advice on erector set
Tater Gumfries
Tater remembers his Erector set -- it was real basic with a bunch of
panels, girders, nuts and bolts and washers, and a plug in electrical
motor with look-in-thar gearbox, but it helped ol Tater get a grasp of
mechanics which helped a lot when he had to tear something or other
apart and put it back together so's it'd work again.
That's why Tater gonna get that grandboy an Erector set.
But when he got to lookin on that internet, don't none of them Erector
sets look like Tater remembers, and now they's bout 20 or 30
different kinds. Don't got no idea which one's most like a real
Erector set like Tater had as a boy. Don't want no sissy prebuilt
stuff -- just the pieces so that a boy can build from the ground up.
So, any of you Subgeniuses buy one of them for your kids? Which is
which? Do they even make em right anymore?
Tater
Chain Smerker
"Tater Gumfries" <TaterG...@usa.com> wrote in message
news:8b413639-9cd3-4d86...@m33g2000pri.googlegroups.com...
Umm yeah.
Well, when I was a young tyke I used anything for a erector set, toy cars,
plushies, matress. My advice is to leave him alone. He will grow out of it
when he is 70.
RastaBillyBob
My oldest brother, Buster got an erector set when he was about ten,
and then he found part of one at the dump, so he had nearly two sets,
with two motors, and worm gears, and best of all, a flexible coupling!
He parlayed his natural mechanical instinct, and now owns a successful
welding/machine shop near Merced, CA. I absorbed just enough
mechanical knowledge from him, plus cranking around with that erector
set, that I scored well on mechanical aptitude tests. I can take
something apart, but I didn't pay enough attention to the putting it
back together part. So, yay, Erector Sets! But boo, I doubt they make
'em right anymore.
My grandson had his 2nd birthday party recently, and one of the gifts
was a Mr. Potato Head (close yours eye-ears, Tater, this part might
hurt a bit) There was NO POTATO! It had this gross plastic imitation-
potato thing, and the parts wouldn't fit on a real potato! Toys are
going to hell, and taking kids with 'em! I go by the woodworking shop,
and pick up cutoffs and such, and have a good collection of fine
hardwood blocks, for when the young whelp comes up this way. I'm also
going to have to introduce him to the concept of dirt.
Radix Lecti Artemia Salina
Ha old is the boy, anyhow, Tater? If'n you cain't find yourself a good
set like when we was younguns, mayhaps you kin make yer own damn set.
They's jes a bunch o' metal strips what gots lots o' holes drilled innum
and a bunch o' nut n' bolts tuh go along with um.
Ah bet you could find tollerble replacements down to Mosey's General
Hardware in Lumley. If they got sharp edges on um that makes you fret,
you kin always run um acrost a grindin wheel an knock the burrs off.
Course't, if'n the boy's young enough you got to fret about him
a-swallerin' them nuts an bolts anywho, is why I ast in the first place.
--
Ultra-Hyper Hotent-Poncho.
Rev. Beergoggles
Tater should have him one of those erector sets. What you call
those old trucks, tractors and other things out front anyhoo?
(actually I have an erector set and a mechano) silly metric system.
--
rbg
Drinking is not a hobby, it's a profession.
Paul Jamison
"RastaBillyBob" <rastab...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:f628999a-dcd7-4adb...@k9g2000vbl.googlegroups.com...
====================================
There's plenty of room to complain about the devolvement of toys. I never
played with Erector sets when I were a wee lad. But we DID have Lincoln Logs
and Tinkertoys. I look at what those, and Erector sets and Legos - have
become and despair. I won't go into Lincoln Logs and Tinkertoys having
plastic parts - those would stand up better to use - but you used to just
get a bunch of generic parts, maybe some photos of buildings and objects to
construct, and you were left to figure out how to make them yourself. Or
maybe something original. The implication was "Use your imagination". Now
you get a picture of something on the container and the specific pieces you
need to build whatever-it-is. These things were great for building
creativity in growing minds - and probably still are - but the CON does its
best to try and stifle that creativity. Sure, you can build cool things, but
you're supposed to only build what WE want you to!
Plain hardwood blocks soune like fun, in the right little mind. Dirt's good,
too. Add water and make mud, which is even more fun.
Tater Gumfries
wrote:
> On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:18:58 -0800, Tater Gumfries wrote:
> > Tater's boy's boy wants him an Erector set for Christmas.
>
> > Tater remembers his Erector set -- it was real basic with a bunch of
> > panels, girders, nuts and bolts and washers, and a plug in electrical
> > motor with look-in-thar gearbox, but it helped ol Tater get a grasp of
> > mechanics which helped a lot when he had to tear something or other
> > apart and put it back together so's it'd work again.
>
> > That's why Tater gonna get that grandboy an Erector set.
>
> > But when he got to lookin on that internet, don't none of them Erector
> > sets look like Tater remembers, and now they's bout 20 or 30 different
> > kinds. Don't got no idea which one's most like a real Erector set like
> > Tater had as a boy. Don't want no sissy prebuilt stuff -- just the
> > pieces so that a boy can build from the ground up.
>
> > So, any of you Subgeniuses buy one of them for your kids? Which is
> > which? Do they even make em right anymore?
>
> > Tater
>
> Ha old is the boy, anyhow, Tater?
The boy's ten in years.
> If'n you cain't find yourself a good
> set like when we was younguns, mayhaps you kin make yer own damn set.
> They's jes a bunch o' metal strips what gots lots o' holes drilled innum
> and a bunch o' nut n' bolts tuh go along with um.
Tater appreciates your confidence, but it really does take a long time
to drill holes in a couple hundred parts.
> Ah bet you could find tollerble replacements down to Mosey's General
> Hardware in Lumley.
If it wasn't for ol man Mosey, Tater'd still have his left pinky. The
only time Tater's goin back there is to see for sure he's dead.
> If they got sharp edges on um that makes you fret,
> you kin always run um acrost a grindin wheel an knock the burrs off.
Yep. A few swipes of the file, and she'll be burr free.
> Course't, if'n the boy's young enough you got to fret about him
> a-swallerin' them nuts an bolts anywho, is why I ast in the first place.
Boy better not be swallerin no nuts while Tater's alive. Tater don't
tolerate that.
Tater
Tater Gumfries
These here is the one's Tater's talkin about!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95JMrsj90Oo&feature=related
Tater
Rev. 11D Meow!
The Lego Mindstorms Robotics kits are the way to go anymore. I heard
tell some kid made a working copy machine (Xerox-like) with this stuff
once.
http://mindstorms.lego.com
Rev. 11D Meow!
Rev. Richard Skull
http://www.enviroseal.com/bailey.htm
Get him one of these! I had to put a few together when Iw as in the
Army. We built a double-single by hand in basic!
Toilet Pepper
I thought it was something perverted which Mr. Gumfries wouldn't post
so I just googled "erector set" to see what it is. I'm surprised to
know that it was model toys.
phy
9a94-911...@m33g2000pri.googlegroups.com:
I bought one for my boy cuz I spent hours and hours with mine. So for
Xistlessness when he was about 8 or 9, I got him the fanciest most
expensive one in the store. I ended up playing with it more than he did. I
was vacuuming up little nuts and bolts and washers for months and months.
After that I started getting him stuff with just one part.
-phy
Paul Jamison
"Toilet Pepper" <josef...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:d7b02734-271e-4b1e...@b15g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...
=====================================
Someone having to look "erector set" up? Boy, does *that* make me feel old!
purple
Or Poop.
Radix Lecti Artemia Salina
> On Nov 21, 1:38 pm, Radix Lecti Artemia Salina <y...@sheayright.com>
> wrote:
>> Ha old is the boy, anyhow, Tater?
>
> The boy's ten in years.
TEN YEARS?? Wah hell, Tater, he's nigh-on old enough tuh git married and
start him a family!
Seems tuh me he's too old fer no kid's toy. Ah'd jus bah him a .22 an
caller done.
Shoot, mah pappy gamee his old tombstone stick welder an some weldin'
gargles fer Christmas when Ah was 8 years old! That and a bunch uh
old lawrn mowers and Ah had built me a dune buggy by about June!
>> Ah bet you could find tollerble replacements down to Mosey's General
>> Hardware in Lumley.
>
> If it wasn't for ol man Mosey, Tater'd still have his left pinky. The
> only time Tater's goin back there is to see for sure he's dead.
Heh! Uh course, you know the story behind old man Mosey. E'er since't
the Tractor Supply moved into Lumely old man Mosey jus' been rattlin'
around in that old store uh his. His son Holley ain't none too braht
neither. I heared he tried tuh chuck his maw's old tomcat in a drill
press once't. That ol' tom commenced tuh bawlin' so loud the neighbors
called the po-leece. They thought it were Mrs. Mosey callin' out fer help.
Anyway, sheriff Buxley come to the house an' found ol' Holley out back in
the shed with the cat in the drill press an' sheriff Buxley couldn't
hardy puts the cuffs on Holley, he was laughin so hoard.
Anyhow, I guess it runs in the family, is whut Ah'm a'sayin.
--
Ultra-Hyper Hotent-Poncho.
Steve Thompson
That's because there aren't more people like you to mentor the little
tykes in the secrets of mechanics at an early age. The sooner you get
them tinkering with the nuts and bolts of classic structural members,
the more likely they'll reach adulthood with decent aptitudes. Same
goes with computers. You gotta show them the mouse and show them how
it moves the pointer on the screen; make it into an enthusiastic game
and even the youngest pre-schoolers will take to Windows like a duck
in a pond.
If you jes leave them to acquire knowledge about these things in
school, they'll be more likely to turn out as educators themselves.
> My grandson had his 2nd birthday party recently, and one of the gifts
> was a Mr. Potato Head (close yours eye-ears, Tater, this part might
> hurt a bit) There was NO POTATO! It had this gross plastic imitation-
> potato thing, and the parts wouldn't fit on a real potato! Toys are
> going to hell, and taking kids with 'em! I go by the woodworking shop,
> and pick up cutoffs and such, and have a good collection of fine
> hardwood blocks, for when the young whelp comes up this way. I'm also
> going to have to introduce him to the concept of dirt.
Story goes that all you have to do is put a little pile of fresh dirt
in their cribs each day when they're newborns. By the time they're
toilet-trained dirt is no stranger, and they'll be making goumet
mud-pies before their first home-economics class in public school.
Just be careful they don't eat it and you'll be fine.
Regards,
Steve
--
No shirt?
No shoes?
No service.