Toys you had as a kid and that you kept

[vavavroom]

When I was about 5 I had a few Japanese tin toys (stamped sheet steel) that were made by Bandai and Taiyo. I had to look that up. They were mostly vehicles with friction motors and the tanks had a sparking mechanism using a cigarette lighter flint. I also had a wind-up robot that made a lot of noise and that was also sparking. Imagine that today! I remember playing a lot with those toys outside and they got rusty. I'm pretty sure Dad got rid of them when he saw a considerable tetanus risk to me and my friends. I don't have any of those toys any longer.

I have one small friction-powered "Future Car" that I gave to my son when he was maybe 5 or 6 years old. This one:


I found the pictures below online and they show some of the tin toys I had.

Probably my favorite


Just like Grandpa's car other than the color!


Had to go to war for sure. My tank looked similar but had the sparking machine gun as you pushed the tank along.


The wind-up robot was awesome. Sparks came flying out its chest while it was shuffling screechingly along. I'll have to go see if I can find one in good condition. It will look good on my desk!

 

[vavavroom]

From the age of 4, I really enjoyed firetrucks and I had a big hook and ladder metal truck that was nearly 2-feet long. Not sure whatever happened to it but my parents replaced it with a smaller plastic pumper style. We moved away from Louisiana into Cherry Point, North Carolina, and I ended up smashing the little toy truck when my dad told me, my grandpa passed away. That was the last of my fire truck toys. Ironically, after my first tour in the Army, I landed a job with the fire department. To this very day, I love watching YouTube videos of fire departments battling fires. Heck, I know every model of every make and what size and style pumps they have, the GPM ratings and all the differences between a quint and a truck. Dang, I miss those days!

I vaguely recall being green with envy when one of my sandbox buddies showed up with a rather large tin toy fire truck that could squirt water from a hose connected to a holding tank.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

Been splitting two large downed cottonwood trees by hand. At 65 a real workout. 5 rounds left. Only for our fire pit!

Good luck. I hurt now (66) just thinking about that..........yikes.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

When I was about 5 I had a few Japanese tin toys (stamped sheet steel) that were made by Bandai and Taiyo. I had to look that up. They were mostly vehicles with friction motors and the tanks had a sparking mechanism using a cigarette lighter flint. I also had a wind-up robot that made a lot of noise and that was also sparking. Imagine that today! I remember playing a lot with those toys outside and they got rusty. I'm pretty sure Dad got rid of them when he saw a considerable tetanus risk to me and my friends. I don't have any of those toys any longer.

I have one small friction-powered "Future Car" that I gave to my son when he was maybe 5 or 6 years old. This one:


I found the pictures below online and they show some of the tin toys I had.

Probably my favorite


Just like Grandpa's car other than the color!


Had to go to war for sure. My tank looked similar but had the sparking machine gun as you pushed the tank along.


The wind-up robot was awesome. Sparks came flying out its chest while it was shuffling screechingly along. I'll have to go see if I can find one in good condition. It will look good on my desk!

When I was about 5 I had a few Japanese tin toys (stamped sheet steel) that were made by Bandai and Taiyo. I had to look that up. They were mostly vehicles with friction motors and the tanks had a sparking mechanism using a cigarette lighter flint. I also had a wind-up robot that made a lot of noise and that was also sparking. Imagine that today! I remember playing a lot with those toys outside and they got rusty. I'm pretty sure Dad got rid of them when he saw a considerable tetanus risk to me and my friends. I don't have any of those toys any longer.

I have one small friction-powered "Future Car" that I gave to my son when he was maybe 5 or 6 years old. This one:


I found the pictures below online and they show some of the tin toys I had.

Probably my favorite


Just like Grandpa's car other than the color!


Had to go to war for sure. My tank looked similar but had the sparking machine gun as you pushed the tank along.


The wind-up robot was awesome. Sparks came flying out its chest while it was shuffling screechingly along. I'll have to go see if I can find one in good condition. It will look good on my desk!

Whoa! I had one of those tanks and some similar robots. Just about Everything back then had this stamp on the bottoms: Made In Japan.

 

[vavavroom]

Whoa! I had one of those tanks and some similar robots. Just about Everything back then had this stamp on the bottoms: Made In Japan.

I had this colorful marble-sized rubber ball that had come out of a gumball machine. I remember its intoxicating smell to this day. I would recognize that smell on my deathbed. The ball said Taiwan on it and I thought that sounded really exotic. Sadly, I lost my beloved rubber ball before I started going to elementary school. That smell, though! Probably it was from plasticizers and formaldehyde.

 

[vavavroom]

Here are two more of the old toys that I passed on to my son and one that I bought new. I had been a little rough on them as a kid and we refurbished them and did some modifications.

The first toy is a CMP FAT Chevrolet Quad gun tractor made by Corgi in 1/45 scale. The original is a WW2 vehicle The gun went missing. Maybe one of my do-no-good play buddies liberated it. Who knows? This tractor was in sad shape when I passed it on to my son around 2007 or 2008. So we added some details and gave it a weathered look. We never replaced the missing gun or tow hook.

This is a picture I found online of the same toy in original and unmodified condition.



The refurbished and modified version my son built with a little bit help from me.






The next vehicle is my old FV102 Alvis Striker anti-tank missile carrier. The original vehicle was made in the '70s and '80s and was armed with wire-guided missiles. The Striker remained in service with the British until 2005. This Dinky toy is 1/45 scale and has a spring-actuated missile launcher. In my many battles with my friends, I mean enemies as a kid, I ended up losing all my missiles and had to resort to launching matchsticks in the hope of causing more havoc. When I turned over the toy to my son we made new projectiles, I mean missiles, and we refurbished the vehicle completely. I remember replacing the tracks and adding storage boxes to the side. e also made a custom exhaust with a heat shield that you can see in some of the pictures. We tried to match the original green paint but went with a more realistic matte green.

Here is a picture showing an original version of this toy.


Here is the refurbished and modified version we made.

The launcher can hold up to 5 missiles.
[url=https://postimages.org/]

The missiles are front-loaded and pushed back until they lock in place. You can see the individual trigger buttons for each missile.


The missile launcher is ready. The range is about 25 feet. Accuracy is terrible.


The money shot


I know when I see an enemy missile launch site! Better get them now!


The last toy I'm showing is the last toy vehicle I remember giving my son before he lost interest in these things. This is an M93 Fox APC (TPs Fuchs). It appears to have some NBC equipment because there are several wheeled deployable sensor probes attached to the rear of the vehicle. This is an amphibious vehicle as you can see by the two articulated propellors that are mounted at the rear. This toy was made by Schuco and it has remained original and unmodified. The markings indicate a Bundeswehr SFOR TPs Fuchs as deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1996 and 2004. This model is 1/43 scale.

 

[Pablo]

Those are cool. Nice work too.

Brought back a rush of memories. My brother and I made kit tank models. Every (lower end) one that hit the market in the late 1960's. Probably mainly Revell. Kept? Not a chance.

 

[4WD]

Here are two more of the old toys that I passed on to my son and one that I bought new. I had been a little rough on them as a kid and we refurbished them and did some modifications.

The first toy is a CMP FAT Chevrolet Quad gun tractor made by Corgi in 1/45 scale. The original is a WW2 vehicle The gun went missing. Maybe one of my do-no-good play buddies liberated it. Who knows? This tractor was in sad shape when I passed it on to my son around 2007 or 2008. So we added some details and gave it a weathered look. We never replaced the missing gun or tow hook.

This is a picture I found online of the same toy in original and unmodified condition.



The refurbished and modified version my son built with a little bit help from me.






The next vehicle is my old FV102 Alvis Striker anti-tank missile carrier. The original vehicle was made in the '70s and '80s and was armed with wire-guided missiles. The Striker remained in service with the British until 2005. This Dinky toy is 1/45 scale and has a spring-actuated missile launcher. In my many battles with my friends, I mean enemies as a kid, I ended up losing all my missiles and had to resort to launching matchsticks in the hope of causing more havoc. When I turned over the toy to my son we made new projectiles, I mean missiles, and we refurbished the vehicle completely. I remember replacing the tracks and adding storage boxes to the side. e also made a custom exhaust with a heat shield that you can see in some of the pictures. We tried to match the original green paint but went with a more realistic matte green.

Here is a picture showing an original version of this toy.


Here is the refurbished and modified version we made.

The launcher can hold up to 5 missiles.
[url=https://postimages.org/]

The missiles are front-loaded and pushed back until they lock in place. You can see the individual trigger buttons for each missile.


The missile launcher is ready. The range is about 25 feet. Accuracy is terrible.


The money shot


I know when I see an enemy missile launch site! Better get them now!


The last toy I'm showing is the last toy vehicle I remember giving my son before he lost interest in these things. This is an M93 Fox APC (TPs Fuchs). It appears to have some NBC equipment because there are several wheeled deployable sensor probes attached to the rear of the vehicle. This is an amphibious vehicle as you can see by the two articulated propellors that are mounted at the rear. This toy was made by Schuco and it has remained original and unmodified. The markings indicate a Bundeswehr SFOR TPs Fuchs as deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1996 and 2004. This model is 1/43 scale.

 

[vavavroom]

View attachment 156489

The CMP FAT is a peculiar looking Canadian vehicle, isn't it? It was made not only by Chevrolet but also by Ford. I think the Ford variant had a windshield that was sloped "the wrong way." Not all CMPs had the beetle-back body. With its big tires, short overhangs, and with decent ground clearance with steep ramp-over angles it looks very offroad-capable. As far as I know the CMP was in use by Canadian, British, and Australian forces, and maybe by some other Commonwealth countries during WW2 and after.

 

[vavavroom]

I'm slowly going through the toy vehicles that are still around. Since they are collecting dust and remain unseen in boxes I have decided to turn them into a collection that I can put on display.

The first two pictures are not mine but they show an Aveling-Barford GD Diesel Road Roller that I had as a kid and that I kept. It's a Matchbox by Lesney King size, ca 1/50 scale, and was probably made in the '60s. When my son was 8 or 9 we did a restomod on the vehicle because it was quite playworn after I gave him the toy. I remember we took the vehicle apart, stripped the original paint, I tapped the rivet posts, and installed M2 threaded brass studs. We added an inaccurate but neat-looking air intake snorkel and two headlights. By the looks of it, we replaced the original axles with 2mm stainless steel capillary tubing and used brass washers and miniature brass nails for hubs. We also made new decals for the front and sides of the roller. Since the toy is still in great shape it doesn't look like my son played with it much. It was one of many fun weekend projects.

When I had mine as a kid it looked much more worn than this one. I wish I had an old picture of mine.




How it looks now, 13 or 14 years after we did the restomod

The headlights were made out of metal and the lens was a small drop of UV cure resin applied to the polished front of the headlight. The steering fork rivet does not look original. It looks like I used a stainless steel pop rivet body into which I epoxied threaded M2 brass rod. There's a brass M2 nut at the bottom of the steering fork just above the front roller. It's secured with a tiny bit of epoxy.


The decals were printed on waterslide decal paper with a laser printer and coated with clear coat




Looking at this image I realize we filled the hollow rollers with a mixture of epoxy and powdered metal to give the toy more weight. Road rollers are after all heavy vehicles. I also notice brass washers between the rear rollers and the axle tubes. No expense spared!

 

[vavavroom]

This is a Playmobil sub that my son got as a birthday gift when he turned 5. there's one 1.5 AA in the blue engine pod which is also equipped with an adjustable rudder. Buoyancy is controlled by a hand-operated air pump that is connected to the buoyancy tank via a silicone hose. The conning tower has a seal that still seals after 17 years. The diving depth is limited to 20 inches. This was not a cheap toy back then and it's been out of production for along time.

 

[vavavroom]

I still have my slingshot from ca 1988. Relatively new rubber. My son and I sued to set up snappers on posts and take them down at 30 feet. Also shot used snappers as ammo but that can backfire. Safety glasses are highly recommended. You'll shoot an eye out. I still have steel bearing and glass marble ammo. The handle of the slingshot has a magazine. I must have the wooden slingshot we built as a weekend project somewhere. I'll have to look for it.

 

[Pablo]

I still have my slingshot from ca 1988. Relatively new rubber. My son and I sued to set up snappers on posts and take them down at 30 feet. Also shot used snappers as ammo but that can backfire. Safety glasses are highly recommended. I still have steel bearing and glass marble ammo. The handle of the slingshot has a magazine.I must have somewhere the wooden slingshot we built as a weekend project. I'll have to look for it.

That's not a toy!!

 

[vavavroom]

That's not a toy!!

Motion to move my post to the firearms forum. We need a sports forum. Pickleball, line dancing, and slingshooting!

 

[vavavroom]

I found some cap bombs. The smaller ones could be loaded with snappers instead of with pieces of strip caps. Let's see if 'The Hatchet Boy' Pablo has objections.

 

[ZeeOSix]

FYI, they make clay ball slingshot ammo these days - just search Amazon. I've shot some, and it just breaks up if it hits something solid, like a big rock or tree. It degrades back to the ground when it rains - eco friendly. Marksman Wrist Rocket from late 80s, new bands off Amazon, and some clay ammo.

 

[vavavroom]

FYI, they make clay ball slingshot ammo these days - just search Amazon. I've shot some, and it just breaks up if it hits something solid, like a big rock or tree. It degrades back to the ground when it rains - eco friendly. Marksman Wrist Rocket from late 80s, new bands off Amazon, and some clay ammo.

View attachment 166439

As kids we shot at each other with cherries to our mothers' delight. When we were shooting ball bearings and other hard ammo at targets we used a trap. No environmental damage was caused by us brats. I do remember lobbing stink bombs, the glass vial ones, with my slingshot on special occasion. We also shot burdock burrs. Let's not go there.

 

[vavavroom]

In 2011, at age 10, my son was very interested in Ice Road Truckers. He had also seen Runaway Train (1985) and he wanted to build an ice road truck support vehicle. I asked my son to explain every feature's purpose and function. He wanted catwalks, a loading ramp, off-road capability, and a detachable snow blade, and supplemental lighting. I still have the index cards that detail the project. We used the cabin of a King Size (ca 1/64) Matchbox Scammel truck and the wheels of a Siku snow plow that had been cannibalized for another project already shown in this thread. The project took several weekends to complete. Over the course of 5 years or so we must have done at least 10 projects every year.

Action shot of the "Ice Road Truck Support Vehicle." I can't give you snow but there's sand! Note the Louvered grille, custom headlights, mirrors, and the traction tape (fine wet sanding paper) on the catwalks.


Other than the cabin with the air horns, which was extended to be a sleeper cabin, the plow attachment, the tires and front wheels, and two sections of the chassis, everything was scratch-built using styrene, epoxy, and rectangular brass tubing. Other than me cutting the metal parts and doing some of the custom metal parts like the headlights my son did most of the work. He also did the paintwork and the aging of the model.


A folding and extending loading ramp was made from styrene. I made all the waterslide decals. If you look right above the pumpkin you can see two big eyes for attaching towing equipment.




Good axle articulation was a requirement.


The snow plow is removable without tools. It's the same one used on the snowplow project shown earlier in this thread. The '79 Scvout is there for scale.


You are seeing right. That's a mammoth towing a truck.

 

[vavavroom]

I found this while sorting through boxes and boxes of scale models that I have amassed over the course of 40 years.

I built this Lindberg 1/87 (H0) scale kit in the late '80s when I was a young teen. This was a purple hippie "Travelin Van" that I converted into a GMC B Series school bus like the ones I knew back then firsthand. That was a very simple and simplified kit. Check out those crazy thick window pillars! I modified the model and I added detail. I can tell I cut the lower window into the emergency exit and I added headlights and flashers and brake lights. The flashers and brake lights look like dyed resin dots that I glued on. For the headlights the simulated headlights were drilled out and filled, painted silver, then a drop of clear resin was applied. The black run strips must have been a super-fine graphic arts tape because I can tell it's not painted on but coated with clear coat. The wheels and tires are not the ones that came with the kit. They look like military truckle tires to me. I can't remember where I got them. I still have that Badger airbrush that I used back then. I'm sure the model didn't come with the stop sign and I have no idea where I found this tiny thing. I must have scratch-built the mirrors. I still have the Lindberg kit box and the assembly instructions. The kit says Copyright 1977 on it so it was already an older kit when I bought it over a decade later.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

Still have an LGB train set. It had a rough life running over GI Joe's and towing them by a shoe string but it still works and has most of its parts still attached.