MODEL MAKERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22709, 23 October 1935, Page 7

MODEL MAKERS

THE LONDON EXHIBITION INDUSTRY AND PATIENCE. (From Our Own Correspondent) (By Air Mail) LONDON, September 21. Those very enthusiastic members of the community —the model makers —are holding their annual exhibition at the Horticultural Hall, and model engineers from all over the country are meeting to discuss their absorbing hobbies. Pride of place seems to belong to the group of model railway locomotives and trains. The building of these provides work for a number of professional firms who supply tools and machinery, and go as far as they dare to manufacture parts for the amateurs to finish and assemble. There are models of locomotives from a half-inch in length (proclaimed the smallest working model in the world) to a fairly powerful machine which draws a series of passenger-laden carriages across the building. Next in popularity are the medels of famous sailing ships and of modern liners. In most cases these represent a prodigious amount of time and labour. One man, a shipwright, is said to have spent 2500 hours of his leisure time in making the beautiful model of a sailing ship which is little more than a foot long. Again, a London taxi-cab driver, who has made an excellent model of. a British battleship, fashioned most of the parts with his pen-knife while waiting on a taxi-cab rank. A young Shropshire farmer, who exhibits several miniatures of ships, made his models " between C. 30 and 8 a.m.— the only time I had." A farm labourer occupied his winter evenings for three years in making a working model of a steam lorry "with only a hurricane lamp or a candle as illuminant." Another farm labourer who exhibits a model of a motor cycle said: " The stable was my workshop and the corn-bin my bench. Ail materials were picked up from the farmyard rubbish heap." A middle-aged cost-clerk made a fine model of a yacht because "it kept my brain active and away from depressing business matters." Among the models on exhibition is the smallest compositor's case in existence, and a paper-making machine on the same scale. There arc models of vessels made of wicker covered with hide, which were used by the Irish about K>Bo. There are remarkable models of motor cars, with the machinery perfectly designed. In the aviation section there is a fine model of an auto-giro propelled by a small motor engine. The largest aeroplane has a span of Oft Din, and weighs with motor engine complete 9}lb. CLUBS AND SOCIETIES. An interesting feature of the exhibition are the exhibits made by the various clubs and societies whose members follow some form of model-making as a hobby. There are over a hundred such clubs in existence in Great Britain and overseas. The Speed Boat Association, for instance, is represented by 20 clubs in various parts of England. Members have made boats which are capable of travelling at 40 miles an hour. The disadvantage of this sport is that it is difficult to stop the little craft if they are allowed a free run. Speed tests arc, therefore, made by attaching the craft to a certain post in the lakes and ponds by means of a thin wire. The boats are then forced to make a circular route and their speed is timed.