Category:Meccano Construction Sets (display)

Display Area


4 - Meccano Construction Sets (display) Arch Two

–– 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 –– 57 58 –– –– 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 –– –– –– 71 72 73 74 –– 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 –– –– ––

Meccano gears [image info]

Most of the Museum's public Meccano collection is in or around the large Meccano cabinet in Arch Two, which was extensively upgraded and expanded in January/February 2016 to mark the museum's 25th anniversary. It's directly on your left as you enter the ticketed area of the Museum.

The main Meccano display cabinet. sme other Meccano exhibits, such as shop display models, are displayed outside the cabinet.

The centrepiece of the display is a large Meccano Block-Setting Crane, the largest official Meccano model, standing on a Meccano parts dealer's cabinet. Around this are Meccano sets and upgrade sets, accessory outfits, and loose parts, including most of the very rarest and hard-to-find pieces.

Due to this sudden influx of new exhibits, it'll take us some time to bring the online listings up to date – the new piece include 1920s/1930s items such as the Meccano sawbench, 1929 and 1935 steam engines, a Mechanics Made Easy pulleywheel from ~1906, Meccano X Series and British Model Builder sets, Motor Car Constructor pieces, and representatives of the company's auxiliary products such as Dinky Builder, the Kemex chemistry sets and Elektron electricity sets, and the Elektrikit electrical Meccano parts.

Detail, older Meccano Ltd. products

Detail, associated Meccano Ltd. products

Opposite the Meccano case is another cabinet of metal construction sets from other manufacturers.

History

Frank Hornby patented the basic idea of Meccano in 1901, and by 1908 the product had a proper name, a limited company making it (Meccano Ltd.), and a factory site. Although numerous copycat products appeared, Meccano Ltd considered their system to be the original and best, and with a range of ten sets, upgrade packs available that could take owners from one set to the next, a network of clubs (the Meccano Guild), and a wide range of published designs partly gleaned from Meccano model design competitions, it was difficult for other metal construction toys to compete.

For specialist models such as planes and cars, Meccano Ltd. also produced special Motor Car Constructor and Aeroplane Constructor outfits that had custom parts (but still used the same hole spacing and hole size as normal Meccano). The company also briefly flirted with the idea of "Meccano-style" gauge 0 locomotives and rolling stock using special parts, but quickly decided to switch to more conventional factory-built toy trains, marketed under the separate Hornby Series name.