News:

"The phone is a remarkably complex, simple device,
and very rarely ever needs repairs, once you fix them." - Dan/Panther

Main Menu

What else do you guys collect?

Started by Steve, December 22, 2008, 10:15:14 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

benhutcherson

Quote from: HobieSport on January 15, 2009, 10:56:55 PM
Actually my older brother was the dangerous one.  Him with his thick glasses and fully stocked chemistry set down in the basement. 

Unfortunately, by the time of my youth, chemistry sets were pretty tame.

I've made up for it, though, since I have ready access to a room full of chemicals and another of glassware-all with professor permission, of course.

Now I get to take part in things like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7_GCelPSgo  (I'm the guy in the background with the brown jacket)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1jdgmU7V-o&feature=channel (a variation on this involves turning the bottle on its side and launching it down a hallway-haven't gotten that on video yet)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I65AVph2OI&NR=1

HobieSport

Cool!  So that's what they teach in college these days?

Is nitrogen triiodide what is otherwise known as contact explosive?  Our hometown neighbor made some and coated the family driveway with it.  Nice big bang when his parent's drove in and left black smoking tire tracks.

Another of my brothers' many dangerous pet projects was his beloved carbide cannon with six foot barrel and mousetrap trigger that shot 3/4 inch ball bearings across the gully at an unsuspecting pine tree with a big cloud of pollen at impact.

Plus the usual stuff with M80s and cherry bombs and a few skyrockets we smuggled from Mexico...Can you imagine getting away this that kind of thing these days?  Ah, the innocence of childhood with high explosive back-up in the late 1960s, when boys were boys and the neighbors were all nervous.

winkydink

#62
Quote from: Mark Stevens on January 15, 2009, 01:11:52 PM
Neat stuff!  I particularly like your thingmaker sets, neither of which do I remember.  I had the original Creepy Crawlers (made bugs, spiders, etc.) and I also had one called "Creeple People"...remember that?!  It was a strange one, where you made the head, feet and arms of various generic zombie-type creatures, and attached them to a pencil.  (the pointed end would be supported by the feet, the arms would slip over the pencil, and the head was attached to the eraser end)  I never had it, but do you remember the "Incredible Edibles"?  I don't remember what the molds made, but it had edible Plastigoop... that had to be nasty!  :P
(I also had the green hand-held football game you have pictured...I've got much better games then that on my Blackberry!)

Mark,

Here is a picture of your Creepy Crawler set.  Get a load of the boy, he is wearing a tie and vest as he creates his bugs and vermin.

There is also a picture of a mint Incredible Edible set that still contains the sealed "edible" goop.  Yum Yum  :D

Another "edible" toy of the time was "Toot Sweet" also by Mattel.  You could make whistles from Tootsie Rolls.  This was inspired by the "Toot Sweet" sequence in the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"  (which was written, by of all people Ian Flemming of James Bond fame) circa 1968.

benhutcherson

Quote from: HobieSport on January 15, 2009, 11:45:50 PM
Cool!  So that's what they teach in college these days?

Is nitrogen triiodide what is otherwise known as contact explosive?  Our hometown neighbor made some and coated the family driveway with it.  Nice big bang when his parent's drove in and left black smoking tire tracks.


Yes, NI3 is a contact explosive.

It's really quite dramatic when enough of it goes off. When it explodes, it decomposes into nitrogen gas and iodine vapor, the latter of which  make a big purple cloud. Unfortunately, it also stains.

NI3 won't explode when it's wet, so an old trick around here is to lay some down wet inside the door of the lecture hall. On time students will be able to step on it without a problem, but the late students will be greeted by a bang. Unfortunately, doing so leaves brown stains on the floor that won't come off, so the housekeeping staff frowns on such "experiments."


Quote
Another of my brothers' many dangerous pet projects was his beloved carbide cannon with six foot barrel and mousetrap trigger that shot 3/4 inch ball bearings across the gully at an unsuspecting pine tree with a big cloud of pollen at impact.

Never had a carbide cannon, although we've serious discussed buying one for the chemistry department. They're a lot of fun from what I understand.

Quote
Plus the usual stuff with M80s and cherry bombs and a few skyrockets we smuggled from Mexico...Can you imagine getting away this that kind of thing these days?  Ah, the innocence of childhood with high explosive back-up in the late 1960s, when boys were boys and the neighbors were all nervous.

Here in Kentucky, you can't even buy firecrackers. Perhaps it's safer, but sure takes away a lot of fun. Of course, most of the neighboring states do legally allow the sale of firecrackers and rockets.

No one around ever goes out of state to buy fireworks, though  :)

McHeath

QuoteHere in Kentucky, you can't even buy firecrackers. Perhaps it's safer, but sure takes away a lot of fun. Of course, most of the neighboring states do legally allow the sale of firecrackers and rockets.

Here in Cawleefournya you can't even legally think about firecrackers.  If you do you will be sent away for all three strikes at once and end up rooming with 7 guys in an 8 X 10 cell.  4 of those guys will be Norteno gangstas, 2 will be Surenos, and 1 will be a convinced Wallstreet leverage broker.  And that's just for merely thinking about firecrackers, if you actually have one you are in even more trouble.  And ROCKETS!?  Ohmigawd that one would land you about 9 million years down in Corcoran shining Charles Manson's shoes.  Why our "Sparklers" that we can buy here are more of "fizzers" as they took away all the sparkle because someone got hurt and sued.  A few years ago they took away all the schoolkids desks that have opening tops because a kid in LA pinched his hands.  (Not making that up)  You also can't give a kid in school any homemade cookies from dear old mom as someone got sick a few years ago and sued and now all food served in schools must be store bought. 

Meanwhile I do all my evil scientist moments where I create gooey artificial plastic life while wearing a sweater vest and tie.  One must be civil about such things.



Mark Stevens

Quote from: winkydink on January 16, 2009, 06:33:29 AM
Mark,

Here is a picture of your Creepy Crawler set.  Get a load of the boy, he is wearing a tie and vest as he creates his bugs and vermin.
There is also a picture of a mint Incredible Edible set that still contains the sealed "edible" goop.  Yum Yum  :D

Another "edible" toy of the time was "Toot Sweet" also by Mattel.  You could make whistles from Tootsie Rolls.  This was inspired by the "Toot Sweet" sequence in the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"  (which was written, by of all people Ian Flemming of James Bond fame) circa 1968.

Those photographs bring back a lot of memories, thank you.  Interesting to see the set that made soldiers... I don't recall that one at all.  And there's the Creeple People!

benhutcherson

Here's another one I'd forgotten about-the water cooler jug being launched. Unfortunately, I wasn't present for this particular one, however we've since done several others that went a good distance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPcQiCrFjZ0


Ellen

OOOH!  Explosions!  I saw a potato gun once - let's see ... it was a 2" I.D. PVC pipe, maybe 2' long, with larger piece maybe 6" long sealed to one end, and a pvc screw cap on the back end of that.  Then make a little hole in the larger pipe section (here my imagination and knowledge break down - I'm sure some of you folks know how to do this part) and insert a stem with a knurled thingie on the outside to turn with the fingers and a flint-and-steel out of a lighter or whatever on the inside.  So, you shove a nice, symmetrical, russet potato down the 2" barrel, maybe halfway, then you unscrew the back end, spray in some hair spray and reseal the back chamber.  Then you spin the lighter-flint mechanism, and the fumes explode and the potato flies into the woods and everyone cheers.

As for my collections - New England electric clocks, odd bits of natural materials, and aloe plants (just a few right now).  The little rocks are slag out of the Revolutionary War era iron furnaces in northwest Connecticut, collected out of the Housatonic River and then tumbled:

mienaichizu

i like your clocks, I love collecting clocks too

McHeath

Nice stuff.  We have an aloe plant on the patio, it's handy for times when you get sunburn working in the yard. 

Bill Cahill

Quote from: Dennis Markham on January 05, 2009, 03:28:52 PM
Gotcha Bill, I misunderstood.  You mentioned Uptown.  Do you remember Towne Club pop that was very popular in this area?? (I am in the Detroit area).

Dennis

Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Of course, you DO remember our other favorites,  Vernors, Dad's, Hires, and, Faygo, don't you?
Bill Cahill

"My friends used to keep saying I had batts in my belfry. No. I'm just hearing bells....."

Dennis Markham

Yes, I do.  Of course Vernor's is still available.  That is a local "pop" but I think it's available everywhere now.  I believe Towne Club and Faygo were local drinks too.  I don't remember being able to get Faygo when I lived down south.  Rock n Rye was my favorite Faygo flavor.

AET

My dad and I are into everything, but really we have a very large Brewery Collection, specifying in Pabst and especially Pre-Prohibiton Pabst Items. I 'll have to get some pics.  The collection consumes most of our 3600 square foot home. 

We also collect cars, including a 1952 Ford F-2 Truck, 1957 Chevy 210 4-door, a 1980 Corvette Stingray, and I have a 1958 Chevy Delray 4-door, I plan to build into a 50's era mild custom.

We collect Confederate Civil War memorobilia and have swords flags, and even a Jacket from Robert E. Lee's army.

I guess we do just a bit of everything.  Antiques sums it up well LOL.
- Tom

Bill Cahill

I'd love to see photos of your cars....  ;D
Bill Cahill

"My friends used to keep saying I had batts in my belfry. No. I'm just hearing bells....."

HobieSport