Subject:
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Meccano Vs. Erector (WAS:Top Ten Toys on A&E)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Fri, 5 Nov 1999 04:51:43 GMT
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Viewed:
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6461 times
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> Care to make any comments on the current offerings of Meccano? I was in • TRU the
> other day, looking at the Meccano area. Seems like a true-blue Meccano
> collector would have a worse reaction to the new Meccano than an AFOL • does to
> Town Jr.
Comments you ask? O.K. I do have a few. :)
A not-so brief commentary on the Meccano vs. Erector Question
Well, I figured that I'd better get some more facts, so I called my dad
tonight. :)
He somewhat disagreed with my statement that, "Erector was to Meccano what
Megablocks is to LEGO." I may have misrepresented Erector with that
statement now that I think about it. Remember that Megablocks is really
not a bad product, as I'd mentioned that Erector was not. But from my
point of view, being biased towards both LEGO and Meccano, Erector just
wasn't the same... much the way I think about Megablocks.
My dad was quick to point out, that Meccano did come first, being invented
back in 1901. It was created by the Englishman Frank Hornby, who also came
up with Hornby Trains and Dinky Toys. (Dinky Toys being the forerunner of
the later Matchbox and Hotwheels cars) I dug around on the net and came up
with this nice chronology of the Meccano system for anyone interested:
http://www.actcom.co.il/~anthias/josthist.html
Some of you, who may not be familiar with what Meccano (or Erector for that
matter) look like, here is a pictorial look at many of the Meccano parts
that were available. This is a newer listing; the color schemes changed
several times over the years:
http://www.freenet.edmonton.ab.ca/meccano/mecparti.html
It seems that Erector did not follow until a number of years later.
Another chronology (this one about Erector):
http://www.acghs.org/history/index.htm
My dad corrected me on one big point, and LEGO may want to take notice of
this. Meccano did indeed allow the purchase of individual parts, from any
authorized shop, and you could also purchase individual parts in BULK
amounts. Either direct from the dealer if they were in stock, or have them
ordered for you. My dad has Meccano parts price lists going back more than
50 years. Imagine going into a toy store today and finding a LEGO dealer's
cabinet! Take a look at what Meccano fans used to have available to them:
http://users.uniserve.com/~jpicton/vsdc.jpg
Overall, Meccano had a higher range of different pieces than did Erector.
However the systems were different in their approach to piece design.
Erector, in general, went for a more open structural concept than did
Meccano. Meccano used more panels/plates to fill the spaces between
girders and beams, where Erector more often left these open. Meccano
utilized a flat strip with holes along its length, whereas Erector used
more open trussed beams. Both systems employeed angled girders for
strength.
Meccano's gears and similar elements were noted for their higher degree of
manufacturing precision, and in fact the gears had a finer set of teeth.
Many of the small gears were solid brass, while the larger were brass
plated.
Erector was notorious for their early electric motors, which plugged
directly into a wall outlet. The 110 volt beauties provided great speed
and power for models, but also a sharp jolt for young builders who
accidentally touched their open workings! Meccano employeed transformers
with their motors.
An interesting note made by my dad was that Erector's sets sometimes were
large theme models, such a a ferris wheel, or a blimp, whose steel frame
was covered by a sack. I believe that A&E's Top 10 show used the carrousel
model several times throughout the segment, as an example. Meccano, on the
other hand, produced only numbered 'universal' parts sets. They began with
the #1 set, which was a basic collection of parts, wheels etc. Eventually
they worked back to sets #0 and #00 to produce smaller sets, and up to #10
the finest, largest set in the inventory. There were also supplementary
sets that filled any gaps; they were often given letter codes, such as #5a.
Some great pictures of the larger sets, complete with wooden cabinets are
shown on this page:
http://www.flinthills.com/~dalefiel/Meccanohome/NZFMM/MeccCabinets.html
Someone mentioned the state of Meccano today. The original company was
sold to an outfit in Calais, France (at the end of the Chunnel). They
manufacture parts to this very day, though current pieces are not stamped
with the Meccano name as they once were. They are sold under the name
Exacto, although the sets are still sold as Meccano here in Canada.
For collectors such as my father, Meccano is not a hobby like LEGO, where
they look forward to the company producing new sets each year. It's more
often about searching out old collections/sets/parts and incorporating them
into a personal collection. So I'm not sure that he's even seen a current
Meccano set in any toy store, nor does he likely concern himself with them.
He enjoys the collection he has built and enjoys building with it. Let me
tell you from experience that there are certain types of models that
generally lend themselves better to a steel construction set than they do
to LEGO. Bridges and cranes especially can be works of wonder when large
amounts of Meccano parts and equally large amounts of engineering are
applied to them. Here is an example of a fair sized dock crane. For
scale, remember that the holes along the outside edge of the pieces are 1/2
inches apart. I've seen much larger models than this displayed at various
shows, but this one is nicely done:
http://www.dalefield.com/pauli/dockcrane.html
At a show years ago, I saw a walking dragline excavator that had a boom of
over 10 feet in length!
And since my dad was nice enough to answer many of my questions tonight,
I'll wrap this up with a picture of one of his models. This was taken at
last year's Toronto Hobby Show. For those interested, it's taking place
again this weekend (Nov 5,6,7) at the usual place (see:
http://thehobbyshow.com): Now for my dad's CN locomotive:
http://www.erector.webnexus.com/images/Hobby98/CN.jpg
I believe it is worth noting that even though Meccano and Erector are both
long past their heyday, they both still live on strong in the hearts and
minds of adult collectors and builders. LEGO can take from this example
that their product very very likely is already doing the same. It would be
a shame if they overlooked this fact and didn't realize the importance of
the adult market until TLG was past its prime.
A final interesting note, if you're still reading this: The Erector name
is now owned by Meccano France. So I guess the moral of the story is that
Meccano and Erector both have their excellent points.... and at least
neither of them is as contraining as Lincoln Logs:
http://www.erector.webnexus.com/images/Palo-Alto/Cabin.jpg
Best Regards,
Allan
--
Expert Builder Website - The Megaproject Showcase
http://www.execulink.com/~apotome/expert.htm
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Top Ten Toys on A&E
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| (...) Allan, Care to make any comments on the current offerings of Meccano? I was in TRU the other day, looking at the Meccano area. Seems like a true-blue Meccano collector would have a worse reaction to the new Meccano than an AFOL does to Town (...) (25 years ago, 4-Nov-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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