I write this review with great good humour.
Some time ago, PI & I attended Londons Toy Fair & whilst there saw the Meccano range and met the team. Some of the gadgets looked spectacular and aware that a good number of you have children, it seemed rude not to have a closer look at the value of these entertaining gadgets for youngsters.

So it is that tonight, for some three hours I found myself sat on the floor of CB’s lounge (our Web Manager) building a rather fabulous Meccano motorcycle model.
The good humour arises because it is only after two pairs of hands (I dragged CB into the operation) and three hours of time that I noticed the box described our motorcycle as “Design” and “Advanced”. They weren’t joking! I went to bed with the parting words of

“’Design’ & ‘Advanced’ shall now forever strike fear in my heart.” – but I was smiling as I said it.

Consisting of 115 pieces and capable of making two different models of motorcycle, the kit certainly kept us highly occupied.
It should be noted that CB and I have the combined age of almost 80 ... and this kit was for 8+

With traditionally superb instructions, where it seems everything has been considered, even down to ensuring the colours depicted in the instructions match the pieces and there being a guide for all the different screw lengths, we got stuck in with considerable and very un-40-ish enthusiasm. I would go so far as to say when it comes down to getting things right, IKEA could learn a lot from Meccano...

Step by step – and for the particular model I chose, there was 15 steps, we followed the instructions meticulously and typically managed to make a mistake. This only came to light when we reached step 10 and our error had occurred at Step 3. I giggled and noticed how relaxing it was to spend an evening doing this. I handed the kit over to CB to remedy the error and considered the merits of Meccano for a family. Made of extremely sturdy metal & plastic, these kits are built to last, entertain and be shown off. You can build them, play with the final model (most have one or more moving parts) and dismantle them and build something else, completely at your leisure. There is a wonderful sense of longevity about the kit.

Finally, I was kindly handed the model, nigh completed by CB – my main task had been to twist the Allan Key as and when asked – to merely add the wheels. This done, I proudly held up the model for it to be admired by CB & husband. It again struck me that the final model was far better than the picture depicted by Meccano and perhaps some of that was slightly influenced by the sense of achievement gained in building something rather than just pressing a console button & blowing something up on a screen ...

For quality, excellence of instruction, appropriate challenges (it lended itself wonderfully to the final sense of achievement on completion), genuinely fun use of time, longevity, interaction etc, there is no way I could score this gadget at any less than 10/10 – with the added thank you of some quality time spent with dear friends.

Available online and at toy stores nationwide, with RRP: £12.00 For more info see www.meccano.com