From the earliest days of Meccano, models of windmills have been popular and appeared in all most every set manual. The model above is however not from any manual but something I made up using nickel plated Meccano parts, dating from around the time of the First World War. The windmill sails are made using eight of part No.61 this was introduced in 1913 and remained on the list parts produced by Binns Road until the factory closed in 1979. There are many variations of this part, from 1934 they were spray painted in two colours rather than stamped. The part was not included in sets after 1930. This was hardly a versatile part as you can see, when two are joined, the punched holes do not align had they done so the part could have had many more uses. The later spray painted versions do not have this problem. If you would like to see details follow this link part number 61 Windmill sails .

The illustrations on the left date from the time of the introduction of the part. The model itself was not new but previously had long strips instead of the new part 61. A model based on that illustration using mainly contemporary parts is shown below. As simple a model as it is it is instantly recognised by even the smallest child as a windmill. The handle is turned and it works just like the advertisement states. So simple and still so pleasing to any small child even today whenever I display it there are always eager hands to turn the crank handle and see the sails turn.

I

The red and green windmill below was illustrated in the 1962 set number 3 book of instructions. The model was hand operated but I have incorporated a small Meccano clockwork "Magic Motor" in the back of the model to turn the sails.

1962 marked a big change in Meccano with new packaging, new manuals using exploded diagrams and several new parts. The colour of the parts remained the light red and light green first introduced in 1959. The colour advertisement below is from the back of a contemporary Meccano Magazine advertising these changes. The choice of an 18th century windmill was quite an odd way to promote a new more up to date image for Meccano. The model was also featured on the box lid of the number 3 set. However it's a nice little model and does at least look like the real thing. Most of the previous smaller set windmills had been based on models dating back to around 1912. Things changed slowly at the Binns Road factory.

The windmill above is built from from parts from the 1964-1967 period and is not based on any set model. In 1964 following a take-over of Meccano Ltd. by the Lines (Triang Toys) Group there was a major shake up out went the familiar red and green and in came a completely new colour scheme: yellow Flexible, Strip and Perforated plates, black Flanged and Plastic Plates and aluminum finish Strips and Girders.

The model is above powered by a clockwork Meccano Magic Motor .