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| Sue couldn't wait to try the new driver |
Fighting off an especially vicious dose of flu, we did make it back to Olympia on Thursday. What a difference, the stand was calm and the Spin Master staff all looked a slightly shell shocked. Some of the models were looking a bit worse for wear which gave Sue the chance to try out the new driver. The last day was drawing to a close, by the time we got there, and it gave us a chance to get a few more pictures and some information on release dates.
Crane
I had a closer look at the crane and the blue, 3D printed, gear seems to be a shade over 3 inch diameter. It is 'drilled' similar to a 3 inch pulley. The other parts lurking in there are a wheel flange and grey, 3 inch pulley from the Super Construction Set. Remember, that this is all mocked up at the moment and all this might change. The stand staff are knowledgeable about the product, but not to this degree, as the crane was developed by the team in Los Angeles.
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| It is a bit grainy this shot but it shows the components. |
The London Toy Fair is primarily a sales event. I will try and glean some more information from the development guys, over the coming weeks, once the round of international fairs that concern us is over by late February, with the last one being New York.
Packaging
As far as I can gather, the new spring releases will appear, initially, in packaging bearing the Multimodel, Evolution, Special Edition and Turbo branding. I am assuming this is to lead the new products to the market in a form the buyers understand. The main relaunch of the Meccano brand has always been planned for Christmas 2015. In the autumn the new packaging will be rolled out across the whole brand and the segregation will be no more. The new range, including the reboxed items released this spring, will replace all existing products making the whole range, Spin Master designs. The current range will sell thorough. This may take a while but keep your eyes open as I am sure there will be bargains to be had. Our man in the Black Country has already reported seeing the Super Construction Set being sold off at half-price at Smyths Toys.
Here are a few more pictures of the sets to come. We have no firm prices yet but if the new Fire Rescue Truck set (See
HERE) is used as a guide, pricing seems to be reasonable. That set has a RSP of £9.99 but here in the UK Argos are selling it at £7.50 each if you buy two.
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| Construction crew loader |
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| Air Force set showing box-art flying wing |
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| Dessert adventure set - before Sue had it in the repair shop! |
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| Mountain Rally set, on the right |
The Canyon Crawler and the Helicopter sets pictured below are really Evolution format sets and may well appear under that branding initially. As you can see, the boxes are just mock-ups at the moment and although the Autumn releases will follow this style they may not be exactly the same. As stated above, the spring release box art will differ but be repackaged for autumn to comply with the new identity.
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| This 4x4 has many names but is a nice chunky model |
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| Starboard engine of the helicopter seems to be in need of Sue's attention |
These sets will start appearing over the next few weeks. As soon as they are available we will let you know. As soon as we get our hands on them, we will give you a sneek preview.
It has to be said that all this Classic meccano was overshadowed by a short four-foot high bloke, insistent of giving you 'high fives' even though he only has three fingers and a thumb!
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| High four anyone! |
Ralph
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