1st Prize Winner

The prototype was a Raleigh sold in the early 1990's. I have built the Trike out of medium red and green Meccano wich I resprayed using Mike Rhoades's paint.

The frame of the prototypeis built from round section tube. As this is not the practice in Meccano (because of modelling bends), I decided to model the frame with square section tubing. To obtain the square section, I have used Threaded Bosses (part 64). This part having threads in four directions, proved very effective. The front wheel has a drive unit/motor mounted internally and this proved to be quite a challenge to produce. The drive unit/motor must be held still so it can react on the wheel to obtain rotation. (I also built a spare unit).

To produce a skeleton, it is vital to have a good anatomical text book. I showed the book alongside the model. The section on bones is near the front of the book. I measured up the main points on my grandson, e.g. shoulder to elbow, width of skull and size of foot. Some allowance had to be made for the skin & muscle. I decided to respray the little boy blue.

I started by building the back bone, then the ribs followed by the hips. Next I had a go at the skull but then decided half way through to do the legs then arms. To get the shape of the skull was tricky, it has two motors, one to move the eyes and the other to move the jaw.