Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years
before the Philips X20 et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us
brothers and sisters, the Xmas budget limited
each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and the electronics kit
was about £3.

On 06/11/2020 17:28, gareth evans wrote:
Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years
before the Philips X20 et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us
brothers and sisters, the Xmas budget limited
each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and the electronics kit
was about £3.

I lusted after the plastics moulding kit thingy

On 06/11/2020 17:46, Jim GM4DHJ ... wrote:
On 06/11/2020 17:28, gareth evans wrote:
Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years
before the Philips X20 et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us
brothers and sisters, the Xmas budget limited
each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and the electronics kit
was about £3.

I lusted after the plastics moulding kit thingy

https://www.google.com/search?q=+The...nt=firefox-b-d

On 06/11/2020 18:59, Jim GM4DHJ ... wrote:
On 06/11/2020 17:46, Jim GM4DHJ ... wrote:
On 06/11/2020 17:28, gareth evans wrote:
Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years
before the Philips X20 et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us
brothers and sisters, the Xmas budget limited
each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and the electronics kit
was about £3.

I lusted after the plastics moulding kit thingy

https://www.google.com/search?q=+The...nt=firefox-b-d


and I wanted done of these....1961

https://www.tandem-associates.com/li...9_flat_car.htm

On 06/11/2020 19:25, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Fri, 6 Nov 2020 17:28:30 +0000, gareth evans
wrote:

Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years
before the Philips X20 et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us
brothers and sisters, the Xmas budget limited
each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and the electronics kit
was about £3.

I made one or two Heathkit things - the digital clock comes to mind,
one of these https://tinyurl.com/y6afaer6, except that whenever the
mains went off, it needed re-setting,

I built one of those in the late 70's still have it on in the garge
shack......

go to 2.33...It has the famous digit flicker ...thought it was my fault
building it but they all have it ......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ17...nnel=JimGM4DHJ


so I added a 50cps oscillator
and battery back-up. The Beckman panaplex displays eventually packed
up https://tinyurl.com/y4r7d8l8 and ICBA to replace them as better
digital clocks were then available.

shame

mains went off, it needed re-setting, so I added a 50cps oscillator
and battery back-up. The Beckman panaplex displays eventually packed
up https://tinyurl.com/y4r7d8l8 and ICBA to replace them as better
digital clocks were then available.

I didn't and have been resetting mine for 43 years....tee hee

On 06/11/2020 17:28, gareth evans wrote:
Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years
before the Philips X20 et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us
brothers and sisters, the Xmas budget limited
each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and the electronics kit
was about £3.

I seem to remember the can type transistors in these sets had "fragile"
legs not really designed for reinserting in the springs used as connectors.
A leg would break off and they were very expensive to replace.

On 06/11/2020 17:46, Jim GM4DHJ ... wrote:

I lusted after the plastics moulding kit thingy

It was Dusty Springfield with me.

Bill

On Fri, 06 Nov 2020 17:28:30 +0000, gareth evans wrote:

Does anyone here remember what was the precursor to the Philips Radionic
series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years before the Philips X20
et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us brothers and sisters,
the Xmas budget limited each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and
the electronics kit was about £3.

I had a Trix electrical set (1950 ish).

Radionics, was what I had, this was a large Perspex sheet like a pegboard
with a leg on each corner, indeed there were two. All the components were
mounted on plastic bases with 6ba brass studs that went through the holes in
the peg board, and were connected by various lengths of brass strip using
nuts. If you needed to hop over, simply use the top of the pegboard.
It took you all the way from Crystal set to superhet with push pull output
stage, and all the way from simple gates to binary arithmetic using small
torch bulbs in bistable circuits linked to do the division.

I even made an am radio transmitter for medium wave which modulated a driver
stage and hence did not fm. I had to get some custom bits put together like
power transistors on bases of course for the latter, but hi is was in the
days of germanium so accidents did happen due to finger trouble with the
brass strip wiring, but it thought me a lot. Even though it was big, I could
make a circuit with an OC170 that could receive air band signals, it was as
wide open as a barn door, selectivity whats that? Grin.
Brian

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"gareth evans" wrote in message
...
Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years
before the Philips X20 et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us
brothers and sisters, the Xmas budget limited
each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and the electronics kit
was about £3.

Later on I built the Mohican and their mains short wave radio , the one
using mosfets. Both worked, but both did have design flaws both in the dial
drive mechanism. The Mohican should have had struts to hold the front panel
rigid as it would wander off tune when you flexed the front panel by using
controls etc, and the Sw set had the cheapest most crappy slow motion drive
using a bit of string I'd ever encountered. The pointer slipped the drive
slipped and in the end I took the whole front off and fitted a real slow
motion drive to the thing.
I have also built an air de ioniser, which basically was a whole ladder of
capacitors with the mains at one end and a spike at the other which fizzed
loudly and could give you a tingle if you touched it.
Lots of power supplies and light controllers, drill controllers stupid
robot controllers. and I do miss that now I have no sighted, but it was good
while it lasted.
Brian

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"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 6 Nov 2020 17:28:30 +0000, gareth evans
wrote:

Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years
before the Philips X20 et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us
brothers and sisters, the Xmas budget limited
each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and the electronics kit
was about £3.

I made one or two Heathkit things - the digital clock comes to mind,
one of these https://tinyurl.com/y6afaer6, except that whenever the
mains went off, it needed re-setting, so I added a 50cps oscillator
and battery back-up. The Beckman panaplex displays eventually packed
up https://tinyurl.com/y4r7d8l8 and ICBA to replace them as better
digital clocks were then available.

--

Chris

I think the Radionics company in Three Bridges made my brass strip one and
it was hard wearing. Tandy used to sell a breadboarding system with springs,
but they were notorious for bad connections and crackling.
Brian

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"Robert" wrote in message
...
On 06/11/2020 17:28, gareth evans wrote:
Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years
before the Philips X20 et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us
brothers and sisters, the Xmas budget limited
each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and the electronics kit
was about £3.

I seem to remember the can type transistors in these sets had "fragile"
legs not really designed for reinserting in the springs used as
connectors.
A leg would break off and they were very expensive to replace.

Well, she was gay anyway, so probably not likely to be available.
Brian

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"williamwright" wrote in message
...
On 06/11/2020 17:46, Jim GM4DHJ ... wrote:

I lusted after the plastics moulding kit thingy

It was Dusty Springfield with me.

Bill

Does anyone recall that article in one of the annuals from a comic where
they taught people the basics of electromagnetism using a compass, no the
ones that point north. some wire, a 9v battery and a magnet and some paper
clips? Have to say, the battery never lasted very long, as you might
imagine!

I did make a light transmitter once built into a Ever Ready Lantern torch,
just behind the reflector.
However the level of modulation was very low, as the thermal issues in a
filament meant that as soon as you could see the light flickering the thing
sounded very distorted. I guess these days leds might be better if they are
in fact driven by dc.
The other snag of course was the aiming and the limit of range in daylight
particularly as the other end either had an orp12 or a phototransistor.
Brian

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"jon" wrote in message ...
On Fri, 06 Nov 2020 17:28:30 +0000, gareth evans wrote:

Does anyone here remember what was the precursor to the Philips Radionic
series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years before the Philips X20
et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us brothers and sisters,
the Xmas budget limited each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and
the electronics kit was about £3.

I had a Trix electrical set (1950 ish).

In message , gareth evans
writes
Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I had the Philips Electronic Engineer kit, then, later, the add on kit.
There were similar kits by Tri-ang, then the Inventor series which was
made by Lionel (the train people) in the US, and sold here by Tri-ang
under licence. I had the Bell telephone kit. All good fun at the time,
but no real long term interest.

On the other hand, I still have, and use, Bayko, Meccano, Dinky and
Hornby Trains. Rather more now than I received as a child :-)

--
Graeme

On 07/11/2020 08:43, Graeme wrote:
In message , gareth evans
writes
Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I had the Philips Electronic Engineer kit, then, later, the add on kit.
There were similar kits by Tri-ang, then the Inventor series which was
made by Lionel (the train people) in the US, and sold here by Tri-ang
under licence.Â* I had the Bell telephone kit.Â* All good fun at the time,
but no real long term interest.

On the other hand, I still have, and use, Bayko, Meccano, Dinky and
Hornby Trains.Â* Rather more now than I received as a child :-)


I had a Philips Radionic series, I even read the manual about how
transistors worked. It was OK, a bit dull by modern standards.

....but as you say, I loved Meccano, and longed for extra kits.

My own son showed no interest in Meccano at all, *******!

In article ,
Chris Hogg wrote:
I made one or two Heathkit things - the digital clock comes to mind,
one of these https://tinyurl.com/y6afaer6, except that whenever the
mains went off, it needed re-setting, so I added a 50cps oscillator
and battery back-up. The Beckman panaplex displays eventually packed
up https://tinyurl.com/y4r7d8l8 and ICBA to replace them as better
digital clocks were then available.

I've got a Vellerman one. The numeric display is made up of lots of
individual LEDs - rather than numberic LED chips. Could be because large
enough ones weren't available then. Built into the kitchen. Toggles
between time and date and room temperature. But it does have provision for
battery backup.

--
*Few women admit their age; fewer men act it.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 07/11/2020 10:19, Pancho wrote:

...but as you say, I loved Meccano, and longed for extra kits.

In 1965, as a leaving present when my exchange visit to France
came to an end, I was given a French No 3 set.

Then somebody up the road gave me the remains of his
grandfather's Meccano which included 3 out of the 4
Windmill sails.

On 07/11/2020 08:15, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
Well, she was gay anyway, so probably not likely to be available.
Brian

You've destroyed my dream

Bill

On 06/11/2020 17:28, gareth evans wrote:
Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years
before the Philips X20 et seq came about.

I can't be sure if it is the same one, but the one I had was a carbon
copy of a commercial kit made by my dad. The circuits of which there
were many possible were drawn on card and for each one there was also a
card component layout that fitted on a piece of holey hardboard.

Battery and loud speaker on the RHS. On/off switch, variable resistor
and tuning capacitor on the top. Clips went through the board holes and
springs with washers on clamped the component leads. Care was necessary
not to short out things as you built it the springs stood about 1" high.

The transistors were an AF116 x1 (PNP) and AC127 x2 (NPN). The most
complex thing it could make was a one octave electronic organ.

The SW radio was quite sensitive once you attached a long wire antenna
and an earth to it. The amplifier was less impressive and relied on a
high impedance loudspeaker to work at all. The transistors were puny.

The modular fixing technique on the x40 looks to be more sophisticated
than on the kit that I had.
I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us
brothers and sisters, the Xmas budget limited
each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and the electronics kit
was about £3.



--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 07/11/2020 10:19, Pancho wrote:
On 07/11/2020 08:43, Graeme wrote:
In message , gareth evans
writes
Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I had the Philips Electronic Engineer kit, then, later, the add on
kit. There were similar kits by Tri-ang, then the Inventor series
which was made by Lionel (the train people) in the US, and sold here
by Tri-ang under licence.Â* I had the Bell telephone kit.Â* All good fun
at the time, but no real long term interest.

On the other hand, I still have, and use, Bayko, Meccano, Dinky and
Hornby Trains.Â* Rather more now than I received as a child :-)


I had a Philips Radionic series, I even read the manual about how
transistors worked. It was OK, a bit dull by modern standards.

....but as you say, I loved Meccano, and longed for extra kits.

I inherited my older brother's Meccano.

I also had Brickplayer, kits of clay tiles you stuck together with
flour-and-water paste. There were plastic doors and windows and roofs of
card you stuck together. You could disassemble the bricks by soaking the
building in water to make something else.

--
Max Demian

On Sat, 7 Nov 2020 18:20:39 +0000, Max Demian wrote:

....but as you say, I loved Meccano, and longed for extra kits.

I inherited my older brother's Meccano.

I used to dream of having enough Meccano to actually build more than
a basic "car". We couldn't afford it. Nor any of electronics
construction kits, had to make do with stripping old boards of bits
that me Dad skip dived for. Still have alot of those pasrts...

I also had Brickplayer, kits of clay tiles you stuck together with
flour-and-water paste. There were plastic doors and windows and roofs of
card you stuck together. You could disassemble the bricks by soaking the
building in water to make something else.

Ah, precursor to Lego? Had lot's of Lego.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Friday, 6 November 2020 17:28:38 UTC, gareth evans wrote:
Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years
before the Philips X20 et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us
brothers and sisters, the Xmas budget limited
each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and the electronics kit
was about £3.


I was delighted to get Meccano. I always thought it was a new Meccano set, and was occasionally puzzled when discussing projects with others that mine never matched theirs - I had parts none of their kits had, and the colours & styles never matched either. Moons later I found out the kit was patched together from all generations of Meccano, including some of the earliest unpainted parts, but there were also parts that I've no clue where they came from, AFAIK they simply never existed in Meccano. Some 3rd party equivalent I guess.

A great teaching aid imho. But I doubt it interests any 1st world kids now, they're all chasing video games.


NT

In article l.net, Dave
Liquorice wrote:
On Sat, 7 Nov 2020 18:20:39 +0000, Max Demian wrote:

....but as you say, I loved Meccano, and longed for extra kits.

I inherited my older brother's Meccano.

I used to dream of having enough Meccano to actually build more than a
basic "car". We couldn't afford it. Nor any of electronics construction
kits, had to make do with stripping old boards of bits that me Dad skip
dived for. Still have alot of those pasrts...

I also had Brickplayer, kits of clay tiles you stuck together with
flour-and-water paste. There were plastic doors and windows and roofs
of card you stuck together. You could disassemble the bricks by
soaking the building in water to make something else.

Ah, precursor to Lego? Had lot's of Lego.

No, that was Minibrix.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

In message ,
writes
On Friday, 6 November 2020 17:28:38 UTC, gareth evans wrote:
Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years
before the Philips X20 et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us
brothers and sisters, the Xmas budget limited
each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and the electronics kit
was about £3.


I was delighted to get Meccano. I always thought it was a new Meccano
set, and was occasionally puzzled when discussing projects with others
that mine never matched theirs - I had parts none of their kits had,
and the colours & styles never matched either. Moons later I found out
the kit was patched together from all generations of Meccano, including
some of the earliest unpainted parts, but there were also parts that
I've no clue where they came from, AFAIK they simply never existed in
Meccano. Some 3rd party equivalent I guess.


I(*) used to have a good sized chest of the stuff, some of which was
new, some of which was Dad's (and I think some of that was second hand),
but as it all fitted together, who cared. Unfortunately, during a house
move it was stored in my grandmother's garage, and had vanished when we
went to reclaim it.

(*) I say mine, it lived in my bedroom, but Dad still used to use it to
make useful things..

Getting back to the original topic, I had a very basic constructor kit,
which I suspect was not new. A piece of peg board, which you laid a
circuit diagram over. The various components were on plastic mounts
with wire clips on each end, the mounts clipped into the peg board, and
you connected the components together with bits of wire. I think we
managed to get a crystal radio set to work once, but in the main, it
wasn't a success.

Adrian
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On Sat, 07 Nov 2020 20:01:18 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:


On Sat, 7 Nov 2020 18:20:39 +0000, Max Demian wrote:


....but as you say, I loved Meccano, and longed for extra kits.


I inherited my older brother's Meccano.


I used to dream of having enough Meccano to actually build more than
a basic "car". We couldn't afford it. Nor any of electronics
construction kits, had to make do with stripping old boards of bits
that me Dad skip dived for. Still have alot of those pasrts...


I also had Brickplayer, kits of clay tiles you stuck together with
flour-and-water paste. There were plastic doors and windows and roofs of
card you stuck together. You could disassemble the bricks by soaking the
building in water to make something else.


Ah, precursor to Lego? Had lot's of Lego.


Ah Meccano! Every year my mother bought me an upgrade to convert the
set into the next one up. I got to No.9, but the 10 set was a no-no,
being twice as expensive as No.9.

I also had (and still have) Minibrix, like Lego but made of
brick-coloured rubber bricks which were snapped together or apart with
no messy cement like Brickplayer.
--
Dave W

On Sun, 08 Nov 2020 19:44:13 +0000, Dave W wrote:

Ah Meccano! Every year my mother bought me an upgrade to convert the set
into the next one up. I got to No.9, but the 10 set was a no-no, being
twice as expensive as No.9.

I got a No. 4 set for Christmas one year. A local shop did 'spares', and
I gradually built up to a No. 5, a No. 6, all the way up to a No. 10. My
best friend did the same, and then we built massive models with the
resulting 'No. 20' kit!

I also had Bayko, which was interesting but I was never inspired to buy
more (I had quite a decent set).

And the Philips kit, the advanced one. That started me on electronics.

--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

On Sunday, 8 November 2020 21:25:05 UTC, Bob Eager wrote:

I also had Bayko, which was interesting but I was never inspired to buy
more (I had quite a decent set).

Bayko sounds familiar. Is that the original 1930s constructor set that started off looking like a hedgehog? Even as a youngun I could see that being a total hazard.


And the Philips kit, the advanced one. That started me on electronics.

ditto. Spent no end of time trying to figure out where the voltages changed


NT

On Sun, 08 Nov 2020 15:37:03 -0800, tabbypurr wrote:

On Sunday, 8 November 2020 21:25:05 UTC, Bob Eager wrote:

I also had Bayko, which was interesting but I was never inspired to buy
more (I had quite a decent set).

Bayko sounds familiar. Is that the original 1930s constructor set that
started off looking like a hedgehog? Even as a youngun I could see that
being a total hazard.

I'm not quite old enough for the 1930s, but probably.

Rectangular green base (these could be joined to make a bigger base) with
small blind holes at a regular spacing. Thin rods of different lengths to
fit those (yes, a bit dangerous). Then 'bricks', which were thin slips of
plastic with outlines of actual bricks on them, concave half round edges,
so they slid between the rods and could be stacked. Wimdows, doors, etc.
likewise. Various roof shapes to fit on top.

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

And the Philips kit, the advanced one. That started me on electronics.

ditto. Spent no end of time trying to figure out where the voltages
changed

It was good fun.




--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

Chris Hogg was thinking very hard :
I made one or two Heathkit things - the digital clock comes to mind,
one of these https://tinyurl.com/y6afaer6, except that whenever the
mains went off, it needed re-setting, so I added a 50cps oscillator
and battery back-up.

I bought and built one of those, I took a special trip down to London
to collect the kit direct from Heathkit. It was still working around 15
years ago, when I decided to bin it - I wish I'd kept it now.

jon formulated on Saturday :
On Fri, 06 Nov 2020 17:28:30 +0000, gareth evans wrote:

Does anyone here remember what was the precursor to the Philips Radionic
series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years before the Philips X20
et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us brothers and sisters,
the Xmas budget limited each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and
the electronics kit was about £3.

I had a Trix electrical set (1950 ish).

Clive Sinclair offered a few kits for radios and audio amps.

Max Demian wrote on 07/11/2020 :
I also had Brickplayer, kits of clay tiles you stuck together with
flour-and-water paste. There were plastic doors and windows and roofs of card
you stuck together. You could disassemble the bricks by soaking the building
in water to make something else.

I remember those - I was offered the choice of that, or a very
realistic model lorry. The lorry had cast parts, all held together with
nuts and bolts, working steering and I think suspension, I think spring
motor, plus the tools to dissemble them. I eventually lost the bolts
and was unable to reassemble it. I came across them on Ebay last year,
they are quite a collectors item.

Dave Liquorice explained on 07/11/2020 :
I used to dream of having enough Meccano to actually build more than
a basic "car". We couldn't afford it. Nor any of electronics
construction kits, had to make do with stripping old boards of bits
that me Dad skip dived for.

Same here, plus relatives would collect 'interesting' parts too,
including Lancaster altimeters, bits of radios.

Still have alot of those pasrts...

I wish I still had a lot of the things I have had my hands on over the
years, but I've had to move around to much in my working life.

On 06/11/2020 17:28, gareth evans wrote:
Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years
before the Philips X20 et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us
brothers and sisters, the Xmas budget limited
each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and the electronics kit
was about £3.


Sorry but I'm only 61!

I got the big town plan Lego set for Xmas that year. Only found out this
year that Dad was a hero and ate a lot of cornflakes as it was a
Kellogg's cornflakes coupon offer.

Sometime in mid/late 60's I got a walkie-talkie kit that I think was
Phillips. 3 transistors if I recall.

Also had a kit that had sort of springs that wires connected to make
circuits between the components. Had a LDR, torch bulb, buzzer/speaker
and I think 1 transistor.

Spoilt brat?

On 08/11/2020 10:42, Adrian wrote:
In message ,
writes
On Friday, 6 November 2020 17:28:38 UTC, gareth evansÂ* wrote:
Does anyone here remember what was the precursor
to the Philips Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years
before the Philips X20 et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us
brothers and sisters, the Xmas budget limited
each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and the electronics kit
was about £3.


I was delighted to get Meccano. I always thought it was a new Meccano
set, and was occasionally puzzled when discussing projects with others
that mine never matched theirs - I had parts none of their kits had,
and the colours & styles never matched either. Moons later I found out
the kit was patched together from all generations of Meccano,
including some of the earliest unpainted parts, but there were also
parts that I've no clue where they came from, AFAIK they simply never
existed in Meccano. Some 3rd party equivalent I guess.


I(*) used to have a good sized chest of the stuff, some of which was
new, some of which was Dad's (and I think some of that was second hand),
but as it all fitted together, who cared.Â* Unfortunately, during a house
move it was stored in my grandmother's garage, and had vanished when we
went to reclaim it.

Mine was a No 5 set plus remnants of a larger one donated to me by an
uncle. I had a hell of a lot of gears and a motor for it eventually.
Some of it did not survive my attempt to make a mirror grinding machine.

(*) I say mine, it lived in my bedroom, but Dad still used to use it to
make useful things..

Getting back to the original topic, I had a very basic constructor kit,
which I suspect was not new.Â* A piece of peg board, which you laid a
circuit diagram over.Â* The various components were on plastic mounts
with wire clips on each end,Â* the mounts clipped into the peg board, and
you connected the components together with bits of wire.Â* I think we
managed to get a crystal radio set to work once, but in the main, it
wasn't a success.

That was the newer version after the one I described with the manually
assembled spring loaded clips and raw components. I suspect the base
board was the same on both kits. That sort of industrial hole board that
tools get hung up on. OK the transistors had longer flexible leads on
them and some araldite reinforcement around the body.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Mon, 9 Nov 2020 09:42:16 +0000, Peter Hill
wrote:

snip

Sorry but I'm only 61!

I have 3 years on you. ;-)

I got the big town plan Lego set for Xmas that year.

I went though a phase of getting various Lego packs for Xmyth as it
was an easy one for people to get for me. I'm not sure there were that
many 'specialised' bits in the early days, maybe the odd clear window
or door but apart from that it was mostly just 'bricks'?

The good thing about Lego is that I think what was my 'set' (it grew
into an old suitcase) was played with by our daughter and is now being
played with by a niece and nephew. ;-)

Only found out this
year that Dad was a hero and ate a lot of cornflakes as it was a
Kellogg's cornflakes coupon offer.

Aww. ;-)

Sometime in mid/late 60's I got a walkie-talkie kit that I think was
Phillips. 3 transistors if I recall.

When asked what I wanted for one Xmyth by Dad (he didn't normally ask)
I replied 'a Radio controlled boat' and that turned up to be a
*complete* kit of parts, not just the plywood boat (Sea Commander) but
the transmitter and receiver. ;-)

Also had a kit that had sort of springs that wires connected to make
circuits between the components. Had a LDR, torch bulb, buzzer/speaker
and I think 1 transistor.

I can remember getting a medium sized tin, making some face like holes
in it and fitting some batteries and loads of wires and a buzzer
inside and a switch that would turn on the buzzer and a light when you
press a particular place on the back. I took it to school and could
make this robot 'talk' (one buzz for yes, two for no) in a way that
no-one ever worked out. ;-)

Spoilt brat?

I don't feel I was in one respect, I rarely got to ask for anything
but at the same time was given some very nice things (or kind
gestures).

I would never dream (and never got) a new bike for example but I think
I was bought a nice (it was quite robust and had a wooden deck) Triang
(?) scooter.

One particular instance of Dad being particularly thoughtful (rather
than Mum, who always was ...) was when he came in from work and handed
me a couple of tropical fish to put in the tiny tank I'd set up myself
that had a few of my mates surplus guppies in. I was slightly thrown
and wasn't sure if it was a 'good thing' (they were too big for my
tank) but he then asked me to go and empty the car boot like he often
did.

So, I put the bag with these two new fish in (and really wanted to
deal with them there and then, the boot could wait) but you didn't
keep dad waiting so off I trotted down the garden and out the back
alley to the car (I think that was the 2000e at the time), I opened
the boot and there was a 2' x 18" x 12" tank, pump, gravel, water
treatment chemicals and some plants in bags and all you would need to
set up a proper system. ;-)

I wouldn't keep fish now of course but it was a lovely surprise then.
;-)

Cheers, T i m

In message , Harry Bloomfield
writes

I remember those - I was offered the choice of that, or a very
realistic model lorry. The lorry had cast parts, all held together with
nuts and bolts, working steering and I think suspension, I think spring
motor, plus the tools to dissemble them. I eventually lost the bolts
and was unable to reassemble it. I came across them on Ebay last year,
they are quite a collectors item.

A Shackleton Foden! I had one about 30 years ago, but sold it and have
regretted doing so ever since.

--
Graeme

On 09/11/2020 09:10, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
jon formulated on Saturday :
On Fri, 06 Nov 2020 17:28:30 +0000, gareth evans wrote:

Does anyone here remember what was the precursor to the Philips Radionic
series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years before the Philips X20
et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us brothers and sisters,
the Xmas budget limited each of us to Xmas presents costing £1 only and
the electronics kit was about £3.

I had a Trix electrical set (1950 ish).

Clive Sinclair offered a few kits for radios and audio amps.

Surely they were to construct specific devices rather than multiple
different ones/experimentation, which is what this thread is about.

--
Max Demian

I had a Denshi Board

https://www.google.com/search?q=denshi+board&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwi11tKIzP XsAhUV44UKHbq6DEwQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=denshi+board&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQA1DKuwJY yrsCYM7CAmgAcAB4AIABRogBRpIBATGYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2 l6LWltZ8ABAQ&sclient=img&ei=nkepX7WPKJXGlwS69bLgBA &bih=723&biw=1330&client=firefox-b-d

In article ,
Max Demian wrote:
On 09/11/2020 09:10, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
jon formulated on Saturday :
On Fri, 06 Nov 2020 17:28:30 +0000, gareth evans wrote:

Does anyone here remember what was the precursor to the Philips
Radionic series?

I am thinking of about 1963 which is a few years before the Philips
X20 et seq came about.

I lusted after one of those kits but with 5 of us brothers and
sisters, the Xmas budget limited each of us to Xmas presents costing
£1 only and the electronics kit was about £3.

I had a Trix electrical set (1950 ish).

Clive Sinclair offered a few kits for radios and audio amps.

Surely they were to construct specific devices rather than multiple
different ones/experimentation, which is what this thread is about.

I remember seeing one - an audio pre-amp - which used skeleton controls
(presets) for volume and tone, etc. Obviously not expecting it to last for
long. ;-)

--
*A cartoonist was found dead in his home. Details are sketchy.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.