Midlands MEX 2016

Went Thursday & did not regret the total 7 hours of driving. After Brooklands shambles I was worried I might be wasting my time but I thought it was as good as Doncaster & Ally Pally. It was good that there were more trade stands to tempt me to get my wallet out.

The outside showing was interesting & as usual the people on the club stands were very willing to chat as were those outside so it came over as a very good exhibition & well attended. I went to see a finished PYRTE traction engine on the Rugby Model Club stand ( I started one last week) & met another builder of one so we had a good chat about the build

To be controversial with my observation-- If one had to decide which exhibition this year would win the award for the top few models I would have to give the prize to Doncaster because some of the models there were really exceptional, as were a few at Brooklands.( if you could find them!!) But not so noticeable at the other 2 shows

My friend and myself made our way to the Exhibition today and enjoyed our visit, I bought a few things whilst wondering round the halls and the selection of scale traction engines outside were excellent, one thing that caught my eye was the steam lorry which had been constructed from a mobility scooter, I wonder if my wife will notice hers missing.

The jet stand had an interesting turbo prop on show and a coaxial engine as well.

I dropped my friend back home where he showed me his 6" scale Foden lorry which is nearly finished.

A good day.

Martin P

Edited By martin perman on 15/10/2016 19:55:43

Went yesterday, Extra distance for me offset by lower price than MEX . No difficulty in moving round the aisles so maybe everyone went for the bargains on earlier days. Nice and sunny for the outside steamers. I notice that the majority of engines are 4in Fosters and also although this is a major gathering of TEs there are few traders there promoting TE designs. One with large castings on display didn't make it clear which engine they were for.

I got a few small bargains and went to a talk on clockmaking tools which unfortunately coincided with the demo of brass casting which would have been more interesting.

In the inside demo area there was this Jacobs wheel hobber of the type discussed in a long thread earlier this year.

At first sight it looks a bit off from the usual pictures. Is it a Jacobs? The interesting thing is it has the hob and associated gear train mounted on a 5/8 plate and rotated 90 degrees from the usual position. This enables higher angle skew gears to be made. The builder Chris Robinson said he wrote an article in MEW a few years ago and submitted another on this significant modification more recently in the 'gone missing' period before Neil. I recommend he is chased mercilessly to reprise this information to get it in the permanent record for this machine which has a worldwide following.

Also my attention was caught by the Midland Federation of Model Engineers. I was puzzled that it might be an alternative to the Nothern and Southern Feds but it seems to be a grouping of a few local clubs on one stand which is a good idea. They displayed a watchmakers lathe which is a rather neat and compact installation of the species showing how well it should suit an OO or O gauge modeller which is really it's target owner.

I also spotted this model of Borderer. It is a far better size for a model boat than the Stuart launch yet I never see them actually installed in a boat.

I don't go to this show every year but perhaps I should. Hope the guys today aren't too badly affected by the rain.

I don't have contact details for Chris Robinson, but if someone can put him in touch with me?

Neil

My first Midlands show which I thought was excellent. Nice weather helped as we (Me + wife) sat out in the sunshine to enjoy a cuppa and watch the traction engines.

Noticed a post about the Brooklands show, heard somebody else saying it was not too good, what was the problem?

When I first heard about the venue I thought a match made in heaven, a model engineerring show at a wonderful location with fantastic history in engineering.

We were on holiday so could not go which we might have done otherwise.

Bill D.