Erector Set Turns 100 · Slashdot Mirror

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Tuesday October 9, 2001 @10:59AM from the dirty-puns-obvious-and-therefore-redundant dept.

GospelHead821 writes: "It's been one hundred years since the first Erector Set was patented in Europe under the name of Meccano (It is sold under this name in Europe to this day). Unfortunately for Erector, the advent of plastic Lego bricks in 1958 spelled misfortune for the more complex, metal frame construction kit. Erector fans should keep an eye out, though! The Brio Corp. may be looking to reintroduce the Erector Set to the United States sometime soon. I remember playing with an old Erector Set when I was a kid, but I haven't seen one in quite a while. Here's hoping it makes a comeback. As versatile as Legos are, there's just something unconvincing about a Martian Destroyer Robot made out of plastic." My ranking is Capsula > Erector > Tinker Toys > Lincoln Logs > Lego.

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Meccano still around by Mwongozi · 2001-10-09 11:07 · Score: 5, Informative

Meccano is still pretty popular here in the UK. I never even realised that it had a different name anywhere else.
There's a good web page here which has some plans for some cool models (dinosaurs, airplanes, diggers, etc.), and some photos of some pretty weird things made out of Meccano, too. :)