James May's Toy Stories - Meccano

syklops

Anyone watch it? Its on now on BBC 2, and aired originally last night.

I enjoyed previous episodes but found this a bit under-whelming.

There was too much Oz Clarke in it, and not enough actual engineering. I can't help wondering if there was a bit of extra engineering going on to make it work, which they didn't want to show, which is why we had so much time with Oz Clark.

Your man Simmy who designed and built the bike is only in it for a total of 5 minutes. Plus considering there were something like 10,000 parts, we don't see them actually building the bike. For all we know they could have made it using a 3D printer and painted it silver.

Sir Arthur Daley

I watched it last night, one of the less annoying James May productions, the bike was lacking power though.

The Black Oil

Yeah, the time spent on the build was pretty limited. I didn't think it would hold up in the end.

syklops

The Black Oil wrote: »

Yeah, the time spent on the build was pretty limited. I didn't think it would hold up in the end.

Thats why I wonder if there wasn't a bit of extra engineering that we didnt see. In previous builds they hired the local scouts to help with putting together the thousands of pieces like in the lego episode, but in this one it was all kept very quiet.

Edit: And i think putting Oz Clarke on it to begin with was a very bad idea.

The Black Oil

Public involvement seemed pretty minimal/non-existent. I can sort of see why for parts as things like the chain and others were quite intricate, but yeah, I looked at my watch and was surprised how quickly they were essentially ready. I think at one point the timeline of the show went from 3 months earlier to 1 week prior to the race.

Clarke was there to satisfy the government requirement to plug the Isle of Man or some such piece of fluff. It's usually May's enthusiasm which carries the show.

mike65

syklops wrote: »

Thats why I wonder if there wasn't a bit of extra engineering that we didnt see. In previous builds they hired the local scouts to help with putting together the thousands of pieces like in the lego episode, but in this one it was all kept very quiet.

Edit: And i think putting Oz Clarke on it to begin with was a very bad idea.

Oz was there to tour the vine yards and bakeries

I always enjoy May esp with Clarke they make an excellent double act. It was surely obvious the motorbike would struggle with a sidecar full of Oz.

pixelburp

I enjoyed it, but I wonder if perhaps it was a case of the idea being more interesting than the actual execution; seemed like the build and race were both largely uneventful, when for a TV program you'd want more drama and high-stakes; May seemed to have little to no problems, bar the occasional loss of power. I guess Oz Clarke was there just so they could pad out the running time when they realised they had little to work with.

Still, I always enjoy James May's solo TV work and while he's not someone whose programs will quicken the pulse, he's an affable presenter with an obvious interest in everyday (and academic) science - and that's a good thing. His colleague from Top Gear's documentary on the Arctic convoys in ww2 was equally interesting, and to be fair the TG crew do good work on their own, love 'em or loathe 'em. Well, maybe not so much Hammond...

kneemos

Brilliant bit if engineering whoever designed it.

syklops

kneemos wrote: »

Brilliant bit if engineering whoever designed it.

Indeed. Just wish we got to see more of the engineering and less of the kipper shop.