I’m using this website to post photos of the Meccano models I’ve built. This is a retirement project that should see me out – I’ve got a lot of models to build!
My history with Meccano
I first had a Meccano set in the 1960s. A new red and green No. 1 outfit. I soon ran out of what I could build with that. A little later I was given a load of old prewar Meccano, with blue hatched strip plates as thick as the side of a battleship. I made that up to what was then a No. 6 outfit, courtesy of my parents and a trip to Hamley’s in London. And then I built models. Eventually I moved on to other things, and after I left home the Meccano was passed on to the son of a friend of my parents. Time passed…
Then in my 20s I started hankering after Meccano again. I was working, so I could afford it. I bought a new 1970s blue and yellow No. 6 outfit and started building again. I added a 6X outfit, then a 7X and an 8X. Oh, and a No. 2 clock outfit. And a copy of Geoff Wright’s reprint book ‘The Meccano Super Models’. I now had a No. 9 outfit, the biggest I could get without shelling out for the holy grail of a No. 10. I didn’t imagine for a minute I’d ever be able to build any of those big models from the 20s and 30s. A No. 10 outfit was outside my financial ambit. I don’t think I even thought ‘maybe one day’. And then I married, bought a house, and was too busy to spend much time building models. And so my Meccano was relegated to the attic, then the garage. And once more time passed…
And so eventually I took early retirement. But I was still pretty busy. My wife was still working, the kids were still at home, and I was doing a lot of long distance running as well. Finding more things to fill my time was the last thing on my mind. But after a few years, my knees started telling me my running days were about over. And then the kids went off to university. So what to do next? It was a bit of a no-brainer now I look back. I got my old Meccano out from the garage, built a model or two, but wanted more. And a couple of years later we were watching ‘Scouting for Toys’ on the television, which followed the action at Vectis toy auctions. And every now and then they were selling old Meccano. Sometimes a No 10 outfit would come up, at under £1000. I could afford that now. And so the inevitable happened, and I ended up bidding in an auction for the first time in my life, and buying an early 1950s No. 10 outfit in pretty good condition complete with box, and a second lot of assorted bits for good measure. That was about a year ago as I’m writing this, and I’m well on the way to building those super models, as well as the No. 10 outfit models (both pre-war and post-war), and a few 1970s No. 9 outfit models as well, since I’ve still got my 1970s blue and yellow set as well.
So, I’m aiming at building as many of the pre-war supermodels as I can, as many of the post-war No. 10 Outfit models as I can, and I’ll throw in some others as well. As I build them I’ll post photos on here, probably with a few build notes as well. anyone wanting to contact me is welcome: andy at crewood.net.
Andy Robinson, November 2023