Ultimately, the couple settled on three main products: the Girder & Panel set; a Bridge & Turnpike set; and a Hydrodynamic product that includes tanks, pipes, valves, and other components aimed at modeling an industrial building.
In all of the pieces, the goal was realism. "Our toys look just like the bridges and buildings that are built in cities and malls," Flack said. "And our parts look just like the real thing. Realism was very important to us."
The desire for such realism is a holdover from Flack's days as a kid playing with the product. "I used to lay on the floor and look up at the bridges, as if I was looking at a real bridge. The only difference now is I say, 'That part is designed for tension; that one is compression; that one is torsion.' "
Flack tested the construction sets by assembling a soaring, 16.5-foot model of Chicago's Sears Tower (now called the Willis Tower) in his suburban-Boston home. Because the model was too big to fit in his dining room's display area, Flack and his two kids constructed it in the home's stairwell, which has a two-story-high ceiling. In all, the scale model used 22,000 parts. Construction of it was so complex that Flack had to build special tools to connect the building's interior beams and columns. A few years ago, Carol asked him to remove the massive model from the home's stairwell. Today, it resides in a Connecticut toy store.
Flack said that most of the requests for the toys come from people who remember the vintage-1960s construction sets. "I've heard from people who are absolutely thrilled that these products are back because they loved them so much as kids," he told us. "Now they want their grandkids to have them."
In a perfect world, Flack believes, those grandkids would grow up to be engineers themselves. The couple's daughter, who grew up as part of the family's business, is now studying chemical engineering. Flack believes that was in part caused by her choice of toys as a child.
"I believe it affects your career choice. Toys are a huge influence on what you become in life."
There were great building toys when I was a kid. Like Ann, I had Lincoln Logs, and Tinker Toys. I even found these toys at garage sales for my kids. I also had an erector set as well as a toy that included girders and panels to build buildings. The coolest toys came when I was a bit older -- the Heath kits. Girard I think also had some kits. And I remember the joy of receiving the new Allied catalog. I remember reading it like a magazine. I don't remember Legos when I was a kid.
What great toys! I wish I'd had these when I was a kid in the 50s. I think Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys (the original wooden ones) were about as far as we got. I also built things out of dominos and blocks, and glued together toothpicks with Elmer's to make enormous structures.
Charles, could you clarify what the issues with safety regulations were? It's not obvious to me how injection molding the parts out of polyethylene rather than thermoforming them out of polystyrene sheets affects safety. In terms of mechanical properties, polystyrene is brittle - but you could always go to high-impact polystyrene if this is a concern. Or you could thermoform the parts out of polyethylene or another resin. I would think that for low-volume production of dimensionally simple parts, thermoforming would be a better option.
Beth: This is a full-time profession for both. When they first launched the business in 2003, Carol kept her job while Paul did it full-time. In 2005, Carol quit her job to do the toy company on a full-time basis.
I think it is great that they keep the parts as realistic as possible and you can see they have a real passion for the toys that they make. I also like that parts are interchangeable to allow children to be creative and come up with their own designs.
Love this story and the fact that they brought back an old favorite. The part about them having to rethink materials and other elements from the `60s era toys due to safety regulations is really interesting. Is this a full-time profession for them or still in the hobbyist stage??
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