Favorite Construction Toys?

[lpetrich]

I mean by "construction toys" any sort of toys which have simple parts that one can build stuff with. I remember liking construction toys a lot in my childhood, toys like:

Blocks
Lego
Tinkertoys
Erector Sets

Has anyone else here liked construction toys? Or has continued to like them?

Does anyone here get such toys for their kids? Of both sexes, I hope.

[Valheru]

We had Meccano as kids. You still get it, but instead of metal, it's now plastic.

Lego was my favourite as a kid. I was a Lego whore.

[Sticky Beak]

I have some duplo blocks for the little one - the slightly larger than Lego size, not the huge ones.

Can't wait for him to get into things like Meccano! They look fun!

[Cath B]

I spent a lot of time playing with lego, but lacked the skill and/or patience to get very far with my brother's mecanno set.

Duplo and when they were older lego were very popular with my children.

They preferred making models of their own design and playing imaginative games with the results to following manufacturer's instructions to create complex models.

My eldest in particular liked creating complicated structures with inexpensive building blocks.

[BigEvil]

When you mentioned construction toys, I immediately thought of Tonka Toys. Nothing like a well built Tonka dump truck for playing in the dirt. (I was born in the south, we had dirt in abundance...so we played with it.)

I was also a big fan of Lincoln Logs.

[Valheru]

I was also a big fan of Lincoln Logs.

Lincoln logs?:eek: I was about to ask about those, but decided not to.

[BigEvil]

I figured someone would go there. :)

[Valheru]

Bwehehehehe. Time for a google, methinks.

[Worldtraveller]

Legos were always my favorite, and I stil have a decent sized collection. :) I had tinkertoys, and they were ok, but not as versatile as legos. I do remember this kit my dad got me when I was about 9 that consisted of plastic ibeams that were 'welded' together with small spinning plastic welder. That was fun (I had the biplane model).

Lincoln logs were only good to build stuff that we wanted to crash things into later. :D

[Lugubert]

I was very young when my father the sea-captain brought home a couple of tubs of Tinkertoys from the US. I loved them. A few years later, when my precision had improved, I got a Meccano set (or a competitor's, I'm not sure). Obviously, I made good use of it, because I soon got a German similar set, with sturdier parts and better finish. They all have disappeared during spring cleanings and moves.

My younger sisters and their children have grown/grow up during the Lego era and are enthusiatic about those little pieces. It was a treat to see my oldest nephew's 8 yo unpack his Xmas Lego motor set and immediately find dozens of possbilities for it.

[Danhalen]

I loved Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, Lego, Erector Sets and just plain old blocks as well.

[Christina]

I liked Lincoln Logs because I was as clumsy and spatially uncoordinated as I am now and they were easy to put together.

[Matty]

Bill Bryson recites one of his most memorable childhood stories about the huge sized plastic Lincoln logs in thunderbolt kid. Apparently he and a couple of other guys used to sneak round he back of the playhouse made of them at hte back of their class room, and piss on them instead of going to the bathroom Over some months this bleached a certain few of them and the teacher noticed.

Thinking they were trying to out smart him, he picked one up one day and in front of the whole class said "I know your game, you thought i wouldnt know how you made this change colour, but i DO know, you cant outsmart me my boys i know exactly how you managed it " , then just as the boys were going pale and preparing to come clean and mentally prepping to take their punishment for peeing in t class over a period of months, he takes a a huge lick of the log, "Yes Yes, i KNEW it, youve been wiping them down with lemon juice, havent you? "

:D:D
Apparently the boys became school heros overnight . I can see that.



I had Meccano (the metal one, plastic meccano sounds shit) and some lego. OUr little guy has one of those sets with teh wooden sticks and cog wheels etc which is a lot of fun, we make all sorts.

[Danhalen]

Bill Bryson recites one of his most memorable childhood stories about the huge sized plastic Lincoln logs in thunderbolt kid. Plastic Lincoln Logs? What the hell is the world coming to? They're made out of wood. I'm going to be a purist now and claim all Lincoln Logs must be made of wood or they give up their right to be called Lincoln Logs.

Good day sir.

[Matty]

Okay okay,
I dont even really know what y'all are on about anyway :)

[BigEvil]

plastic Lincoln Logs are to actual Lincoln Logs what non-alcoholic beer is to actual beer

[Christina]

Bill Bryson recites one of his most memorable childhood stories about the huge sized plastic Lincoln logs in thunderbolt kid. Plastic Lincoln Logs? What the hell is the world coming to? They're made out of wood. I'm going to be a purist now and claim all Lincoln Logs must be made of wood or they give up their right to be called Lincoln Logs.

Good day sir.

This^^^

[LoneWolf]

All good ones and I played with most of those. But some of my fondest memories is of having my GI Joe guys attacked by the monster I made from my Robotix set.

http://www.roboticsandthings.com/robotix/rbx4000.gif

[Danhalen]

Okay okay,
I dont even really know what y'all are on about anyway :)
I SAID GOOD DAY!
;)

[lpetrich]

I spent a lot of time playing with lego, but lacked the skill and/or patience to get very far with my brother's mecanno set.

Duplo and when they were older lego were very popular with my children.

They preferred making models of their own design and playing imaginative games with the results to following manufacturer's instructions to create complex models.

My eldest in particular liked creating complicated structures with inexpensive building blocks.
That's the sort of thing that I'd hoped at least some of you people had done with construction toys, and that I hope that at least some of your children had been doing. It's nice to be seeing some of that.

[Alex]

Lego has to be one of the best construction toys ever. However, for some years they've been marketing kits which are only meant to construct one vehicle or building, etc. This tends to undervalue the imaginative use of the basic Lego bricks, I think.

[Cath B]

Yes, I think so to.

[Worldtraveller]

Lego has to be one of the best construction toys ever. However, for some years they've been marketing kits which are only meant to construct one vehicle or building, etc. This tends to undervalue the imaginative use of the basic Lego bricks, I think.

Only if you have that one set. Very few people who have legos only have one set. :p

My best friend in high school had a very large and varied collection of legos, from the classic construction blocks, to several of the 'tech' series with gears, hinges and various other moving parts. Between the two of us, we built some rather complex space ships that included things like retractable landing gear, a shuttle that separated, and several fighter bays (each bay held one fighter). :D Our largest space 'cruiser' was a but under 4 ft long! It had six large turrets that rotated 360 degrees, and the guns elevated. It had banks of smaller guns too, and a fighter bay that held 4 fights, I think. I wish I had a digital camera back then, it was pretty impressive.

For shear complexity, though, the robotic 'centaur' we built would probably win. It was pretty much fully articulated, not an easy thing to do with the legos back then.

[Matty]

Best bet is to buy lego on ebay, people literally sell it by 5or 10lb sack and you get what you get.

Much more like it.

[LoneWolf]

Best bet is to buy lego on ebay, people literally sell it by 5or 10lb sack and you get what you get.

Much more like it.

Now that is a good idea. I think I will try that sometime.

[Hex]

Legos, Tinkertoys, and Lincoln Logs (or the square simulated-hand-shaped versions) were all in there, but also ...

Classic Erector sets (not this wimpy bendable plastic stuff), American Building Bricks (http://www.architoys.net/toys/toypages/ambricks.html) and the awesome Capsela (http://www.retroland.com/pages/retropedia/toys/item/4200/) ...

And then there were the non-motorized train sets, like the wooden ones that are everywhere now, but were plastic back then ...

[Cath B]

And then there were the non-motorized train sets, like the wooden ones that are everywhere now, but were plastic back then ...

Yes, I'd wondered about including the Brio train set.

My children loved it.

[Hex]

And then there were the non-motorized train sets, like the wooden ones that are everywhere now, but were plastic back then ...

Yes, I'd wondered about including the Brio train set.

My children loved it.

And there's lots of building and thinking to it. Designing the layout that will use every available bit of track, include at least one full loop and the ability to change the direction of the train (without a turntable, since I didn't have one :p) without picking it up off the tracks can provide quite the stimulating, tactile, quiet afternoon ... (which has to be much appreciated by parents :D)

[Jobar]

I need to start a thread about favorite destruction toys. I have this Stihl power head with chain saw attachment... :D