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Our childhood toys

  • Thread starter Thread starter angeleyes
  • Start date Start date
I remember Zeetas, which I think cost 6p and were moulded plastic, delta-shaped aeroplanes. They weren't very big and were launched by a small catapult and then soared about a bit.
 
Watching TV with she who must be obeyed and there was a toy from the 20's and I told my wife they sold them in the 60's ?.
It was a small man at the end of a fo golf club that you controlled he had a golf club in his hand and he would swing his club, can not remember what it was called never had one but I thought it was a cool toy
 
Anyone remember this building kit, before lego was heard of. The only one I ever saw was in infants school in the 50's
1577648345729.png

And though I wasn't born in the 30s I got to play with these, donated by our next door neighbour who also gave me a very rusty meccano set. Not plastic but rubber!!!
1577648785598.png

If only the box of bricks could be made to look like what appeared on the box lol
 
How many of us had these torches as kids , I bought one and couldn't wait till I fitted the batteries , then all of a sudden red ,blue , and green .There up on the ceiling technicolour .
 
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We had a Minibrix set in Miss Green's class in Mapledene Infants (the class following the reception class). The studs were wider at the ends so the bricks had to be made of rubber. I remember them as being quite hard to put together or pull apart. My friend, a year younger, had a Bayko set. It was quite complicated to use as you had various lengths of thin steel rod that were inserted vertically into a plastic base plate. You had to choose the right length for the height that you intended to build. At the start of the build it almost looked like scaffolding. There were various plastic panels with different textures and colours that slid between the vertical rods. After a certain height you were supposed to put in a layer of metal strips, like very tiny Meccano strips, that tied the rod ends together. It was possible to make quite nice scale buildings if you had all the parts but it took a lot of care.
Sometime between seeing both these systems, neither of which I had, my older friend had a different building system. It consisted of little ceramic bricks, about the size of a 2x4 Lego brick but not as tall. You were supposed to mix up a paste 'cement' to hold them together. When you wanted to use the bricks again you soaked the building in water. My friend's dad was a builder with Dare's so maybe he was training him up!
 
we had hours of fun with one of these horse racing games with lead horses...had to clamp it to each end of the table turn the handle and watch them go...didnt half make a racket when we turned the handlehorse racing game.jpg...wish i still had ours this one is going for £130 on ebay and that is with 2 horses missing...happy days

lyn
 
mbenne said:
Anyone remember this building kit, before lego was heard of. The only one I ever saw was in infants school in the 50's
View attachment 140220

And though I wasn't born in the 30s I got to play with these, donated by our next door neighbour who also gave me a very rusty meccano set. Not plastic but rubber!!!
View attachment 140221

If only the box of bricks could be made to look like what appeared on the box lol
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This is what you can build if you have a lot of Minibrix & Meccano
Tower Bridge may look like it is built of stone, but it is actually a steel bridge which is covered in masonryMinibrix-Tower-bridgeW2.jpg to match the nearby Tower of London. This model attempts to show this by the use of Meccano for the structural parts with one main tower and one side tower covered in Minibrix.
 
Astoness said:
[Escalado]we had hours of fun with one of these horse racing games with lead horses...had to clamp it to each end of the table turn the handle and watch them go...didnt half make a racket when we turned the handle
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I think someone brought this in to school a couple of years running, possibly just before Christmas or more likely the final week of the school year. They must have made a few appearances at Church and Scout fairs too as a small fund raiser! Those little wooden pegs ruined many a fine horses chance! The operating principle is employed still in light industry for moving small parts into line, (bowl feeders). (Gambling sir? No sir! We are developing our Industrial Engineering skills! [5p on number 4 John])
 
Bayko was clearly influenced by the 'modern' 1930s house style. Another building toy influenced by its era was Triang's Arkitex range, using a girder framework that was then clad in replica pre-cast panels. It came in two scales, one to match the 00 gauge trains and Minic Motorways, and the other the Spot-On cars, rivals to Dinky and Corgi.
This was a late-childhood toy for me. I derived a set of formulas that would allow me to calculate how many parts would be needed to make a given size of building then counted them out for loading on a truck for delivery to the building site.
 
mbenne said:
Anyone remember this building kit, before lego was heard of. The only one I ever saw was in infants school in the 50's
View attachment 140220

And though I wasn't born in the 30s I got to play with these, donated by our next door neighbour who also gave me a very rusty meccano set. Not plastic but rubber!!!
View attachment 140221

If only the box of bricks could be made to look like what appeared on the box lol
Click to expand...
I remember having a Bayko building set one Christmas. As Spargone described in his post it involved the use of metal rods and plastic blocks. If I remember correctly there wasn't sufficient rods and blocks to build the house and garage illustrated on the box, I think I was limited to building small bungalows!
 
Spargone said:
We had a Minibrix set in Miss Green's class in Mapledene Infants (the class following the reception class). The studs were wider at the ends so the bricks had to be made of rubber. I remember them as being quite hard to put together or pull apart. My friend, a year younger, had a Bayko set. It was quite complicated to use as you had various lengths of thin steel rod that were inserted vertically into a plastic base plate. You had to choose the right length for the height that you intended to build. At the start of the build it almost looked like scaffolding. There were various plastic panels with different textures and colours that slid between the vertical rods. After a certain height you were supposed to put in a layer of metal strips, like very tiny Meccano strips, that tied the rod ends together. It was possible to make quite nice scale buildings if you had all the parts but it took a lot of care.
Sometime between seeing both these systems, neither of which I had, my older friend had a different building system. It consisted of little ceramic bricks, about the size of a 2x4 Lego brick but not as tall. You were supposed to mix up a paste 'cement' to hold them together. When you wanted to use the bricks again you soaked the building in water. My friend's dad was a builder with Dare's so maybe he was training him up!
Click to expand...
The Bayko building set was also in 2nd year at Mapledene and I remember the rods too. It was a incomplete building and there were very few parts to play with. I agree, the Minibrix were too hard for tiny hands and I soon lost interest with them. The ceramic brick kit was a blast from the past as I recall my uncle having something similar. I was only two at the time and remember seeing what looked like a mini house construction on a piece of board. It was placed on top of the piano in the living room so I couldn't touch it!
 
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RobT said:
This is what you can build if you have a lot of Minibrix & Meccano
Tower Bridge may look like it is built of stone, but it is actually a steel bridge which is covered in masonryView attachment 140253 to match the nearby Tower of London. This model attempts to show this by the use of Meccano for the structural parts with one main tower and one side tower covered in Minibrix.
Click to expand...
Must have a very understanding wife and a very large living room lol
 
Williamstreeter said:
How many of us had these torches as kids , I bought one and couldn't wait till I fitted the batteries , then all of a sudden red ,blue , and green .There up on the ceiling technicolour .
Click to expand...


spent many hours playing with those torches john...happy days

lyn
 
I remember playing with my brother’s Bayko set. I loved it. It was a bit fiddly for me as a younger child to fit the wire rods into the green plate, but I loved to build up the bricks. I liked the green doors and windows as they were already assembled and you slotted them onto the wires. You got a quick effect sliding in the windows and doors as they filled a lot of space. I don’t think I ever managed to build a whole building, but I remember it being totally absorbing. I might even have played with the set more than my brother ! Viv.
 
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.

I dread to think how many cap rockets have blocked the guttering on the roof at home as that's where most of them seemed to end up!

Now my grandson plays with Nerf guns and insists I join in. As he always chooses the best armoury I have to improvise using the tube off the vacuum cleaner!!!
1577699018370.png
 
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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. which he used 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.

I dread to think how many cap rockets have blocked the guttering on the roof at home as that's where most of them seemed to end up!

Now my grandson plays with Nerf guns and insists I join in. As he always chooses the best armoury I have to improvise using the tube off the vacuum cleaner!!!
View attachment 140260
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great stuff.i had one of these. Jaco will always stay with me. even the g/kids could not have him and a diana mod 15
 

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Jaco! - haven't seen one for years. My friend's sister had one, its hands were made of plastic and were slightly curled so that could hang from a bamboo cane lodged on the picture rail in the corner of their living room - when Jaco came down it was a sign that someone had misbehaved as it was the cane that was coming out to play!
 
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mbenne said:
Jaco! - haven't seen one for years. My friend's sister had one, its hands were made of plastic and were slightly curled so that could hang from a bamboo cane lodged on the picture rail in the corner of their living room - when Jaco came down it was a sign that someone had misbehaved as it was the cane that was coming out to play!
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:mad::mad:
 
I never heard of Jaco, not sure I would have wanted one....but maybe, all those years ago. I saw one, or something very similar undergoing restoration on a recent tv programme. I do remember a friend having a money box of this style.1577701368762.png
 
Radiorails said:
I never heard of Jaco, not sure I would have wanted one....but maybe, all those years ago. I saw one, or something very similar undergoing restoration on a recent tv programme. I do remember a friend having a money box of this style.View attachment 140264
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nice Alan we had 2 of them a red one and a green one. you put a penny or what ever, on his hand pressed the lever and he eat it.
 
mw0njm. said:
nice Alan we had 2 of them a red one and a green one. you put a penny or what ever, on his hand pressed the lever and he eat it.
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I believe some banks issued them as an encouragement to save money rather than spend it. Today is reverse it seems, banks want you to be in hock to them. Anyway that particular item and the Robertsons jam item are not pc.
 
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