Meccano*???!! Rod, are they still selling that crap? I had a 'Tricitytrix' set which was German, too I think. Probably made by Krupps after the howitzer business went tits up. I made a crossbow and nearly pinioned our neighbor, Mrs Woodley.
* Meccano, for the uninitiated, was [is?] a toy modular construction kit, c/w garishly painted, [ but cunningly sharpened ], perforated strips, plates, nuts+bolts, gears, motors etc., with which the aspiring young engineer was supposedly guided smoothly through the intricacies of building, say, a 1/96 scale model of the Empire State Building. Then opting for Accountancy as a career when his parents refused to cough up the $20,000 for the necessary kits.
