I started building Meccano when I was about 9 years old, it was Christmas and my mother bought me a set in Gibraltar, I think it was a number 3 or number 4, and ever since I was building models after models from the books at first and then models of my own ideas.
In 1965 I came to live in London and as far as I remembered the same year or perhaps one year later I bought a Meccano set number 6 in a shop in Picadilly St, no far from where I was working and I started building models again, I carried on buying new sets to add to mine until I finished owing a completed number ten, until a few years later I saw an ad in the paper of a number ten set in a fantastic wooden cabinet for sale and I bought it.
I built a few models since then but after I retired is when I started building in a larger scale models of my own designs, I was not a member of any Meccano clubs as I did not know of any at the time, was only exploring the Internet when I found a few clubs and I contacted the West London Meccano Society straight away becoming a member, I also jointed the South East London Meccano club and later the HTMC in Hidenborough.
It has been great being member of these clubs where I have met and made new friends and displayed my models at the same time that I have seen so many others from them, having enjoyed and shared the same wionderful hobby that Meccano is.
Early models late 60s. and 70s. Octopus Fairground Ride.
Ferry Wheel. Own design of inmaginary Fairground Ride, mushroom shaped rotating canopy.
This model was changed several times into bigger and bigger models as this one above, another funfair ride with two high decks and a lift to take riders to the top, changed to many other designs to become later the model that was displayed at the WLMC for the first time called The Spider Rider. This model as seen in the photo underneath was one of the so many variations that took placed for over two years until finally was dismantled to furure models.
The photo to the right was at the WLMS 10th of June 2006 awarded with the Philip Bradley Cup.
These two other photos shown differents additions or modifications to the original model , with the new name Super Spider Rider having been awarded second prize at The HTMC.
Parts used in the main base, and tower of the Spider Rider without the totating canopy and cars.
Airport with rotating plane in circurlar runway able to take off as speed is achieved and fly very fast. Photo to the right of a Cessna light aircratf with moving rudder, flaps, airlerons and motorized propeller.
The Rotorvator freelance model of a Fairground Ride with two swinging arms rotating in the opposite directions, it was at the back of my mind to build this model but had to wait to dismantled the Spider Rider and be able to start on this new model.
Brand new design followed the Spider Rider, freelance model of a large Fairground Ride that I named " THE Kraken " a legendary giant sea monster , many armed cephalopod looking like an Octopus or squid, bases in the well known "OCTOPUS" popular in funfairs for so many years, this ride is in a permanent 45 degrees angle, it rotates as well as the eight arms moves in an upward/downward fashion and each of the eight cars freely spin with the Ride's movements, The ride is a clasic theme park/fairground ride and is enjoyed by guests of all ages, and continues to thrill riders today.
In this model the rotating top stand in a tower situated on top of a heavy and tilted bridge in the horizontal position and a motor housed at the rear end of the model raised the bridge to the 45 degrees angle as in the original Octopus, two other motors provided the power to rotate the Ride and to move the arms up and down, one is on top of the bridge and the other one inside the main supporting tower.
The Kraken has been exhibited in the WLMSc, SELM and recently in St Albans, in every meeting of the clubs, new changes or modifications to the design took placed with many improvements and differents looks, until a totally modified revolving canopy was rebuilt with eight new and larger cars mounted underneat instead of being on top of the arms, the upward/downward movement was removed as this new top was now fixed permanently, however the inside unit is still in operation and rotates a plate with the Ride's name in it.
The driving unit to operated the bridge is housed inside the box seen in the photograph above right.The housing unit with the motor and gearing systern to lift the bridge has been totally removed and mounted underneath instead, reducing the lenght of the model in more than 7 inches, other modifications to the underneath took placed to reduce weight and the supporting legs were increase in sizes to provided extra space needed for the instalation of the lifting motor, as described above this new changes produced a totally new model that I have named "THE VORTEX" as seen in the
photo underneath.
South East London Meccano club meeting 11th of October 2008. Going to the Fair.
Chariot with Rider and girlfriend. 
I started a new model in November of a big Wheel, another freelance idea of a new design of wheel supported in only one site, similar principle of the famous London Eye, so I built a solid and strong base with a tower as the main support for the rotating wheel, using a heavy duty axle well anchored into the side of the tower with a systerm of gears as the main driving unit inside and conected to the motor
