Both my boys are interested in cars, especially sports cars. You know, they want to be a famous footballer one day, so they have to brush up on their sports car knowledge just in case. I got my husband Robert a sports car day for his birthday last year and he got to drive a Ferrari, so they have been very popular with them since. They have various different models, so when the Meccano Ferrari 488 Spider came my oldest Lucas couldn’t wait to build.
To be honest, this turned out to be something that my 10 year old couldn’t do on his own. It is quite complex and at times it is best to have two people, one to hold and one to out the nuts and bolts in. It is a fantastic project for some one on one family bonding time. We built this together. It wasn’t easy and challenging at times. But, with some patience, this project is rewarding and looks amazing when built. I’d recommend this for an older child or a mature 10+ year old who enjoys these types of things. I loved Meccano as a child and building model aeroplanes with my dad, so this was right up my street. We had a lot of fun building.
Within the kit you will find everything you need to get this little car built. Lots of bits, nuts and bolts, stickers, screwdriver similar item for screwing in the bolts and a spanner type item for attaching the nuts. The instructions are simple and straightforward by using step by step via picture diagrams. As with meccano there are some great pictures for the type of screws you need to use. You put the screw over the picture to check the size and look. No more using the wrong one and only finding out when you are 3/4 of the way in.
The instructions are easy to follow and I’d suggest you map out a chunk of time to do this and separate the parts into bundles. It will make things a lot easier in the long run. We discovered a missing part and contacted Meccano via the link on the instructions. It took seconds and the part arrived within 3 weeks. Excellent customer service. Once the part arrived we got stuck in and started to build. The screwdriver and spanner were a lot of fun, but it does take patience and perseverance.
You can see what I mean about the instructions and how it shows where the screws should go and the size is laid out there for you. The instructions were to follow, but it was a little tricky for my oldest. Once we got into the swing of setting it up, we were on a roll and with the base all together, it was starting to look pretty cool.





My son has the same set, but is really struggling to finish it – it’s a little too difficult for him just yet I think. Thanks for linking up with #TriedTested