The Meccano Society of Scotland

Menstrie Meeting 2014

In May 2014 we held our annual Menstrie Meeting and Challange.
This year the challenge was to build a vehicle etc. that could climb over an obstacle of varying height. See the Challenge Rules page for more details.

Menstrie Challenge - Report

The Challenge this year was to design a model that would travel along a level surface for at least 12", climb over an obstacle, and travel on the level for at least a further 12". The obstacle, made from Meccano was of variable height and presented a 14½" face to the approaching vehicle and was 5½" wide.

There were five entries. Of these only four made it to the starting line, one having been withdrawn with mechanical drive failure during practice. Of the remaining four, all made it to the 5½" level, although Gordon Stuart's first entry fell over at low heights but seemed to gain stability later!

All the other entries favoured a flexible wheelbase design with a very low profile. A variety of drives were used including tracks and low pressure tyred wheels.

At the 6½" level Gordon Stuart and Andy Knox were head to head. Gordon's No.1 failed on instability - falling over sideways. Andy's machine which had had no difficulty up till then easily climbed on to the obstacle but then fell over backwards.

This left Gordon Stuart's second entry as the winner. While it did make it over the 6½" level, it failed at 7" by also doing a back flip - no matter it was the winner!

At the bottom of the page you can see a video showing the competitors in action.

Pictures from Menstrie 2014

High resolution versions of the photos are also available for download if desired.

Tip - You may find it better to view the pictures in 'full screen' mode - For most browsers F11 will toggle this on and off.

See a video of the competition