Toys from when you were a kid

What about the A&E special Clackers.

 

Going back to "HOWZTHAT" it was easy to make a set from a hexagonal pencil which we did at school.

Back in the mid-70s I worked at what was then BAC in Filton, Bristol. At lunch time a group of us were recreating the 1971 fixtures of the John Player Sunday League. This used the basic Howzthat dice but to improve the reality we used look up sheets to see if a score rolled would count as runs or a dot ball. 1s and 2s being more common than boundaries. The same happened with wickets so we could make the 40 over limit quite easily. I usually captained Yorkshire. However, I left before the fixtures were completed so I never found out which county won.

 

Two'toys' that would nowadays have H&S throwing their hands up in horror and guarantee an instant ban were..

1 Mamod steam engines. Hmmmm!! ...now let me see.... selling a pressurised steam driven model heated by methylated spirits. As far as I remember there was no minimum age limit to who could buy one (I had one when I was around 9 years old)...What could possibly go wrong?
2 Jetex engines... I remember fixing them to a balsa wood model glider plane. You inserted a small cartridge into small cylinder that had an outlet nozzle. When ignited it gave a thrust like a firework for several seconds that made the model airborne and carried it to a reasonable height before it glided (or crashed in my case) into the ground. The only other option unless you were 'minted' and could afford a model aircraft powered by a miniature petrol engine and controlled either with guide wires or if 'really minted' ( I was neither) radio controlled, was to use an elastic wind up propeller which was a bit naff!

Amazingly I still have all my fingers toes and eyes in spite of having both a Mamod steam engine and a Jetex when I was young.

 

I can still remember the smell of the steam engines, my uncle has one... but I was never allowed near it.

 

Yes, usually, but didn’t say owt as they might’ve hijacked my pressie idea. That worked well didn’t it. Lol

 

yes it did, lol

 

You cheeky buggers.

You aren't wrong

 

GAT GUN

warrabart these beauts,

 

Still use one today in school. Has to be pressure tested every year. Must have visited a fortune over the decades.

 

I got shot with one of those, the pellet lodged in my nose less than an inch below my eye. Very lucky that It missed my eye, but I still had to go to Beckett’s Hospital in Tarn to have it removed and stitched, ( first time I’d had stitches I was about 14) This tale takes a more sinister turn in that I lied and said it was some random unknown that had done it when it was my mate ( complete accident) but he shouldn’t have had the gun and would’ve got in trouble with his parents. The Doctor at the hospital and my dad insisted we went and reported it at the Police station. The truth did eventually come out a few weeks later and we both rightly felt the wrath of our parents and fortunate the Police let us off with a warning.

 

Model aeroplane