CLEVER WORKING MODELS

Taranaki Daily News, 10 June 1931, Page 12

CLEVER WORKING MODELS

display at the winter show.

THINGS BEAUTIFUL AND USEFUL

One of the features of the New Plymouth Winter Show this year is the display of clever and ingenious models. Much of the work is artistic to a degree. A yacht, with epced built into its Kwcetly-curved lines and canvas towering aloft, bears evidence of patient and •workmanlike construction. Little lines coiled on its neatly grained deck and •a wealth of intricate detail lie in the •snadow of the tall mast, and the keel, •neatly finished in white, adds the last (touch to a beautiful craft.

The racing launch ie built on essentially racing lines —flash, broad, Jow•set body, ’complete with proper driving seat and gear-levers. Along with these shining craft stands a blunt strong battleship, bristling with guns painted a •sombre and majestic g-.-cy—obviously •the work of some sea-loving boy. In •contrast to the modern vessel there is •an old sailer, three-masted and properly trigged. Last but not least, there ifl •the narrow-necked bottle, and within •the 'miniature full-rigged sailing-ship, masts erect and a mass of intricate ropes hauled tight—the perpetual mystery to the youthful miud. Among the ordinary models, Meccano •trams, trains, trucks, a working merry-go-round, an impregnable-looking war tank, bridges and even a breakdown railway rub shoulders to make a rare mechanical treat for the mechanicallyminded youngster and the adult who has not forgotten he was once a boy. Little Meccano motors furnish the tractive power for all these and for a pit •shaft and cage. Topical interest is provided by the inevitable model oil-boring •plant. On a table by itself is displayed the aeroplane section. Some entrants have •been content to work in wood, but others have aimed higher and produced .®ilvery-grey metal planes that look fragile till one testa the wings and Struts. The lines of the Moth have •been copied faithfully, even .to the pilot’s and passenger’s cockpits, complete with shaped .celluloid windshields, •exhaust-pipe, and the necessary controls. One model will even fly short distances with the aid of power furnished from stout rubber bands attached to the propeller. How spare time and timber can be put to entertaining use is shown in a display exhibit of half a dozen model aeroplanes, a hangar, a couple of strong motor-trucks, and a firm little cottage containing furniture. This exhibit is the- work of a farmer, who gains much enjoyment in working with benzine box timber. In the schools’ section there is also much to praise. Models that show considerable art in execution are numerous, and among them are many that •were obviously done by small fingers. •Altogether the children’s classes are deserving of much attention and admiration.