Meccano Armored Car

Описание: I have been a Meccano boy since I was three, when my parents (with great foresight) bought me a Meccano Set 0 for my birthday. I’ve built a lot of models from various manuals since then (1958) and it’s interesting that I am returning to those designs that particularly appealed to me all those years ago. For some reason they “resonate” and still appeal despite a 60 year gap. The 1961 4.1 cement mixer fell into that category and the rebuild appeared in “Nuts” in August 2025.
Here is the 1954 6.7 Armored Car that I think is an inspired and charming model. I remember being especially impressed with the lever controlled steering!
This build follows the manual design quite closely although I substituted a few parts just because they were on hand. The steering provided very limited traverse so I dropped the steering knuckles to fix that. Ironically I didn’t implement the lever steering because at 70 years old I’m not going to crawl around on the floor to play with the model. I tried using the later plastic wheels instead of the original pressed steel which looked better but the steel ones ran much better.
I fitted a number 1 clockwork motor because there was plenty of room and it runs tolerably, despite me not fitting a differential.
I always attempt to research the prototype when I build a Meccano model from set manuals. It’s usually quickly obvious, but not in this case. Before I started looking I assumed it would be a Humber or Daimler in line with the Dinky models that often match Meccano versions. Not so - the closest I can fine is a “Staghound” which was built by Chevrolet in the US and used mainly by the Allies It had a, 37mm main gun, twin 97 hp engines with automatic transmission and a range of 450 miles. The body is a reasonably close match, the turret less so, although the Anti-Aircraft version is a closer fit.
Of course it may just be a “generic” armored car - If anyone has any observations please me know. Fuel tanks and equipment storage are fitted to both sides of the body, but the set 6 model has been simplified to fuel tank on one side and equipment stowage on the other, probably because the set 6 only had one 216 cylinder. Since I had the parts I followed the prototype layout on both sides. All in all a success and even though I normally build much bigger models this proves that a small build can be equally (if not more) satisfying.