Mitch Richling: Prop-driven Meccano Car

Sometimes a great project can arise like the Phoenix from the burnt out ashes of another project that was a complete disaster. This silly little project is one such example. For some time I have had the pleasure of flying around a powered glider (6.5 foot wing span) over the thermals coming off of the roadways near my apartment. One day I lost control over the rear rudder of that wonderful craft and was forced to watch it crash into the iron bars of a sewer bunker. With a broken heart I pried the twisted aluminum, broken fiberglass, and shattered wood from the concrete and iron instrument of destruction. The propeller, motor, ESC, receiver, and one sub-micro servo was all that survived the crash. When I got home I dumped the remains on the coffee table and just pondered the options….

Then it came to me! Meccano! My wife had never built anything with an "Erector Set", so this became a team project. What could we build? An airplane motor powered, propeller driven, three wheeled Meccano car… That's what!

Unfortunately, the beast only survived for about half an hour because the motor and propeller had been damaged in the crash and were no longer balanced – in fact, the propeller was in such bad shape that it could never be repaired. This caused incredible vibration during operation, and the little Meccano nuts-n-bolts were simply never intended to stand up to that. In addition the little Meccano parts were never intended to stand up to the torque and sheer forces placed on them by this relatively powerful, airplane motor. So after a bit of 30+ MPH fun in the parking lot, the whole thing vibrated to pieces and exploded.