Meccano Manuals

1934-1937

Changes to the manuals during the era

General
There were major changes to the manuals during this era. It is clear from the number of manual changes in 1935, that the launch of the new outfits in 1934 was rushed with them being launched before all the new manuals were properly ready. The vast majority of the models were taken from the previous 00-7 range of outfits, with some of them modified to take advantage of the strip and fibre plates contained in the new outfits.

In 1935 there were a significant number of manual corrections and model redesigns. At launch in 1934, only outfits A to F had had their pictures retouched to show the new hatched parts or other part changes. The remainder of the outfits (G - L) were retouched in 1935). In addition many of the models were renumbered. Also in 1935 some Magic Motor powered models were added to outfits A-C to coincide with the motor's introduction. Braced girders were reintroduced for those models which needed them rather than the new strip plates

In 1936 the manuals for outfits up to 'E' were amended to include the new 'O' outfit models. There were also some other manual changes, but these were mainly correction to parts lists or amendments due to the inclusion of the new parts 199 and 200. In addition some models were renumbered.

Up to 1937 separate manuals were issued for the various english speaking overseas markets. In this era they appear to have been identical to the UK version except for the front cover, so the issue of separate manuals seems to have been an unnecesary expense. This was obviously realised by Meccano Ltd., as from 1937 only a single English language version of the manuals was published.

Apart from the front cover, the 1937 manuals were mostly unchanged from 1936. The exception being the F-L manual. Some of the K and L outfit models that referred out to SML's were deleted. It is thought that this was because stocks of certain leaflets were exhausted and there was no point in reprinting as they were being withdrawn anyway later on in 1937 when the new 0-10 outfits were launched.
The following 1937 manuals have not yet been inspected for changes:- Aa, Ba, Ca, O-C, O-D, O-E and the 1/37 version of the F-L manual.

1935 changes

1936 changes

1937 changes - No changes seen in the O-A, O-B & Da manuals. Some models were deleted from the F-L manual - The other manuals have not yet been examined.

The following changes were observed in the 6/37 F-L manual
(Note that the 1/37 has not yet been examined to confirm whether it is like the 6/36 or 6/37 manuals).

 

Page content last updated - 28 December 2012