Do our toys affect our modelling now?

[Pugsley]

A 1 for me Jim, but sadly my lego building was quicker than my model building.

That post definitely resonates with me! I wasn't allowed any of the Lego railway stuff, it was too expensive.

[coachmann]

Well I guess that counts me out.....Never had meccano and Lego was kids stuff at my age.

[Steven B]

Lego = the best toy ever?

 

Shame it's lost it's way a bit with too many purpose made shapes. Can't todays kids imagine that the blocky front end to their racing car is the most aerodynamic shape ever made by man (or boy!).

 

I was lucky enough to have a decent amount of normal and technic lego but wasn't allowed the trains as my Dad had a OO gauge railway in the loft.

 

I don' t know if it's an urban myth, but apparently Lego make more tyres than anyone else in the world.

 

Happy modelling,

 

Steven B.

[S.A.C Martin]

Definitely a Lego fiend here, although I preferred the James May approach with using the standard bricks and pieces instead of buying the specialised Lego sets.

 

Though I do now see the Emerald steam locomotive in the Lego Bluewater Shop window every now and again, and the seven year old me feels like playing with some Lego!

[Kenton]

Definitely another substitute Meccano for Lego here - that is the all metal version.

 

The thing it really taught me was that metal fractures when bent, especially at weakened joins, along with the knack of not cross threading nuts and bolts. i guess I was also learning about gears and pulleys. I seem to recall having a massive box of the stuff with various uncles all keen to buy more to add to the collection. I remember having a working crane and train and a rather long bridge over which the train ran. But then evrything looks big as a child. It all went the way of many toys during some house move or other.

 

I certainly could blame it more than any other factor for my long standing interest in metal kit building.

 

Airfix sort of came to fore in mid sixties when I was probably too old for it and was more into a wargaming fad. None of that survived either - in fact nothing seems to survive a house move.

[bluebottle]

I was given a Meccano set in my formative years, but there wasn't a lot you could do with the 00 set (the most basic outfit, nothing to do with dublo). I gather that Lego was available from 1947, but I don't remember seeing it until much later. Anyway, I think I got more out of the small offcuts my great-uncle brought from the sawmill, out of which I could make castles or battleships or whatever their basic shapes suggested. If I've retained anything from those days, it's that my imagination is the most useful tool I possess.

[newbryford]

Lego and Meccano featured heavily in my childhood, much of it third hand from two older brothers.

 

We also had some Triang Arkitex http://www.architoys...es/arkitex.html

 

 

 

Edit: If the r-t-r can save me lots of time, then I'll go for it, but I still like chopping stuff up

 

Cheers,

Mick

[APOLLO]

Lego wasn't invented when I wuz a kid (it probably was - but we never saw it) - I had a small meccano set, trouble was dad kept pinching bits to repair things, it was so versatile. !! Airfix kits was my thing, especially the 2 bob ones (10p). I built more EE Lightning jets than the RAF had. Occasionally, if I was flush I would buy a Rosebud Kitmaster kit - I still have the built Beyer Garret - though mine wasn't too well built & now adorns a scrapyard on my layout. I didn't build much Airfix rolling stock as I modelled in TT gauge from around 1960 to 1973, but I bet I have built at least one of every Airfix kit buildings over the years, (now Dapol) - still usefull kits today.

 

My kids have lego - quite a lot of it, they used to love it.

 

Yes, I think what we did in our youth affects what we do today. Today mine is mostly RTR with some home made models, some quite good, some quite awfull, and quite a lot in between, just like back in my TT days.

 

Brit15

[Physicsman]

I loved Lego, but I preferred Meccano - though it was sometimes difficult to decipher the instructions in the manual! I always aspired to one of the big kits, but never got there. My dad loved Lego and Meccano, but as he's a builder I shouldn't be too surprised.

 

I think both these toys affected my outlook on hobbies. I always liked to be creative in a building way. Enjoyed Spirograph, too, but my drawings were always crap!!

 

So, in repy to the OP, I reckon build-based toys certainly affect your future modelling oulook. And Lego is still going strong - how many billion blocks manufactured each year?

 

Jeff

[Mikkel]

And Lego is still going strong - how many billion blocks manufactured each year?

 

According to the hype, 19 billion - or 36,000 per minute! There's some interesting filming from the production process here: http://gizmodo.com/lego/

 

I also did tons of Lego as a boy. Never thought of the connection to railway modelling though - until now!

[Baby Deltic]

I was a Legoist and a Meccanoist in my younger days. I had a particular like for Technical Lego. I wouldn't mind a shot on that Lego Mindstorms stuff. I don't think Lego or Meccano had any particular impact on my model railway interests or activities, however.

[hymek2]

Lego and meccano for me plus anything else i could take apart and try to put back together again (not always successfully, but then thats how you learn). The toys got bigger when I was 17 and learnt to drive. Still tinkering reparing cars as and when needed as i don't like paying somebody else to do something I can do for myself.

 

A work colleague a few weeks back had problems with is stop tap. Me being me volunteered to change it for him. When i finished he commented "if i had realised it was like water lego I would have had go myself"!

[unravelled]

I was from the meccano, minibrix and bayko era and only got to play with lego after the children were a suitable excuse. Slightly off topic, this link http://www.hilarypagetoys.com/history.php?his_id=4 includes some info about the alleged British origins of the lego brick, in the form of the earlier, but compatable, kiddiekraft version

 

Dave

[cornelius]

This was my Christmas present this year.

 

 

 

(aged 34 and a half)

[Physicsman]

Very interesting thread! Comments are indicative of the age profile of the majority of active RMwebbers!

 

I can relate to Kenton and his Meccano. My dad used to describe Lego as "building kits for kids". And yes, in the old days a degree of imagination was required as your "streamlined" Pacific hurtled over the carpet with all the aerodynamics of a brick! Good for developing abstract thinking skills!

 

Wonder what Cornelius will be getting next Christmas? Top of the range DCC kit or the next Lego booster kit!? Lol.

 

I have no doubts that the old-fashioned contruction toys shaped many of us here.

 

Jeff

[will5210]

Another Lego fan here. I made the intended kit but also used to 'freestyle' sometimes too.

 

I enjoy making stuff for my railway, but if exactly what I required was available 'ready to plonk' I wouldn't hesitate to use it.

[APOLLO]

Back in 2004 had to change planes at the then fairly new Munich Airport, 6 am on a sunday, there 3 hours, kids will be bored - or so I thought. THIS was slap bang in the middle of the pier, as you got off the plane - a pit of Lego - all to themselves !! My kids were made up. (Wife & I were bored !).

 

The Germans really do think of everything.

 

 

Brit15

[Jol Wilkinson]

I never did Lego really but Meccano was more of an influence so I'd be Option 1 but substituting Meccano for Lego.

 

Like Andy I had Meccano (and Hornby Dublo). For me it's all about makingmodels. But having gone down the road of modelling the LNWR to P4 standards, there isn't any RTR of use to me anyway.

 

Jol

[Black Sheep]

still love lego,

 

prefer building from kits with a little bit of scratch building - not got as far as locos or rolling stock (beyond trucks) yet.

[Pacific231G]

Like Coombe Martin I had Meccano, Dublo 3 rail (followed by Triang TT3), and Bayko. Although I was always quite interested in architecture I found Bayko boring and always associated it with Estate Agents who generally seemed to have a miniature Bayko semi detached in their window. Despite that I do quite enjoy scratchbuilding buildings.

 

I've still got my no. 6 Meccano outfit and did build a fair number of the models in the book including the swing bridge, the building lift and the pithead lift (you put the surface gear on the side of the table and the pit bottom gear on the floor and watched the cage not going smoothly down t'pit, but it did seem an awful lot of work to end up with a rather crude model of something that would only do one thing repetitively. I did (and still do) also have the mechanisms outfit and with bits from the main set it was quite good for working out how things might work. I used to build things like differential gears and intermittent gear boxes and did have a go at a monorail which I think convinced me that railways were far better I suppose what Meccano did for my modelling was to teach me that mechanical problems can be solved with the application of logic. Right now I really do want to figure out Toplis level luffing as I know how it works but not why and can't figure out the maths so it might get an outing soon.

 

The other biggie for me was Airfix and I remember building the original Golden Hind along with various ships and aircraft (my favourite was the Westland helicopter) and that did teach me quite a lot about materials so probably helped with scratchbuilding.

[coachmann]

We never had any toys in our shoebox but I could whittle a good song....

[Mikkel]

I have no doubts that the old-fashioned contruction toys shaped many of us here.

 

My guess is that Lego/Meccano et al not only taught people creative skills, but also that building something for yourself is simply a very satisfying experience.

 

PS: This report from the Lego Learning Institute (although obviously biased) discusses the pshycological part of it in depth. Incidentally, it also has some interesting points for the "How do you know when you've made it as a modeller" thread.

[yorkie_pudd]

As a world cup baby lol, i was brought up with lego,Meccano,Airfix, Hornby dublo 3 rail and 00 2 rail. The biggest factor i had though was father was a mechanic so soon as i could ride on back of is Honda about 5 yr old. if i werent at school id be down the garage did many a railroad up to about 20 then a 20 yr gap. These days i love how you guys n gals scratch build in all scales, as i sure couldnt do it. But i would be happy to strip repair a car or truck all hours godsend, but scratch build railroad no way it do my head in, so RTR for track and stock.

 

crazy ole world or probably just me

[Northern Maiden]

I was always playing with Lego as a child. I too had the blue plastic rails (white sleepers) amongst other things although one of my favourite Christmas presents was a Lego oil rig with its supply ship. I had a little mecanno too and built the odd Airfix railway kit (engine shed, etc). As you can probably guess I had little interest for the likes of Barbie.

['CHARD]

A Tri-ang Dock Authority shunter was already well established in my theatre of childhood dreams by the time I turned 3, at least as early as Lego. In the face of this invasion, Meccano never really converted me, like Natalie said the bolt heads and holes detracted too much. Lego trains never made an impression for the same reason - the overt realism wasn't there, and presumably I could see the potential of a Hornby future more faithful to prototype, with Matchbox cars and Britains fauna as RTP makeweights....