Gallery of Meccano Models Re-designed with model categories

Simple additional models that can be made with the parts in the Vintage Special Edition Set.

How I became a Meccano Enthusiast

Meccano parts illustrated list

Where to buy Meccano sets & parts. Click for a list

Simple Parts restoration

My Meccano Room

100 Years of Toys of Quality Exhibition celebrating 100 years of Meccano held at Didcot Railway Centre 2001

The Perfect Table Railway This is a page about my Model Railway Revised May 24 2013

The little known construction set produced by Meccano

Triang single suspension crane grab pictures and information

Welcome to my Meccano pages

This web site is for anyone interested in Meccano or would like to find out more about it. I have been a "Meccano Boy" for most of my life but I have taken a more serious interest in Meccano as a hobby during past fifteen years or so. Please spend some time looking through the pages here you will find lots of information about what can be built with Meccano, the history of Meccano, nostalgic memories of times past and Meccano today. There is also some information about some of the other products made by Meccano Ltd.

I hope the information here will be helpful in your own Meccano model building, to perhaps give ideas, inspiration or encouragement to get you constructing models with Meccano, or get that old treasured set out of the attic. I hope you enjoy your visit. I frequently update these pages.

Click on the links at the top of the page and in the left column to navigate the web site. You can also search for subjects using the search box above

In the Gallery of Meccano models there are over seventy models, large and small that I have built in recent years plus background information and facts. One of my latest Meccano model of a forge crane is shown above. I have recently categorised the models Into various groups such as trucks, cranes, cars etc.

Your questions and comments about Meccano and my web site are always welcome click here. I am happy to give advice and help about Meccano but I regret that I am unable to give valuations. Please note, I do not sell Meccano sets, parts or instruction books if you follow the links there are recommendations where you can obtain these.

Text and picture changes May 09 2013

THE POST WAR YEARS AND NINETEEN FIFTIES

Production of Meccano and Dinky Toys, resumed in late 1945 not long after the end of the Second World War. The advertisement above is from April 1945 and gives hope of things to come. By December 1945 things were looking hopeful as the advertisement on the left shows, from the back cover of the Meccano Magazine of December 1945. This was the first advertisement to announce supplies would be in the shops ready for Christmas but very few were. The colour of parts had changed from the pre war gold and blue to the familiar mid red and green. Although parts in these colours had been in some export sets in the 1930s and until production stopped around 1941.

The products sold in the immediate post war were much the same as those produced prior to the war and perhaps a few were possibly unsold pre-1943 stock. The box lid above right was the same design as that of some six years earlier but with the new colours. The range of products were smaller and in very limited supply especially for the home market, most were exported. The range of Meccano parts was greatly reduced too from those of the pre-war days, many of the more specialist parts such as the geared roller bearing, digger bucket, and train parts were dropped. It is probable that some of the tooling for these parts was sent for scrap during the war.The aero constructor and car constructor sets were not to be re-introduced either. It is interestingly to note that throughout most of 1946 Meccano continued to show the pre war parts of blue and gold as did most of articles about Meccano in the Meccano Magazine. It was not until November that an advertisement appeared that showed for the first time the new colours but in black and white, no mention of the change is made in the Meccano Magazine articles nor the advertising. In the past colour changes had been announced along the lines of "Big news for all boys." The model of Tower Bridge shown on the box lid and the hammerhead crane shown in advertisement were both models that could be built with a number 9 set and were both shown in the 1940 9-10 instruction manual,

It was not until 1947/48 that a full but much smaller range of Dinky Toys, Hornby trains, Dinky builder and Hornby Dublo were made available but again in very limited quantities. The picture below left is a Dinky Toy covered wagon an old favourite of mine from the late 1940s, very similar to that of the pre-war years.The advertisement above right, featuring the good old traction engine is from the April 1947 Meccano magazine. In the Meccano Magazine advertisements of this time mention was often made about shortage of products and reminders to take good care of your Meccano products. As late as 1949 shortages were still mentioned in Meccano Magazine advertisments.In 1948/1949 revised instructions manuals sets 0 - 9 were published with some of the older style models replaced or revised. these manuals had the iconic Block setter crane, father and boys illustration. Then another blow, not long after production started gearing up again with many new products planned the Korean War (1950-1953) and rearmament once again brought shortages of materials. This meant production and quality had to be cut back, many former brass parts were made in steel with an anodised black finish these included, angle brackets, pulleys, washers, nuts and bolts.

Things started looking up in October 1953 when it was announced on the "Spanner" page of the Meccano magazine, that several parts not available since 1940 were to be re-introduced although they were not exactly useful parts to the majority of Meccano model builders but it was a start.

In 1954 new parts and completely new instruction manuals were announced, until then many of the models were based on those originally published in 1937 these had a rather antiquated appearance for boys born after the war. Shown below is a page from the 1954 Meccano catalogue , announced as the "Toy of Century" there is certainly a tone of optimism in the brochure. Its probable that many of these new parts and manuals would have introduced earlier had it not been for the Korean war. The mid 1950s saw great success for the Meccano Company with Meccano sets, Dinky Toys and Hornby Dublo model trains all selling very well. At school I remember most boys wanted their toys and they were certainly the "Toys of Quality" mentioned in advertising. However products from the Binns Road factory were never cheap and cheaper rivals were taking an ever increasing share of the toy market. The supremacy of Dinky Toys was under threat from Corgi Toys and Lesney Matchbox Toys. As the fifties drew to and end Meccano parts were changed to a much lighter shade of green and red. The colour change was partly to distinguish the new lead free paint from the older paint with lead content. The set and parts boxes were marked with a yellow sticker bearing the letters LF.

NINETEEN SIXTIES

The nineteen sixties brought many changes for the Meccano Company including serious financial problems. In 1962 there was new packaging for Meccano sets and completely new manuals using exploded diagrams, instead of photographs with lengthy text. The sets however were changed little in their parts content although several new parts were introduced at this time including narrow strips and plastic flexible plates. Narrow strips had been first shown in a 1920's manual see 1929 Level Luffing Crane but were not put into production for nearly 40 years!

In 1964 there was a dramatic change in the colours of parts, these became black,yellow and aluminium this followed the take over of the Meccano company by Lines Bros. the makers of Triang Toys. Advertised as the "New Look Meccano", the 1- 10 sets were now themed with names such as "Site Engineering" and "Breakdown Crew set" although the set numbers were also retained. The illustration on the right it from the box lid of "Highway vehicle set" number 3. The conversion sets continued to be available although the 9a was dropped in 1966. The aluminium finish was not at all durable and in 1967 the parts in this finish were instead zinc plated, parts in these colours continued until 1970. The contents of the sets remained much the same as they had been in the previous post war ranges although the packaging and instruction manuals changed several times.Many of the models involved tight bending of the new plastic plates but they were just not robust enough to straighten out or bend in another way.

In an interesting throw back to the past Mecano, introduced a steam engine in 1965 produced for them by Malins makers of Mamod steam engines. There had been Meccano steam engines in the past notably the 1929 engine with a vertical boiler, the Mamod made engine was similar but with a horizontal boiler. In 1965 a new Mecano motor the "Powerdrive" was introduced, the motor had a six speed gear box and was originally sold and advertised in the MM as the Monoperm "Richard I" these motors were made in Germany. Meccano also continued the production of the E15R and two clockwork motors whose linage dated back to the nineteen thirties.

This post war period cannot be left without one of the most enduring images ever produced by Meccano and recognisable to any "Meccano Boy" brought up in the 1950s. The illustration is of a block setting crane and is by W.H.Pinyon an illustrator who's work was commissioned by the Meccano company for their cover designs and advertising over many years. The crane illustration was used on manuals from 1948 - 1955. Although similar in many ways to a Super Model plan, the Giant Bock-setting Crane, produced in the inter-war years it has different proportions, the rear boom of the crane for one thing is shorter. This may be artistic licence enabling the composition to be correct. W.H. Pinyon sometimes took things a bit too far though, a 1950's Hornby Dublo advertisement shows pipe smoking Dad with five fingers in addition to his thumb! No instructions were ever published for the model as illustrated by Meccano Ltd,. Recently MW Mail Order have published a Model Plan 143 by Bill Steele based on Pinyon's iconic illustration giving the history and full building instructions. The model by the way could not be built with the parts in the number ten set!

 THE NINETEEN SEVENTIES TO THE NINETIES

The Illustration shown left of the boy with the large sets is taken from an early 1970s promotional leaflet and shows the No.9 and No.10 sets the largest available at that time. Described in the leaflet as, " 9 and 10 the big sets for the boy who has everything! " Although in reality these sets were aimed more at the growing adult hobby market.

Although Triang had taken over Meccano in 1964 the name of the company had remained as Mecano Ltd. but in 1970 it became Meccano Triang Ltd. In the same year the colours were again changed this time to blue, yellow and zinc. A new range of sets were introduced the large number 9 set was discontinued and all the sets in the range moved up "0" becoming "1" and therefore "8" became "9" each set had a few changes of parts, the number ten outfit remained in production, largely unchanged. In France the colours were changed from blue and gold to the same colours as those from Liverpool.

In 1971 there was another change in ownership of Meccano in the UK when it became part of Airfix, makers of Britain's well known plastic kits. 1973 saw the introduction of Meccano Highway and Army Multikits, these were sets with standard parts finished in special colours. The sets came with a ready made metal cab in two parts, wide plastic wheels and colourful stickers, enabling a wide range of service vehicles to be built. An attractive crane set with all yellow parts was also introduced around this time with a new small 6-12 volt motor included in the set. Interestingly these sets were produced in a deeper shade of yellow than the colour in the standard range of sets. In many areas quality was reduced with more plastic plates in the sets, many former brass parts were now just plated alloy or steel.The sets too suffered from very poor quality control and there were many returns of stock because of the poor zinc plating. In 1977 new packaging was introduced and in keeping with the times was unisex with pictures of both boys and girls but policy changes at Binns Road meant the sets were very short lived.

A major change came in 1978 when the old set range, 0 - 10 that went all the way back to the 1930's, was abandoned. In its place a series of five sets 1- 5 were introduced in new dark blue and deep yellow colours. Two extension sets were also available "S" and "L" . In a break with tradition the sets had a range of parts totally unrelated to those in all previous series of sets. Many of the parts included had only ever been available in the much larger sets one notable omission from all the new sets was part 52 the 5x11 hole base plate that had featured in every set from the earliest days. One welcome addition were wider "Road Wheels" with a stylish mag alloy look but they used nine separate parts. It had taken Meccano a long time to recognise that the tin wheels and the later but similar plastic wheels in the sets looked more like those found on vehicles from the 1920's. In 1979 another new construction set was introduced "Space 2501" the parts were mainly white.The Meccano L extension set above is from the 1978 range. I bought this several years after the closure of the Binns Road factory, it was hidden on the bottom shelf of a toy shop in Cornwall, the owner sadly did not even know it was there. I have always liked this colour scheme but it never had a chance to become popular. The stock car below was featured on the box lid of the number 3 set and shows the effective use of the new multi part wheels.

The 9 and 10 sets were still available but now in the new colours with the same range of parts as the previous colours. The 10 set was now in an inferior three drawer cabinet with vacuum moulded dividers and cost around £350.

The 1978 range of sets were a belated attempt to bring Meccano up to date with a contemporary presentation,strong graphics and new modern looking models, some old favourites were included though such as the Meccanograph. Unfortunately by then the writing was on the wall, several years of falling sales, the changing tastes of what children wanted and competition from other construction toys. The Meccano company suffered to from out of date production methods, bad management, lack of investment, poor labour relations and restrictive union practices, these all conspired to bring to an end production at the famous Binns Road factory. At 3:30 on Friday, 30 November, 1979, the 800 workers were told by Airfix industries, that the factory would close in 40 minutes. Airfix continued to produce Meccano through other divisions of the company for a while but in November 1980 the Airfix Group its self ceased trading bringing to an end all production of Meccano in the U.K..

Following the closure of the factory in 1979, questions were even asked in Parliament. It also made newspaper headlines, with such classics as "Meccano Company wound up." After the closure of Binns Road the Airfix company briefly out sourced the production of parts and a small range of sets named 1000, 2000 and 3000.However in early 1981 the Airfix group its self became insolvent and it was all over. The net result was that it became very difficult to get hold of any new Meccano parts or sets. The situation was not helped by the very small amount of stores still bothering to stock spare parts. In the nineteen fifties every major town or city would have had at least one Meccano dealer with a cabinet full of tempting spare parts. It really looked as though it was the end of Meccano and what was seen as a British institution. At the time I remember searching toy and model shops for sets and spare parts for my two sons plus of course a few for me.

However all was not lost for the Meccano enthusiast, through the efforts of Geoff Wright of MW Models in Henley-on-Thames and a few other enthusiastic dealers, new and used parts were still obtainable, although often in short supply. Many Meccano enthusiasts from around the world before will remember fondly the regular mailings MW models sent out with news of new Meccano products and best of all the "Lots list" of second hand parts, sets and manuals. Geoff Wright owner of MW models had also bought the remaining stocks of parts from the receivers of Airfix and these were still being sold when he closed his shop in 2003. Things slowly improved, due in part to the fact that In 1912 Frank Hornby had set up a French subsidiary, at first importing and distributing but by 1921 some manufacturing too, in 1930 a large factory was set at up at Bobigny near Paris producing both Meccano and Hornby Trains and later Dinky Toys. Since 1959 Meccano manufacturing has been centred in Calais.

Fortunately for Meccano enthusiasts around the world the French company was unaffected by the ending of production in the UK as it was owned by the American food company General Mills and had not suffered the fate or the problems of the Liverpool factory. They continued manufacturing traditional Meccano sets and parts, but on a fairly limited scale.

In 1985 the Calais factory was taken over by a French Meccano enthusiast and accountant Marc Rebibo. Under his ownership Meccano re-introduced the 1 - 10 set range and the 1A - 9A Accessory sets, as "Enthusiasts Sets" these sets had the same content, box designs and manuals that had been produced at Binns Road in the mid 1970's and were welcomed by enthusiasts. Including me as we progressively bought the sets building our son's set to a number nine. These sets are shown above right taken from the 1990 catalogue. That year also saw saw the introduction of allen headed bolts and the Number 10 set was presented in a new five drawer wooden cabinet. In 1998 Meccano France announced the production of a Centennial set (a bit early) this is shown below taken from an MW NewsSheet. The set turned out to be a big disappointment to Meccano fans as it was felt to be a poor choice of model and instead of being finished in the red and green colours of the 1954 crane, the colours were deep burgundy and very dark green, similar to the nineteen twenties colours. The set was only made in one batch and as is no longer available.

THE PRESENT DAY

In the years following the closure of the Binns Road factory in 1979 many new metal and plastic parts have been introduced by Meccano.  There is also an ever growing range of replica parts plus many other parts that were never made by Meccano. Reproductions of parts discontinued many years ago are once again available such as the geared roller bearing. All the new parts remain compatible with the very earliest sets and all still use the same half inch hole spacing and 5/32" BSW threads. 

The most frequent question I get asked when I exhibit models is "Can you still buy metal Meccano?" Well the short answer is yes. Production of metal Meccano continues today in Calais, France under the ownership of two investment groups. Many sets are currently made in China, however it was announced in 2010 that the company plan to bring much of the production back to Calais.

Things have changed though, many parts are now plastic although most of the constructional parts are still metal and fit together in the traditional way with nuts and bolts. Meccano sets are now often themed to build a small range of models from the instructions supplied and offer little scope for making other models. The set above left will build three types of radio control car and was introduced in 2006. Other sets though such as The Meccano Super Construction Set shown on the right, and the Anniversary Edition Meccano set enable a wider range of models to be constructed and all the larger sets come with motors and batteries. I think with these modern sets Meccano today, still has the appeal it once held for past generations of children. Although from comments I get when I display Meccano many children and parents would like to be able to still purchase older style sets such as the 1985 "Enthusiasts Series"   All old parts can of course be added to the modern sets and visa versa as the hole spacing and bolt threads has remained the same as over 100 years ago.

The continued of production of Meccano in France has ensured that Frank Hornby's original invention first patented in 1901 is now well in to its second century and the name "Meccano" is today one of the most well known toy brands in the world.

Meccano sets can be bought at stores throughout the world unfortunately only a few specialist dealers sell separate parts. In the U.K. the John Lewis department stores and Argos sell sets, Marks & Spencer sell exclusive Meccano kits, models of the Concorde, Rocket and Spitfire were recent success for them. See the link on the left "Where to buy Meccano" for a list of some of the places you can buy Meccano sets and extra parts both new and second hand.

I built the model of the Hawk Jet shown below in January 2011 from a current "Special Edition Set". I think it is a rather attractive model although unfortunately other aircraft cannot easily be built with the set, unlike the Meccano Aeroplane Constructor kits of the nineteen thirties. It does show however what a realistic model can be built with relatively few standard parts.

  MECCANO TOOLS

As mentioned in an earlier paragraph the Meccano system only needs two tools a spanner and a screwdriver although in reality two spanners "D" are required to able to lock nuts on bearings. The spanners were supplied along with a basic screwdriver "C" in all sets from 00 - the 10. However when you purchased or worked up to the No. 6 set you had another tool, the drift "F" This is a useful tool for aligning parts but was dropped from the range in 1978. When you reached the exulted heights of the Number 9 or 10 set included were two extra tools, a box spanner "E" (useful for holding a nut under bolts) and a handsome wooden handled screw driver "A". All these tools were of course available separately from Meccano dealers.The screw driver "B" appeared in sets in 1973 and went through various versions until the end of production at Binns Road. The wooden handled screw driver is a nice tool but the other screwdrivers are pretty poor. I use good quality engineering screwdrivers the type available from a good tool store. Its best to have several lengths and a smaller headed one for set and grub screws. Modern sets have a spanner and a hex wrench , again this is not up to a lot and a suitable hex headed screw driver is much better for general use. Other useful tools are; surgical foreceps, for getting and holding nuts and bolts in difficult places and good quality long nose pliers.

  THE MECCANO MAGAZINE

One of the great achievements of Frank Hornby through the publicity department was a monthly publication  "The Meccano Magazine" produced between 1916 and 1981. The editor during the nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties was Ellison Hawks who gave the magazine high standards of content and writing. The magazine had started out as a folded occasional sheet but by the early 1920s had many pages and beautifully illustrated covers. The front cover below left is from December 1934. The canal lift looks like it was built with  Meccano and no doubt inspired many a model builder as did so many topics in the magazine. Although originally conceived just as a promotional tool to increase the sales of Meccano by the 1920s it had expanded to cover other interests. Articles featured Meccano construction, Hornby trains, and other products of the company plus many other topics of interest to boys and adults of the time, such as aviation, railways, shipping, engineering,stamp collecting, animals, geography wireless and photography.

Every month there would be articles on new exciting developments in engineering, railways, construction, industry, shipping, aviation and how engineering would change the world of the future. Many articles would be linked to new products from the company for instance, the Bo Bo Diesel in December 1959 would be featured with an item in the railway news section along with a mention of this on Hornby Dublo pages. An illustration from the December M.M. is shown above right. It was very effective and lead to me saving up to but the loco. Engineering items were often directly related to Meccano, in many cases many machines described in the MM would later turn up as products or as models in the manuals. Commonwealth countries (then the British Empire) always featured strongly in articles, these countries were prime destinations for exports from the Meccano Company. There were regular competitions for Meccano model building announced in the magazine with big cash prizes. The copyright to all the entries became the property of the Meccano company and were often used in later instruction manuals or published in the Meccano magazine. Quite often competitions would be linked to an engineering company's own products such as cranes, diggers or loaders. This clearly made the link between "Engineering in Miniature" and the real world of engineering the former phrase was used for many years in Meccano advertising. At its peak of circulation in the1930s magazine was selling 75,000 copies per month.

The second world war brought many changes to the publication but until the end of 1939 the magazine remained much the same as pre- -war. However from January 1940 the amount of pages gradually deceased with much talk of shortages and a lot less advertising. In 1942 the magazine was reduced greatly in both content and size, from approximately A4 to a much smaller 210 mm x 140 mm and became just a shadow of its former self. After the second world war it remained at the reduced page size although with little more content than during the war years. The paper and print quality was in these times of austerity not much better than news papers. Much of what was published at this time was pre war material and the models shown were generally much smaller and simpler. It was not until late 1952 that real improvements were made with more pages, it was also printed on a much better quality, semi gloss paper. There were also then many new products from the Meccano to promote, such as new Dink Toys and Hornby Dublo railways but regrettably not to many new Meccano parts. However the Meccano builder was fairly well catered for with many new models and mechanisms published each month. Circulation picked up but never reached again the peak years of the 1930s.

In 1961 the page format size was increased but by then its sales were in a rapid decline and so was the Meccano content. Sadly so too were the sales of Meccano sets and the other products of the Meccano company. In December 1963 Meccano Ltd. handed the magazine over to a publishing company, the first two issues January and February 1964 remained much as the previous year. However in March MM was re-launched in a larger format and became a magazine with very little actual Meccano content, more of a boys general hobby magazine.In July 1967 the magazine ceased publication but following negotiations between Meccano Ltd.and MAP (Model Aeronautical Press) the magazine was re-launched in January 1968, however the Meccano content was still produced in the main at Binns Road but took only a small part of the magazine. In 1973 it looked like the end of the magazine with low sales it was no longer viable and Meccano/Triang took the magazine back in house to avoid its closure but the magazine was a poor shadow of its former self. In 1977 it was once again re launched in a co-operation with Meccano/Triang, an independent publisher and enthusiasts, this time in a form that was to appeal to Meccano enthusiasts, a magazine that was actually about the subject in a large format with articles and model plans by the leading experts of the time. Unfortunately there were just not enough sales and after twelve issues it sadly folded for the final time, just outliving the production of Meccano at Binns Road. The final edition is shown on the right, with a rather pathetic Meccano kit model most of which was plastic, "The shape of things to come", but they never did as the remains of the Airfix company and its backing of the MM collapsed along with Meccano, Dinky Toys and the Meccano magazine in the U.K.. In the years since its closure several Meccano societies and clubs have published some very fine magazines.

The Meccano magazine's heydays were undoubtedly the years between the late 1920s and 1939.This was also the era of the greatest success for the Meccano company and its wide range of products. The magazines are today are an excellent source of historic information and an invaluable aid to collectors of toys from those years.

The Meccano Magazine was also published in France between 1916 - 1937 then again between 1953 - 1959.

Copyright © Alan Esplen 2002 - 2013

The picture of the 1938 No. 10 set copyright Charles Steadman click here for more pictures at NZ Meccano .com