Kits related to the Philips EE series

Two Pionier radio kit series were made in the late fifties or early sixties: Pionier Senior with vacuum tube constructions for solder mounting, and Pionier Junior with early germanium transistor constructions mounted by a nut and bolt system. The latter series is the ultimate ancestor of all later kits.

From 1964 to 1966 a series based on the EE 20 series radio constructions filled the function of the Pionier kits – it even inherited its nut and bolt mounting system. It consisted of the basic kits RE 1, RE 2 and the intermediate expansion RE 1a. A long wave expansion which could be used both for these kits and the EE 20 series kits appeared in 1966.

In 1967 these kits was replaced by RE 1108, which was based on the early EE 1003 and EE 1005. It seems that the long wave expansion was included in this kit as an alternate construction.

In 1966 the series consisted of the IE 2000 kit. An English version of the manual for this kit is dated 1969. The construction is similar to the B3 intercom construction from EE 20, but not identical.

Mechanical Engineer ME 1200 from 1964 or 1965 could be used alone or in combination with EE 8/EE 20 to make electromechanical models. In 1966, its last year of production, the ME 1800 series of supplemental component packages was added to the series. Many of these stayed in production for the lifetime of the ME 1201 and ME 1250 from 1967 to 1969. ME 1201 could be combined with EE 1003 to make electomechanical models, while the smaller ME 1250 could be used alone or as an expansion for ME 1201.

The series was discontinued in 1970, possibly in favour of the compatible Philiform series – not covered here, see the Philiform database web site instead.

The only kit in the series, LE 1350, appeared in 1980. It was last included in the 1983/84 catalog.

The CE 1400 series grew steadily from a single kit in 1970 to seven in 1975 or 1976. In 1979/80 a final kit was added, while two were discontinued and their contents partially incorporated into enlarged versions of the two main kits. In 1984 all but one of the kits were discontinued in favour of a new series by Schuco, the 6600 or ABC series.

Both series had Quelle variants of some kits.

In 1972, and still in 1977, the series consisted of PE 1550, PE 1501 and PE 1502. PE 1500 was added in 1979, replacing PE 1501 and PE 1502. By 1982 PE 1540 had been added. At some point there was also a PE 1555 kit (an expansion for PE 1550).

The later 6500 or ABC series consists of the main kits 6501: Physik A · Electro-Technik and 6502: Physik B · Solar-Technik and four standalone thematic kits 6521: Wetterkunde · Meteo Lab, 6531: Mikroskopie · Biowelt, 6532: Architekt Natur and 6533: Stereoskop.

There were Quelle versions of some kits in the PE series, I've not seen any from the ABC series.

Appearing with a single kit in 1971 or 1972, the CL 1600 series quickly grew to include seven kits in 1974. All but one of these survived until 1980. After a two year hiatus, a new kit appeared in 1983. Unlike its predecessors which dealt with simple gate logic, this kit contained a complete microcomputer.

Ca. 1973 the series consisted of the basic kits X20 and X40 as well as the intermediate expansion X20A and the amplifier expansion X40A.

In 1981 the series consisted of the three kits ET 101 (1) light, ET 102 (2) sound and ET 103 (3) radio. In 1982, three more was added: ET 104 (4) noise, ET 105 (5) games and ET 106 (6) music.