & Margaret Goss, PaulJohnstone and Nigel Jolley.

After a brisk hour or so of modelinspection, examining trading tablesand general chit chat, Mike Maloneyour President called the meeting toorder at just after 2 pm. After thankingLindsay for hosting the meeting, Mikeintroduced several visitors. John Starkand his Wife with their children from


Vern Elliss Meccano Did You Know?

In 1906 a new beginners box Alpha(Simple Alpha) and a new AccessoryBox (Alpha 1) were listed in a salesleaflet of Mechanics Made Easy. Therewere 6 new models which included a

rope railway and a windmill. A testedelectric motor was also available. MMEmodels were included in Christmasdisplays at the big stores in Londonand Liverpool. Advertisements forChristmas 1906 described MME as theBoys Best Toy. In the Clyde ModelDockyard catelogues of 1906 & 1907competitions were announced with 100prizes.

It was in 1907 that Elliott and Hornbyset up a factory at 10-12 Duke St andon 14 September Frank Hornbyregistered the Meccanotrademark.The remaining stock of MME boxes hadstickers of the new Meccano trademarkput on them and the instruction booknow had a horizontal format. Animproved fixing method for wheels onaxles was introduced the tunnel keythat did not need a grooved axle. AMeccano Kindergarten Outfitwasintroduced in 1907.

On 17 June 1908 the Elliott and Hornbybusiness was sold to Meccano Limited,a consortium of 7 businessmen withFrank Hornby as Director. TheMeccano boxes of 1908 depicted a boyand girl pointing to a display of modelsfrom Outfits 1 to 6. The main sets werenow linked by Accessory Outfits 1A to5A enabling any smaller outfit to beconverted in steps to the largest one.

Prices of sets in 1908 were:

Kindergarten 3/6

No 1 5/- No 2 10/-

No 3 15/- No 4 25/-

No 5 63/- No 6 126/-John Edgar andGraham Russell

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Left to right: John Hutchinson, Dave Doddrell, Alan Middleton, Dave Denner,Bruce Thompson, Arthur Kirkbright and Russell Hiscock

Nelson in NewZealand have beenvisiting Victoria for thelast 2 weeks nice tomeet yet another Kiwi!Johns special interestis clocks and he issomething of a dabhand have a look atthe NZFMM website. His claim tofame is that he once lived in the samestreet as Lindsay Bond a well knownMeccano dealer in NZ who alsoamassed an impressive Meccanocollection during his lifetime. Othersvisitors were Russell Hiscock who isconsidering becoming a member(wants to interest his 2 sons (aged 7

and 11) in Meccano) and a formermember Bruce Thompson.

We also had two new members towelcome, John Cockerell (and wifeSue) as well as Catherine Tritt. In factit is her son Alexander (aged 7) who isthe Meccano enthusiast and whobrought along a model (see later).Two new members who were notpresent were Peter Oates from Orange

in NSW and Albert Howe from Ripon,England perhaps just a little far forthem to travel! Other new membersare Veronica Baker, Angus Cummingsand Rodney Palmer.

Notes from the Committee.

Meeting dates for 2004have beenconfirmed details are on the back

page.

An Annual Exhibitionwill be heldagain next year with a similar format tothis years ie 2 days. Four membershave volunteered for our ExhibitionCommittee for 2004. Kimball Mongeris the Chairman and the othermembers are Graham Jost, JackParsisson and Tony Press.


Sue & John Cockerell with Peter Dalliston and Mike Wright

most unusual but very interesting asare most of Kimballs creations.

Tony Presshad a model of an earlyNo 2 Constructor Aircraft (biplane) andcompared this with a replica madeabout 10 years ago by the late KenGordon. Ken had done a remarkable

job since he had never seen the modeland had fabricated the parts usingrather rough sketches send by a friendin Sydney.

John Hutchinsonalso brought alonga model from a pre-war constructoroutfit - a French Sports Car (quiteunusual Im told). John also had aneat display stand forit but the only troublewas that the stand hadbeen made for BinnsRoad cars and thewheel base of theFrench car was about5 mm too wide! Still,Im sure youll agree itlooks nice in thephoto.

Film of South African

Exhibition

Bill Inglis has beendelving through his

archives and cameacross a mystery filmfrom South Africa madein the 1970s. Bill hadno projector and hadlittle idea about the film,other than it was aboutMeccano. It turned outto be a shoot of aMeccano exhibition put

on by the Transvaal Meccano Club atJohannesburg in June 1973 as part ofthe Rand Hobbies Fair. So Bill broughtthe film along and Bruce Douglas hisprojector and the film was screened inLindsays living room at the end of themeeting. It was impressive display

(organised by Peter Matthews whoalso did the film voice over) with manylarge and intricate models alloperating. It was also something of amarathon 7 days and 35,000 visitors!

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What I want for Christmas

Alexander and Mother Catherineexamine the Instruction Manual forthe Renault Car with John Stark.

The Exhibition Magazineis enclosedwith this Newsletter. Additional copiesare available from the Secretary for $6or $7 posted.

Community Collections. TheMuseum of Victoria is proposing tomount a rotating display of Community

Collections from 13 Mar to 1 Aug nextyear. Each collection chosen wouldbe displayed for 1 week and from thecriteria supplied by the museum itwould appear that Meccano collectionsmight qualify. If you would like to findout more please contact KimballMonger or Jack Parsisson.

McKay No 7 Set. At the start ofOctober, the Museum of Victoriaapproached to Club to obtain expertadvice about a Meccano set that hadbeen donated. The set is a No 7 from1922 and forms part of the H V McKayDisplay which will be opening early inthe new year (Free entry for Seniorsat the Museum of Victoria!). Read allabout it in the Exhibition Magazine.

Annual Exhibition. KimballMonger provided a report on thisyears Club Exhibition see p 5.

External Exhibitions. JackParsisson reported on 3

successful displays by the Clubrecently. Jack, Kimball and DaveDenner put on a show at theMalvern Valley Primary School on7 Dec and two other displays thatwere held earlier are written up onp 6 & 7. These events are verybeneficial to the Club. Since Junethe Club has received donationsof $425 from grateful (cont p 8)


stopped for a similar periodand then re-started. Rogerhad it set up to control themotion of baby ferris wheeland it was quite effective.Another novelty model was asmall car powered by a

hand-held crankedgenerator. It certainlyworked, but there must beeasier ways of powering amodel!

Roger also brought along theSet No 4 from the newDesigner Setseries to showus though he has not triedbuilding any models yet.This set costs around $80and has been in the shops

for only a couple of months.

Peter Duringhad his Automatic Pressfrom the 5 EL Electrikit Outfit of the1970s as well as a small windmillpowered by a Junior Powerdrive motor a rather uncommon and (in my view)rather unsatisfactory motor.

Kimball Mongerseems fascinatedwith mono-cyclists in fact monorailanything! and demonstrated two of hislatest fascinating creations. The first

was originally described by BernardPrier in CQ. Kimball had changed thedesign of the tower supporting thecyclist (top) so that most of thestructure was to either side rather thandirectly behind the cyclist therebyimproving the appearance of the model(in Kimballs view! Im inclined toagree). The second model (bottom)was one of Kimballs own design

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MMC Exhibition 2003 Report

by Kimball Monger - Committee Chairman

The variety and quality of Meccanoconstructions - standard, improved andfreelance - improves year by year andthis Exhibition continued that progress.If organising a Meccano exhibition is to

entertain the public, share ourinterests, encourage the use ofMeccano and gain new members thenwe achieved our goal. Considering thebitter wind on Saturday and a longoverdue warm day on the Sunday wedid very well. Attendance was verypleasing and once again, Radio 774ABC was our best friend

Approximately a third of themembership involved themselves inthe Exhibition - building an exhibit,mounting a display of memorabilia,

distributing fliers, setting up the trestlesand manning the front door.

The displays were certainly notconstructed solely of Meccanoparts.One model was made largely fromMrklin parts and plenty of Steel-Tecand the locally made Jackano(Meccano replica) parts were to beseen incorporated in many of theexhibits. A Meccano No 6 Outfit wasdisplayed alongside a No 6 Ezy-BiltSet, for comparison demonstratingthat, as in most things you only getwhat you pay for!

There is no guarantee that anything,simple or exotic will be an instant hitwith the spectators. However, if itmoves and makes a noise you aresure to attract more attention. Soundeffects appropriate to the exhibitcertainly help. The sound-system for avery nice Shay locomotive helpedseveral other steam outline

locomotives displayed in the same hall!A clever display hard by the front doorof a large and a small-scalerepresentations of transporter bridgeswas popular. The larger model was arepresentation of the RuncornTransporter Bridge in England and theclever constructor had the opportunity

to talk to someone who had regularlyused the full-scale version over 40years ago!

A display of Meccano mechanismsincorporating New Zealand mademulti-channel electronic-controlsystems created interest amongst themore adventurous constructors withlong arms and shallow pockets!

The Exhibition Committee extends itsappreciation to all those whocontributed to the success of the 2003

exhibition. Well done.Editors Note: At the time of our Exhibitionwe had 77 members of whom 28 wereexhibitors approximately one-third of ourmembership. This is the same fraction as forthe past three Exhibitions at BriPhil Hall clearly its a magic number! We wereparticularly pleased to welcome John Phippsfrom Tasmania, one of our interstatemembers as well as Andrew Wells and ChrisHarper of Ampworks, Auckland, NewZealand. They visited our show todemonstrate and promote their newlydeveloped Meccanisms system. Thoseexhibiting were, John Brand, Chris Comer,Peter Dalliston, Bill Davis, Dave Denner,

Bruce Douglas, Peter During, John Edgar,Bill Fitzgerald, Sandra Hall, Roger Hall,Steve Hatton, John Hutchison, Bill Inglis,Paul Johnstone, Graham Jost, MikeMaloney, Barry McDonald, Kimball Monger,Jim Osborne, Carol Parsisson, JackParsisson, John Phipps, Tony Press,Graham Russell, Patrick Russell-Young,Graeme Thomson and Andrew Wells.Several exhibitors also helped out bymanning the door. Thank you to all as wellas to Dave Doddrell, Nigel Jolley and Mary

Jost for your assistance.


organisers as well as5 new members afine effort! Thank youto Jack and the smallband of regularparticipants whoengage in this

worthwhile activity.Jack has 2 externalexhibitions on hisbooks already for nextyear see back pagefor details.

A Renault Car Model

Kithas been releasedby Meccano fordistribution by Renaultdealers. Its alreadyavailable overseas at58 or 98 - the pricehere is likely to beabout $260.

Model Display

Alexander Trittled offand showed us hismodel of an Aircraftwith Tug made fromJunior (plastic) Meccano. It was aninteresting model, nicely made andshowing the imagination that only a 7

year old possesses.

Next was Doug Ward(above) with amodel in nickel of level crossing gates(Model 6.1 from the 4-7 Manual of1928). Nice to look at but its operationleaves a lot to be desired if the manualinstructions are followed! Doug isembarking on a large crane andbrought along the two main sideframes of the boom.

Sandra Hallgot into the Christmasspirit with a freelance model of Santaon a horse drawn sleigh filled with

lollies which were later handed our forall to enjoy. It was a welcomeseasonal gesture and a very attractivemodel as well. Sandras other modelwas a Ferris Wheel in Junior Meccano.

Roger Hallhas again been working onusing electronic control modules (fromDick Smiths) in Meccano models.This time it was a controller thatstarted, ran for 3 5 min (adjustable),

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External Exhibitions by the Melbourne MeccanoClub Inc

Dandenong Show 8-9 Nov 2003

Our Club had been invited to provide aMeccano exhibit at the DandenongAgricultural and Pastoral Societys

Annual Show, held at the DandenongShowgrounds on the weekend of 8 & 9November, 2003. Jack Parsisson,Dave Denner, Kimball Monger, JohnBrand and Graham Jost took up theinvitation. Set-up was on the Fridayevening prior in the very largeExhibitions building, and for once wehad plenty of space. This made awonderful difference to setting out ourdisplays properly around a bigopen rectangle, which wasdemonstrably a very satisfactory

layout for both exhibitor andviewer I hope our Annual ClubExhibition Chairman took note!

The Dandenong Show itself ison a grand scale. The numbersof people passing though werevery large indeed or so itseemed. On the Saturdayevening, it was not until near9.00 pm that the last of us finallymanaged to escape! But thenumbers of interested folk more

than made up for any tirednessthat might otherwise have beenfelt. The only sour note? oneof those noise-making firms whothink that louder is alwaysbetter, and who wereunfortunately not far from usand actually in the samebuilding. Nevertheless, it wasanother enjoyable weekend ofgood Meccano show and tell!

Dave Denner

describes his

Ferris Wheel

John Brand demonstrates his MusicTheatre to interested young onlookers


World Vision Centre 15-16 Nov 03

The Annual Model Train Expo andHobby Show was held for the last timeat the World Vision Centre on thisweekend. Next year the show will beheld at a new venue atBrandon Park, and onemonth later, during thesecond weekend in

December.Our Club has exhibited atthis Show every year since itwas first held in June 1998 it must have been good asthere was another inNovember that year! Ourrepresentatives at that firstShow were Ken Gordon,Peter During, John Brand,

Tony Press, Patrick Russell-Youngand Graham Jost it was a greatWVC first! In the years since, wehave always had a place in themain hall itself, but this year wewere allocated a rather smallerspace in the foyer - this meant that

we each had to curtail ratherseverely what we might otherwisehave had on show. The numbersattending might have been down alittle on those for previous years,but the fascination was still there.The same five members exhibitedas for the Dandenong Show oneweek earlier.

I, for one, will miss the World VisionCentre. Perhaps the new venuewill be as good, but with good

lighting, sound-deadening floorsand ceiling, effective air-conditioning, and with continuous

tea and coffee, morning and afternoonteas and lunch all provided gratis Iwonder?

Reports by Graham Jost

Graham Josts Canadian Mountie(who always gets his man!)

Documents

2003_Dec