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| A Gears of War set on our blog? |
I did not think I would ever be talking about a Gears of War set on our blog in a million years. When these sets first appeared my will to live was being severely compromised. Surely Meccano were not going down the diversification road in top gear, were they? They were following in the footsteps of that Danish company and forgetting where their roots are. To me these sets seemed over-priced and full of bespoke parts playing lip-service to the brand by adding a few holes and the odd 'real' Meccano part.
So, why on earth is it here now? Price. This week Tesco Direct and Toys 'R' Us (and probably some others) are selling the Halvo Bay Pursuit set for under a fiver (£4.99) each! What appeals to me is this set contains four fence sections that fit together to make a good looking guard rail, ideal for cranes and other structures. Several of these sections can be configured in many ways to make long lengths of guard rail or closed areas, as they are used in the set.
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| The fence sections |
Narrow double obtuse brackets are not very common in any sets and this set has four of them as a few narrow strips and a selection of plastic parts including a large square plastic plate that is used as the floor to the tower.
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| handy narrow brackets |
The set also contains a good selection of nuts and bolts in various lengths, as a bit of a bonus. At its original price, (anywhere between £15 and £20+) this set was not worth looking at from a builders point of view but at this price I could not resist the temptation of buying a few sets. The full manual can be downloaded from the Meccano website.
HERE (approximately 2.2Mb) There you will find the full list of parts supplied with the set.
The set makes up into a sort of tower platform that has no means of access. Forgive me I am not familiar with the game that this sets, and all the other Gears of War sets, are meant to complement. As you can see there is not much appealing about this structure and nothing there to make me want to buy it when it first appeared.
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| Is that it then? Hmmm... not quite |
The set is also supplied with a couple of small figures that are cleverly articulated, two side arms and three packing cases. The latter items might find some use but the figures and guns have no foreseeable future as far as I can see.
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| "Stop chucking those bolts about I am sure the beer is here somewhere..." |
I am sure that these sets are just being cleared out and they will not be around for long so if you fancy a few sets yourself, don't hang about as when they have gone I don't think you will see them again.
Ralph.
As I see it the only useful parts are the narrow doubl;e ended obtuse brackets -
ReplyDeleteBut dem can be dun by bendin 3 ole narrer strips anyways innit :-)
Guessoo
Don't forget the nuts and bolts, Mike - lots of long ones in this set and as I said above, the handrail is useful to us builder's who prefer to use Meccano parts without re-engineering them! But if you don't like the plastic bits that is fair enough - each to their own!
ReplyDeleteRalph (I guessedoo) ;-)
yes, I spotted them on Tesco Direct too and added a couple more to my store. I love the railings! The square plate is useful, as are the narrow brackets. Crates could well fit into a diorama with small trucks and I have already used a couple as a load for a small dockside crane. Yes, at that price, well worth it for the few bits. I am sure I will use the "pipework" thing somewhere one day on an industrial model too!
ReplyDeleteHi Philip,
ReplyDeleteI am please somebody else thinks like we do! I didn't mention the "pipework thing" but Sue was looking at that last night. I could see the wheels of creation turning. I suspect we might see a few of these in use soon...
Ralph.