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Meccano Dark red/green outfits

Here are some pictures of Meccano outfits from the heyday of Meccano, the late 20's. There are actually four distinct periods within this short era: pea-green, early dark red/green, late dark red/green, and medium red/green. The dates are shown below, but it is important to remember that the contents of pre-1930 outfits are very different from those after 1930, particularly when inspecting layouts of outfits.

Pictures wanted!

If you have any pictures of missing outfits below, or another picture of an outfit that is better or not quite the same as one that's already here, please help us by sending a copy of it! It would be very much appreciated. You can email it straight to us, or upload it to the Rust Bucket forum... The brief history of the changes made during this period is shown below. Bear these in mind when viewing the pictures...

1926	First coloured outfits launched, as "The New Meccano". Most parts are still nickel-plated, but plates and flanged plates are a light red, braced girders and curved strips are pea-green.
1927	All parts now enamelled in a much darker red and green. "The New Meccano" is still labelled on the outfit lids at the start of this period.
1928	Special Inventor's Outfit launched, containing a number of new parts not included in the standard outfits.
1930	Substantial change in the content of the outfits, and a lot of parts now considered "rare" are dropped. Outfit 000 introduced.
1933	Shades of red and green lighten considerably, making them almost indistinguishable from later post-war medium red and green.
1934	New blue and gold outfits A-L launched, but red/green outfits 000 through to 7 are still available throughout this year, and outfits 000 and 00 still available in red/green to around 1936.

Meccano Main Outfits

Outfit 00

This image (along with many others shown below) is from the September 1929 Meccano Magazine, and shows the layout of the early dark red/green outfits up to around 1930.

Outfit 0

Mostly original parts restrung to a good condition card and box. The axles are in a reproduction package, and the cord has been re-hanked, but this is otherwise a nice example. Note the unusual manual for "Outfits 00-0", only supplied with this outfit.

To the right, the outfit 0 layout from the September 1929 Meccano Magazine.

Outfit 1

Again, a pretty much original outfit missing only its hank of cord. The parts are correctly restrung using both red and green string. The manual in this outfit is for "Outfits 00-1".

To the right, the same outfit from the earlier period.

Outfit 2

The image to the left shows an outfit 2 from the 1934 catalogue, the image on the right from the September 1929 Meccano Magazine.

Outfit 3

A nice outfit 3 from 1928, restrung but still in good condition for the age. I believe that the green parts should be strung with green cord, but that's nitpicking a little...

Note that the catalogue picture on the left is of the later post-1930 layout, with quite a different set of contents.

Outfit 5

As good as it gets, this 1927 outfit 5 (left and right) is completely unused. You can see the standard packaging of the time, which was to string the strips together, and wrap the smaller parts in brown paper. The layout of these very early dark red/green outfits is quite odd, where the top tray is considerably less 'exciting' than the lower one.

This outfit 5 from the late 1920's is in good condition. It has been restrung but is pretty correct. The author also has a datable Christmas 1930 outfit with the same layout. The box was redesigned to cope with the new boiler and digger bucket, and the new layout is considerably more eye-catching when the box is displayed open, with all the wheels and gears visible. The plain plates and braced girders have been relegated to the bottom layer. Note the elegant red/green 3'' pulleys.

Outfit 6

This outfit 6 from the late 1920's is almost as good. The parts have been wrapped up here and there, but generally this is as good as you might expect. The cardboard box is rare in this era – most examples of outfit 6 of this period have the optional wooden cabinet.

The collecting shoe, digger bucket, and circular saw date this outfit from 1928 or 1929.

Meccano Accessory Outfits

Outfit 1a

This outfit 1a has been restrung, but looks fairly good. All the parts in this outfit are green, and the axles would probably have been supplied in brown paper wrapping. It's possible that the long strips would have been wrapped too, rather than strung as in this example. And, usually, the small parts boxes have their set number on them, but not always.

Outfit 2a

This dates from September 1933, late in the dark red/green period. In fact, it's so late that the colours aren't really dark red/green at all – many parts (such as the boiler) are a very pale green and some are similar to post-war medium green. All parts have the new wide-font Meccano stamping that dates from around 1933 to 1941 (with no "Made in England" stampings).

Note that from 1931 all Accessory Outfits had their own small black and white manual, and this particular outfit also comes with a copy of "How To Use Meccano Parts". The orange paper dust cover is shown, and the blue tissue padding for the boiler (since the ship's funnel is no longer in an outfit 2a).

Outfit 3a

The image to the left is from the 1928 manual, showing outfit 3a with the older contents (including the digger bucket, included in outfits 4 and above for 1928 and 1929). To the right is a picture from 1930 showing the new contents of the outfit, after a substantial reorganisation of all outfits in that year.

Manuals for these outfits

Click on the following files to jump to the appropriate manual for this era. After clicking, you will see the cover of the manual and underneath it a link to download the manual to your computer. Warning: some of these manuals are very large and will take several minutes to download. You have been warned!

Dark red/green manuals (1928-34)

1928 Manual Outfits 0-3	1928 Manual Outfits 4-7	1928 Standard Mechanisms	1930 How To Use Meccano Parts	1929 Steam Engine
1931 Manual Outfits 00-4	1931 Manual Outfits 5-7	1934 Outfits 00-4	1935 Outfits 4-7	1931 Book Of Engineering
1928 New Models	1929 New Models	1930 New Models	1931 New Models	1932 Prize Models

Further information

Total number of messages on this page: 17.  This is page 2 of 3.     

Richard      (at 12:16pm, Tue 2nd Jul, 13)

A good, empty 9 box, with stringing cards, sold on EBAY for £78.89 That is probably the only place you are going to see them for sale, apart from at club meetings. They don't come up very often.

Sher      (at 11:13am, Tue 2nd Jul, 13)

Does any know the value of a 1950's medium red and green #9 box for the meccano set. The parts are all ok, but unfortunately the box is damaged. can anyone put me on a lead to find a box only that is in very good condition? thank you very much!!

Prof. Subrata Ghoshal      (at 4:32am, Sun 24th Feb, 13)

Its fantastic. It took me 50 years back down through my memory lane.

wendy      (at 6:12am, Tue 28th Sep, 10)

have a meccano No 5A says on the wooden box, inside the box two layers one layer lifts out, has papers inside with pictures of what set number is needed to make the set. has lock and key on the box meccano has been played with years ago, just want to know more about it and were the best place is to advertise it for sale. wendybarmby@hotmail.com

Hannah      (at 3:23am, Sun 19th Sep, 10)

Hello I have a outfit number 5 meccano set in green and red... It is a crane and in it's box it looks to be in decent condition. Could you tell me anything more about it?

Jose Estables      (at 10:30am, Sun 14th Mar, 10)

Very ionteresting, of course! I am a spanish collector and have some outfits -Nickel: Made in England, made in France, Made in USA, and also made in England for spanish speaking countries (sp. for Argentina, Mexico and Spain)- Red/Green (30 ´s, 40 ´s, 50 ´s) made in England, France and Spain-. Blue/Gold -An L Set (not original box)- and made in France. Also German Märklin -All Periods-, Primus, Swuiss Stokys and German Stabil. I´ll send you some pictures, if you agree, but please have a little patience! All the best: J. Estables (Spain)

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