BS: Integrated Nuts

Subject: BS: Integrated Nuts
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 03:30 AM

Having been a fan of Meccano since a kid, when I had my own set, I was shocked to see the new sets advertised. Made of plastic with screw threads inside the strips to be joined together without separate nuts to fiddle with!

Integrated Nuts! Shocking!

I loved James May's show, where they built a full size working bridge.

Subject: RE: BS: Integrated Nuts
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 03:57 PM

Erector sets with all their nuts and bolts and flanged beams occupied me for hours as a kid. The company went broke in the 1960s but the product continued under the name Gabriel into the 1980s.
Sadly,no more. Now Meccano has turned plastic?
After Erector died, Meccano was sold in N. Am., mostly under the name Erector. I understand the names are now owned by Nikko of Japan.

The educational 'toys' of the past are gone. No wonder our kids are falling behind those of Asia.

Subject: RE: BS: Integrated Nuts
From: gnu
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 04:14 PM

Thread drift... I was shocked when I went to buy the Xmas presents suggested by my niece for her son. Lego. One, a fairly large box which weighed little. $58 for it. It's just a bit of plastic in a cardboard box. And, it's a spacecraft warship. What garbage! But, that's what marketing does eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Integrated Nuts
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 06:08 PM

According to the Tv doco by May, it's a French company owns it now - still makes the old stuff as well as the new plastic stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: Integrated Nuts
From: Amergin
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 06:14 PM

I have been occasion the recipient of some nasty kicks that forced my nuts to be integrated with my stomach for a couple of hours....this is one time I would suggest keeping the two separate but equal....

Subject: RE: BS: Integrated Nuts
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 06:28 PM

Tinker Toys turned plastic some years ago.

Do they still make Lincoln Logs? I haven't been to a toy store in years.
If they have them, I bet they're plastic, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Integrated Nuts
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Dec 10 - 06:48 PM

You can still get wooden Lincoln logs, though the green eaves bits are plastic. There are retro toys places which advertise Erector sets of over 600 metal parts with some "small plastic" parts. Wish we still had my brother's set.

Subject: RE: BS: Integrated Nuts
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 08:19 AM

Integrated nuts!
Erector set!
Flanged beams!
Lincoln Logs!




NURSE - I think I need my medication...








Actually I used to be bemused by the warnings on toy packs - "Not suitable for for children under 18 months because of small parts".
I know my babies has small parts, but they could still play with toys...



Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: BS: Integrated Nuts
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 09:52 AM

Lincoln Logs are still made. Yes, some parts are plastic, but the main difference between today's product and the one of 50 years ago is the smell. They used to be made of very aromatic woods. Now they're made of wood that smells like nothing. Probably some plantation grown abomination from Asia.

Subject: RE: BS: Integrated Nuts
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 11:51 AM

"The educational 'toys' of the past are gone. No wonder our kids are falling behind those of Asia."

Are we to understand that the people in Asia who make these things and export them make more authentic versions for their own kids which they don't export? A cunning ploy, but I somehow doubt if it's true.

Subject: RE: BS: Integrated Nuts
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 03:32 PM

Foolstroupe- The 'new and improved' Meccano is made in France and China by a French company, Meccano S. N., which in turn is owned by the Nikko Group of Japan. From Wikipedia, I haven't checked further.

McGrath, you are right, my statement, made without thought, is nonsense. From what I have seen in reports, good basic schooling is the important factor.

Subject: RE: BS: Integrated Nuts
From: Joe_F
Date: 11 Dec 10 - 08:08 PM

Last I saw (visiting a toy store in Brookline, MA), those wooden railroads with grooved tracks were still being made