Gallery of Meccano Models

How I became a Meccano Enthusiast

Meccano parts illustrated list

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

My Meccano Room

100 Years of Toys of Quality Exhibition celebrating 100 years of Meccano at Didcot in 2001

Triang single suspension crane grab pictures and information

The Perfect Table Railway

I often have displays of Meccano and models at
The Museum of Power Langford near Maldon Essex

Details about the museum can be found at:
Museum of Power Langford

Welcome to my Meccano pages. 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. I hope you will browse though the pages where you will find information about Meccano, its history and perhaps nostalgia for times past. There is information here that may be helpful to your own model building with Meccano or perhaps encouragement to get you building with Meccano too. My Gallery of Meccano models has over fifty of my own models big and small with background information and facts. Click on the links on the left side or above to navigate the web site.

Your comments and questions are always welcome. To help answer any questions it can sometimes be a big help if you tell me which country you live . I regret that I am unable to give valuations of Meccano for auction or online auction sites. Please note I do not sell Meccano sets or parts.

To send me (Alan) an email click here.

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Latest updates to this page text changes June 01 2010.:: New model added to Gallery March 19 2010 .

THE POST WAR YEARS

Production of Meccano and Dinky Toys, resumed in late 1945 not long after the end of the Second World War. The directly advertisement above is from April 1945 and gives hope of things to come, by December 1945 things were looking hopeful as the advertisement above left shows from the back cover of the Meccano Magazine of December 1945. The first ad to announce supplies would be in the shops ready for Christmas. The colour of parts was 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 at this time 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 left was the same as that of some six years earlier but with a different colour background. 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 boom pre-war days, many of the more specialist parts such as the geared roller bearing, digger bucket, and train parts were dropped.

The picture below left is a Dinky Toy covered wagon of mine from the late 1940s, very similar to that of the pre-war years. It was not until 1947/48 that a full but much smaller range of Hornby trains, Dinky builder and Hornby Dublo were made available. The advertisement on the 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 ads. Then another blow, not long after production started gearing up again with many new products planned the Korean War (1950-1953 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 when 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.

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. The mid 1950s saw great success for the Meccano Company with Meccano sets, Dinky Toys and Hornby Dublo model trains. At school I remember every boy wanted their toys and they were certainly the "Toys of Quality" mentioned in advertising. A big change came about in 1962 with new packaging for Meccano sets and completely new manuals using exploded diagrams, instead of photographs with lengthy text. 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 aluminum this followed the take over of the Meccano company by Lines Bros. the makers of Triang Toys. The aluminum 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 previous post war colour ranges although the packaging and instruction manuals changed several times.

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 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.

 1970s 1980s

In 1970 the colours were again changed this time to blue, yellow and zinc the set contents although remained the same those introduced in 1962. In France the colours were changed from blue and gold to the same colours as those from Liverpool. The early 1970's also 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 enabled a 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. Interestingly these sets were produced in a deeper shade of yellow than the colour in the standard range of sets.

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 used nine separate parts. It had taken Meccano a long time to recognise that the tin wheels and later very similar plastic wheels in the sets looked like those found on vehicles from the 1920's. The 9 and 10 sets were still available in the new colours with the original range of parts. Although the number 9 set was in fact a repackaging of what had been until 1970 the No.8 set.

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, out of date production methods, bad management, lack of investment, poor labour relations and restrictive union practices 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 that the factory would close in 40 minutes. The company was then owned by Airfix industries, makers of Airfix plastic kits, they continued to produce Meccano through sub-contractors 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, questions were even asked in Parliament. It also made newspaper headlines, with such classics as "Meccano Company wound up." 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 a British institution. At the time I searched 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, new and used parts were still obtainable, although often in short supply. Geoff Wright owner of MW models 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, Meccano had continued to be produced in Calais but on a fairly limited scale, still producing the traditional parts and sets. The company in France was owned by the American food company General Mills and had not suffered the fate or the problems of the Liverpool factory. In 1985 the Calais factory was taken over by a French Meccano enthusiast and accountant Marc Rebibo . Under his ownership they 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 packaging as had been produced at Binns Road in the mid 1970s and were welcomed by enthusiasts. This also ensured a ready supply of most of the listed spare parts.

The Illustration above 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 market. The Meccano L extension set is from the 1978 range. I bought this several years after the closure of the Binns Road factory, hidden on the bottom shelf of a toy shop in Cornwall, the owner sadly did not even know it was there.

THE PRESENT DAY

In the years following the closure of the Binns Road factory in 1979 many new and useful 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 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 sole ownership of Meccano SN. Many set are now made in China.

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 below, 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. Older parts can of course be used and added to the modern sets as the hole spacing and bolt threads has remained the same as 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.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 the 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.

A question I often get asked by visitors to this web site is, "Can you still buy new sets like I used to have." Well the answer is yes you can from Exacto a small company in Argentina. The Exacto web site gives full details of these sets and a list of their dealers throughout the world. These old style sets offer that same joy of opening a box of Meccano pieces neatly presented and laid out ready to assemble.

  THE MECCANO MAGAZINE

One of the great achievements of Frank Hornby was a monthly publication  "The Meccano Magazine" produced between 1916 and 1981. The magazine started out as a folded sheet but by the early 1920s had many pages and beautifully illustrated covers. The front cover shown 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 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 and photography.

Every month there would be articles on new exciting developments in engineering, railways, construction, industry, shipping and aviation. Many of these would be linked to new products from the company for instance, the latest De Havilland airliner would be featured with a mention that it was also the latest Dinky Toy. An illustration of the Frobisher class Dinky Toy is on the right . Engineering items were often directly related to Meccano in many cases many machines described in the MM would later turn up as products. Commonwealth countries (then the 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 these entries became the property of the Meccano company and were often used in later instruction manuals or published in the 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, quality of paper 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 a little more content than during the war years. 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. Circulation picked up but never reached again the peak years of the 1930s.

In 1961 the 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 other products of the Meccano company. In 1963 Meccano Ltd. handed the magazine over to a publishing company, this lead to a magazine with very little actual Meccano content, more of a boys hobby magazine, by 1967 it was all over. Various attempts were made to revive the Magazine with out much success and in 1977 it was once again re launched . This time in a form that was to appeal to Meccano enthusiasts, a magazine that was actually about the subject in a large format. Unfortunately there were just not enough sales and after twelve issues it folded for the final time, just outliving the Meccano company in the U.K. The 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 - 2010

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