TITLE: 6 Meccano Models
NAME: Alan Jardine
COUNTRY: Scotland
EMAIL: ajardine2004-spanner@yahoo.co.uk
TOPIC: Toys & Games
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
JPGFILE: meccano6.jpg
ZIPFILE: meccano6.zip
RENDERER USED: 
    POV-Ray for Windows Version 3.5

TOOLS USED: 
    "Object Bender " by Chris Colefax

RENDER TIME: 
    2 hours 30 minutes

HARDWARE USED: 
    Pentium 3.05 GHz

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: 

While learning about POV-Ray, I decided that I needed a set of subjects around
which to develop my skills. Being of a technical rather than artistic
disposition, I chose models made from Meccano. Meccano is a 100-year old
construction kit, that folk in North America may think of as "Erector". (There
are copyright and patent issues here that I don't propose to go into!)

Meccano consists of sets of perforated metal strips and plates, together with a
host of wheels, tyres, gears, etc.) The beauty of the Meccano system is that
all perforations are spaced exactly 1/2" apart. This makes it easy to bolt
Meccano parts together to form models - but also lends itself well to POV-Ray's
macro feature. Thus, once I'd modelled in POV-Ray a 3-hole, 1-1/2" strip (the
shortest), it was easy to use macros to model any of the longer strips
available in "real" Meccano - and some that never actually existed! Similary,
macros can be used to develop a 3 x 3 hole plate into any plate that existed
(or didn't).

So I set out to model the entire set of about 700 Meccano parts. (I'm about
half-way there.)  

Having modelled a stock of parts, it became useful to use them to make virtual
models of real Meccano models. The 6 models in this submission are from the
1950s "Outfit No. 1" (UK designation) and are (clockwise from top left in the
picture):

- Model 1.4 Garage Crane
- Model 1.1 Acrobat
- Model 1.2 Tricycle Truck
- Model 1.15 Windmill
- Model 1.3 Scooter
- Model 1.8 Electric Truck.

(It would not have been possible to make all 6 models at the same time with a
single "Outfit No. 1". Virtual Meccano makes this a possibility!)

The current topic of the IRTC's competition: (September - October 2004: "Toys
and Games") provided me with the opportunity of putting some "virtual Meccano
models" together in a single scene for the first time. This submission to the
IRTC is also my first.

Those readers who are interested in "real" Meccano (which is by no means a dying
hobby) may find a host of informative sites in the Meccano Web Ring at

http://www.meccanoweb.com/meccring/ 

Alan Jardine, Kintore, Scotland, 2004-10-30.


  

DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED: 

This submission was created almost entirely in POV-Ray for Windows Version 3.5.

No modellers were used.

"Object Bender (bend.inc)" by Chris Colefax was used to curve the front fairing
of the Scooter.

Extensive used was made of the author's "virtual Meccano set", which is not in
the public domain.

Paint Shop Pro was used to convert the output of POV-Ray to .jpg format and add
the legend.

The attached .zip file contains the main .pov file and the individual .inc files
for the 6 models. The latter are supplied to show how "virtual Meccano" models
are put together. However, they are of little practical use without the virtual
Meccano set ...

Alan Jardine, Kintore, Scotland, 2004-10-30.