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I had a Gilbert erector set, as was previously referenced it came with a powerful AC motor that had a gearbox attached, which was so cool.

Other thing I haven't heard mentioned, balsa wood airplane kits, sharp knives and hallucenagenic glue. Was pretty cool putting these together, flying them, crashing them, losing them in trees. I think about the time I had in the summer as an adolescent and wonder if I will ever feel (or be) as unencumbered by time again.
 
Also the dope that was applied to the covering on the balsa airplanes. Probable on the banned list now.
I had a Jet Ex motor for one model. Had some type of pellets that produced a large amount of gas in an enclosed space thus formed a jet.

David
 
Wow, Jay! That's the microscope I referred to earlier. And I'm guessing the 90° 'diamomd' tile flooring is your work. I did th' hovel gunwhale-to-gunwhale the same.

Tools were different in my situation, my Old Fella had about anything necessary for fixing stuff. As long as I followed the Cardinal Rule: After you've finished, the tool should be cleaned and put back where it came from. That has carried over into adulthood.

The rest of my existence may be in chaos but my tools are all clean and neatly organized!:encouragement:
 
I still have at home a handful or two of plastic girders and posts from a set you used to make buildings and bridges. Was around HO train scale as I recall. Got them as a kids in the early 60s.
 
DrEntropy said:
Wow, Jay! That's the microscope I referred to earlier. And I'm guessing the 90° 'diamomd' tile flooring is your work. I did th' hovel gunwhale-to-gunwhale the same.
Click to expand...

Yeah Doc, think as a kid this was ~the~ microscope...and yeah, that's the tile flooring in the family room. Gotta like because it's tough as can be, easy to maintain, and it keeps looking nice.
Here's interior photos of the Gilbert microscope case (with real shrimp eggs!). I also was given this neat (made in Japan) slide set. Nothing quite like a kid getting a magnified view of bug parts.
By the way, does anyone remember having the small stationary steam engine? It had a copper boiler with a whistle atop, a piston, and a flywheel. It got hotter than all get out, and spun that flywheel at a pretty fast clip. It had a pulley attached to the flywheel which gave one the idea you could power your erector set whatever...but it spun too fast and would start spitting hot droplets of water everywhere (at least mine did).

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mikephillips said:
I still have at home a handful or two of plastic girders and posts from a set you used to make buildings and bridges. Was around HO train scale as I recall. Got them as a kids in the early 60s.
Click to expand...



My next door neighbor had one of those.It was red.
Seem to recall it also thin plastic sheets to use for floors,etc.
His had Red girders/connectors.
I found one at a flea market,new in box,but they
wouldn't budge on the price.
 
Come to think of it, I had a wood burning set too.Can still smell the burning wood. What were you supposed to do with it? I also built model planes, put a small motor in a Thimble Drome race car, assembled gliders and a model hydroplane.
 
I still have Meccano in the basement. surprised no one has mentioned the destructive power of a simple magnifying glass. many many hours spent.
 
I spent many hours building electronic projects from Popular Electronics as a kid. I had to beg my mom to drive me out to Lafayette Electronics on Long Island to get all the "bits" I needed... if only we had the interned back then.
One of the projects I made was a crude homing device that could be picked up on a AM transistor radio. I stuffed it inside an Estes model rocket to help locate it after landing. Fun times!
 
In addition to balsa wood planes built plastic scale kits for cars, planes, battleships. Model trains, Lincoln Logs, visible rotary engine. Loved to build things, never could get the kids too interested, couldn't compete with the immediate thrills of video games, which I admit to spending too much time on with the kids too.
 
Popular Electronics was a staple of my youth, too. The Old Man was my "enabler" in that he had drawers full of resistors, capacitors, diodes, etc. A good selection of vacuum tubes & pots. Later (early '60's) transistors.

Had a Hallicrafters SX-99 as a receiver and built THIS around age twelve or thirteen. Made the outside unit with 3/8" Lucite. It sat on an antenna tower atop the garage.

...I'd forgotten about that!
 
And we can’t forget Heathkit. The digital clock I built in the early 70’s still resides on my night table purring away.
 
I had Lincoln logs, a microscope, an erector set, a wood burning kit, etc. Of course mine were in 1980s packaging. I remember using the wood burning kit ad nauseam for a year or so, I found every piece of scrap wood my dad had around the house and would embellish it with my crude drawings. I think everyone in my family received one of these pieces of art.
 
Have not thought about the steam car for years. It has sat on the shelf in the basement gathering dust. I bought it in England from a nice hobby store in about 1980. Also got the ship model about the same time. The ship model was beyond my modelling skills or patience. The ship model got to the 1/2 way stage and then stalled.

My Dad helped me build a crystal set in about 1961. The Tuning coil was wound around a M & M tube and it used an olr plate type condenser. Not sure where the crystal came from. It was probable a piece of Galena. Had old WW2 headphones.

David
Steam car.jpg
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AngliaGT said:
My next door neighbor had one of those.It was red.
Seem to recall it also thin plastic sheets to use for floors,etc.
His had Red girders/connectors.
I found one at a flea market,new in box,but they
wouldn't budge on the price.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's the one. I found at one point online a company who apparently either owns the original molds or made new that was selling them. Not as sets like original but as a bulk series of bits, 200 girders, 200 posts and so on. Was tempted to get some for old times sake.
 
David, I bought this one to celebrate my daughter's birth in 1991. about 25% in, 4 moves and 2 countries later it is still in the basement - one day. :rolleyes:

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My Dad and I spent many an evening hour on the back porch building a Heathkit short wave
 
Whenever I see these "toys" as an adult, I think back how envious I was of the rich kids who owned them. I managed to acquire a used microscope and from parts made a short-wave radio. The bigger the antennae, the better the reception. Come in Moscow! GONZO
 
Someplace in here I've a QSL card from London (BBC) and one from Moscow.
 
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