Category Archives: MECCANO

Meccano Magazine 1958

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Cover of Meccano Magazine N°10, 1958, France.

Following on from my previous post about Frank Hornby’s Meccano toys, here is a Meccano enthusiast magazine sold in France in 1958.

The magazine features Meccano related news items, reports on aviation, space exploration, sports, science, competitions, a Dinky Toys Club Journal page, and some wonderful 1950s toy ads.

Below are selected scans.

Meccano kit and aeroplane. Meccano Magazine N°10 1958. France.

Hornby trains. Meccano Magazine N°10 1958. France.

Dinky Toys. Meccano Magazine N°10 1958. France.

Tour du Monde en Vespa board game (World tour by Vespa). Meccano Magazine N°10 1958. France.

Detail of Tour du Monde en Vespa board game (World tour by Vespa).

TVTA bonus!

Staying in a Meccano mood…

I helped my youngest son build a mini Meccano aeroplane over the weekend. Here are some pics from start to finish. For a toy so tiny and fiddly to put together, it looks pretty cool when all is done, with rolling wheels and a propeller that can turn.

Meccano Bolts.

Meccano Bolts. Avion.

Thanks for looking! 🙂

Coming soon… ideal toys, or toys from Ideal?

Meccano toy catalogue, France, 1972

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Front cover for the Meccano S.A. Catalogue Général, 1972, France, showing the new blue and yellow parts colour system.

Originally called ‘Mechanics Made Easy’, Meccano is a popular and enduring toy construction set invented in 1901 by Frank Hornby from Liverpool, England. Due to its huge success and demand, Hornby opened factories around the world, one of which features in today’s post – the Bobigny factory in France, which in 1951 was producing more than half a million Meccano box sets a day! 

The following 1972 general catalogue shows the new blue and yellow parts that had become available for Meccano sets, as well as ‘Pocket Meccano’  and  ‘Meccano Plastic’.

The catalogue also features other iconic toys to come from the French Bobigny factory such as Scalextric racing, Hornby model trains, and Spirograph. The final page of the catalogue shows a photograph of the Bobigny factory. One can only imagine the amount of toys that passed through the gates during its tenure as one of Frank Hornby’s wordwide factories! 

Meccano complimentary sets. 1972.

Pocket Meccano sets. 1972.

Meccano motors. 1972.

Meccano sets. 1972.

Meccano Plastic. 1972.

Other toys shown in the catalogue

Spirograph sets: Spirojunior, Spirostart, Spiro-matic. 1972.

Meccano mini projectors Walt Disney range. 1972.

Meccano Chip Away, Pant’ O’ Mime, Tele & Col. 1972.

Meccano Spiroscope, Junior Jet, Western. 1972.

Jouets enfance. 1972.

Gyrojet

Meccano SA Catalogue 1972. Rear cover. Gyrojet.

Meccano Gyrojet. 1972.

Scalextric

Scalextric. 1972.

Scalextric. 1972.

Scalextric. 1972.

Hornby-AcHO trains

 

Frog model kits

The Meccano factory, Bobigny, France, 1972

Meccano factory, Bobigny, France, 1972.

Thanks for looking 🙂

All images scanned by TVTA from the Meccano catalogue général, 1972, France.

Other sources: Meccano France

MECCANO… mechanics made easy

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Meccano has built a strong legacy as one of the oldest construction systems in the world when it was invented in England by Frank Hornby in 1898. In 1913, a very similar construction set was introduced in the US under the brand name Erector. Today, these two great brands have joined forces under one global brand name – Meccano.

Text taken from official website: Meccano

UK. Hamleys Catalogue. 1983.

France. Pif Gadget. 1982.

France. Pif Gadget. 1982.

Ets De Neuter. Catalogue page. 1995. France.

Meccano kit and aeroplane. Meccano Magazine N°10 1958. France.