Tinkertoy availability in Europe, or similar, or DIY suggestion

[jg.campbell.ng]

Ideally, I want to buy a Tinkertoy set, see

or a number of them. The application is a set of models for use in teaching 3D computer graphics.

From Hasbro's website, there is no obvious UK or European retailer; but

maybe uk.diyers know of sources.

Or, can anyone suggest an alternative product?

Failing those two, I would have to (reluctantly) fall back to DIY. I already have metre lengths of 4mm threaded rods, so the posts are taken care of. I would need to make the hubs. I suppose a 50--80mm circular hardwood post would be good raw material -- sawing and drilling to be done. Plastic might be nicer -- or whatever you call that milky coloured plastic used for chopping boards.

What I want to construct are 3D coordinate axes (x, y, z) and simple wireframe models, e.g. a very simple 'house' -- the main aim of the latter being to demonstrate various projections. The use of Tinkertoy for this purpose mentioned in the textbook Foley at al, Computer graphics, 1996 ed.

Any suggestions?

TIA,

Jon C.

[sPoNiX]

have a toyfinder service for hard to find toys. Obviously they'll add a mark up on the final price but it'll cost you nothing to find out.

sponix

[sPoNiX]

I think I remember seeing something made out of drilled rubber balls and metal sticks, possibly in a garden centre for constructing netting frames.

Perhaps you could devise somnething similar?

sponix

[Andy Dingley]

So order them from the USA. They're not heavy, shipping shouldn't cost too much. Isn't this Intaweb thing wonderful?

Or else make your own. Tinkertoy doesn't have much to it. The sticks are just dowel, the bobbins can be made from broomhandle, crossdrilled in a V-block in a drill press, then sawn into slices. Find a woodturning lathe (and an eccentric jam chuck) if you want neatly chamfered edges on the bobbins and the 5-hole bobbins.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Tinkertoy is brilliant -- my brother and I had it as young children, but we were living in the US at the time. I wonder if it's still made of wood nowadays?

I don't recall the rods were threaded -- just push-fit.

[sPoNiX]

You are talking a load of bobbins!

;)

sponix

[Tony Bryer]

[Andrew Gabriel] :

We had a set too as kids, brought back from the USA. Came in a big cardboard tube IIRC

They were plain dowels with cuts in the ends to allow them to be pushed into the bobbins.

But your secret is out:

"THIS SET HAS A COPYRIGHT DATE OF MCMLXXIX (1979) BY GABRIEL INDUSTRIES"

[Andy Hall]

I had some as well, made by the original manufacturer and bought for me in the U.S. by a friend of my father's who was an airline pilot. He also bought me some of the other classic American wooden toy, Lincoln Logs (for making log cabins).

Anyway.... Tinkertoy got a lot of use and I remember that it all went into a cardboard container with metal bottom and lid - rather like a larger version of an Ovaltine package. I think that it was what they now call the Colossal pack based on the number of pieces.

The rods were coloured and in different lengths. There is a slot cut into the ends of the rods so that they form a good but removable interference fit in the spools. There weren't plastic flags as I recall.

If you look at the history of Tinkertoy, thay have now returned to wood from the crappy plastic version of a few years ago. Good thing too. Plastic. Honestly.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I'm afraid my set would have had a much older copyright date. The wooden bits look identical, but I don't recall those plastic pieces in my day.

[S Viemeister]

A few years ago, as a Xmas present, my son bought me the biggest TinkerToy set he could find - it came in a large cardboard tube. It was all wood - unpainted, slot-ended dowels and brightly painted hubs, and great fun. I first played with TinkerToys in the 1950s.

Sheila

[Owain]

I had Tinkertoy and I'm fairly sure it was bought new in Britain (mid

1970s) although possibly I had both a new and a s/hand version.

I also had Construct-o-Straws which was plastic connectors (straight-through, T, X and multi-point stars) all of which had an eye in the centre so you could pass a straw through perpendicularly to the plane of the connector. The straws had thicker walls than drinking-straws, so they were bendy but didn't collapse very easily, and could be cut to different lengths.

Owain

[Martin Angove]

Would K'NEX do the same thing? Also by Hasbro:

a lot of things you possibly don't want - wheels and motors and things - but can certainly build 3D models in a similar format to that hub & spoke tinkertoy. Very available in this country.

Hwyl!

M.

[david lang]

Would these do the job?

[jg.campbell.ng]

That opinion in spite of their website, but eventually I found some information at:

a lot,

Jon C.

[jg.campbell.ng]

buying a set as soon as they are back in stock.

Many thanks.

And thanks to all who replied.

Jon C.