Xmas presents....back in the day

[kerching]

So having been subjected to th plethora of Xmas adds, all the children 'must haves', Banks going to the ends of the Earth to return a scarf, Subway Turkey specials etc I got to thinking about my childhood Xmas 

anyone remember these........probably not

View attachment 7764

The only one that I never had was the Phonograph.   Probably all still in a cupboard at my Mum's

i think it was these that originally got me into making stuff....and look where that got me!

this year elder daughter has decided that Santa is bringing my eldest granddaughter her wish for  a Mud Kitchen for the garden

so this weekend is pallet conversion time!

need to go to scrappers and see if they have a knacked microwave

just saying ...it's not all,££££££££££s

 

[ProDave]

Mecano, Lego, those 100 in 1 electronic project kits, chemistry sets, Working Mamod steam tractor, telecsope etc etc.

I was hoping to get my daughter a new bike for Christmas, but got overruled. she now has a new ipad to await her. I am VERY underwhelmed by that but as I say not my choice.
 

 

[Evans Electric]

Mecano, Lego, those 100 in 1 electronic project kits, chemistry sets, Working Mamod steam tractor, telecsope etc etc.

I was hoping to get my daughter a new bike for Christmas, but got overruled. she now has a new ipad to await her. I am VERY underwhelmed by that but as I say not my choice.
 

I did some work at their factory some years back .   

Kerch would have loved some of those inventor things , never seen them before . 

 

[ProDave]

I still have my steam tractor. I must fire it up some time, I see no reason for it not to still work.

I nearly set fire to the house with it once when some spilled meths caught fire. Whoops.
 

 

[Evans Electric]

Can you see one of those being sold today .... Yes Kids , just fill the tractor tank with methelated spirit  and set fire to it ,  heres a box of matches to get you going  . 

 

[kerching]

I had forgotten about the electronics kit.....the one with the pegboard, metal clippynthings and springs, loved it!

 

[Tony S]

Mecano, Lego, those 100 in 1 electronic project kits, chemistry sets, Working Mamod steam tractor, telecsope etc etc.

I was hoping to get my daughter a new bike for Christmas, but got overruled. she now has a new ipad to await her. I am VERY underwhelmed by that but as I say not my choice.
 

LEGO was passed down to the boys in the family so the sets grew like Topsy.

After Carl S was born he got the lot. We went to Legoland in Norway where they have the lego-university.

Wish we had Mecano……………

 

[kerching]

I had one of the very first Lego,sets in the UK

my grandad brought it back for me from  Norway in the late 50s early 60s

still got it

still,stand on the bricks when granddaughters have left it out

still hurts

 

[ProDave]

I had forgotten about the electronics kit.....the one with the pegboard, metal clippynthings and springs, loved it!

Yes that's the ones. They came in different sizes (more components and springs = more circuits you can make from them)
 

 

[kerching]

I remember using it to learn about transformers

i learnt that they work when wired wrong way around

i i learnt with my  fingertip

 

[Evans Electric]

I had one of the very first Lego,sets in the UK

my grandad brought it back for me from  Norway in the late 50s early 60s

still got it

still,stand on the bricks when granddaughters have left it out

still hurts

Still short sighted then  !!!   :innocent

 

[ProDave]

Can you see one of those being sold today .... Yes Kids , just fill the tractor tank with methelated spirit  and set fire to it ,  heres a box of matches to get you going  .

Don't forget to fill the boiler with water first.

They were bloody well designed. the capacity of the meths burner was set perfectly that it would run out of meths and the flame would go out, just before the boiler ran out of water.
 

 

[kerching]

I scratch built a little steam engine when I was 14

started with some tubing, brass sheet, blowtorch

after two months I finished with a beautiful scale model,which exploded with a very large bang and lots of shrapnel the first time I fired it up

whoops

 

[steptoe]

I remember making a little steam turbine from an Andrews liver salts tin,

Always wanted a mamod, but never arrived so made my own thingymabob,,,

 

[apprentice87]

I had one of them Mamod things, and a microscope once too. I really wanted a space hopper once but never got one.. What i really really wanted, [but never got] was a cowells lathe...

john..

 

[kerching]

I had one of them Mamod things, and a microscope once too. I really wanted a space hopper once but never got one.. What i really really wanted, [but never got] was a cowells lathe...

john..

A lad I know decided it would be fun to go,down the stairs on his space hopper!

you know those 1920s houses with a large glass window to the side of the front door?....and then another double glass door outside on the porch?

he forgot about them

it did not end as he had anticipated.

 

[revjames]

you were all lucky.... all I had was a hoop and a stick...

Mainly Lego, Meccano, Scalextric, train sets, chemistry sets, bikes, spirograph, etch a sketch (early tablet ) and stuff like that. Never ever had clothes and computers hadnt been invented

 

[steptoe]

I still have my train set , its in my mums loft, still in box, along with most all the other bits I got for it at birthdays etc,

I remember getting my first new bike, I was about 12 or 13, 

Living in the country we went potato gathering every year, and half the money went to Santa, was put in a 'Foxes glacier fruits' jar on Xmas Eve for his elves. 

Even at an older age when the magic was lost, the tradition went on, we simply never had the sort of money where my mum and dad could buy me a new bike , some of the best presents I ever had were the ones my dad did up.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Can you see one of those being sold today .... Yes Kids , just fill the tractor tank with methelated spirit  and set fire to it ,  heres a box of matches to get you going  . 

Erm.....  Yes..?

http://www.mamod.co.uk/

£168.00 for the traditional traction engine.

Guinness

 

[Evans Electric]

OMG!!!!   Do H&S  know about this ?