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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 3 of 3.   

WENDY H      (at 3:30am, Mon 22nd Feb, 10)

COULD YOU TELL ME THE TYPE FACE/ FONT MECCANO USES Reply: If you mean for the Meccano logo, then there is no such thing. The logo was designed as a one-off and the other letters weren't produced. There are some fonts around that look similar at first glance, but not really close enough to use.

Emilio      (at 7:28am, Tue 3rd Nov, 09)

I like to found and buy a 1930' Meccano set#3 or higher. Can you help to me, please? My email is emilioagostini@iepcontrol.com . Many thanks.

Sean      (at 2:33pm, Sat 11th Jul, 09)

Hi, could anyone please try help...I have no idea what set I have, Its in a wooden box thats only labelled Meccano and has 3 trays of parts, the last is not removeable. It is all dark red and green....does this help identify it? Really appreciate any help Thanks, Sean tjprojects@workmail.co.za

Jamie in Canada      (at 7:16pm, Mon 23rd Mar, 09)

I have a still stringed dark red and green #2 outfit in the box with manual as well as manual for 7 & 8 and I just wanted to know if it was worth anything. The box is still in pretty good condition, a torn corner and some rubbed damange. Thanks candierpeacekeeper@hotmail.com

tommy norway      (at 11:27am, Sat 3rd Jan, 09)

hello! I have a unopend meccano 6 in a wooden box from 1939! can you tell me what it is worht! approx tommlo@online.no best regards tommy of drammen Reply: You certainly don't have one from 1939 (they were in paper-covered cardboard boxes at that point). But you might have one from 1930? 1929? If it is in a wooden box saying Meccano No.6, and I'm assuming it's dark red/green, then an unopened one would be very valuable indeed. I'm assuming the parts are still wrapped in their paper covers with Meccano labels? Do you have the outer cardboard carton too?

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