Flying Turtle
Flashaholic
What immediately comes to mind are some of those skits by Dan Ackroyd in the early SNL. I think he mentioned "Bag o Nails" for a kid's toy, but what I really remember is the "Bass o Matic". :laughing:
Geoff
Geoff
toys with the most danger
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Mmmmm, bass!
PoliceScannerMan
Flashaholic
What about that hard plastic thing you put on your Garden Hose and it shot around like a bottle rocket. 
JackBlades
Enlightened
Pydpiper said:
I think he may be referring to the Mattel "Thingmaker". A hot plate with cast metal molds into which you poured the "Goop" and the heat cured the liquid into plastic. As a kid I used to "camp" in my backyard fort and cook balongna slices on it.
gadget_lover
Flashaholic
There were so many that I'm surprised that I survived....
In the 50's and 60's the cowboy and army movies were very popular. We made our own bows and arrows from tree branches and braided cord, and eventually bought the real thing (a 25 lb fiberglass recurve) at the store. 6 to 10 kids gathered in the back yard shooting at targets 30 feet away, arrows flying everywhere; a recipe for disaster. We all survived.
Very fun was a 'carbide cannon' which created quite a boom and flash of light. Think 10 inches of cast potmetal with an explosive gas in it.
We used spaghetti in our bb guns for early paintball type play. The spaghetti would stick in your clothes, confirming the kill.
My chemistry set included an alcohol burner that could melt glass. Invisible flames, melted glass and an 8 year old. Good combination.
And then there were the model rockets. Solid fuel. Exhaust hot enough to melt a spot in the bricks we used for a launch pad. Went up 1/2 a mile or so. Always a chance for an explosion (though that never happened). Loved that sport.
Needless to say, I tried to make sure my kids enjoyed all these things when they were growing up.
Daniel
In the 50's and 60's the cowboy and army movies were very popular. We made our own bows and arrows from tree branches and braided cord, and eventually bought the real thing (a 25 lb fiberglass recurve) at the store. 6 to 10 kids gathered in the back yard shooting at targets 30 feet away, arrows flying everywhere; a recipe for disaster. We all survived.
Very fun was a 'carbide cannon' which created quite a boom and flash of light. Think 10 inches of cast potmetal with an explosive gas in it.
We used spaghetti in our bb guns for early paintball type play. The spaghetti would stick in your clothes, confirming the kill.
My chemistry set included an alcohol burner that could melt glass. Invisible flames, melted glass and an 8 year old. Good combination.
And then there were the model rockets. Solid fuel. Exhaust hot enough to melt a spot in the bricks we used for a launch pad. Went up 1/2 a mile or so. Always a chance for an explosion (though that never happened). Loved that sport.
Needless to say, I tried to make sure my kids enjoyed all these things when they were growing up.
Daniel
offroadcmpr
Enlightened
metalhed said:
I don't remember any specific smell from them. :shrug:They were from the early 90's I believe. I was born in 87, so it most likely wasn't from the 60's or 70's. I will try to search for it to see if I can find an example.
edit: look here for an epinions reviews of what I believe it was. Several people mention a smell, so it might be the thing you are looking for, if not a similar toy.
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BentHeadTX
Flashlight Enthusiast
I was a fire bug and built explosives when I was a kid...
Used to go to the public library and research certain devices and build interesting things. Liked the cherry bombs, I used a custom made "wrist rocket" and could launch those things a city block... into an intersection that three main streets crossed. Used walkie-talkies to change the angle of the cherry bomb to get it on target (the intersection)
The 5th of July I would wake up early, get some of my brothers and we go out picking up dud firecrackers etc (fireworks were illegal in Chicago) Get a grocery bag of those and remove all the gunpowder. Manufactured a few pipe bombs back in the day... blew up some rather large trees and things.
Then we built napalm type devices since what good was an explosion without fire? Had a lot of fun, didn't burn the house down and the people in my area thought me and my brothers were a little crazy. I never got into rocket motors (my older brothers did) They did the sky rocket/M80 bundle trick, I used bottle rockets setting off M80's on old toy car bodies.
The reason none of my friends and family never were injured in any of our experiments is we understood what danger was. Playgrounds were paved, monkey bars and metal slides that would burn your butt in the summer and ice ball fights in the winter. Grab a car bumper and go "skeetching" at 30MPH on the snow taught balance and how to evaluate surfaces. Put a rope though the front of a sled and go screaming down hills standing up... crashed all the time but it was fun. The balancing act was also good practice for skateboards, roller skates and attempts at unicycles.
Bicycles dangerous?
Those things were transportation and still are. Sure custom made "choppers", BMX insanity and racing were common but the skills learned made it a very safe practice. The BMX days made motorcross motorcycles a natural extension so we stayed alive since we understood the dynamics.
When my teenage sons were younger, I made sure to expose them to various dangers of life so they would understand that hair rising on the back of the neck survival feeling. They both ride skateboards, roller blades and one of them almost has mountain unicycling figured out. They know how to correctly launch and use fireworks without blowing body parts off, starting the city on fire or getting arrested.
Over protecting kids just makes them sit around the house, play video games, watch TV, get spoiled, fat and ignorant of the world around them. I've run into many children that don't know how to ride a bicycle, climb trees and other various childhood skills. Pretty sad, most of the fun I had as a kid somehow involved experiences that I don't partake of in my adult years. Still ride bikes and play some games with my sons but I think I lost the window of opportunity to learn unicycling.
As adults we spend too much time inside, let the children go outside and enjoy the sunshine.
Used to go to the public library and research certain devices and build interesting things. Liked the cherry bombs, I used a custom made "wrist rocket" and could launch those things a city block... into an intersection that three main streets crossed. Used walkie-talkies to change the angle of the cherry bomb to get it on target (the intersection)
The 5th of July I would wake up early, get some of my brothers and we go out picking up dud firecrackers etc (fireworks were illegal in Chicago) Get a grocery bag of those and remove all the gunpowder. Manufactured a few pipe bombs back in the day... blew up some rather large trees and things.
Then we built napalm type devices since what good was an explosion without fire? Had a lot of fun, didn't burn the house down and the people in my area thought me and my brothers were a little crazy. I never got into rocket motors (my older brothers did) They did the sky rocket/M80 bundle trick, I used bottle rockets setting off M80's on old toy car bodies.
The reason none of my friends and family never were injured in any of our experiments is we understood what danger was. Playgrounds were paved, monkey bars and metal slides that would burn your butt in the summer and ice ball fights in the winter. Grab a car bumper and go "skeetching" at 30MPH on the snow taught balance and how to evaluate surfaces. Put a rope though the front of a sled and go screaming down hills standing up... crashed all the time but it was fun. The balancing act was also good practice for skateboards, roller skates and attempts at unicycles.
Bicycles dangerous?
Those things were transportation and still are. Sure custom made "choppers", BMX insanity and racing were common but the skills learned made it a very safe practice. The BMX days made motorcross motorcycles a natural extension so we stayed alive since we understood the dynamics. When my teenage sons were younger, I made sure to expose them to various dangers of life so they would understand that hair rising on the back of the neck survival feeling. They both ride skateboards, roller blades and one of them almost has mountain unicycling figured out. They know how to correctly launch and use fireworks without blowing body parts off, starting the city on fire or getting arrested.
Over protecting kids just makes them sit around the house, play video games, watch TV, get spoiled, fat and ignorant of the world around them. I've run into many children that don't know how to ride a bicycle, climb trees and other various childhood skills. Pretty sad, most of the fun I had as a kid somehow involved experiences that I don't partake of in my adult years. Still ride bikes and play some games with my sons but I think I lost the window of opportunity to learn unicycling.
As adults we spend too much time inside, let the children go outside and enjoy the sunshine.
