Dark Red and Green
1927-1934.
After the short-lived Nickel, Pea Green and Apple Red period of 1926, new colours were introduced in 1927. I have but one complete outfit from the "Dark Red and Green" period, viz. the Number One of 1927. Here it is shown in "as found" condition, including an odd 1a strip!
And here it is restored. (Sorry for that Medium Red Flanged Plate, though - the original was used in a model at the time the picture was taken.) There is some controversy which parts to include in a Number One (or any other 1920s outfit, for that sake). Actually the outfits' contents (and consequently, the box layout) varied from year to year as new models appeared in the instruction books, and new parts were introduced. To read more, follow this link.
For those of you who have sharp eyes, the curved strips have round holes as in the catalogue illustration I worked from. Actually I should have given the matter a second thought before rejecting the original stuff, which had oblong holes. (See topmost picture.) The round holes turned out to be an artist's conception!
Already in 1928, some extra parts were introduced to the Number One, notably four three-inch pulleys (part no 19b). This particular example is from 1930. If you had an "old" Number One (as the one on top of this page) and wanted to update it to a "new" Number One, there was a special accessory outfit called the "1B".
The 1A, of course, was the ordinary accessory outfit making a Number Two out of your Number One. Again this is a 1930 set. Stringing cards long since gone and no catalogue illustration found, it has not been possible to establish the original layout of this set.
Now for something completely different ...
The other day a saw an advertisement for "Meccano in a wooden box". No picture. The seller was an elderly lady living in the south of Sweden. Asking some leading questions I got a description like this:
Yes, it's a large wooden box. Brown. There are half a dozen plates looking like pieces of cheese, dark red, with a single row of holes. There are two things looking like frying pans with three eggs in them. And there are some pieces with ... teeth. A little rusty, and of course it has been played with.
Wooden box. Six Flanged Sector Plates. Must be a Number 6, I thought. From the Twenties. Christofer, you're a lucky guy, I said to myself as the price was agreed upon.
Image copyright: www.blocket.se
And then it arrived, and looked like this!
The "frying-pan with three eggs in it" was of course the Triple-Throw Eccentric ...
Then there was the Circular Saw ...
... and a 100% complete and unscathed Digger Bucket!
After all, it was a nice find, and by counting the nickelled and painted parts I found that it was the remains of at least two sets in Nickel, Pea Green and Apple Red (see Digging for Meccano), plus the Dark Red and Green Accessory Outfits 2A and 3A from about 1930.
But please be careful when you buy Meccano via the telephone!
Back to the Accessory Outfits ...
Making a similar 2A + 3A find months later, boxes and all, I was able to reconstruct this 2A as it looked in 1930. Note the 2-inch pulley (there should actually be 2 of them!) Otherwise the set is identical to the nickel-coloured 2A of 1928.
Visited that link? I think the two curved strips (this time the round holes were no artist's conception!) should go inte the left compartment as shown here - they should not be strung to the parts card. The chimney pieces should, though. And for those of you who have very sharp eyes, note that the chimney pieces and the worm are of the short variety - not to speak of those archaic 19 T pinions!
Image copyright: Meccano Ltd., Binns Road, Liverpool 13.
Now like the 0A, 1A and 2A sets illustrated in the article about Nickel Meccano, outfit 3A underwent corresponding metamorphoses during those hectic years. In the case with the 3A we're lucky to know exactly how the parts layout was changed from year to year, because it always was a 3A appearing in the catalogue!
In 1927-28, the outfits growing bigger and new parts being introduced, the Circular Saw and the Digger Bucket were added to the 3A, and probably late in 1930, the two-inch Pulleys and Rubber Tyres visible in the catalogue illustration. By then, the Windmill Sails and the Digger Bucket had disappeared from the set, as had the small Flanged Wheels. Instead there were four large Flanged Wheels and (not visible in the illustration) the Long Screwdriver 36b.
Having the box and most of the parts of still another 3A, I was able to "confirm" that the set looked something like this in early 1930. The Flat Trunnions should have been dark green in 1930, of course, but I simply couldn't resist using the earlier red as a contrast! Please note the somewhat illogical positions of the one-inch loose pulley and the one-inch sprocket wheel!
According to some Meccano collectors, there may have been a "super 3A" with Digger Bucket and Rubber Tyres (but without Windmill Sails) available for a very short period of time.
After all those 3A's I'm really looking forward to find a 4A, 5A and 6A!