Ramfins59 Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 I remember a firework similar to the crackerballs but they were bigger... sort of the size of large aggie marbles and they were silver colored... They were called Torpedos and were very loud when they exploded. We used to throw them off the roof of our apartment bldg. in the Bronx. We'd see someone either crossing the street or walking on the sidewalk and throw them so they landed near them... used to scare the crapola out of them. We'd also roll them out into the street so a car would roll over them and explode... The driver would usually stop the car and get out thinking he'd blown a tire. What "delinquents" we were... I remember smashing the rolls of caps with a hammer on the sidewalk which sounded pretty loud... Another "smart move" I did was take a toy flintlock pistol that used to shoot out a small cork "bullet" when you put one of the caps on the small chamber under where the hammer of the pistol struck. I figured if the gunpowder in that little cap made the cork ball shoot out about a foot or so..... how far would MORE gunpowder shoot it??? I emptied the gunpowder out of about 4 or 5 firecrackers down into the barrel and into the little firing chamber... I used a piece of tissue paper for wadding and stuffed the cork ball in on top of that. I put a cap on the chamber where the hammer hit, pointed the gun across the street and fired...!!! BOOM...!!! The cork flew out of the barrel like a fireball along with the tissue wadding... The metal barrel split open where the gunpowder ignited and I almost wet myself.... I wound up wrapping some electrical tape around the barrel several times to "reinforce it" so I could do it a few more times. Good thing I didn't blow some fingers off......
Harry P. Posted May 30, 2016 Author Posted May 30, 2016 Pretty interesting video if you're into vintage toy vehicles...
SfanGoch Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 Ah, torpedoes! We made those with sawdust, gravel, and a couple of chemicals bought at a chemical supply house. Great in a slingshot. Chemistry class actually taught us something useful. Another thing we used to make was rocket engines. We'd use aluminum cigar tubes (My dad worked for Lane Limited/Dunhill Intl. and brought home plenty of them), punch a hole in the center of the screw-on cap big enough to stick a paper straw through, mix some potassium chlorate and sugar (oxidizer) until it was the consistency of a thick paste, stick the straw into the cigar tube and fill it up with the paste. The hollow section created by the straw will allow the burning gases to escape through the hole in the cap (a simple rocket engine nozzle) and create thrust. Since the straw is made of paper, it'll burn along with the propellant. Screw on the cap and let the paste dry out and harden. once it's dried, insert a 12" long piece of cannon fuse into the straw and seal the end with Elmer's Glue and let that dry. Then, place the tube into an Estes rocket long enough to accommodate it. Set the rocket up on a launcher, light the fuse and watch it go! These homemade rocket engines sent the rockets a whole lot higher than the regular Estes engines.
Mike_G Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 I seem to remember some green paper caps as well as the red
bisc63 Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 "Come to think of it, there was also a miniature pool table that used marbles. The "cues" were these little spring-loaded things you'd pull back and release. That was kinda cool. I'd guess it dated to the '30s or '40s. Anyone ever see anything like that? "Snake, that one was still around in the early 70s: Pivot Pool. There was a fixed-location, spring loaded plunger in the table that could pivot in any direction to launch the cue ball (white marble). Lucille Ball was in the commercial! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-Milton-Bradley-Pivot-Pool-Table-Top-GAME-1972-COMP-W-Extras-Lucille-Ball-Nic/201435821272?_trksid=p2141725.c100338.m3726&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20150313114020%26meid%3D654c53c711434c4ab01b0272b08b24a9%26pid%3D100338%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D152004944748Anyone remember Pendulum Pool? The name says it all.Awesome thread!
unclescott58 Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 Pretty interesting video if you're into vintage toy vehicles... Very long, but very cool video. Well worth watching all of the way through. I liked it a lot. Thanks Harry.
SfanGoch Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 Anyone remember Pendulum Pool? The name says it all. Awesome thread! Sure do! Not only did Aurora make model kits, it produced some pretty cool table games like Skittle Pool and Skittle Bowl
GT4494 Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 Anyone else have going bald, hard to hear and can't see worth a flip? Must be due to the fact we used to play with Mercury in science class (until it fell off the desks and shattered into millions of pieces) and torched all the Magnesium ribbon we could .
GT4494 Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 Hub Hobby in the Twin Cities still offers those metal bombs your talking about. And the caps. They appear to be newly made. Not NOS. Bought one a year or two ago. And plenty of caps. They're still fun.do they use a plastic type cap now instead of paper?
GLMFAA1 Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 Getting back to automotive toys: NyLint made a lot of automotive toys, Here is my favorite from childhood greg
unclescott58 Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 do they use a plastic type cap now instead of paper?Plastic. But the bomb itself is still made out of metal.
Tom Geiger Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 My first thought is that some company should've made a super gun that you could load that whole thing into! Five times the bang! I do have a 1950s cap pistol in my treasure table!
Tom Geiger Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 The only place where they are illegal is New Jersey. So are sparklers. Go figure. All along the New Jersey / Pennsylvania border are fireworks stores, sometimes even temporary stands in tents. Now the irony... it's illegal to sell fireworks in Pennsylvania to Pennsylvania citizens. BUT, they have a loop hole that allows them to sell them to out of staters who produce ID. So New Jersey citizens cross the border to buy them.What they don't know is that since these store are within sight of the NJ border, the NJ State Police sit and watch the cars that leave the fireworks store parking lot, and pull them over once they hit NJ. Then the occupants get hit not only for having illegal fireworks BUT also for transporting them across the state border. Ain't it just grand! When I was a kid living in Germany we could buy nearly anything. My father put a size limit on what I could buy and I abided, probably why I still have all my digits.
GT4494 Posted June 1, 2016 Posted June 1, 2016 (edited) How many still have their first train? The Grandson loves playing with it as much as I did. Edited June 1, 2016 by GT4494
Tom Geiger Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 Okay.. you brought out the really old stuff.... soooo.... My rocking horse. Real horse hair, early 20th century. Had him forever. The camel is from when we lived in Turkey
Harry P. Posted June 2, 2016 Author Posted June 2, 2016 Ok, I have to admit I don't know too many people who had a toy camel!
Ace-Garageguy Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 (edited) Ok, I have to admit I don't know too many people who had a toy camel! It's part of the "Jihad Joe" play set. Edited June 2, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy
bisc63 Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 "Jihad Joe" Holy smokes, I just about lost it when I read this.
GT4494 Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 Okay.. you brought out the really old stuff.... soooo.... My rocking horse. Real horse hair, early 20th century. Had him forever. The camel is from when we lived in Turkey Does the camel spit?
Foxer Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 The "Jihad Joe" play set is even molded in desert tan. I see you and up you One GI Joe ... on leave
unclescott58 Posted June 11, 2016 Posted June 11, 2016 I'm a little surprised and disappointed that interest in this thread has fizzled out. I sure was enjoying it.
Foxer Posted June 11, 2016 Posted June 11, 2016 I'm a little surprised and disappointed that interest in this thread has fizzled out. I sure was enjoying it.everyone's out digging through the old pile of boxes in Mother's basement
Scott Colmer Posted June 11, 2016 Posted June 11, 2016 OK, I'll jump back in. Do they even sell these anymore? They used to have one at my grade school. That will never happen again. Hosted on Fotki This was one of those gotta-have-it for Christmas when I was a kid. I found out many years later that my parents had to drive to a few different stores to find one. I still remember the original ad - "Hey, you knocked my block off!" I bought another one as an adult. Hosted on Fotki
SfanGoch Posted June 11, 2016 Posted June 11, 2016 Yup, can't have Junior exhibiting antisocial behavior by assaulting a punching bag. Every kid I knew had Bozo. There is something very satisfying in beating the cr ap out of a clown. I've got the Rock'em-Sock'em robots myself. They are fun.
Ace-Garageguy Posted June 11, 2016 Posted June 11, 2016 There is something very satisfying in beating the cr ap out of a clown. Yessir.
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