The Henley Gathering 2007.
This year’s Gathering was
held at the Christ Church Centre on Saturday 1st September. I suspect
there were fewer models than in previous years; I counted about 90, but no less
a success for that. Vehicles dominated the exhibition as usual with well over 40
models representing buses, lorries, cars, locomotives, aircraft and ships. There
was a smattering of cranes and 5 stationary engines but only two bridges this
year. There were, however, 6 clocks including an amusing rolling ball clock from
Paul Jones.
Of the more unusual models,
Christopher Bond displayed a large 1:8 scale horizontal boring machine and
Howard Somerville his hydraulic passenger lift based on the one at Stanstead
Airport.
John Thorpe’s huge Tornado
was again at the exhibition but it had stiff competition this year in the guise
of Tony Homden’s 1:12 scale “Stuka”.
I particularly enjoyed the
reproduction in yellow of Guiseppe Servetti’s June 1968 Meccano Magazine model
of the devil in the box who, upon being fed a coin, reaches out and takes it,
the box closing behind him.
Here are photographs of some of
the models which were on display:
A trio from John and
Joyce Sleaford. On the left a Birmingham City Transport Leyland PS2
single-decker of 1950 vintage and on the right a double-decker PD2 of circa
1949, both in the yellow and blue livery of Birmingham City Transport. Between
them is a recovery vehicle.
A couple of models of Leyland Titan double-decker buses from Geoff Wright. On the left a blue and gold model of a T7. The prototype was built in 1940 and Geoff claims that he built his first model of this bus just two years later! This model is his fourth attempt, following on from a model for the 1989 Henley Exhibition, and overcomes his difficulty with getting scale wheels by using Marklin 1½“ tyres mounted on 1½“ pulleys at the front and flanged and grooved wheels for the double rear. On the right is a model of the much earlier T1 and this is built entirely from red and green late-50s No.9 set parts and depicts the version of the bus supplied to Thames Valley. Between the two buses is the famous 2½ million-to-1 gearbox!
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Kim Fisher’s model of the Christ Church tower built to celebrate the centenary of the building of the church. The money for the tower was donated by Sir Frank Crisp who loved in Friar Park, Henley; later to become the home of Beatle, George Harrison. |
| A skeleton clock built by Mike Edkins powered by a Magic Motor and with a running time of about 30 hours. Each hour is denoted by a single strike of the bell and it keeps time to within a couple of minutes per day. |  |
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A model of John Harrison’s No.1 Sea Clock from Dave Harvey. Though not an exact replica, the model features the linked balance arms so characteristic of Harrisons design, and the almost frictionless grasshopper escapement. |
| Also from Dave Harvey. His impulse inching clock is powered by a 15 rpm synchronous motor and is described in the September 2007 edition of Constructor Quarterly. |  |
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A joystick controlled luffing jib tower crane from Jim MacCulloch. The height of the tower can be controlled via a screw mechanism whilst the rotation and luffing is controlled from the joysticks. The design is based on a 35-year old crane at Deptford, East London. |
| Colin Davies' model of the marine engine built for Brunel’s Great Eastern. Colin’s model was built to a 1:24 scale and faithfully reproduced the four double-acting oscillating cylinders and crankshaft with its direct drive to the two 56ft paddle wheels. |  |
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Also from Colin Davies was a 1:22 scale model of the 4-cylinder marine engine built for Brunel’s earlier masterpiece, the S.S. Great Britain. |
| This model of a large marine diesel engine was built by David Hobson using the Danish TEKNO system which was based on the TRIX system, but much improved, most notably by painting the parts in red and green enamel. |  |
With a departure from the
normal range of Meccano models, Geoff Bennett presented a pair of escalators –
one going up and one going down and each having 38 moving steps and a pair of
moving handrails. The steps followed the correct profile of the real thing,
levelling out at top and bottom of the staircase.
A trio of models from George
Illingworth representing over 100 years of fire engines. From a Shand-Mason
horse-drawn steam-powered fire engine of the 1890s, through a First World War
Bedford machine to a present day Dennis vehicle.
A Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0
saddle tank locomotive from Eddie Oatley. A neat model of the standard World War
II shunting locomotive of which nearly 500 were built right up until the 1960s.
A pretty model of the pre-war
No. 9 set Dutch Windmill but modified to include a rotating body.
Tony Homden produced a 1:12 scale model of German World War II Junkers Ju87B “Stuka” dive-bomber. His model had Italian Airforce markings and was mounted on a tower, cunningly removed from the photograph!
| An Archimedean screw ball roller from Craig Longhurst. Ping-pong balls rise to the top of the tower via the screw mechanism and are then released to fall through the middle. |  |
Model of a large Scania ballast tractor from John Molden.
Dick Henderson
The Henley
Gathering 2006
Saturday the 2nd
September saw the sixth consecutive Gathering to be held at the Christ Church
Centre and once again this well organised event was a resounding success. The
Centre was full, with models seemingly occupying every bit of available space. I
tried to count the number of models on display, but this was not an easy task.
Was David Hobson’s Bailey bridge and Churchill tank, for example, one model or
two? Anyway, I came to the conclusion that there were about 100 models ranging
from a block-setting crane 3” high by 5” long – a superb piece of
miniaturisation by Geoff Brown – to John Thorpe’s Tornado at one twelfth
full size!
I have not attempted
to identify all the individuals who exhibited at the show or to rate the quality
of their exhibits but you will find below a selection of photographs of some of
the models chosen at random, and here are a few statistics based on my
perfunctory count of the models at the exhibition:-
Fire-fighting vehicles
13, Military vehicles
7, Other vehicles
(Lorries, buses, trams, cars and motorcycles) 16
Tower Bridge. Jim Gamble’s restored shop window display model.
Bailey
Bridge & Churchill Tank.
David Hobson’s model of the famous WWII bridge and tank is to an
approximate 1:12 scale and the panels are joined using lugs and jaws with pins
as in the prototypes.
Tornado Aircraft. John Thorpe’s 5ft long 1:12 scale model has full working of all control surfaces, wing sweep and undercarriage.
Paddle Steamer Engine. This model by Eddie Oatley is of the twin cylinder engine used to drive the PS Balmoral
Twin Cylinder Steam Engine. This model, built by Colin Bull, was one of two models at the show based on the 1929 Super Model No 32. The other model was constructed in red, blue and silver, but unfortunately I didn’t see who the builder was.
Single Cylinder Steam Engine. Another Super Model design. This time No 11a.
Fireless Locomotive. Built by Adrian Ashford, these locomotives were used in industrial premises such as oil refineries, paper mills and food factories where dangers of fire or pollution were a concern. What looks like a conventional boiler was, in fact, a steam reservoir which allowed the locomotive to operate for about 4 hours.
Volvo A35C Articulated Hauler. Mervyn Wood’s 1:10 scale model carries two 12V batteries to power the drive motor and the power is then transmitted through an epicyclic gear box and central differential which splits the drive to all 6 wheels. Steering is achieved by pivoting about the articulation point and in Mervyn’s model uses two rack and pinion strips – one pushing and one pulling – and driven by motors.
4-4-0 Passenger Locomotive. Using the No 10 set model 12 plans the locomotive is based on the Southern Region Schools class locomotive.
DH9a Light Bomber. Chris Bourne constructed this model of the WWI de Havilland biplane of which 900 were built towards the end of the war and then used throughout the world.
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Five-Sailed Windmill. This beautiful model from Ian Henwood is, I believe, of Hoyle’s Mill in Alford, Lincs. It is a rare 5-sail mill, of which only three still exist. In the model the cap rotates and the shutters open and close and, as you can see from the photographs, the side is cut away to show an exquisite amount of internal detail. All the moving parts are reproduced including gearing, grinding, hoists etc.
Green
Goddess.
Tony Homden’s model of the cold war civil defence emergency pump is
radio controlled and uses Meccano parts from a variety of periods including the
pre-war mechanised army, Electrikit and a heavily modified chassis from the
latest radio control car set.
Dick Henderson Home
The Henley Gathering 2005
The
Henley Gathering 2005 was held on Saturday, 3rd September and was a great
success.
The Christ
Church Centre was full, with models seemingly occupying every available space.
Not just the rooms but the corridors and window sills as well. In fact, around
the window of the conservatory was a plethora of fire engines and fire-fighting
vehicles constructed from Meccano of every age – from Mechanics Made Easy
representing the first decade of the 20th Century through to red,
yellow and silver from Nikko, the present owners, representing the first decade
of the 21st Century. For me the nostalgia was in the red and light
green of the 50s and early 60s. However, with some 30 models on display there
was something for everyone.
I did enjoy
David Hobson’s model of a Compton cinema organ. As the curtain opened to
announce the intermission the organ rose gracefully from the pit with lights
flashing and organist playing and after a short recital it then descended. And
to entertain the anoraks amongst us David had brought along a display of
trunnions from various constructional systems including, of course, the Meccano
parts 126 and 126a. I counted at least 40 different types of trunnion in his
collection!
Another
amusement was the Novelty Ball Roller from Tony and Maurice Rednall. This
contained many of the principles used in the Southampton Giant Ball Roller of
1977 but was, I’m glad to say, a little smaller.
Dave Harvey
had several interesting models – an automatic scenic elevator, an industrial
robot and a beautiful Sinclair Harding sea clock. This was a version of John
Harrisons No.1 clock with twin balance arms and grasshopper escapement. Michael
Adler’s version of the same clock was on display elsewhere in the exhibition.
In fact, there were some 5 clocks dotted around the place.
Eddie Oatley
had on display not a crane but his model of the twin cylinder steam engine from
the paddle steamer PS Balmoral. Nevertheless there were, of course, cranes in
many guises. I counted at least 10, including Scotch derrick, block-setter,
tower, level-luffing and hammerhead types. John Rogers’ model of the Samuel
Whites of Cowes hammerhead crane was interesting, being built (almost) entirely
from pre-1916 parts, a mix of Märklin and Meccano, including the 3 clockwork
motors which powered it.
Amongst the
rail locomotives there was a Pennsylvania Railroads 4-4-6-4 freight engine from
Christopher Bond of the Midlands Meccano Guild, a wonderful Beyer Garratt
2-6-0+0-6-2 from Bob Ford and
another Garratt 2-6-2+2-6-2 two-foot gauge tank from Peter Finney of Runnymede
and the 0-6-2 tank shown overleaf. Then there were road locomotives including a
neat little freelance traction engine loosely based on an 1887 Marshall engine
by G. Roy of Pickering. But the prize here must go to Terry Allen for his aptly
named Superba ploughing engine of 1927 vintage. His 1in. scale model built, as
usual, almost entirely in nickel and brass, replicated all the functions of the
original with the exception of producing the steam to run it.
John and
Michael Molden had a couple of suitably large offerings – a tractor unit on
its own and a tractor pulling a Big Ben fairground ride, but the prize for the
biggest model must go to the Eiffel Tower in the main hall. Resplendent in
pre-war gold and the odd bit of blue, it must have been well over 8 ft high.
Scattered around it was a collection of at least 40 Meccano clockwork motors and
I didn’t see who the owner was but hazard a guess at Malcolm Hanson.
Coincidently, there was another collection of motors – about 20, both
clockwork and electric – in the conservatory.
Now the
model that really fooled me was Geoff Bennett’s Falkirk Wheel. I’d
photographed it at last years Gathering but surely it was a lot bigger than
this? Geoff, it appears, had made another model less than half the size of his
original.
I don’t
have enough space to describe all the exhibits. I counted about 125 including
aircraft (there were 13 of these alone), cars, lorries, trams and buses, Super
Models and contraptions too numerous to mention.
Was this the best Gathering of recent years? Well, I think so but you
must judge for yourself.
Dick
Henderson
T he Henley Gathering 2004
The
Henley Gathering 2004 was held on the 4th September for the third time at the Christ
Church Centre and was another great success. I didn’t count all the models
exhibited but there were certainly in excess of 70. Most of the usual suspects
were in attendance and I apologise for not mentioning them all but only covering
what were, for me, some of the highlights.
Tony
Homden presented his model of the World War I aircraft carrier, HMS Furious. She
was designed as a light cruiser with 18” guns and converted in 1917 to launch
planes, although she couldn’t recover them unless they were seaplanes which
could be winched up. Note in the picture a young admirer looking on.
A
lovely model of the entrance to Skegness pier was displayed by David Hobson. The
pier was a late Victorian structure in typical Gothic style and with imposing
steps and entry kiosks. It lasted until the ‘30s.
One
of my favourite models was Terry Allen’s Brough Superior, built roughly on a
scale of 4:1. The wheels were cleverly constructed with strips for the rims and
bush wheels for the hubs although the spokes were non- Meccano. The engine was
cleverly driven from a miniature motor incorporated into the magneto. Another
piece of automotive vintage was Bob Brooker’s wonderful Morris Minor although
I always feel a bit uneasy when I see a model completely painted over in non-Meccano
colours.
Locomotives
were supplied by Ken Wright with a quartet of Talyllyn narrow gauge models. Then
there was a model of an unusual locomotive built by Isaac Watt Boulton of
Stockport called Rattlesnake. This was an over-cylinder steam engine, rather
like a traction engine complete with flywheel, and a chain drive to one axle.
The wheels were then coupled with a conventional connecting rod.
There
was a particularly interesting model of the Falkirk Wheel. This is “the
world’s first and only rotating boat lift” and connects the Union Canal with
the Forth & Clyde Canal. Then there was a neat little roundabout by Brian
Elvidge, a selection of orreries and astronomical instruments from John Yewen
and Diana Parsons, some military vehicles from John MacDonald, and John
Sleaford’s steam fair. John Molden’s fairground offering was in knock-down
form this year. Was it the Big Wheel? I didn’t check.
And,
of course, there was a smattering of clocks. I liked Don Quixote and on a
similarly jovial front the uni-cyclist by Rob Miller. The conservatory was
dominated by a large, slender level-luffing tower crane reaching up into the
roof space above models and viewers alike. It was held in place by a delicate
arrangement of stays and ties and the jib was, as I recall, supported by a
single length of Meccano sprocket chain. Well, I wasn’t going to stand under
it! And whilst on the subject of cranes, there was a rather fine block setter in
the main hall and Eddie Oatley’s dockside crane in the corridor.
Now
to the piece de resistance – the Bennie Railplane built by David
Fellows
So
that was the 2004 Gathering. If you were there, I hope the pictures bring back
some memories.
Dick
Henderson
Henley Gathering 2003 Home
HENLEY STANDARD September 5 2003 Home
