Spin Master‘s MECCANO (known in the U.S. as “Erector” Sets) has just scored a Guinness World Record. The Big Bridge Build, a year-long project, resulted in a massive bridge over Clarendon Dock in Belfast, Ireland, built entirely out of Meccano parts. Created by the Queen’s University Belfast Civil Engineering Department with assistance from Spin Master, McLaughlin & Harvey and Aecom, Architecture and Civil Engineering faculty and students built the bridge, with the help of local school children, as part of the university’s outreach program to encourage more children to think about careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Officials from Guinness World Records have confirmed that this bridge is the world’s largest Meccano structure. Take a look at some stats!
- Length of Bridge – 28.5 (96ft)
- Longest Span of Bridge – 14m
- Height of Bridge – 6m (26ft)
- Weight – 600kg
- Pieces of Meccano – 11,000
- Nuts, bolts, washers – 60,000
- Total length of Meccano pieces (laid end to end) – 3,835m*
*Equivalent to the length of 341 Routemaster buses or the height of 10 Empire State Buildings.
Check out http://www.erector.us/ to see what new sets are available from Meccano.
Photos Courtesy Queens University Belfast.
