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ArishMell · 70-79, M
@TraditionalSchoolboyChris[i] Meccano[/i] has had a rather chequered history since Hornby sold it, but it is still made and has a following of adults using it to make very advanced models.
Discussing this and other constructional sets like[i] Lego[/i] and the (long-gone) [i]Bayko[/i]* with friends who like me are interested in serious model-making, we wondered if the manufacturers of such kits have lost the original point.
This was to encourage children to think for themselves and having been guided by the examples in the kits' instructions, make models to their own designs.
Instead, the modern manufacturers seem to assume children now have no imagination or initiative, so sell single-model kits. Once you have made the model illustrated on the box... then what else do you, or even can you, make with the parts?
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*[i]Bayko[/i] was an architectural model set. It used a rectangular base drilled with a matrix of small holes into which you inserted thin, vertical steel rods of lengths in storey increments to hold the various brickwork panels, window-frames and doors by grooves down their sides. Though somewhat constrained by the outlines of the one-piece roof, you could make a wide variety of buildings from each set.
'
Edited to correct a mistake.
Discussing this and other constructional sets like[i] Lego[/i] and the (long-gone) [i]Bayko[/i]* with friends who like me are interested in serious model-making, we wondered if the manufacturers of such kits have lost the original point.
This was to encourage children to think for themselves and having been guided by the examples in the kits' instructions, make models to their own designs.
Instead, the modern manufacturers seem to assume children now have no imagination or initiative, so sell single-model kits. Once you have made the model illustrated on the box... then what else do you, or even can you, make with the parts?
==
*[i]Bayko[/i] was an architectural model set. It used a rectangular base drilled with a matrix of small holes into which you inserted thin, vertical steel rods of lengths in storey increments to hold the various brickwork panels, window-frames and doors by grooves down their sides. Though somewhat constrained by the outlines of the one-piece roof, you could make a wide variety of buildings from each set.
'
Edited to correct a mistake.