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read opinion |
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none |
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yes |
Having completed opinions on LEGO and K’NEX, I took a look at other categories on ciao for similar construction sets and found to my surprise that the granddaddy of them all, the one that all other sets are based on, has not had a single opinion written about it. I am referring of course to Meccano.
Fifty years ago, the greatest thing that a boy could aspire to at Xmas, was a Meccano set. It was the ultimate possession and hours would be spent poring over magazines with pictures of these wonderful red and green playthings. I call it a plaything in the loosest of terms, as grown men were just as keen to get their hands on it. What then was Meccano? It was a set of tinplate sections with holes drilled around them; thin steel rods and brass cogs, with nuts and bolts to connect the whole thing together. This may sound unbelievably simple to you, but there is something else even more unbelievable. A decent set cost the equivalent of a fortnights pay for the average working man. Consequently my friends and myself ended up with sets described as 00 and consisting of a dozen small pieces of tin, with a couple of cogs and rods and exactly enough bolts to put the pieces together. The picture on the box may have had a huge model of a transporter bridge or the SS Queen Mary, but with the parts supplied you were lucky if you managed a rather lopsided model of a wheelbarrow.
Meccano, was invented and patented in 1901 by Frank Hornby, who went on to capitalise on this and model electric train sets. He devised competitions, with a large amount of prize money at stake. This was an inspired move as, at a stroke, he had built an instruction book, designed around prize-winning entries, at a fraction of the cost it would normally have cost him. Some of the winners were huge Ferris wheels, warships and a working model of a loom.
Meccano was exported to countries around the world from its headquarters in Liverpool, and apart from halts in production during both world wars, built up a following that continues to this day. There are now hundreds of clubs all over the world that exchange model instructions and hold shows. A market in original Meccano parts has built up making the sets even more expensive in real terms. Try typing Meccano into the likes of Google and see what I mean.
In November 1979, Meccano Ltd. Sadly went into receivership. The factory that had manufactured Meccano was demolished. A French company now owns all rights to the Meccano name and produces the metal sets under the trade name of “Erector Meccano” for sale in the USA.
They also tried to bring Meccano up to date in the 1980’s by re-designing the whole concept in plastic. The pieces were much larger and designed for a much younger customer. It never really captured the imagination the way that it’s main rival LEGO did.
Now we are bang up to date and a brand new Meccano has been launched. It is so new that the website at www.meccano.com is only running in French, with the UK site still under construction. In all probability it will be up and running by the time you read this, so go and give it the once over.
The new Meccano is a mixture of old and new. The old metal parts are now multi-coloured, and now can be combined with new plastic fittings, giving the whole thing a fresh modern look. The boxed sets are numbered from 4 to 50. This denotes how many actual models can be constructed from each set. With imagination of course the number will be far greater.
As far as price goes, it is of course advisable to shop around but a good rule of thumb appears to be that set number 4 retails for £4, set 10 for £10 and so on. This means that for a pound or two, you can see if Meccano is really suitable for your budding engineer.
| More Reviews |
 Endless fun
Review of Meccano by
AngelicaG
Advantages: Great endless fun
Disadvantages: lots of pieces
Meccano is a great gift for any age, if you are into that sort of thing. It is very addictive and very satisfying once you have actually made something that works. In each of the bigger sets there are loads of different machines to make, even moving ones. My favourite machine was the helicopter, with moving propellers. It took a while to make and a lot of screws to screw in, but once made it was fantastic. The only bad thing was that if I wanted ...
...unless you bouight another set. TYhere are a lot of tiny pieces so i wouldn't really recommend it to young children, but there is a set with bigger pieces for the younger ones. It is great that on the front of the box they have a recommened age level and according to the difficultyy. It is a great piece for both boys and girls and it really gets your mind working. The quality of the product is wexcellent, because the [peieces are really sturdy and ...
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helpful
29.08.2003
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Meccano - build, enjoy, learn and teach
Review of Meccano by
sewbizzie
Advantages: Hours of fun whatever your age
Disadvantages: sets can be quite pricey
Could I have bought a better present, in short the answer has to be NO!
I bought a massive tub which says that you can make 18 models out of thh contents so I tought that my two eldest children would be ale to share it. When they do get to play with it when Daddy isn't they have great fun building with it. It has encouraged my five year old to help my 3 year old more and teach him how to put the pieces together.
The box comes with extras like stickers ...
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29.08.2007
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This product has not yet been reviewed. 
19.05.2009
01.08.2009
03.10.2006
