When we were kids the bomb-diggity was the Erector Sets:

http://www.arsjb.com/History_files/e...orsetbox1a.jpg

Darn, I was thinking the same thing. And here I thought I was the only dirty old man on the Cellar.;)

"erector sets"

*sniggers*

@ bruce and Rich: it's the English accent that does it. English accents were made for talking dirty :P

K'Nex are a Pennsylvania product. Support the Commonwealth!

My friend's son does both Lego and K'Nex. He builds huge things out of both. He will design and make things up out of his head. He will probably end up becoming an engineer or architect or the new guy on Mythbusters in a couple of years.

He has a couple of those monstrous K'Nex kits ... built a room-sized functional rollercoaster.

I have always had trouble making a house out of Lincoln Logs, and really miss Tinker Toys.

Never did Erector Sets. My problem with Tinker Toys and K'nex is that they seem limited to the "things built out of spokes and hubs" genre, whereas Legos (I say Legos, plural, so sue me) can do the spoke-and-hub thing but also tie that into the architectural realm--run a spoke through a block, anchor a gear to a block, etc. and you have mixed genres.

And I want to clear up a particular complaint that I do not have. I do not object to the "set that can only build one thing" because that complaint is, by definition, ignorant of what one properly does with Legos, i.e. store them in a big tub, possibly categorized, possibly pick-and-grab, and build from the imagination. Since the "picture on the box" may be built at most once, and likely never at all, it is irrelevant. I do recall the booklets suggesting plans for multiple items, and if this is no longer the case, then what is the harm done? Build something. Conversely, I can see the argument that the multiple plans laid out would constitute a "tutorial" in the use of new or unusual pieces.

To clarify, what I do object to is the rise of over-specialized pieces. That is, a piece molded exactly in the shape of something. This directly robs the Lego set of its potential as a tool of the imagination. And, why do we need this, when people have figured out how to build Stephen Hawking out of stock parts?

Bloody Hector finally started his KNex rollercoaster in the christmas break, and it's almost done ....almost.... and abandoned, blocking up the entire landing. :mad2:

Did you take a picture? I bet it was cool.

it's still fucking there. I'm too ashamed of the clutter around it to take a pic, though

Whaaaat? The monster we know and love embraces her clutter.

Clutter Culture! The only way to go. :thumb:

yeah, but I ain't sharing it :p

mutter. here. ok?

I think we must be having a cultural mistranslation of the word "landing." To me, a landing is a turn in a staircase, a square usually only about 4 or 5 feet on each side.

well, to us too, but I don'r know what else to call it -it's still the passing/turning space at the top of the stairs, it's just a little larger than the average

the stairs are back to the left, our room also, boys room slightly forward to the right (next to that piece of furniture with the Crayfish tank on it, bathroom directly to the right, Hebe's room behind to the right....