Meccano Manuals

1945-1947

Changes to the manuals during the era

General
In the immediate post-war period there was very little change. The outfits 1 - 5 manuals were basically a reissue of the cut down September 1941 editions. Outfits 6 - 8 were cut down versions of the 1940/1 manuals. There were no new models. Initially only outfits 0 - 5 together with their accessory sets were available. Outfits 6 - 8 were added in 1946. Outfits 9 & 10 were NOT available even although the manuals showed them in the set contents pages.

The March 1945 manuals were export only editions. However they do turn up in the UK from time to time. They are identical to the later 12/45 manuals except for the change in colour of the cover. There was also a March 1945 outfit 0 manual (13/345/6.25) which used yellow paper like the pre-war and the 1946/7 manuals (Late 1945 Outfit 0 manuals used off white paper with green print).

Some of the December 1945 manuals appear to been issued in both export and UK editions. They are identical. The only difference is that on the spine of manual on internal pages, where it mentions the outfit number it adds in the word 'Export' or 'Home'. The export editions are quite common in the UK, so it is thought that export editions were included in UK outfits. From 1946 it appears that there was only one common English edition

Models were basically the same as pre war. A small number of models were deleted and others renumbered. There were no new models. Click here for more details. The model pictures continued to show hatched parts although the parts no longer had them. Also a number of parts had changed their numbers since pre-war and these were reflected in the parts lists for the models:-
Set 0 upwards - Part 155a -> 155
Set 3 upwards - Part 217a -> 24a, 217b -> 38d
Set 4 upwards - Part 54a -> 54
Set 8 - Part 219 -> 187a
The following models which utilised the pre-war Lighting Set were modified to remove it, as it was no longer available
1.7, 1.8, 1.11, 2.6, 3.7, 4.20

In 1947 a 'Selected Models' manual was issued, which had a number of set 0-3 models. Most of these models were repeats from the standard manuals of the era. However three of them were taken from pre-war manuals. These were 0.19 (1937) and 1.45 and 2.22 (1937-41). The reason for issuing this manual is unclear as the majority of the models were from current manuals.

In early 1947 there was a minor revision of the manuals to correct a number of errors or clarify building instructions

Details of changes

Outfit 0 manual
The early 1945 manual had yellow paper and black print as pre-war
The November 1945 manual changed to off white paper and green print
The December 1945 was the same as the November version except for a panel for the manual name and number
In 1946 the manual reverted to yellow paper and black print with a panel for the manual name and number
In 1946 the text for models 0.19 and 0.21 was reformatted
In 1947 on the contents page 'Flat Bracket' -> 'Fishplate'
Some of the 1947 manuals have a stick on label saying that the next set is the 0a (0a was introduced in 1948)
Manuals - general
All manual front covers featured a blocksetter crane and a boy. The March 1945 main manuals had blue front covers. All the rest (i.e. from December 1945) had green front covers. The Accessory outfit manuals had orange front covers. For some reason the March/April 1947 Accessory set manuals had a blue front cover instead of the normal orange. The next issues in 9/47 reverted back to orange. There was no change to the contents.
'How to begin the fun' page (Main manuals only)
1945 - Last paragraph said that due to wartime restrictions only the magic motor is available (dates 3/45 & 12/45)
1946 - Last paragraph said that certain electric & clockwork motors would be available during 1946 (dates 4/46 -> 12/46)
1947 - The 7/8 manual had a stick in label on this page noting that the No.1 clockwork motor was now of a reversing design and slight modifications to certain models would be needed to accommodate it. (The 1946 manuals did not have this)
1947 - Last paragraph said that certain electric & clockwork motors would be available soon (dates 1/47 ->)
Meccano Mechanisms Pages
From 4/46, the text in 'Epicyclic Transmission Gear' was reformatted
Meccano Parts pages
1945 - Basically the same as pre-war except that a number of parts were renumbered
Part 155a -> 155, 217a -> 24a, 217b -> 38d, 54a -> 54, Part 219 -> 187a
Up until manuals dated 10/46 parts 35 -> 38d had pack quantities noted. From 12/46 these quantities were deleted.
'Build Better Model' Pages
For many outfit manuals the models on these pages initially did not show the identification numbers and pointers that were on model instruction pictures. Later on these appeared as below:-

Manual	Print date	No numbers	With numbers
1A	4/46	X
1A	5/47 ->		X
2A	12/45		only M/C
2A	4/46 ->		M/C & D/M
3A	-> 4/46	X
3A	3/47 ->		X
1	-> 4/46	X
1	12/46 ->		X
2	-> 4/46	X
2	12/46 ->		X
3	12/45		only M/C
3	4/46, 10/46		All
3	12/46		M/C & D/M
3	6/47		only M/C
4	-> 10/46	X
4	12/46 ->		X
5	All	X
6	All	X

12/45 accessory manual 1A not yet examined

Models
- 1945
  Model 4.2 - Part number correction - Part 54A -> 54 (12/45)
  Model 1.29 - 2 of 27 -> 2 of 17 (printers error in 12/45)
  Model 3.11 - In 1245/40 No.3 manual only had 2 of 215 instead of 2 of 125 - Was this a printers error affecting only some of the copies?
- 1946
  In the 1946 No.6 manuals the parts list for model 6.5 included the Magic motor. There was a comment in the model instructions that as the No.1 C/W motor was not available the Magic motor could be used instead. In the 1/47 manual, this note was removed, with only the No.1 C/W motor being mentioned in both the parts list and description
  
  In 1946 a few models had small revisions as follows:-
  Model 2.8 - Text reformatted (4/46)
  Model 2.20 - 2 of 16 added (4/46)
  Model 3.3 - Para 3 - Text reformatted - 12/45, 10/46 & 12/46 all same and 4/46 same as 6/47 ??
  Model 4.7 - Para 1 - Text amendment, Para 4 - Text reformat (4/46)
  Model 4.9 - Parts list reformatted (4/46)
  Model 4.11 - 2 of 19b -> 2 19a (4/46)
  Model 4.19 - 6 of 111c -> 6 of 111 (4/46)
  Model 4.20 - In Fig 4.20b, there is an extra No.1 and associated pointer (4/46)
  Model 5.13 - 2 of 24 -> 2 of 24a (4/46)
  Model 5.17 - Para 5 - Text reformatted (4/46)
  Model 6.16 - 4 of 90a -> 4 of 60a - *** Error is introduced *** (8/46)
  Model 6.16 - 1 of 111c -> 1 of 111 (8/46)
- 1947
  The 1947 manuals had a minor revision. Several models had errors in their parts lists corrected and several models also had the building instructions amended slightly, to clarify certain points or correct errors. The models involved were ('T' signifies text change, 'F' signifies text formatting change and 'P' signifies parts list change). For more details click here:-
  - 0.10(T), 0.11(P), 0.12(T), 0.19(P), 0.20(F)
  - 1.6(T), 1.18(T), 1.19(F), 1.21(P), 1.33(F), 1.38(T), 1.39(F), 1.40(T)
  - 2.7(T), 2.8(T), 2.9(T,P), 2.11(T), 2.21(T)
  - 3.3(T), 3.7(P), 3.10(P), 3.13(P), 3.15(T), 3.17(P), 3.20(T)
  - 4.4(P), 4.5(T), 4.6(P), 4.7(T), 4.10(T,P), 4.22(T)
  - 5.2(P), 5.8(T), 5.12(F), 5.13(P), 5.14(F,P), 5.15(P), 5.17(T), 5.21(T), 5.22(T)
  - 6.1(T, P), 6.2(T), 6.5(T,P), 6.6(T,F), 6.8(T), 6.9(P), 6.11 (P), 6.12(T), 6.13(T), 6.14(T,P), 6.17(T), 6.19(P), 6.22(P)
  - 7.2(T), 7.3(T), 7.5(T), 7.6(P), 7.9(P), 7.10(T, P), 7.11(T, P), 7.12(P), 7.13(T, P), 7.15(T), 7.17(T), 7.18(T, P), 7.19(T), 7.20(T, P), 7.21(T), 7.23(T, P)
  - 8.1(T, P), 8.2(T, P), 8.3(P), 8.4(P), 8.5(T, P), 8.6(P), 8.7(P), 8.9(P)
  There were some errors in the model parts lists that were not corrected:-
  Model 0.24 - An error is noted - 1 of 38a instead of 1 of 48a (This error was introduced in 1946 - 1945 manuals were OK)
  Model 1.14 - An error is noted - 22 of 37a is wrong
  Model 1.37 - An error is noted - 1 of 47c instead of 1 of 57c
  Model 3.19 - An error is noted - 2 of 38a instead of 2 of 48a
  Model 7.6 - An error is noted - 3 of 90 instead of 3 0f 90a
  
  In 1947 (7/47 manuals) - Model 1.23 was renamed from Trolley Bus to Tramcar