A New Exhibition at the Imperial War Museum

As all Crystal Palace collectors will know, the Palace was the first home of the Imperial War Museum, 'The Victory' Exhibition of the machinery of war in 1920 featured many items from both sides of the 1914-1918 conflict and formed the basis of the National Collection which is now housed in the old Bedlam Hospital at Lambeth.
It is therefore fitting that the I.W.M. should be the venue for a new exhibition that I have been working towards 'The War Toys of Meccano'. In looking back I suppose this exhibition is the result of some 50 years of research and collecting. During the long summer school holidays of the 1940's I used to be taken to the I.W.M. by an aunt who worked at St. Thomas Hospital nearby, where I would spend the day drawing the tanks, guns, military vehicles and the tools of war. Back home I would attempt to recreate the things I had seen in my trusty old 1939 Meccano Set. Ever since then I have added to the initial No.6 outfit, and have formed a unique collection of outfits, parts and ephemera which spans the life of Frank Hornby's invention first marketed in 1901.
In 1996 I staged for Portsmouth City Museum an exhibition called 'The Wonderful World of Meccano' which not only smashed all previous attendance records, but received International acclaim for which I was made Honorary Member of the Society of International Meccanomen, The Guild of Amsterdam, The Swiss Meccano Society and the Canadian Guild.
Having put that one on, I thought it would be a difficult task to stage another without repetition, however, old memories and scanning through the instruction books which accompanied each set, and the hundreds of Meccano Magazines published from 1916 - 1980 revealed hundreds of 'War toys' so it seemed like a good theme, which I put to the Directors of the I.W.M last autumn. The idea appealed to them, so I was invited to draw up a short list of about 40 models divided into four main sections. 1914 - 1918, the inter war years, 1939 - 1945, and the post war years. The final selection was cut to some 32 models together with period packaging, books, magazines, advert posters and the like, the result will I hope be colourful, entertaining and educational.
The exhibition is scheduled to open on 3rd February and continued until late September 1999. So what is on show? I have started off with a model of the Flip-Flap, the amusement ride featured at the Franco-British Exhibition in 1908 and subsequent White City exhibitions, because it was from this that a device called the 'Aeroscope' was designed for use in the trench warfare in the 1914 - 1918 conflict. An observer was elevated high into the air on a rotating platform to view enemy activity. I don't know if the system was effective, but it must have been less vulnerable than balloons or kites. The Aeroscope, field guns, Old Bill Bus, 1916 tank, 1917 Submarine and a monoplane feature in the first section, with a number of outfits from the 1914 - 1918 period.
The inter war years feature a huge model of the Schnieder Trophy Seaplane, the Supermarine S6 from which the spitfire was developed and other aviation models from the rare Aeroplane Constructor Outfits of the 1933 - 1939 period.
World War II is covered by a giant model of H.M.S. Revenge, 5ft long in battleship grey, this was a demonstration model made for the Toy Section at Selfridges in 1929. Tanks, submarines, a heavy howitzer, and a number of artillery pieces complete the section.
The post war years are represented by the 1970's Army Multikits developed by Meccano just before the company in the UK went into liquidation. The product is still manufactured in France, so the final item is the Vickers Machine Gun in use from 1914 and still in service today. This is represented by a half scale model using piece parts from 1990's Meccano. Although it cannot be operated by visitors I can say it does work! It fires magazines of spring clips at a fair velocity and makes the characteristic rat-a-tat sound. (beware pussy cat).
If you are able to visit the I.W.M. I hope you will enjoy this effort. For the record I have used over 6,000 piece parts and 3,500 nuts and bolts for the construction of the models on show. For a few months at least pressure on my ceiling beams has been reduced.

Journal published by the Exhibition Study Group.
All original material is Copyright to the Group and can only be published with the permission of the Editor, and with acknowledgement of source.
Page design by Wayne Robbins.

EXHIBITION STUDY GROUP