Construction toys

[Shaun Gander]

So my wife and I were having a random conversation.

I remember Meccanno and Lego. This one was bases with a grid of holes that you put thin metal rods in and then slide variou designs of square 'brick' panels between - anyone remember what it was called?

SDG

[John Arton]

Shaun
Meccano is a British boys toy construction system invented by Hornby in ,1898 and is still going to this day. You can make fantastic models using the the thin strips of metal that have holes punched in them. You bolt them together using tiny nuts and bolts to make model cars, engines, even robots using gears,. Wheels, even motors to make whatever your imagination can conjure up.
Lego is a Swedish invention that uses small, coloured plastic bricks that lock together to build whatever structure you can imagine. It is a huge company and they even have their own theme parks in Windsor and Florida, where they have model towns built entirely out of Lego bricks. There has even been a Lego movie. Anyone who has children who are into Lego usually curse the day they brought their child their first Lego set as the house is rapidly filled with bits of the stuff lying around and underfoot it hurts when you step on the bits lying around that the kids always fail to pick up. You end up with big plastic containers full of those bleddy small plastic bricks.
Rgds
J.A.

[Chris Allman]

There was also one called Trix to rival Meccano - it was cheaper and just plain silver in colour - no red or green like Meccano - I had that, it was very good with very similar accessories as Meccano.

[Shaun Gander]

Shaun
Meccano is a British boys toy construction system invented by Hornby . There has even been a Lego movie. . You end up with big plastic containers full of those bleddy small plastic bricks.
Rgds
J.A.

I had Meccanno and Lego as a kid so know what it was them, now it much more advanced. Remeber the special spanners for the square nut and the tiny spanners.

Just can't remember the green and red construction kits. Can picture in my mind

What was Backo?

SDG

- - - Updated - - -

Yes it was! Thanks for all poking the old brain!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayko

SDG

[Brenda Shackleton]

Bako. Definitely.
Regards
Brenda

[John Arton]

Shaun
What about Airfix, those plastic models where you could build anything from a Spitfire to HMS Ark Royal?
You had tiny pots of paint to colour your model and a tube of glue to stick the parts together with ( never seemed to have enough glue in it and always got stuck to your fingers when assembling to tiny fiddly bits)
And the transfers of the decals that either tore or stuck to your fingers. The instructions always said paint the individual parts first and allow them to dry first before assembly but who the heck read or even followed those instructions? They even had rail rolling stock that you could use on your Triang model railway. Then there were the more upmarket Basset Lowke models. Then along came the Japanese with their Taimo? Models, have to say they look brilliant and every Christmas I drop hints to the family that it would be nice to see one of those model kits in my Christmas stocking, all no no avail I must say. Hong Kong was a great place to get them, we had a 3rd Engineer who brought and built a remote controlled helicopter which he used to fly down in an empty cargo hold and we also purchased remote controlled car model kits, which after assembly we would race round the accommodation alleyways.
Rgds
J.A.

[Michael Humby]

Bako. Definitely.

Me too showing our age.

Michael

[john walker]

#2 Lego is a Danish invention and not Swedish. It is probably with Carlsberg beer the two best known brands from that country.

[John Arton]

#2 Lego is a Danish invention and not Swedish. It is probably with Carlsberg beer the two best known brands from that country.

Danish, Swedish, Skandish, it's all Greek to me John. LOL
Rgds
J.A.

[Doc Vernon]

Mecanno was one of the best,i could spend hours on end making different things,and in those Years it was not as costly as it is now.
Yes it sure was fun.
Lego only as i recall came in much later,so i never had the opportunity to play with Lego. (Who was he anyway LOL)
Cheers

Added Once built a working Windmill out of my Mecanno Set had a small battery driven Cog to make it go round, that was fun.