Auckland Meccano Guild

The venue for model x 2009 was a vast improvement over the previous year. Same building but better location away from intruding posts and suchlike. We were given a large square area with public access to all sides, much better for a display.
John Denton had worked hard and produced a double tier platform to display the models and he had excelled by making a truly portable crowd control system which was made up of a number of clamp ended rods fitted to the tabletops which then had loops in the end to hold a wire retaining line. This kept little fingers out of the models.

The three days were well attended with the vast majority of people arriving on the Sunday. Those who were at the venue went outside to a blistering 5 degrees on Sunday afternoon, no wonder why the people were crowding to get inside. It was probably the best attended and the most well organised of any of the model X shows I have attended.

David walls displays of The bean Rock lighthouse , complete with a cushion pretending to be bean rock and his rotating pendulum clock were well appreciated by the crowds

David Walls Clyde Puffer and William Irwins Konkolly 24 hour clock, It ran continuously on only one wind of the clockwork motor.

Gary Higgins Pterodactyl from the speedplay set attracted a lot of attention. He had adapted it using metal gears and a small motor and electronics from one of the new infrared sets. The model had red fibre optic eyes and made a loud roaring sound which captivated a lot of the children. One of his other models was the yellow truck from the big truck set.

Tank and transporter from the 1970s army multikit set and a replica aeroconstructor based self styled model of the Fokker Dr1 as flown by the Red Baron, both models by Gary Higgins.

Windmill based on the meccano shop display models by Peter Hancock and a new Meccano spykee robot set brought by David Barnard, he constructed it on site and had it running around the display.

Les Megget had brought along his Nash car nicelly modelled in blue and gold meccano and a working model of a Foden truck which he had redesigned to give a better appearance than the original modelplan. Les had redesigned the gearbox as well..... and why not.

John Dentons Kleinz oscellating steam engine and F1 racecar.

John Dentons models of Concorde and spitfire, Army scout car from the 1970s army multikit set and Emmets train which ran nicely back and forth with only a little persuasion from John.

Neil Carey with his bush locomotive which ran very well powered by a clockwork motor and two engines made by John Denton ( Master Builder )

Space base and Mission the Universe sets by Peter Hancock were a nice display

Fire truck by Kegan and Graham Wrighton and a small road Grader by Bruce Haines

Les Megget's Mercedes truck and container sidelifter.

To see other models on display click on the picture at the bottom and you will be taken to a Flickr site.

The picture is of our President David Wall taking an interest in the Lionel Display by Tom Whyte.
Will he be tempted to move to the dark side........