Welcome to Smart-Toys.

Smart-Toys is an importer and seller of Merkur - metal construction toys and sets for Canada. We are located in Toronto, Ontario. Here you will find loads of information about Merkur sets, histories, downloads ,a Model Gallery and much more. And, in our Online Store you can buy any Merkur construction set and accessories ! Enjoy your visit, and come back again often!

What is the Merkur?

Merkur is a top quality metal construction set. Individual parts are put together with bolts and nuts. This gives high resistance and toughness that prolong life of the toy. Repeated drops on the floor as well as savage use are not a problem.

In the present Merkur construction system contains 153 different parts. For example, you can find bolts, nuts, belts, boards, spindles, axles, wheels, gear wheels, springs, magnets, light bulbs, electric wires, electric motor and many other parts. Almost every single part is made of metal. Of course except car’s tires and parts which have to be plastic, such as transparent pieces or pieces you have to bend .

The inseparable part of Merkur toys is the electric motor with built-in 2-speed transmission, reverse functioning and a remote control. Motor is included in box of Merkur M8, the largest and best set. However, it is possible to buy the motor separately with gear wheels ( Merkur M2.1 or Merkur M2.2 ) and use it with a smaller construction set. This way you may to build relatively difficult mechanisms and gears, such as fully functional differential, worm gear pair, bevel gearing, fast and slow gears, contrate gearing, gearing with the cardan joint, link mechanism and many others. The size of the bigger Merkur model can exceed 1 meter easily and it can weigh a few kilograms. Larger sets include light bulbs and sockets for illumination. For advanced constructers is Merkur system a good foundation for prototypes, and experiments. For example the first machine ever used for production of contact lenses was built of Merkur.

Merkur is one of the best educational metal construction toy on the market.

Differential	Drive of Truck
Gearing with a universal joint (Cardan):	Link mechanism:

For who is the Merkur designated?

One of the most beautiful characteristic of Merkur toys is that it is so variable and adaptable to requirements and the age of user. Of course, because of small pieces present, Merkur is not suitable for children of age 3 or less. Child in age of 4-6 will enjoy playing with built model. In the age of 6 and higher, the child is able to build less difficult models by himself. It depends only on child’s imagination, craftsmanship and parental support, how far can his engineering skills find limits. Today when TV, computer games and internet is so wide spread, Merkur is ideal for support of child’s fantasy, craftsmanship and education.

With Merkur construction kits it is not a problem to build difficult models which include 5 or more electric motors, gears and other moving parts. In the Europe, Merkur is included in educational process in schools. It is very popular as a hobby among technical educated and literate adults too.

What kinds of construction kits are available now?

In our product line are almost 30 different kits. Small Merkur sets with 100 up to 300 pieces in the box are for beginners. According to included manual it is possible to build 10 different models plus, of course, models you will imagine. Large sets M1.1 , M3, M4 , M5 , M6 ,M7 and M8 are for more difficult models and it is possible to build more models at once. For example the largest set Merkur M8 contains over 1400 pieces (all 153 different types including electric motor and gearing) and weighs almost 7 kilograms. In the box you can find 20 wheels, so you can build up to 5 cars and one tracked vehicle at once.

Some sets are thematically classified: Merkur Fire set, Merkur Safari set – off-road vehicles, Merkur Army set – military vehicles, Merkur John Deere, Merkur Kitty Hawk – aircrafts , Merkur Helicopter - you can build Apache Attack Helicopter and the Merkur Farmer set.

3 sets are aimed on Railways - Merkur "Cross Express" Train Set M030 , Merkur Railway Models M031 and Merkur Railway Models M032 .

Construction kits Merkur Classic C01 and C02 are replicas of vintage sets mostly for collectors, a perfect choice as gift.

And in the last category there are two completely functional models of a Merkur Steam Engine ( Medium and Standard ) .

Every set has a full color manual included in the box, and you can download these manuals in PDF formar from our web.

...and a few words about history of Merkur

We dare to say, that Merkur is the oldest and the most well-known producer of toys in Czech Republic. The early production has begun in 1920 ( as Inventor set ) and it is still lasting. Even in worldwide scale you can hardly find a producer with older or more interesting history than Merkur. We have to mention that the production is still in Czech Republic, not like the majority of the toys you can buy today in store. It is very nice to see sign “Made in Czech Republic” on the Merkur box. If you are interested in the history of Merkur even more, you can find more details on this page.