Arthur smith      (at 10:18pm, Wed 2nd Aug, 17)

How many models of cranes can be made from this meccano kit and could you please supply costs
Regards Arthur smith

Pete James      (at 3:51am, Thu 15th Dec, 16)

New to all this...overcome by the complexities!

wcm snieders      (at 11:08am, Tue 6th Mar, 12)

Compliments for this nice crane

Paul Dale      (at 7:55pm, Wed 4th Mar, 09)

The 10 set version and the Electric Dockside Crane
My builds of the 10 set blocksetter and the Electric Dockside Crane mentioned above.

The Electric Dockside Crane is available from: http://www.dalefield.com/pauli/dockcrane.html

The ten set blocksetter: http://www.dalefield.com/pauli/tensetcrane.html

The Electric Dockside Crane is a very good model and worthy of the 10 set. My description includes a parts list for this model and some photographs of my build.

Charles Steadman      (at 9:26pm, Tue 3rd Mar, 09)

Blocksetter comparison
This is the original blocksetter instruction manual, and is infinitely better than the 10-set version of the same thing which is very weak indeed. However, you should consider also the "Electric Dockside Crane" built from the contents of a 10-set (instructions can be found in the Meccano Magazine viewer July 1978), if you want a similar crane. Better still is the Pinyon Blocksetter, a copy of the manual cover painting of the 1950s. This modelplan is sadly not available on the internet. A more prototypically accurate if less elegant looking crane is the Fishguard Blocksetter, also a modelplan, also not on the internet, and one that requires a substantial amount of non-Meccano parts.

So, this is the best and largest of the freely available blocksetter plans, and is certainly the 'original'. Its large overhang at the back makes it less beautiful than it shoult be, although it wouldn't be beyond the wit of most to shorten the back section and even perhaps lengthen the other end. The elegance of the Pinyon blocksetter stems from it's extreme reach, IMHO. Either way, this is going to need a big lot of parts...