Meccano

When I was a young lad my Dad gave me his Meccano set. It was quite a good set, but those early sets were better for building bridges and cranes as they were mostly girders and non flexible plates.I wanted to build cars and trucks. Later I was given a more modern set as a gift. From then on I added to it from bits and pieces I bought at auction and in second-hand shops.Today I have a fairly substantial set, but somehow I still don't seem to have enough parts for some things I would like to build.

About 30 years ago I built this articulated truck with self-steering semi-trailer



         

Here is a picture of the details of the self steer unit.

About 10 years ago I built this B-train tanker with steering on the tractor. Unfortunately I did not have enough wheels to have duals on all axles or to have all the wheels matching. I have since rectified this and now have a large number of these 1" wheels with tyres.

Here is a close-up of the tractor with wheels on full left lock.

Last year while out of work I got the Meccano out one wet day and built this twin steer tractor based loosely on a Leyland Steer or AEC Mammoth Minor. It does not steer as I did not have enough bits to make twin steer in this scale. I now have 12 of the 2" wheels and would like to make this in larger scale one day.

This is the inside of the cab with cloth seat covers and gear lever mounted on top of the engine cover.

Rear view showing air and exhaust stacks, fuel tank, air tanks, spare wheel and susies.

But my efforts look pale in comparison to this W900 Kenworth I found on a site called http://www.aburkitt.net/

Tilt hood, steering, diffs, fifth wheel, saddle tanks, sleeper box, opening doors......................

A few years ago I went to a Meccano display in Upper Hutt. Although I am not really a fan of boats, this ship was impressive. Made in four parts and when fully assembled was about 5 metres long.

The starboard side was open and showed details of all the decks. I don't think I would have enough spare time in my whole life, let alone enough Meccano, to build this.