1978-1980

GENERAL
These were the last main standard range sets/manuals produced in the UK before the collapse of Airfix in 1981 when all production of Meccano transferred to the French factory. Note that these sets were only actually manufactured in 1978 and 1979, because the Meccano Binns Road factory closed in late 1979. Although some production did restart in 1980 in South Wales, this was only the range of 'Action Models'. See the 'Theme' section for the Themed and Action sets of this period.

A completely new range of sets was introduced in 1978.
However sets No.9 (renamed 'Master Mechanics') and No.10 continued on from the previous range. There are no known additional printing of these manuals in this period

The Pocket Meccano set also remained in production with an instruction leaflet printed in 1978.

A Starter & No.1
The A starter and set 1 manuals were identical apart from the covers. It appears that the A Starter set was only available for a very short period as the manuals are quite rare. Not sure when or were as it does not appear in any Meccano sales literature of the period. Also there are two versions of the set contents lists on the rear of the No.1 manual. One version is identical to that on the rear of the A Starter manual which includes the A Starter set and the other version omits the A Starter set contents. The version with the A Starter set contents is very rare.

The additional parts (over the A Starter set) contained in set 1 are not used in the set 1 manual models. Instead there was an additional leaflet included titled 'Extra Parts for Extra Fun' included with the set, which included instructions for five additional models. The A starter and set 1 manuals, also included all the Pocket Meccano set models.

No.2
Two versions of the No.2 manual have been identified. On the inside front cover, the most common version has a page entitled 'The Next Step Forwards'. The other rarer version has a page entitled 'How to Motorise Your Models'.

No.3
Two versions of the No.3 manual have been identified. On the colour photographic spread showing the set models, the earlier version shows them with cheese head bolts and the later version with round head bolts.

No.4
Only one version of the No.4 manual has been identified.

No.5
Two versions of the No.5 manual have been identified. the first version obviously had errors in the model instructions as a later version has a number of difference photos with the pages reset.

There are no other identified changes to the manuals during the period.

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For most of the sets of this period, two versions are known. One with the box, purely in English and the other in dual English/French. The set reference/stock numbers were different between the two versions - the English only version starting with '0' and the dual language with'G', except for addon sets 'S' and 'L' which had different numbers and Space 2501.