The History of Plastic Meccano (As best as I can determine)
Meccano itself has a history stretching back to 1898 when Frank Hornby created his first mechanical construction kit. In 1901 he applied for a patent for his construction system whilst the name Meccano was registered in 1907. From 1914 until 1979 Meccano was manufactured at the famous Binns Road factory in Liverpool, England. It was here in 1965 that Meccano decided to target a younger age group by releasing its new Plastic Meccano.
Plastic Meccano was originally released in three sets of increasing complexity, Set A, Set B and Set C with the tag line "Big pieces for little hands". The Set C was also available in a Workbox version aimed at schools that came in a plywood box. Sets from this era can be distinguished by the black coloured bases, crank handles and spanners.
In 1971 Meccano (By then Meccano Tri-ang Ltd) revamped the Plastic Meccano range. The sets were re-numbered as Set 100, Set 200, Set 300 and Set 400. Sets 100 and 200 were the same as the old Sets A and B apart from some colour changes to parts. But Sets 300 and 400 were new and introduced new parts : angle girders, bevel gears, worm gear, eye bolts, fish plates and a hexagon key and ring spanner. At the same time new sets were introduced;
In 1981 ownership of Meccano passed to General Mills and Plastic Meccano ceased production. However in 1985 General Mills sold the company to Marc Rebibo who resumed production of the smaller Plastic Meccano sets now numbered "1 Star", "2 Star" and "3 Star". By 1988 things went full circle with these sets being merged and re-badged again as Set A and Set B, their contents being roughly similar to the original 1960's sets of that name. These sets were finally discontinued in 1993 which marked the end of the original Plastic Meccano era.
Today Meccano is manufactured by Meccano SN based in Calais, France. Its Meccano Junior range is the successor to Plastic Meccano but has no commonality with the toy designed back in the 1960's.
Note
Much of the history as described above is based on what information I can glean from my own collection, web searches and some welcome information from readers. Tim Edwards has produced a very informative parts list for Plastic Meccano tracking its developments and changes across the years and this was very helpful to me. There is a link to his site on the Useful Links site.
If anyone has more information on this topic I would be very interested to hear. Readers can always email me at theplasticmeccanonut@gmail.com.
Plastic Meccano was originally released in three sets of increasing complexity, Set A, Set B and Set C with the tag line "Big pieces for little hands". The Set C was also available in a Workbox version aimed at schools that came in a plywood box. Sets from this era can be distinguished by the black coloured bases, crank handles and spanners.
In 1971 Meccano (By then Meccano Tri-ang Ltd) revamped the Plastic Meccano range. The sets were re-numbered as Set 100, Set 200, Set 300 and Set 400. Sets 100 and 200 were the same as the old Sets A and B apart from some colour changes to parts. But Sets 300 and 400 were new and introduced new parts : angle girders, bevel gears, worm gear, eye bolts, fish plates and a hexagon key and ring spanner. At the same time new sets were introduced;
- Conversion sets 200X and 300X to step from a set 200 or 300 up to the next set
- Caterpillar Track Pack providing caterpillar style track and additional sprocket wheels (Later renamed to just "Track Pack" for legal reasons)
In 1981 ownership of Meccano passed to General Mills and Plastic Meccano ceased production. However in 1985 General Mills sold the company to Marc Rebibo who resumed production of the smaller Plastic Meccano sets now numbered "1 Star", "2 Star" and "3 Star". By 1988 things went full circle with these sets being merged and re-badged again as Set A and Set B, their contents being roughly similar to the original 1960's sets of that name. These sets were finally discontinued in 1993 which marked the end of the original Plastic Meccano era.
Today Meccano is manufactured by Meccano SN based in Calais, France. Its Meccano Junior range is the successor to Plastic Meccano but has no commonality with the toy designed back in the 1960's.
Note
Much of the history as described above is based on what information I can glean from my own collection, web searches and some welcome information from readers. Tim Edwards has produced a very informative parts list for Plastic Meccano tracking its developments and changes across the years and this was very helpful to me. There is a link to his site on the Useful Links site.
If anyone has more information on this topic I would be very interested to hear. Readers can always email me at theplasticmeccanonut@gmail.com.