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The NZMeccano 10-set survey results

The NZMeccano 10-set survey is available here. If you are the fortunate owner of one of Meccano's largest outfits, please tell us about it by going to that page!

This page shows some of the results of our 10-set survey, from the live data collected so far.

If you can think of other information you would like to see (from the data we retrieved), please make a comment at the bottom of this page and we'll see whether it can be added!

The survey was launched on 7th September 2009, and the results to date are as follows:

Overall data set

So far, 199 people have filled in the survey form, describing 411 complete outfits.  These people have an average of 2.07 outfits each!

The outfits described are as follows:

All outfits, grouped by outfit number

Outfit 10	326
Outfit 9+9A	27
Outfit 7	14
Outfit L	9
Outfit 6	8
Outfit 6+6a	4
Outfit K+Ka	1
Box E	1

And here's where all the outfits are located:

All outfits, grouped by location

UK	199
New Zealand	46
Australia	35
Rest of Europe	31
USA	24
Canada	24
South Africa	15
Asia	5
Rest of world	5
France	2

Here's what people do with their 10-sets:

Outfits 10 and 9+9A only, grouped by how they are used

I build models	134
I keep it in a box	96
In my building stock	61
Undecided	48
Something else	5

Looking only at the 10-sets, the colour schemes are as follows:

Outfits 10 and 9+9A only, grouped by colour

Medium red/green	136
Blue/yellow/zinc	84
Light red/green	45
French blue/yellow/zinc	32
Dark blue/Dark yellow	21
Zinc/yellow/black	10
Silver/yellow/black	8
Blue/gold	7
Other or mixed	4
Blue/gold/green	2
French blue/gold	1

Meccano Builders results

If we limit ourselves to the Meccano 'builders', those who have said that they build models with their 10-sets or who have split the parts up into their building stock, we can split up the analysis by colour scheme. In the following graph, the builders are in red and the collectors are in green:

All 10 (or 9+9A) outfits grouped by colour, showing those used for building (red) and collecting (green)

Medium red/green	67 69 136
Blue/yellow/zinc	64 20 84
Light red/green	23 22 45
French blue/yellow/zinc	21 11 32
Dark blue/Dark yellow	5 16 21
Zinc/yellow/black	5 5 10
Silver/yellow/black	3 5 8
Blue/gold	2 5 7
Other or mixed	3 1 4
Blue/gold/green	2 2
French blue/gold	1 1

Collectors' outfits

George asked me to show the colour distribution of 'show' outfits, those that are in really super condition and are true survivors. To qualify for this, we need to look at only those outfits that are in better than 'excellent' condition, with at least the original cabinet, were manufactured by Meccano, and aren't used for building models. The colour schemes break down like this:

Meccano-made 10 or 9+9A outfits, in better than excellent condition, with cabinet, manuals, and parts boxes

Medium red/green	21
Blue/yellow/zinc	10
Light red/green	10
Dark blue/Dark yellow	8
French blue/yellow/zinc	7
Zinc/yellow/black	4
Silver/yellow/black	2
Blue/gold	1

As expected, the 'classic' medium red/green presentation cabinet is the most common, as it is seen as the definitive No.10 set, even by Meccanomen who were brought up on later colour schemes.

• 225 outfits (54.7%) are in an original cabinet or box
• 80 outfits (19.5%) are in a reproduction cabinet
• 271 outfits (65.9%) have all their manuals
• 164 outfits (39.9%) have their small parts boxes
• 77 outfits (18.7%) have their original stringing cards
• 26 outfits (6.3%) have dust sheets or shrinkwrapping
• 6 outfits (1.5%) have their outer packing carton
• 48 outfits (11.7%) have a key!

How did we find them?

So, where do people buy their large Meccano outfits? Here's an analysis of the source of outfits, broken down into those outfits bought before 2000 (in red) and since 2000 (in green):

All Meccano outfits, by source, showing pre-2000 (red) and 2000 onwards (green) purchases

Through eBay	1 76 77
From a dealer	20 30 50
Club member	15 16 31
Toy auction	13 9 22
Some other way	8 12 20
Friend	5 14 19
Bought new	15 1 16
From a lucky contact	9 7 16
Spanner	1 14 15
Classified	9 6 15
It was a present	7 7
Other internet site	6 6
Inherited	2 2 4
Can't remember	1 1

No surprises here, with eBay taking over as the primary source of Meccano outfits in the last decade. Meccano club members, friends, and Spanners make up the most common sources for more recently purchased outfits. What this chart does show us is that a large proportion of outfits have changed hands in the last few years.

Note that outfits where there was no purchase date, or no source information, are not shown in this chart.

Further breakdown of outfits

Let's have a look at all of the outfits now (of any size), and see how many are original and how many have been 'built up' from either spare parts or over a gradual period through various stages. The original outfits are in red, the built up ones in green:

All Meccano outfits, by colour, showing original (red) and built-up (green) outfits

Medium red/green	64 64 128
Blue/yellow/zinc	46 32 78
Light red/green	23 18 41
French blue/yellow/zinc	22 7 29
Dark blue/Dark yellow	13 7 20
Nickel plated	7 7 14
Blue/gold	8 4 12
Zinc/yellow/black	8 2 10
Dark red/dark green	5 3 8
Silver/yellow/black	6 2 8
Other or mixed	1 6 7
Blue/gold/green	1 2 3
French blue/gold	1 1 2

As expected, the most common 'built up' outfit by far is the medium red/green. Original nickel outfits surprisingly show only one entry. The unusual 'mixed colour' original outfit is an export one which was supplied in a mixture of medium red/green and light red/green.

Let's break down the outfits in the same way – red for original and green for built-up:

All Meccano outfits, by outfit number, showing original (red) and built-up (green) outfits

Outfit 10	168 158 326
Outfit 9+9A	20 7 27
Outfit 7	7 7 14
Outfit L	4 5 9
Outfit 6	5 3 8
Outfit 6+6a	1 3 4
Outfit K+Ka	1 1
Box E	1 1

Comments

louis boselli      (at 10:50pm, Sun 24th Apr, 11)

Very informative - and fun!

Phil Fisher      (at 4:25am, Wed 21st Jul, 10)

Interesting - it looks like only about 5% of sets are still with their original owners !

mauro volpato - mpvolpato@alice.it       (at 3:49pm, Thu 12th Nov, 09)

I am owner a meccano outfit n°. 10 yellow and blue in wood box just never used. Absolutely new whit string at the paper box.

Patrick Smith      (at 10:21am, Thu 22nd Oct, 09)

well done-an interesting survey

Peter Goddard      (at 3:54am, Wed 9th Sep, 09)

I have the equivalent of around 3 No 10 Sets, but they have been collected over a number of Years, and not been purchased as such. - Do they count? peter.goddard04@googlemail.com Reply: If you read the main survey page, you'll see the survey is about attitudes towards 10-sets, not quantity of Meccano. Many builders have dozens of ten sets worth of parts, but the survey here is about a 10-set, whether it was made and sold as one, or whether you specifically collected and assembled the appropriate components into a 10-set. Building stocks are not included in this survey, unless you purchased a 10-set and then used the components to build models.

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