Boy on a Dolphin
The
boy clings to the dolphin's fin as it flies through the water.
Inspired by the David Wynne sculpture on London's Chelsea Embankment.
Meccano Vicar
Why isn't a female Dog Clutch called a Bitch clutch? Or, since it is a collar with a slot in it -a Dog Collar?
Well, here wearing one is a model priest, a vicar of Meccano. (Had I used a Gun Barrel, he'd have been a canon). Book in hand, a holey man with a rod for his back, he celebrates the miracle of - the Loaves and Fishplates.
Universe Clock
This model takes the principal of the Meccano 'Magic Cube' to its logical conclusion, producing a clock which, in a single revolution of its hand, encompasses the whole span of time itself, marking the progress of the Universe from the Creation to the End of Days.
Zero-hour on the clock face is the 'Big Bang', the beginning of the Universe and time. The hand is currently at 18-billion-years-past, less than a quarter of the way round. The creation-date of the Earth, 4.5 billion years ago, is marked.
The 'Big Crunch', the final implosion of the Universe and the end of time, is assumed to be within the next 60 billion years, although there is no scientific consensus on this. We could watch the Clock and see, but as the hand moves only one millimetre every 170 million years, it would require patience!
This amazing feat is achieved by reducing the input drive (from a gramophone motor) through fifteen Worm Gear/19T Pinion pairs, giving a compound ratio of 1.518112702987e+019:1.
With acknowledgements to Alan Partridge for doing the calculations.
Toilet Roll Holder
Scale
is 1:1.3, and the roller spigots sprung for insertion in the holder.
My greatest ambition in Meccano had always been to use every part in the system, even the most recondite ones. The idea for this model came during a quiet moment while staying at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Skegness. I suspect that the Meccano Wood Roller itself was conceived in the same situation.
Perhaps the 19t Pinion and Rack Strip were too, inspired by the type of door lock with a sliding bolt and a revolving disc to display VACANT or ENGAGED on the outside, but which always jam ambiguously half-way so those outside are none the wiser and try the handle anyway.
Dentist's Chair
A crib from Bert Love, that of a minor work of a great master.
But with improvements, as even BNL wasn't perfect. And it's the only copy of this model to be build entirely of genuine 1978 parts.
I have always suspected that all writes of model plans (even the most eminent) speak with fork piece, as I've never been able to construct a model exactly as shown. In this case, Bert had used Hornby spring cord which fits in the groove of a rod with keyway, and hadn't said so.