The Journal.

Hi Guys. If nobody is happy with this committee, I see two possibilities : Either a negative vote at the time of the annual assembly or the creation of a new club ! Cheers.

janwerner wrote: 'Hi Bruce, this is very interesting! I presume that about 0,5% of the Soviet population might have been able to afford buying Meccano products, the elite. That may be why we never heard of such an adventure into the Soviet Union anymore. As a - be it one-way - cross-over to The Journal it would be extremely interesting and useful in my opinion to have this page on readable or even full format published in The Journal, as an up till now wanting comment to the reproduction folder in the last issue. Perhaps some views and considerations could be included. Just a thought ... Kind regards, Jan' Jan I can forward you a better/larger quality image of the item in the Meccano Trade Bulletin, as the one I have attached is at the maximum - in fact normally I attach images at a size of 800. The website did not like that size with this Bulletin, so I had to reduce it in order for the website to accept it. Be it as it may, I can send you a larger image direct to your email address which I presume to be the same as that in The Journal as I fully endorse what you are saying - provide some explanation in The Journal as to the reason we all received this Russian language leaflet together with all the material I and others have already provided in this forum thread. Bruce (150)

buzzer999 wrote: 'I know I have said this before but committee members should be committed to the furtherance and continual improvement of the club. They are supposed to be the guardians. The internet is such a vital part of every organisation now that they surely have a duty of care to ensure everything on the website is being conducted correctly. Some of them have not even logged on in over three years!!!!!!!!!!! Dave' dinkyfan wrote: 'Dave--we have discussed this before, and, to me, it is almost criminal that the committee and board members do not at least log on to the site once in a while to see what is going on there. Surely, even they must understand that the future of this and other hobbies is strongly tied to the internet and technology, and not following it is akin to putting your head in the sand. I just don't understand it......... Best regards,Terry' STARNI999 wrote: 'Hi all, I'm guessing that most of the committee are the type of blokes who said 'Clockwork Hornby Trains are the only real ones, these bloody electric things are all very well but they'll never catch on you know.' Chris Warr.' Good morning chaps I am quoting all the above previous posts as I feel that there does appear to be a real problem with the committee, especially if matters of concern have been raised and nothing has resulted with those concerns. One would have thought that most on the committee would take a moment or two from their busy lives to contribute something to this website. I have said this before but as an ordinary member, I have been slack with this forum, but an executive in any club/association has to be 'seen' by the general membership of making a contribution, as that is their role - to nurture and foster the organisation on a continual basis and that means this forum. We are blessed with the Internet and especially to PG and the design of this website and we all have to move into the 21st century, and take full advantage of this marvelous tool that provides a tangible means of disseminating information on Dinky Toys. I presume all on the executive are elected, so if a change is needed, and looking from the sidelines and reading those posts from those who know, then when these positions come up for re-election, bring about a change - nominate and attend! I would be over there in a flash - if I can find some kindhearted benefactor to fund my airfare!! :laugh: :laugh: It is in the hands of the ordinary membership to effect any change thought necessary. Regards from Down Under Bruce(150)

Jan I can forward you a better/larger quality image of the item in the Meccano Trade Bulletin, as the one I have attached is at the maximum - in fact normally I attach images at a size of 800. The website did not like that size with this Bulletin, so I had to reduce it in order for the website to accept it. Be it as it may, I can send you a larger image direct to your email address which I presume to be the same as that in The Journal as I fully endorse what you are saying - provide some explanation in The Journal as to the reason we all received this Russian language leaflet together with all the material I and others have already provided in this forum thread. Bruce (150) Bruce, I have noticed that sometime the site will reject 800 pixels pictures but if you try again, it will accept them. Why not scan all the pages of your bulletin at scale 1/1 and distribute it to the members who request it by email ? I would be very pleased to see what this document contains. The French 'catalogues d

Hi Bruce, of course I would appreciate that full size file very much. Nevertheless, wouldn't it be nice that you send yourself the image to the editor of the Journal as well, possibly accompanied by some explanatory remarks? That would be the comment that we all would have liked to have been included in the previous Journal. As pixel size is concerned, it is a bit confusing that in fact the maximum file size and not necessarily the maximum pixel size seems to be the limit of acceptation. So a maximum image size of 800 pixels wide may be a kind of 'advise', but still that may exceed, or on the other hand be far under, the maximum file size accepted. For instance, pure black and white pictures tend to be much smaller in file size of course. To be frank, I always use 640 pixel width for my images uploaded here, that is always safe, but, more important, exceeding that width means that some browsers do not show the column on the right of it, so that you miss that information (the author). Kind regards, Jan

With regard to writing articles about Dinky Toys I have now started doing this again, now that things have quietened down after writing and producing my book. What I do is with the purely Dinky articles I submit them to both the DTCA and to Model Collector, both editors are happy with this as they do not see any conflict between the two publications, this is an ideal world. It would be really nice if members of the DTCA committee did the same. If I am writing something about various toy companies, I recently did an article on Austin Champs (Dinky, Britains, Benbros etc) I only send it to Model Collector. I will be doing an article soon on the Centurion Tank (Dinky, Britains, Matchbox etc.) this will also be going to MC. This way I feel I can support the DTCA, and also the wider collecting world. The greater the readership the more chance there is of valuable feedback which helps every one of us, and hopefully increases our knowledge base. Sadly it looks as if Talk Model Toys has ceased this is a real shame as there was an absolute wealth of information on there, I hope I am wrong and it reurns in another guise. Dave

Dave I, for one, will be glad to see more of your wonderful articles and stories about die cast models and Dinky's, and I will be very interested to read of those comparisons between the various competing firms. You, Jan, and others speak of other model publications, such as Model Collector. I have never subscribed to any of those.......what do you think of them, how often are they published, and are there others to consider as well? I am assuming they cover the whole realm of model collecting, whereas my main interest is Dinky's up until about 1960; do they have much focus on that, or is most of it newer and other makes? Thanks!! Best regards,Terry

Thanks Terry Model Collector do pay for articles which is why the DTCA has been starved of articles in some quarters. MC cover a very wide range of items from Dinky, Corgi etc. up to modern issues. If you pm me with your address I will send you one as I am a subscriber and I don't tend to keep the issues after I have read them. Dave

Hi all, Just got the new Journal, great to see Adrian's orange roller there on the front, and nice big article too. Also John's 25h article is excellent. Good to see the website getting coverage again anyway. Chris Warr.

Just received the April 2015 issue of The Journal: a good read, a lot of new fundamental information and a feast for the eye! I'm glad that The Journal is at full speed again, well-laid out, superb images and 24 pages thick. Dave (Busfield), I trust your wonderful extensive summary of the Aveling Barford Diesel Roller discussion must persuade many DTCA members who did not yet, to pay a visit to the unique forum discussions we are performing here, the loads of surprising Dinky Toys images included. And I am proud of the extremely expert contributions of my fellow-countryman and friend John Beugels. John did it again, this time with the splendid Streamlined Fire Engine article, with a first detailed look into the factory drawing details! Thanks and kind regards, Jan

Who is that distinguished looking Gentleman taking a picture of the Road Roller though? CW.

Hi Chris, well, distinguished looking Gentleman? I presume that is just an ADTC (Anonymous Dinky Toys Collector). Kind regards, Jan