Look at what I found

[frostedflakes]

Remembered playing with this at my grandparent's as a kid, so I dug it out today while I was up there for Christmas. It's in better shape than I was expecting, looks like the board is missing two capacitors, but otherwise it's in tact. And it still has the manual with all the different circuits that can be built.



Think I know what I'm going to be playing with tonight.

 

[SunSamurai]

Shocking find.

 

[Crono]

Nice I had a similar set when I was 9 or 10, in the mid 90s.

Had a lot of fun with the experiments, but can't remember what happened to the kit. Ended up in the trash, I suppose.

 

[cthulhu]

I think I had one exactly like that. It's packed away somewhere.

 

[Kalmah]

I think I had the exact same one or one that looked very similar.

 

[Rubycon]

Does the meter and photovoltaic cell still work/present? The PV cell is actually selenium not silicon based. Those kits were awesome. When I tired of mine I used the spring wire clips for other conglomerations. That's an ingenious way of holding wires!

 

[Red Squirrel]

Haha I have one of those in my crawlspace collecting dust right now, actually.

Man I used to play with that thing all the time as a kid. Mine is a different model though. I remember making a crystal radio, I pretty much knew it off by heart too. I had also made a radio transmitter that could override existing radio stations within a certain radius (probably only about the whole house). Fun times.

 

[PM650]

Lol is that Fronzie?

Wish I had a camera, still have all my radioshack kits from years ago, including a 70s one I got at a yardsale

 

[Tiamat]

those kits were awesome!

Too bad they are impossible to find nowadays. Kids just don't care anymore i guess :/

 

[Rubycon]

Lol is that Fronzie?

Wish I had a camera, still have all my radioshack kits from years ago, including a 70s one I got at a yardsale

Gilbert chemistry sets were the BOMB! I had one from the 1960's that had a spinthariscope that used radium chloride and zinc sulfide as the scintillator. Watching those tiny bursts of light in the middle of the night was crazy. Little did I realize the disk on the end was outputting over 20mrem/hr gamma from the radium! The active area as about as hot as half a dozen altimeter dials from WWII.

 

[SunSamurai]

Haha I have one of those in my crawlspace collecting dust right now, actually.

Man I used to play with that thing all the time as a kid. Mine is a different model though. I remember making a crystal radio, I pretty much knew it off by heart too. I had also made a radio transmitter that could override existing radio stations within a certain radius (probably only about the whole house). Fun times.

I had that one!

 

[iamwiz82]

I had one of those.

I fried it

 

[Jeff7]

Lol is that Fronzie?

Wish I had a camera, still have all my radioshack kits from years ago, including a 70s one I got at a yardsale

"Hey guys, who's ready to learn about Aaaaayyyyyy-lectromotive force?"

 

[SunSamurai]

Gilbert chemistry sets were the BOMB! I had one from the 1960's that had a spinthariscope that used radium chloride and zinc sulfide as the scintillator. Watching those tiny bursts of light in the middle of the night was crazy. Little did I realize the disk on the end was outputting over 20mrem/hr gamma from the radium! The active area as about as hot as half a dozen altimeter dials from WWII.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/1998/11/0059750

 

[Red Squirrel]

I had one of those.

I fried it

Haha, I'm surprised I never managed to fry mine. I used to always push my toys beyond their limits. Steel Tec's for example, had a 3 volt motor. After about 5 9 volt batteries it quit on me. Got to admit that was a pretty good motor. They don't make toys like that anymore. I did not have much of those though, they were quite expensive, (the kit I linked to is just a random google image, not one I had).

 

[Rubycon]

http://www.harpers.org/archive/1998/11/0059750

Is that story real?

he noticed that his Geiger counter went wild as he passed Gloria’s Resale Boutique/Antique. The proprietor, Gloria Genette, still recalls the day when she was called at home by a store employee who said that a polite young man was anxious to buy an old table clock with a tinted green dial but wondered if she’d come down in price. She would. David bought the clock for $10. Inside he discovered a vial of radium paint left behind by a worker either accidentally or as a courtesy so that the clock’s owner could touch up the dial when it began to fade.

That's just full of BS!

 

[frostedflakes]

those kits were awesome!

Too bad they are impossible to find nowadays. Kids just don't care anymore i guess :/

I didn't think they made them anymore either, but then I found this.

http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Sports.../dp/B00005K2SY

Looks like Elenco makes them, and has some other project kits available.

 

[Linflas]

One of the best Christmas presents I got as a kid was a Heathkit shortwave radio kit.

 

[Rubycon]

One of the best Christmas presents I got as a kid was a Heathkit shortwave radio kit.

Heathkits were awesome!

 

[bctbct]

My daughter got a 300 in 1 electronics kit from Santa. We will play with it tommorrow

 

[PM650]

Haha! Found a camera, it's from 2001 though so pardon the quality The 70s kit must be in the basement or something, have to look tomorrow.
Here're some the kits I've gotten over several years, the one I have two of I got as a gift.

Of course nowadays, you'll wanna simulate things before building them with an advanced software package....

 

[lxskllr]

I think I had the exact same one or one that looked very similar.

That's the exact one I had :^) That was late 70s, early 80s if I had to guess.

 

[Locut0s]

Haha I have one of those in my crawlspace collecting dust right now, actually.

Man I used to play with that thing all the time as a kid. Mine is a different model though. I remember making a crystal radio, I pretty much knew it off by heart too. I had also made a radio transmitter that could override existing radio stations within a certain radius (probably only about the whole house). Fun times.

<pics sniped out>

Damn I have that exact model sitting in the closet right beside me now!

 

[FoBoT]

i had one of those , about 33 years ago

 

[SunSamurai]

i had one of those , about 33 years ago

Shens, electrons were still forming back when you were a kid

/runs away