A model building set with clay bricks that had to be cemented together?

[RogFromBrum]

In the late 50s/early 60s a friend of mine had a kit for building model houses. Little clay bricks had to be stuck together with a special cement and then the completed building could be soaked in water which allowed the bricks to be pulled apart for reuse. It was incredibly difficult to construct something that had horizontal brick courses and square corners.

Does anyone happen to remember what this was called? Although the name doesn't ring a bell, it may have been made by a company called Teifoc as remarkably similar kits are nowadays sold under that name. The attached image, intentionally or otherwise, shows how difficult it was to make anything that looked half-decent!

 

[mw0njm.]

never heard of them till now thanks RogFromBrum

https://www.amazon.com/Teifoc-Beginner-Brick-Construction-Set/dp/B003ZK6C22

 

[Stokkie]

No cementing, but I remember Anker blocks from the reception class in my infant school. https://anker-bausteine.de/en/shop/aeltestes_systemspielzeug/systemkaesten/ They are pressed clay into real bricks. Fröbel's ideas of learning through play is still strong in continental Europe.

 

[Mark Tooze]

I have a reference to this in a book - will try to find it tonight. It looked good!

 

[Stokkie]

No cementing, but I remember Anker blocks from the reception class in my infant school. https://anker-bausteine.de/en/shop/aeltestes_systemspielzeug/systemkaesten/ They are pressed clay into real bricks. Fröbel's ideas of learning through play is still strong in continental Europe.
View attachment 183954

It is a toy version of the Bauhaus 'Haus am Horn'

 

[petermu]

It was called Brickplayer, you can still get it on Ebay.. made by JW Spears. There were about 10 sets from small to gigantic, complete with a little trowel to mix the "mortar". The sets had a blueprint plan in and you set the buildings out on this blueprint. There were plastic windows and brown card roofs. All sorts of special bricks were available to construct a range of quite complicated buildings. I loved it.

 

[RogFromBrum]

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts! I think petermu has hit the nail on the head and I reckon that Brickplayer is what my friend had.

My friend certainly struggled to build anything that didn't look derelict and the times I tried to assist didn't help much. The description on Wikipedia sums my experience up nicely: "... It required a great amount of skill to erect buildings accurately, very time-consuming and beyond the patience of most of the children it was aimed at (8 to 14 years). Especially so in cold houses (as most British homes then were) it would take several days for the building to 'set'. Reusing the components involved a process of dunking the entire model in a large bowl of warm water. After the model fell apart the bricks and plaster pieces required lengthy rinsing to remove all organic traces to prevent mould growing on them."

Happy Days, but thank goodness for the arrival of Lego.

 

[petermu]

In the late 50s/early 60s a friend of mine had a kit for building model houses. Little clay bricks had to be stuck together with a special cement and then the completed building could be soaked in water which allowed the bricks to be pulled apart for reuse. It was incredibly difficult to construct something that had horizontal brick courses and square corners.

Does anyone happen to remember what this was called? Although the name doesn't ring a bell, it may have been made by a company called Teifoc as remarkably similar kits are nowadays sold under that name. The attached image, intentionally or otherwise, shows how difficult it was to make anything that looked half-decent!

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts! I think petermu has hit the nail on the head and I reckon that Brickplayer is what my friend had.

My friend certainly struggled to build anything that didn't look derelict and the times I tried to assist didn't help much. The description on Wikipedia sums my experience up nicely: "... It required a great amount of skill to erect buildings accurately, very time-consuming and beyond the patience of most of the children it was aimed at (8 to 14 years). Especially so in cold houses (as most British homes then were) it would take several days for the building to 'set'. Reusing the components involved a process of dunking the entire model in a large bowl of warm water. After the model fell apart the bricks and plaster pieces required lengthy rinsing to remove all organic traces to prevent mould growing on them."

Happy Days, but thank goodness for the arrival of Lego.

If brickplayer was too challenging the next thing was Bayko which was plastic panels on a baseboard and slotted into wire verticals. This is also readily available on Ebay

 

[RogFromBrum]

If brickplayer was too challenging the next thing was Bayko which was plastic panels on a baseboard and slotted into wire verticals. This is also readily available on Ebay

I had a Bayko! In fact, it's one of the very few things from my childhood that I still have. I've yet to introduce the grandchildren to it because here's a risk of them be kebabed.