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| tmuir |
My new Meccano ProjectFor those that don't know I have a 2 1/2 year old son whose tow favourite things in the world are steam engines and fire trucks.Well I've got 4 live steam locos but only one meccano set 5 fire truck for him to play with. A few weeks ago we were looking at the meccano plans I had and he saw this set 9 fire truck so guess what I'm going to be building over the next 6 months. I have most of the common parts and I've bought some of the rarer parts off ebay in the last few weeks and I have the first of many orders with 'The Meccano Man' for some more of the hard to get parts. This is what the finish article will look like. 
So far I've only put together the basic frame as I'm waiting on a few small parts to be able to put the front wheels and steering together. My camera is on charge at the moment but once its charged will upload the little I've done so far and will update this over the next coming months as I build more. For those that would like to build it yourself this is where I got the plans from. http://sizygie.free.fr/manuals/set_9.spe/index.php |
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| Mamodman123 |
Wow that does look impressive Tony! 
Keep us up to date with the build 
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| IndianaRog |
Pretty ambitious Tony. Your son is 2.5 years...my grandson is the same...he's coming for a week's visit shortly...gonna have a ball with him as he is at the perfect age of discovery. I have a lot of discoverable stuff lined up for him!!! Thomas the train, all his friends AND his track are coming with him just so he can show Grandad. Not sure who is more excited 
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| tmuir |
Cameras charges.
Not much to see yet just the basic frame and yes the small girder on the bottom left isnt bolted on just sat there. I ran out of this side so had to grab one from my rusty pile strip and repaint it and as I only painted it yesterday I'm leaving it for a few more days before bolting it on to give the paint some time to set. To give you an idea of length the centre beams are made up of 2 12 1/2 inch girders and a 5 1/2 inch girder giving it a total length of about 70 cm. 
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| Steve_S |
That's going to be quite something Tony! I'll be watching with interest. My little lad is six, and next Christmas I'm planning to give him my old Meccano and quite a few extra bits and pieces that I've picked up on eBay... mainly so that I can play with it!
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| Griffin |
Nice one Tony, looking forward to this one
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| IndianaRog |
Tony, if I close my eyes a bit and squint...YES, I can see a fire truck evolving from those bits you've assembled. A neat project for sure, good luck with it. You will be a hero in one little guy's eyes!!! | ||||
| steamyjim |
Thats nice Tony!!
Can you fit a SP3/MEC1 in there?? 
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| Wallace |
Going to be great to see it progress 
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| tmuir |
We now have front suspension on the fire truck.
I'm waiting on a couple of long threaded pins to arrive before I can finish the steering. Will probably do a bit of the cabin bodywork whilst I wait for them to arrive. 
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| Mamodman123 |
Tony own up
this is more for you than your son isn't it?
Great stuff! Coming along nicely! |
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| tmuir |
That's not true I will probably let him touch it now and again.
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| Griffin |
Nice one Toy, see you are making progress.
I think the old Meccano was the best. I had lots of the old instruction books, but sadly never enough Meccano to make the big stuff 
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| tmuir |
Most of the meccano I have I've collected over the last 3 years.
I've picked up two green /red set fives for good prices from antique shops and one set 6 for a great price the rest I've got off ebay. Had to order some more brass nut and bolts last night as I realised I've nearly run out and this latest project will use over 300 of them.
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| tmuir |
Construction has drawn to a halt tonight mainly due to the fact I've run out of nuts.
I've got 200 more nuts and bolts ordered which will hopefully arrive towards the end of this week or early next week and until I get them I can't build any more. 
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| Mamodman123 |
Looking good Tony!
I run out of nuts too
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| Sandman |
Squirrels come to mind.
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| Chris |
I'm glad as my mind was going in a different direction all together. 
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| tmuir |
I knew it was dangerous to mention I had ran out of nuts as I knew I would get all sorts of interesting comments.
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| Chris |
Then I'm glad we didn't disappoint you. | ||||
| Wallace |
LMAO, my mind was heading in the same direction as Chris's
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| tmuir |
Its coming along slowly, I have now fitted the wind down support for when the ladder is raised.
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| James |
Urrrrgh Tony
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| Chris |
Have you managed to get your hands on more nuts tony?
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| tmuir |
Yep hundreds of them.
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| James |
I did today
Had me hand down me trousers in Biology (can't say why  ) and me Biology techer said I need to stop pleasuring myself in her lessons, and I ain't allowed to do any more practicles ever again
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| MTA |
You should have said you were thinking of her. Right, best shut up now or I'll be chucked off the forum for lude behaviour 
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| James |
*Hurls up into the keyboard*
Well we had to work with somebody of the opposite sex... and I couldn't restrain myself
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| TE1A_man |
WHAT???
Uhhh, did not need to know that!
Anyways, looks great tony! Now you need to find a way to squeeze a mm2 in there with a drive system!
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| tmuir |
My firetruck has progressed enough since last photos that its time for an update.
It's getting pretty big now. 
Just fitted the front of the cab tonight. The dark green bit are repaints by me the light green are genuine meccano and the 2 mid green corner bits are reproduction, it would be nice to only have one green but not possible. 
Underside of the rear end showing the supports for fitting the thrust bearing and ladder and the start of the mechanism to rotate the ladder left and right. 
The steering mechanism. 
Here is the cab floor and driver seat just sat in place for the photo. 
Still got a lot more to do and don't expect to be finished for a few more months yet. |
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| Mamodman123 |
Coming along every nicely Tony!
Have you allowed your son to go within 3 feet of it yet?
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| tmuir |
He plays with it every day.
I usually get asked most mornings if I have 'built any more of Cano firetruck ?'
He's only 2 1/2 and cant say Meccano properly yet.
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| Mamodman123 |
Did you ever find that whistle top?
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| tmuir |
Yes after 2 days searching I found it stuck down in the gap between my desk and drawers. That day upset him as my traction engine, accessories and a RC truck I had by my computer all got packed away. |
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| Wallace |
That's looking great Tony. Big model too
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| tmuir |
Just bought myself a stack of hard to get parts off Meccanoman so I should have them in a couple of weeks.
This lot will let me finish off the cab, and rear bed, fit the wheels and I splashed out and got a thrust bearing so I can start work on the ladder section too. Just to refresh your memory this is how the cab looks at the moment.
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| Cranko |
Coming on well Tony, its unbelievable how long projects like that take
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| tmuir |
Its mainly due to how hard it is to get some of the Meccano parts now and the fact a lot of it I get second hand and have to strip and repaint that takes the time. |
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| Mamodman123 |
Really starting to take shape, I think you should steam power it
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| tmuir |
When I finish this will get back to my Eifel tower and should adapt the lift to steam power.
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| tmuir |
Just put a little more together tonight as I managed to find time on the weekend to paint the one 60 by 38mm flexible strip I needed to do this side of the cabin.
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| IndianaRog |
Tony, that engine cab is really taking shape, actually looks like what it will eventually be. Bet your son is getting anxious!! | ||||
| steamyjim |
I went up the Eiffel Tower on Wednesday
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| Mamodman123 |
Nice
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| tmuir |
Time for an update.
Building has stopped again as I've run out of flexible strips. I've rumaged through my parts box and have collected together the parts I need I just need to strip and repaint them before I can use then so that will take me another couple of weeks before I've finished the roof. Its starting to get big now.
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| Sandman |
Looking good Tony.
Gonna be a cracker. 
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| johnreid |
At least you still have your nuts. That is looking real impressive. I am going to sound ignorant here, I believe that in the States, meccano was called Erector or was that just similar? That Fire Truck will be the envy of all of the two year olds in your town, not to mention the people here too. |
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| steamyjim |
Erector is a differant (but similar ) construction set
Not like meccano the origional! The Real Mc coy
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| Rob |
looks realy grand. i was just like your son when i was little, getting my dad to make tractors and trains from meccano, i still enjoy building thing from it, though i keep loosin my nut too, lots went up the vacuum cleaner. i once asked him to build me a train from some scrap metal up the garden, he still remindes me of it 15 years later.
rob |
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| tmuir |
Thanks, Finally got the last of the parts I need, just have to repaint some but I need to again order some more nuts and bolts as I will run out before I finish it. 
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| steamyman |
looking great, Tony. | ||||
| rangerssteamtoys |
I thought erector sets were the same as meccano, at least now that is.
Every little piece of my erector set is made of meccano. Its even stamped on most of the parts like the wrenchs. Also on the box it says, made by meccano. |
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| Rob |
have you 'built any more of Cano firetruck ?' would love to see some more pics.
Rob |
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| tmuir |
Yes cab is finished and I've started on the ladder.
Its been stalled for the last couple of weeks as have most of my other hobbies due to work and house repairs but hopefully next week will get back into it. Will post some more pictures then. |
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| bessytractor |
thats excellent! One of my happiest memories was making a really big model of a traction engine with dad, and yes it ran
green frames, red plates and countless nuts and bolts, oh yes that was fun! |
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| fcrammond |
Originally Erector was a typical US rip off of Meccano. Frank Hornby spent vast sums sueing Erector but as a Brit in US courts he hadn't a chance. Eventually with the decline in demand for construction sets both companies ended up in the same ownership hence modern Erector sets are stamped made by Meccano.
Incidentally Marklin construction sets are totally compatable with Meccano because they started life as the Geman Meccano factory which was taken over during the First World War. Exacto in Argentinia started as an unofficial copy of Meccano and gradually achieved official status. Frank certainly started something. |
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| tmuir |
Yes he did and I bet he would be heart broken to see the quality of the modern Meccano sets coming out of China now.
Over the years I've gone to great trouble to amass a reasonable quantity of original brass gears as I hate the plastic ones. |
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| Minor1PJG |
Is she out fighting fires now?? | ||||
| tmuir |
No stalled progress at the moment as I've been spending all my spare time building and now organising my workshop for the last few months. |
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| Minor1PJG |
Ah, fair enough. I'm just re-discovering my Meccano - great fun
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