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NZFMM 2001 Wellington Convention Introduction
The Meccano Centenary 1901 - 2001
The 2001 Bi-annual meeting of the New Zealand Federation of Meccano Modellers was held at the Upper Hutt Civic Centre, Upper Hutt, in April 2001.
To the right Doug Harris displays the Michael Adler designed centenary poster later marketed by Doug as postage stickers.
The prizes:
A Centennial Crane set valued at $NZ 2,200.00 was gifted by Mattel (NZ) Limited as a prize at the 2001 Biannual Convention hosted by the Wellington Meccano Club. It was gifted to promote and stimulate modelling in New Zealand. It is illustrated alongside.
The NZFMM webmaster is also donated a prize. It consisted of eight 24.5" stainless steel Angle Girders. These are precision parts made by David Fellows in the UK. Graham Jost from Melbourne agreed to be the judge. The criteria for judging and the presentation of the prize were entirely in his hands.
The Results
Prize Giving - Don Blakeborough as the sole life member presented the following prizes Junior Competition (by exhibitor vote) -
First equal - Michael Anderson and Sean Babbage
Third - Natasha Hansen
Senior Competition (by exhibitor vote) - First - Daryl Anderson - "Gutbuster" Roller Coaster
Second - Simon Moody - Dock Crane
Third - Don Flowers - Grove Mobile Lorry Crane
Club - Wellington Meccano Club
Wes Dalefield Webmaster Prize (presented by Graham Jost) - Daryl Anderson
Favourite First model (presented by Shirley Nichols) - George Ovenden
Bruce Baxter Trophy (by public vote)
First - Daryl Anderson - Roller Coaster
Second - Simon Moody - Dock Crane
Third - Don Flowers - Grove Mobile Lorry Crane
The Mattel (NZ) Ltd sponsored prize of the Centennial Crane set had been presented by Peter Hancock to Daryl Anderson earlier in the day for his Roller Coaster. An extra prize was presented to Simon Moody for his Dock Crane.
Michael Adler (ISM founder) and the late Dave Feinstein (JMH club South Africa) examine the gold plated Charlie Roth JMH trophy.
Other overseas members included Graham Jost, Jack Parsisson and Bruce Douglas (all from MMC Australia), Hans van Ouwerkerk MGN Netherlands), and Dave Barrett (NMMG UK).
Daryl Anderson's "Gutbuster" Roller Coaster
(First senior prize winner)
"The roller coaster is just under 2 metres long, 1170 high and 730 wide. It is all my own design. The car is captive to the track so it can negotiate the track without coming off. While it can't come off, it can jamb. It worked perfectly at home, you know the story. By Sunday afternoon I had most problems solved and it was running well. It was pleasurable to see the children's, and adults, faces when the car goes over the track. The distance from the top of the lift to the pickup point is 12 metres, and it takes 10 seconds. The car weighs just under 3 pounds so it's the equivalent of a 3 pound hammer doing an average speed of 1.2 metres per second!!"
Specifications:
Length of model 6' 4" 1930 mm
Width of model 2' 4" 730 mm
Height to top of track 3' 10" 1170 mm
Track height 3' 7" 1105 mm
Total track length 46' 10" 14.28 m (1125 HOLES = 562.5 INCHES)
Running track released 41' 5" 12.63 m
Number of track supports 120
Nuts & bolts (estimated) 3500
Weight of car & 4 people 2 lb 14.5 oz 1.32 kg
Average complete cycle 2 mins
Average ride length 10 sec
Average speed 2.82 mph 4.54 kmh
Passengers per hour 240
Design & construction time 600 hours (34/40 hours/week over 6 months)
Simon Moody with his Dockside Crane
(Second senior prize winner)
Don Flowers with his Grove Mobile Lorry mounted Crane
(Third senior prize winner)
Don Wilson assembling his cruiser "HMS Cairo"
John Ince with his Iron Duke Locomotive and Tender
Phil Grover of Nelson and his Grandmother Clock.
Phil also brought along his recent purchase of a 1937 boxed Geared roller bearing formerly belonging to the late Bill Inglis of Australia. Click here to read about the remarkable history and provenance of this collector piece.
Michael Anderson with his collection of "Mission the Universe" models.
(First equal junior prize winner)
George Ovenden with his Salvage Crane.
Display of Spare Part Boxes by William Irwin
Robin Rye's Cargo Ship specially designed to dock in confined ports.
Clipper Ship by Lou Nichols
Neil Carey and his Hot Air Engine
Bob Prescott and his Beatles rock band.
Coal Truck Tippler by Alistair Tong.
Click here for a YouTube video of the entire exhibition by Peter McGavin