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Our childhood toys

I had a spud gun, don't think I ever shot anything, cats were safe with me.
ade said:
Those crystal sets were a good learning curve
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My dad bought me a crystal set as a reward for passing the 11 plus. A white cased 'IVALEK'. I think it had the pointer knob rather than the round one. Looking back, that was what aimed my career into electronics and onward. It was certainly apart more than working. SG Brown headphones to go with it as well.

Andrew.
 
Brummie a long time ago said:
I had a spud gun, don't think I ever shot anything, cats were safe with me.

My dad bought me a crystal set as a reward for passing the 11 plus. A white cased 'IVALEK'. I think it had the pointer knob rather than the round one. Looking back, that was what aimed my career into electronics and onward. It was certainly apart more than working. SG Brown headphones to go with it as well.

Andrew.
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My older brother had an IVALEK crystal set too. We spent ages fitting long aerials up the garden and again finding an earth. We would share the headphones and listen.

Writing this just got me thinking, were brush aerials anything to do with crystal sets?
 
I was lucky, we had a longish garden, and Dad had a shed at the end. My aerial went between the clothes line posts up the garden and into the shed with no inconvenience. Earth was simply a metal stake outside the shed hammered into the ground.

Morturn said:
were brush aerials anything to do with crystal sets?
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I have searched the dimmest corners of my mind (in other words most of it), and cannot relate to brush aerials. Anyone else ?? Dish, loop, yagi, long wire, slim Jim, phased array all turn up, not brush.

Andrew
 
Morturn said:
Who had one of these then......
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Wasn't the most common model of pressed steel construction? That one looks to be diecast. I had a diecast model (posted here earlier) that could be used as a water pistol too by putting a a plastic cap over the end.
 
Yeah, had a spud gun too - also a Sekeden gun - used to fire little gold coloured balls (which you had to buy so dried peas worked just as well!!)
 
Morturn said:
Writing this just got me thinking, were brush aerials anything to do with crystal sets?
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Discussions elsewhere seem to suggest that they were just a fad of the 1950s. Bit like all those indoor TV aerials that came with dishes or other gizmos. (We found that a knitting needle plugged straight into the socket worked very well!).
 
mbenne said:
We must all have been the owners of large arsenals of cap and spud guns over the years and I know I've had all of the ones below. I suppose it must have been a spin off from the war years and the influence of endless american cowboy series shown on 50's and 60's TV but we always seemed to be playing war games or cowboys and Indians - I even had a Davy Crocket hat!. My Dan Dare space pistol was a bit of an embarrassment as it was too futuristic but if you didn't have anything suitable then you made pretend or improvised. One of the older lads had a length of metal tube and old spark plugs as dummy ammunition. He used this as a Bazooka or Mortar, depending on the state of play. We were most impressed and everyone wanted to be on his side!

Ammunition for our cap guns could be bought from shops at both ends of our road at Wally Goode's sweet shop and Woodroffes (but not on Sundays!). Woodroffes was also a hardware shop and in later years was where we bought pellets for out Gat air pistols.


View attachment 140260
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i had all those. then went on to a GAT
 
Morturn said:
My older brother had an IVALEK crystal set too. We spent ages fitting long aerials up the garden and again finding an earth. We would share the headphones and listen.

Writing this just got me thinking, were brush aerials anything to do with crystal sets?
Click to expand...


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Vintage Radio Antenna: ID?


1642940450746.png they were common on old houses from the 1920's/30's, the base is ceramic and about 4.5 inches high and the elements are bronze and 9" long. They can still be seen occasionally on old houses that have resisted modernisation.
I've always known them as hedgehog aerials, or brush earials

I am presuming that they must have been reasonably efficient to supply adequate signal to the radios of the day
1642940613073.png
 
I seem to remember sticking something ? in the end of a bike pump & the air pressure would shoot it out. Anyone remember those foil papers from ciggie packets that we used to shape & then toss them up to the ceiling where they would stick ?
 
In the 60's my brothers played many hours with their plastic forts that they assembled and had the plastic cowboys and Indians to go with it.The only thing that spoilt it was they always smashed it up to put it away when they were finished with it.
 
Smudger said:
I seem to remember sticking something ? in the end of a bike pump & the air pressure would shoot it out. Anyone remember those foil papers from ciggie packets that we used to shape & then toss them up to the ceiling where they would stick ?
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I can remember forcing hawthorn berries down a bike pump and really building up the pressure. When the berry shot out it really stung especially if it hit exposed skin.
 
I bought one from another shop (not sure which one, not Wilko) and it contained two in a set. I was worried about the size of the balls for small children so I changed the balls for ping pong balls. I bought them for my granddaughter, but we grown-ups get as much fun out of them ! Viv
 
Vivienne14 said:
I bought one from another shop (not sure which one, not Wilko) and it contained two in a set. I was worried about the size of the balls for small children so I changed the balls for ping pong balls. I bought them for my granddaughter, but we grown-ups get as much fun out of them ! Viv
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great stuff Viv i am not going to say i did buy one to play with:grinning:
 
I had a bat-and-ball which mom called a biffbat, the ball was on a piece of rubbery string and it kept breaking. My brother had Jokari, not sure how to spell it, the ball was on a block of wood on the ground and needed two players with wooden bats a little larger than table tennis ones.
rosie.
 
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