A friend always gets me a gift each Christmas that involves some sort of construction – this was his latest offering and jolly good fun it was too. It was a perfect distraction from the in-laws Christmas waffle and endless channel flicking. I never did have Meccano as a kid which is so wrong. I know now how much it offers kids. I was a Lego fan which helps you learn to solve things but not quite like Meccano does. I believe kids can grow up with a lot more practical skills having spent hours using Meccano.

I like that you can build 7 different items – albeit having to dismantle the current one due to the shared pieces. I found the instructions pretty clear – OK, there are a few times that the image overlay in the instructions meant it was a bit tricky to work out exactly how a part would sit, but to me that is part of the “puzzle” enjoyment.
Rating: 4 / 5

I enjoyed making this car, but found the sizes of bolts/screws difficult to determine becuase the writing in the book was very very small.
Rating: 5 / 5