Did anyone have the Girder and Panel Hydrodynamic set (1960s toy)?

[flar]

Did any of you play with the Girder and Panel construction sets from the 1960s?

Over the holidays my brother and I dug out Girder and Panel Hydrodynamic set #11 from my grandparents' basement. You could build chemical plants with a working pump, piping and tanks. I had hours of fun with this when I was little. I believe it to be the most awesome toy ever invented.

The instruction booklet had plans for a DDT plant, coal tar distillation facility, synthetic rubber plant, ammonia plant, sulfuric acid plant and other wondrous chemical plants of the modern age.

We only had the hydrodynamic set, but there were many others, such as the bridge and turnpike set and some others with electric motors so you could build cranes and other moving structures. Of course you could build skyscrapers too, with girders and panel frame and curtain walls.



This is what I played with:

http://elisson1.blogspot.com/2009/01...-projects.html


If you had enough parts you could build something like this:

http://www.girderpanel.com/NewGirderPanel.htm


Here are some other sets:


http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006..._e2_gray_1.php



http://www.timewarptoys.com/gallery.htm



http://www.museumofplay.org/blogs/in...ing-an-empire/

[theWatusi]

Why don't they make awesome toys like this anymore?

[flar]

I should add that this set is at least 45 years old and still works! I just built a plant that mixes yellow water and blue water to make green water.

[Cleveland Brown]

Originally Posted by theWatusi

Why don't they make awesome toys like this anymore?

You see all those small pieces? Some little future Darwin Award swallows a piece and the parents start suing.

[mylesmalley]

I had a few much more modern sets from about 15 years ago. Along with lego and those mechanics erector sets, they were my favourite toys as a kid. They appear to be exactly the same idea as the old ones, just with blue girders rather than red and green, and more contemporary curtain walls.

I had a hospital, and a 'town center' kit if memory serves.

[Ex-Ithacan]

I had a couple of sets, and spent hours building all kinds of stuff.
I use to play with Lincoln logs quite a bit too.


Maybe I should see if I can find some sets of thos rascals and relive my childhood.

[rockyi]

For my 7th birthday (1967) I got a Super City set. It was my favorite toy for the next several years. I didn't have the Skyport set like shown here, I had the basic skyscraper set.

[fflint]

I had Girder and Panel skyscraper kits when I was a kid! Mine were more recent than those in the photos, but not a whole lot different. Built a tower as tall as myself one year.

I had two kinds: blue panels with black girders, and rust-colored panels with brown girders. Roof panels were either black or gray. And the base plates always kind of sucked...

[circle33]

Originally Posted by rockyi

For my 7th birthday (1967) I got a Super City set. It was my favorite toy for the next several years. I didn't have the Skyport set like shown here, I had the basic skyscraper set.

I had Super City too. I used to love the tinted windows. I got it for Christmas probably in the early 70s. According to Wikipedia they stopped making it in 1968, but I would have been too young then. Of course retail inventory wasn't as sophisticated back then and my parents may well have picked it up, along with several years dust, at some independent dry goods store.

[BroncoCSU05]

the lack of scientific toys nowadays is appaling. it's no wonder people grow up to be apathetic shitheads who don't understand how the world really works, let alone the politicians and political pundints with this particular type of predelection...

[Jasonhouse]

Wrong forum

[flar]

I figured a few of you would have heard of this, since I'm sure more than a few kids who had this toy became architects or engineers, or maybe just skyscraper enthusiasts.

btw, where the hell is this forum? I don't even know how to get here. So much for my foray into the skybar

[fflint]

Originally Posted by circle33

According to Wikipedia they stopped making it in 1968, but I would have been too young then. Of course retail inventory wasn't as sophisticated back then and my parents may well have picked it up, along with several years dust, at some independent dry goods store.

Same here, I got my G&P sets in the early '70s. I never owned all the sets I saw on display at Toys 'R' Us in those days.

[M.K.]

yeah, i remember as child doing many revell aircraft, ships mounted, it was much fun. We made city with 'clothes boxes' which we named 'Micon' which I was the president and my brother vice-president or something like that. My sister was 1st lady... but we built vulcans, tunnels, port for our school science fairs. I built a pensil bridge also. We had used to have lot of chemicals toys as well, which until today i have a remained microscope, good to see nothing, but... After introduction of China in toys, Barbie and those bullshit uninteligent toys, i think kids lose a lot of those top scientific ones.
Computer, nintendo, gameboys made dissapearing them also, unfortunatly. But i remember pushing my big trucks on the roads. You don't see kids doing that anymore. It was a more sane infancy...

[1ajs]

wow.. now thats nifty

i got a bag full of lincon logs that came with a bunch of lego i bought

also got this

[KevinFromTexas]

Now days there are the Construx sets. They're very similar to what flar posted, but aren't as realistic as that. Think more plastic looking, cold and space-like. They actually aren't making Construx anymore either. Other than Legos, Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys, Construx were it for building with for me. They worked well for building skyscraper frames. You could build just about anything out of them though. I used to build cars with them and also space ships. My brother would also make swords and guns with them. I was always more into either vehicles or cities.

I sold a bunch of my Construx that I grew up with. I basically traded them at a local toy store for more Legos. A few years ago though my neighbor across the street was throwing out a bunch of his. He just had them in a big bag out on the curb, so I ran over and snatched them up. I had the idea in mind of trading them for some Legos, but the toy shop I go to said that Construx aren't really selling anymore. So I guess I'm stuck with them. There's about 300 pieces.

I'll just post the link to the page since the pics are on Tripod.
http://construxion.tripod.com/

From that website, this page shows how large of a structure you can build with relatively few pieces.
http://construxion.tripod.com/deathstar.html

[1ajs]

shrugs sholders why would anyone toss that stuff out god i remember playing with those

more modern from the 90's
[SIZE=+2]Little Tikes Waffle Blocks Set


source: http://www.futuretoys.com/littletikes/littletikes.html

aww the memories

[peanut gallery]

Originally Posted by fflint

I had Girder and Panel skyscraper kits when I was a kid! Mine were more recent than those in the photos, but not a whole lot different. Built a tower as tall as myself one year.

I had two kinds: blue panels with black girders, and rust-colored panels with brown girders. Roof panels were either black or gray. And the base plates always kind of sucked...

Same here, and I had the blue/black set. I loved the design and building process. Also, every building needed a little renovation shortly after completion, just because the process was so much fun.

[mthq]

I saw one of those Super City sets still in its box fairly recently when I was working as a janitor and saw in on the shelf of someones office. Okay so I wasn't born until 1986, but I thought it was fricken' awesome.


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