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Part 126/a: Trunnions

126	Trunnion	1921	-	4	4	8	N°00	Announced May 1921
126a	Flat Trunnion	1921	-	8	8	12	N°0	Announced Sept 1921

Trunnion and Flat Trunnion in 1950s green

The parts

Another exceptionally common and quite simple part, the trunnion and flat trunnion are included in almost every single Meccano outfit, the trunnion even in the tiny outfit 00 of 1955-60.  The parts were introduced in 1921, with the trunnion announced in the May 1921 edition of the Meccano Magazine, and the flat trunnion just a few months later in the September issue.

Coincidentally, the trunnion was also mentioned in the March 1921 suggestions section (along with the reverse angle bracket), although it is mentioned there as being "in process of manufacture" rather than "already added to our list of parts".  We could perhaps draw from this a suggestion that the trunnion was available after the reverse angle bracket (part 124) but before the flat trunnion.

Although the flat trunnion was included in every outfit from 1922 onwards, the trunnion was originally only supplied in the very largest outfit 7 of 1922.  It was included in the outfit 6 from 1924, but wasn't brought down to the very smallest outfits until 1928, after which it became a very common part.  For this reason, the trunnion is quite rare in nickel plate and pea-red finishes.

Interestingly, the definition of the word 'trunnion' is of a pin or pivot, especially a pair of such pivots allowing something like a cannon to pivot.  In truth, these Meccano parts are mounts on which trunnions can be attached (either bolts or pivot bolts or even an axle), but the parts themselves are not trunnions.  However, such was the power of Meccano, a large number of people now refer to any side mounting plates or brackets as trunnions.

Chronological variations

One of those rare absolutely consistent parts from its introduction in 1921 through to the end of production, it does however have the honour of being one of the most varied in colour schemes, certainly if you include the many colours that the flat trunnion has been produced in since 1979.  We may have difficulty getting pictures of all of them!

The only change to the trunnion was the odd variation (along with many other parts) where the irregularly shaped holes were omitted in the Mechanised Army parts of 1939-41.

Variations and oddities

None known, as yet.

Dealer spare parts boxes

Individual part numbers

Part numbers for the parts on this page are as follows:    Unique part numbers
For identification, each variation has been given a suffix to the main Meccano part number. These suffixes consist of a two-character code for the colour, and if there are many variations, a further number and sometimes letter code to identify each variation. See the bottom of the 'Parts' page for further details.

You don't need to worry what the codes are, just click on any one for a photograph.

The button above turns on and off the display of DMS numbers (where they are known). The DMS (Development of the Meccano System, Hauton and Hindemarsh) published in 1972 and added to in 75 and 82, suggested part numbers for every variation of every Meccano part. These numbers aren't perfect, but they are recognised and also referenced in the EMP (Encyclopedia of Meccano Parts, Don Blakeborough).

Description	from	126	126a
Nickel plated	21	.ni	.ni
Early red (pea-red)	26	.re1	.re1
Dark green	27	.dg	.dg
Medium green (pre-war stamping)	33	.mg1	.mg1
Gold	34	.go	.go
Red	37	.re	.re
Matt olive green †	39-41	.ma
Medium green (post-war stamping)	45	.mg	.mg
Light green	58	.lg	.lg
Yellow	64	.ye	.ye
Olive green (Army Multikit) †	73	.am	.am
Dark yellow	78	.dy	.dy
White †	79-85	.wh	.wh
French blue	82-97	.fb	.fb
French yellow †	85	.fy	.fy
Dark grey † (Space warrior/Interceptor)	93-96	.gy	.gy
Red (Starter/Dynamic sets)	94-99	.re2	.re2
Red (Evolution/Collection sets)	96-99	.re2a	.re2a
Yellow (Evolution/Collection sets)	96-99	.ye2
Light orange † (Mission Universe)	97-99		.or1
Zinc plated	98	.zn	.zn
Black	98	.bk	.bk
Black crackle † (Anniversary set)	98		.bk1
Matt black † (Roto truck)	98		.bk2
Electric blue † (Survivor car)	98	.bl1	.bl1
Dark red † (Centennial blocksetter)	98	.dr1
Fluorescent green † (2 model helicopter)	00-04		.gr1
Green crackle † (2 model helicopter)	05		.gr2
Orange † (7 model helicopter)	00		.or
Sand yellow † (King Ghidorah)	06		.ye3
Dark red † (Vintage set)	07		.dr1
		ALL	ALL

Please send us pictures of missing parts! Hints and tips for pictures
Take a picture of the part in very good light, preferably on a plain yellow background, without a flash but with a tripod.
Ideally, trim the picture to about 150 pixels per inch of the Meccano part (unless the part is particularly big or small), save it as a reasonably good quality jpg file with a filename of exactly the part number, for example 19b.ni1.jpg, and email it to us by clicking on 'Contact us' at the top of the page. Thanks!

• A greyed-out box shows that no part exists for that colour combination.
• Part number codes with a green background have an attached picture of the part, just click once on the code to show a photograph of that part in a separate window.
• Parts marked "†" were temporary or economy parts, or existed only within specific themed outfits. The previous part continued throughout or afterwards.

Further information

Total number of messages on this page: 11.  This is page 2 of 2.   

Martin Hanson      (at 8:45am, Thu 30th Jul, 09)

White flat trunnions are in the Space 2501 kit from 1979, numbered part 475.

Dick Watson      (at 7:16am, Thu 30th Jul, 09)

Re. Bend. 126 fits over the edge of 52 with the line of 3 holes matching holes in the top of 52 . Also, if you bolt 126a to a flange and a 126 to the top, a rod though the top holes is parallel to the top of 52. You can make a truck by bolting 2 x 126 to the top of one end of the 52 and 2 x 126 to the flange at the other, and turning it over. Re. Primus I would also like to know about dates. I suspect that Primus and its trunnion were around during the 1914-18 War. I regret that do not have a camera which takes close-ups, but I expect that some one else will be able to oblige.

Martin Hanson      (at 11:33am, Wed 29th Jul, 09)

You beat me to it Richard ! 1964 onwards trunnions are definitely yellow, I do not think I have even seen a zinc one. If they were not yellow in 64 then they would have been silver paint or even nickel, no zinc on anything until 66 or later. PS - I got some very interesting error messages when I tried to post this message containing single apostrophes. Reply: Thanks Richard and Martin, I published this page half-finished unintentionally... now I've corrected the colours (I think) including Oscar's more recent offerings, so we have a whole lot more colours to find apparently... It also looks like I broke the comments engine's ability to handle apostrophes... I believe it's fixed now (I hope), sorry about that!

Dick Watson      (at 7:43am, Wed 29th Jul, 09)

I think that you ought to mention the Primus trunnion, the Meccano one being almost certainly a simplified version. This, in turn, was modelled on the axleguards of the traditional British 4 wheeled goods wagon. Also, the Argentinan variations deserve a mention. You might also explain the cunning placing of the bend in 126. Reply: I can't find a Primus trunnion easily, having thrown away hundreds of them! A good picture would be nice. Do we have a reasonably accurate date as to their introduction? I'd like to know more about the "cunning placing" of the bend -- what exactly were you meaning?

Richard Payn      (at 3:44am, Wed 29th Jul, 09)

Hi Charles, The trunnion and flat trunnion from 1964 are yellow. I reckon the zinc plate one you have a picture of is French.

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