Washers - nice one Screwfix

[Mary Fisher]

Thanks :-)

I have a wonderful memory. The retrieval system is faulty.

Mary

[Andy Dingley]

I used to get my Meccano by the literal truckload. Our family moved the scrap steel from Binns Road. Of course most was only painted on one side, had mis-punched holes, or other oddities. I did have enough to once build a tower crane with a 6' jib that was tall enough I had to assemble it in the garden and complete the rigging from the bedroom window!

[Andy Dingley]

Appeared in the '30s I believe. I think it's made in Spain and you can still buy sets (and mortar) from Hawkin's Bazaar.

It's quite different to Linka. I had one Linka mould, but was never really that keen on it. I made model railway buildings using it, moulded from Das.

[John Rumm]

Kind of makes what the rest of us got seem a bit "small"!

These were the sets I remember:-

[Andy Dingley]

I also have one of the '30s aircraft building sets 8-)

[Andy Dingley]

I'm just re-creating an Edwardian toy I once saw. A wooden battleship and torpedo boat. The torpedo boat fires a spring loaded torpedo and the battleship explodes in pieces once hit - all powered by mousetrap mechanisms and an inertia fuze !

[Mary Fisher]

Not enough information ...

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Our grandchildren are/have all been enraptured by the 'tanks' we've made for them with a wooden cotton reel, a matchstic, a bit of paraffin and a rubber band.

I hope we don't have many more sproglets, we're running out of wooden reels and the plastic ones aren't as good :-(

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

I suspect that those of us who not only get Hawkins catalogues but know what's in them are set apart from those who don't ... :-)

Mary

[Tony Bryer]

No I never actually owned Bayko myself. I am truly grateful to my dad and various tradesman he employed from time to time for being remarkably tolerant of a small boy who hung around and asked endless questions. I remember being aged about 12 and left to put in some doorbell wiring. When my dad came back to look I'd lifted loads of floorboard in the wrong place, but all he said was "at least you've been busy" and set to sort things out - no recriminations. To anyone with kids I would say that a bit of encouragement goes a long way.

As to being a BCO, that was by accident. My first job was in LA building maintenance, schools, then old people's homes. Great colleagues, dreadful boss, which made it a stressful place to work but as it was my first job I didn't know better. As part of my training my boss said I should be seconded to Building Control for three months. I was not keen on the basis of better the devil you know. Anyway on day one it was obvious that Building Control was completely different - a real happy place full of enthusiastic people who were out to do a good job and really interested in improving their knowledge. I was living at home at the time and recounting my first day my mum prophetically said "the way you're talking, you'll stay there".

Three months later as my secondment was ending a post became vacant which was they offered me. When asked about salary I said I was more than happy to stay on my present grade, but my new chief officer insisted on me having an increment. When I told my old boss I was leaving he went ballistic, accused me of treachery, throwing his 'kindness' back in his face etc etc, and said that he would see the Borough Engineer to stop my transfer. Later I found out that within an LA they can do this, except when you are moving for more money. Thus the insistence of my new boss on the increment ... And that was my next eight years taken care of

[Andy Dingley]

I'm not a Meccano anorak. Despite my wide range of fur-trimmed outdoor gear, Meccano isn't one of them.

But back in the '30s, Meccano produced an aircraft constructor set. Nominally standard Meccano parts, it mainly contained specially-shaped wing aerofoils, cast radial engines, curved fuselage panels etc. It's one of the Great White Whales of Meccano collecting.

Couldn't find any web pics - here's something similar from the US Erector sets.

[Mary Fisher]

I couldn't agree more.Our five were never made to feel that they were a nuisance, even when they were. From being able to walk they all 'helped' Dad in the garage and me in the kitchen - even if only by passing things. That way they learned the names of tools and ingredients. Later they learned how to use them. They are now all very practical men and women who can turn their hand to almost any task and do it well.

Some of our grandchildren have been brought up the same way. Our youngest son was thrilled when his young nephew proudly referred to 'Uncle Luke's truck' when he was allowed to help - on a Moggy van! Naturally it's still called that - and it's still on the road despite little fingers.

I know I sound old (which I am) but I despair when I see so many younsters who aren't not only unable to do anything but buy what they want - even meals - but don't expect anything else. When Spouse was a teacher and it became known that we didn't have a television his pupils were amazed, they couldn't think what he did in the evening.

At the moment he's making wooden spectacle frames and bone needles ... I'm making rushlights.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

balsa ... I wonder if he knows about it ...

Mary

[Andy Dingley]

I made rushlights with my son once. We'd been talking about the Dark Ages over lunch, which had included BabyBel cheese, and the garden outside is clay leading down to the river, so we had rushes to peel.

My next smithing project might be some rushlight holders.

[Mary Fisher]

Spouse makes a lot of them. So do a lot of people in fact.

He's going to learn how to do flint-knapping on Friday but doesn't know it yet ... :-)

Mary

[Andy Hall]

I think that this is very true. We were talking about toys as well and expecially construction sets. Even these are now prepackaged with bits to make a specific thing rather than being generic and encouraging the children to create their own models.

I think that the real things or those that are as close to real as possible are the best. When I was about 4, one of my grandfathers sorted out a box of old electrical wiring accessories carefully selected so that the plugs wouldn't fit anything in the house. He also gave me a small screwdriver and some wool to 'wire' it up.

Not long afterwards, I was given a battery and torch bulbs in small holders and some real wire, so by the time I was about 6 I was wiring up circuits with switches in series and parallel and learning a great deal. I was using a soldering iron to make electronic circuits when I was 9, mostly self taught by then.

How many children did you say that you had?

Any pictures on your web site?

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Brian Sharrock]

Somebody wrote;- (lost the attribution)

Dear Sir/Madam- It has come to our notice that you are minded to produce a military style 'toy'. You should be aware that such a device will not be permitted to be marketed! You should rather devise a ship that can be "recycled" rather than 'explodes in pieces'. Perhaps encouraging children to sort the pieces into 'ferrous'; "non-ferrous" parts. We note your intention to utilse wood for the artifact and we presume that you will only use timber from certified sustainable forests. Mousetrap mechanisms are similarly deprecated. Wishing you well in your endevaours ...

[Andy Dingley]

's OK The ship will be named "Pacific Pintail" and I'm replacing the torpedo boat with a Greenpeace rubber inflatable.

Or as one of my son's school science (sic) books put it, "the two metals are steel and aluminium. Only steel is magnetic"

Naturally he was despatched back to school with a sample pack of brass, copper & bronze, two flavours of esoteric unobtainium (nimonic and Ti), a non-magnetic steel and a highly magnetised aluminium alloy.

For my recent furniture I've taken to including photos of the tree before felling, and the site as it is today. Apart from recycled and birch plywood, nearly all my timber is locally grown and I know who felled it, even if I didn't do it myself.

They're not just deprecated, they're getting hard to find ! I had an awful job finding some real wooden "Little Nippers", rather than something that tried to reason with the mouse and discussed repatriation in a caring manner..

For real genius-level mis-use of mousetraps, you need the Xmas card I received last year.

[Mary Fisher]

Quite, I've mentioned this in terms of modern Lego in this thread.>

Hey yes! We always had to wire up our own bicycle lamps when we were very young.

I had the great advantage of a godfather who was a master plumber but had a huge workshop with every hand tool imaginable. He was also an antiques fanatic.

I had the run of his house and workshop. I sliced my hand on one of his planes when he wasn't around so he taught me how to use it properly. That taight me to treat all tools with respect. My mother would have forbidden me to go back had she known. He also allowed me the run of all his musical instruments and ancient books. Gave me an even then ancient copy of Shakespeare for my first birthday. Mum thought he was mad, I don't, I still have it and use it - with a magnifying glass. And the chest musical box he gave me when I was too young to remember.

Five. Eight grandchildren. Their parents do have television :-)

The grandchildren have their own :-(

Of what?

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

LOL! Because of the spelling this is utterly believable :-)

Mary