10 fun models to build. Easy to carry and store your parts in the tool box. Tools and instruction booklet included. 100 parts, 4 Years +

From the Meccano Multi Models range is the Motion System which you can make 20 different models with. Batteries not included. Requires 2 x AA 8 - 15 Years

A great toy for adults and children alike, 09 May 2007
I bought this for my brother for Christmas, mostly because his partner has a 9 year old daughter and I thought they he could play with the kids. The sight of him on boxing day with a furrowed brow, pouring over the instructions, but not letting them beat him will remain with me forever and puts a smile on my face whenever I think about this toy. Even worse for my brother is the fact that he works in the car industry.

I chose this particular set because it has a lot of different models and comes with a motor, so it has pretty much all you need to make something worth making whilst learning a few engineering fundamentals at the same time. The manuals could be a little clearer, but this adds to the fun in my opinion and it should be remembered that this is a toy and not an exercise in poka yoke (fool proofing) perfection - after all what would be the fun in that.

To sum up, meccano has moved on a long way since I was young, it has improved in quality and there is a lot more creativity in the models. A good toy that teaches some engineering.

Mecanno Motion System 20 and daughters!, 21 Jan 2004
This has been one of the most pleasurable things we have bought our daughter. She has always enjoyed construction kits and she is so thrilled that she can now start to make "grown up" models! She is 7 years old! She is able to handle the small nuts and bolts and use the tools within the kit with relative ease. She needs some help when following the instructions, so mum and dad just have to sit down with her to do this.What fun!! We have talked about all sorts of things - batteries and electricity, axles, cogs, friction to name just a few. Meccano reminds us of our youth and the fun we had. Well done!

10 fun motorised models to build. Includes a 6V motor. Easy to carry and store your parts in the tool box. Tools and instruction booklet included. 100 parts. Requires 4 x AA batteries (not included). 4 Years +

Easy! Clip, clip, twist and it is fixed! Designed for the smallest hands in mind the Meccano Kids Play Tractor is the simple and fun way to introduce your kids to construction play, improving motor skills and colour recognition as they go! With 40 pieces included and 3 models to build (only one can be made at a time), your child is sure never to get bored of building and rebuilding!

A great toy for adults and children alike, 09 May 2007
I bought this for my brother for Christmas, mostly because his partner has a 9 year old daughter and I thought they he could play with the kids. The sight of him on boxing day with a furrowed brow, pouring over the instructions, but not letting them beat him will remain with me forever and puts a smile on my face whenever I think about this toy. Even worse for my brother is the fact that he works in the car industry.

I chose this particular set because it has a lot of different models and comes with a motor, so it has pretty much all you need to make something worth making whilst learning a few engineering fundamentals at the same time. The manuals could be a little clearer, but this adds to the fun in my opinion and it should be remembered that this is a toy and not an exercise in poka yoke (fool proofing) perfection - after all what would be the fun in that.

To sum up, meccano has moved on a long way since I was young, it has improved in quality and there is a lot more creativity in the models. A good toy that teaches some engineering.

Mecanno Motion System 20 and daughters!, 21 Jan 2004
This has been one of the most pleasurable things we have bought our daughter. She has always enjoyed construction kits and she is so thrilled that she can now start to make "grown up" models! She is 7 years old! She is able to handle the small nuts and bolts and use the tools within the kit with relative ease. She needs some help when following the instructions, so mum and dad just have to sit down with her to do this.What fun!! We have talked about all sorts of things - batteries and electricity, axles, cogs, friction to name just a few. Meccano reminds us of our youth and the fun we had. Well done!

Spykee - the Spy Robot, 01 Oct 2008
I've had the Spykee robot for a few days and here are my first impressions, positive and negative.

The robot took me a few hours to build. I'm sure you could build it quicker but I took my time. The instruction manual is pretty good and once it's built it only takes a short time to get the thing working over WiFi - assuming you understand WiFi and how to use and configure wireless networks. It's a good idea to follow the suggestion of getting the robot working in 'local' mode, then in 'local remote' mode, then full remote mode. The robot has its own inbuilt wireless transmitter for 'local' mode and a receiver for other modes. For all modes other than local, you connect the robot to your wireless router so you do not have to have a PC running all the time if you want to connect to your robot when you are away from home. I've had a couple of issues with the robot failing to connect to my router and I suspect that's because it's wireless range is not as good as my PC - but it's not bad. You control the robot using a custom GUI that you download from the Meccano website. The GUI is pretty average. There is no help on the GUI and you're expected to know what the various buttons do by reading the manual (also downloaded from the Meccano website). Once you've figured out the GUI it's pretty easy to control the robot and send it around your house. Overall I'd say it's a decent gadget and you'll enjoy playing with it and I'm sure a couple of minor quirks I've noticed with the GUI will be fixed in a later release of the GUI or a new firmware version for the robot. I have a few dislikes that I'd like to point out - mostly to do with what i take to be 'over optimistic' marketing of the product:
a) The robot is not designed for going up/down stairs - it'll fall over
b) The VOIP (voice over IP) capabilities are not integrated with Skype and you can only have a chat over IP if you have logon permission to the robot from a remote GUI. I'm sure the robot was originally touted as having Skype but it doesn't.
c) The robot has a surveillance capability which on the surface looks like a good security measure (and a reason for gadget freaks to justify the purchase to the Mrs.). However, you can only put the robot into surveillance mode if you are connected to it via the GUI and remain connected to it - which kind of defeats the object of having the robot looking after my house while I'm away if I have to be internet connected to the thing all of the time.
d)Battery life could be better
e) The robot has a 'self-dock' feature whereby it can find its charging station when the battery is low. But it can only find the charger if it is situated within a few feet of the charger.

A classic Meccano set with real moving parts! The set builds up to 10 models (one at a time) such as a trike with moving wheels or a plane with a spinning propeller and with new shapes and body panels, this set ensures the most realistic modelling! The set includes 220 parts, tools and assembly instruction booklet are included!

A classic Meccano set with powered moving parts! The set builds up to 30 models (one at a time) such as a trike with moving wheels or a helicopter with a spinning rotor that move on their own powered by a 6v motor! And with new shapes and body panells, this set ensures the most realistic modelling! The set includes over 350 parts, tools and assembly instruction booklet are included!

Full function tuning street cars build them and bring them to life! This set features 163 flexible coloured metal parts to build 2 different kinds of street cars that drive forward, left, right and reverse. Complete with tools.

A traditional Meccano set. Makes 1 vintage Spitfire. Contains 319 pieces. 8 Years +

A cool model designed for little hands! The Meccano funky car is as it sounds, funky! It is a cool road going vehicle designed to be built by younger hands with flexible & strong plastic pieces instead of metal for safety with and fun colours! The screws & bolts are included as are the tools to build this mean machine! The instruction booklet is also included to teach you how to build all 5 different configurations of this cool vehicle, including a helicopter and a plane! Includes over 160 parts to put together!

Sophisticated mechanisms produce movement in the 50 super large toys that can be built with this set, including helicopter, ship and truck with articulated arm. Includes 6v electric motor, three gearboxes and a power tool for fast building. Includes detailed instructions and tools. Requires 6 x AA batteries (not included). 8 Years +

182 Parts, tools and instructions, to build easily and quickly 7 models (1 at a time), all with a futuristic cyber theme : buggy, bike, and sidecar are just some examples. 8 Years +

40 extra large toys can be built with this set, including outboard motor, walking elephant and spinning robot! Movement is produced in each model by the 6v electric motor and two gearboxes. Comes in plastic storage case with detailed instructions and tools. Requires 4 x AA batteries (not included). 8 Years +

A great toy for adults and children alike, 09 May 2007
I bought this for my brother for Christmas, mostly because his partner has a 9 year old daughter and I thought they he could play with the kids. The sight of him on boxing day with a furrowed brow, pouring over the instructions, but not letting them beat him will remain with me forever and puts a smile on my face whenever I think about this toy. Even worse for my brother is the fact that he works in the car industry.

I chose this particular set because it has a lot of different models and comes with a motor, so it has pretty much all you need to make something worth making whilst learning a few engineering fundamentals at the same time. The manuals could be a little clearer, but this adds to the fun in my opinion and it should be remembered that this is a toy and not an exercise in poka yoke (fool proofing) perfection - after all what would be the fun in that.

To sum up, meccano has moved on a long way since I was young, it has improved in quality and there is a lot more creativity in the models. A good toy that teaches some engineering.

Mecanno Motion System 20 and daughters!, 21 Jan 2004
This has been one of the most pleasurable things we have bought our daughter. She has always enjoyed construction kits and she is so thrilled that she can now start to make "grown up" models! She is 7 years old! She is able to handle the small nuts and bolts and use the tools within the kit with relative ease. She needs some help when following the instructions, so mum and dad just have to sit down with her to do this.What fun!! We have talked about all sorts of things - batteries and electricity, axles, cogs, friction to name just a few. Meccano reminds us of our youth and the fun we had. Well done!

Spykee - the Spy Robot, 01 Oct 2008
I've had the Spykee robot for a few days and here are my first impressions, positive and negative.

The robot took me a few hours to build. I'm sure you could build it quicker but I took my time. The instruction manual is pretty good and once it's built it only takes a short time to get the thing working over WiFi - assuming you understand WiFi and how to use and configure wireless networks. It's a good idea to follow the suggestion of getting the robot working in 'local' mode, then in 'local remote' mode, then full remote mode. The robot has its own inbuilt wireless transmitter for 'local' mode and a receiver for other modes. For all modes other than local, you connect the robot to your wireless router so you do not have to have a PC running all the time if you want to connect to your robot when you are away from home. I've had a couple of issues with the robot failing to connect to my router and I suspect that's because it's wireless range is not as good as my PC - but it's not bad. You control the robot using a custom GUI that you download from the Meccano website. The GUI is pretty average. There is no help on the GUI and you're expected to know what the various buttons do by reading the manual (also downloaded from the Meccano website). Once you've figured out the GUI it's pretty easy to control the robot and send it around your house. Overall I'd say it's a decent gadget and you'll enjoy playing with it and I'm sure a couple of minor quirks I've noticed with the GUI will be fixed in a later release of the GUI or a new firmware version for the robot. I have a few dislikes that I'd like to point out - mostly to do with what i take to be 'over optimistic' marketing of the product:
a) The robot is not designed for going up/down stairs - it'll fall over
b) The VOIP (voice over IP) capabilities are not integrated with Skype and you can only have a chat over IP if you have logon permission to the robot from a remote GUI. I'm sure the robot was originally touted as having Skype but it doesn't.
c) The robot has a surveillance capability which on the surface looks like a good security measure (and a reason for gadget freaks to justify the purchase to the Mrs.). However, you can only put the robot into surveillance mode if you are connected to it via the GUI and remain connected to it - which kind of defeats the object of having the robot looking after my house while I'm away if I have to be internet connected to the thing all of the time.
d)Battery life could be better
e) The robot has a 'self-dock' feature whereby it can find its charging station when the battery is low. But it can only find the charger if it is situated within a few feet of the charger.

Brilliant, 18 Nov 2003
This is a must for any active and inventive child. Hours of fun to be had and a good toy to bring out the best in their creative side.

Builds 8 different police models! Build the ultimate crime fighting vehicles with this one awesome set! whether it's a boat, bike or car you need to catch the bad guys, the Meccano Police Bucket is all you need! The set comes complete with 100 pieces capable of creating a range of 8 different models in total and 4 at the same time. Use the instruction manual to build the set models or create your own hybrid crime fighting machines!

Nostalgic design and package based on an original Ferris Wheel Set. Contains 477 pieces and has the ability to build up to 23 other models. 8 Years +

Designed for the younger mechanic in mind! The Meccano bike and sidecar is an awesome road going model built easily with flexible & strong plastic pieces instead of metal for safety with and fun colours! The screws & bolts are included as are the tools to build this mean machine! The instruction booklet is also included to teach you how to build all 4 different configurations of this cool vehicle, including a cool dragster bike and a helicopter! Includes 74 parts to put together!

New flexible parts to build 3 different motorcycles. Contains 189 pieces. 8 Years +

Classic Meccano construction set with a modern "flexible" twist providing educational fun for budding young mechanical engineers! This design set allows young builders to make 2 models like the car shown using the flexible spring steel parts which retain their shape after use! (only one model can be built at a time) The set contains a massive 128 pieces and includes detailed assembly instructions for the 2 models included!

Part of the award-winning Build & Play family, this set features 99 colourful flexible plastic parts to build 4 different models including a quad bike, helicopter, seaplane, dragster and more. Complete with tools. 4 Years +

A new set with new models! Use the new cable system for unique movements! Can build up to 15 models and contains 252 parts! 8 Years +