You know you're old when...

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by tcphoto

MKSixer, what boy growing up in the ‘70s didn’t love going into a hobby shop?

A wonderland of possibilities!!

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

A wonderland of possibilities!!

Yes, the smell! The fuel-proof dope that the R/C modelers used. The nitro fuels. The oily-electric smell of the trains. The Pactra and Testors paint and glues. The balsa wood. Very heady stuff.

I built all manner of plastic models - Revell, Pactra, AMT. I also kept a miniature balsa wood lumber yard in my closet. Spur-of-the-moment I'd build a fort, a covered bridge, a cabin, a livestock body for a model truck I was working on - whatever I could build with what I had on hand. In Minnesota we have lots of time indoors in the winter. It paid to keep materials on hand to accomodate our creative urges.

[TrAcK TRaP]

When you know how to play original ''Street Fighter 2'' professional ..

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by pennsiveguy

Yes, the smell! The fuel-proof dope that the R/C modelers used. The nitro fuels. The oily-electric smell of the trains. The Pactra and Testors paint and glues. The balsa wood. Very heady stuff.

I built all manner of plastic models - Revell, Pactra, AMT. I also kept a miniature balsa wood lumber yard in my closet. Spur-of-the-moment I'd build a fort, a covered bridge, a cabin, a livestock body for a model truck I was working on - whatever I could build with what I had on hand. In Minnesota we have lots of time indoors in the winter. It paid to keep materials on hand to accomodate our creative urges.

Ah yes!!

A fire hazard to be sure! We built airplanes, cars, and don't forget N and O Gauge trains. I loved those.

And Lego. Not the prebuilt BS they have now. I mean 2000 piece kits and nothing but your imagination. I'd build space fleets, moon bases, and a million other things!

[corn18]

Lincoln logs and tinker toys. Radio Shack was my hangout.

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

Ah yes!!

A fire hazard to be sure! We built airplanes, cars, and don't forget N and O Gauge trains. I loved those.

And Lego. Not the prebuilt BS they have now. I mean 2000 piece kits and nothing but your imagination. I'd build space fleets, moon bases, and a million other things!

Same here; started with a big generic parts kit. Then I was given several kits that built one thing or another, but I'm pretty sure I never built any of those things; I dumped them all into a big box with the first kit and built whatever entered my imagination.

I was fascinated by big trucks but Lego didn't have any dual wheels, so I pulled the axle pins out of some wheels and carefully epoxied them to the outside of some other wheels that I'd filed most of the "studs" off of...and then turned the axle blocks 90 degrees and stuck them in from the sides. Voila, dual wheels.

I used some train hitch recievers as fifth wheels on the frame of a truck, and I stuck the train wheels to the bottom of trailers so their axles pointed downward and served as fifth-wheel pins; this became a coupling system for a semi tractor and trailer. That wasn't in any kit, anywhere. I wanted to build a semi, so I figured out a way to do it.

Adapt, transcend, innovate, and excel. That's how I learned. I fully credit those years, those experiences, with my proven capability and tenacity as a builder, tinkerer, and problem-solver.

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by corn18

Lincoln logs and tinker toys. Radio Shack was my hangout.

Don't forget Erector Sets and Heathkit.

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by pennsiveguy

Same here; started with a big generic parts kit. Then I was given several kits that built one thing or another, but I'm pretty sure I never built any of those things; I dumped them all into a big box with the first kit and built whatever entered my imagination.

I was fascinated by big trucks but Lego didn't have any dual wheels, so I pulled the axle pins out of some wheels and carefully epoxied them to the outside of some other wheels that I'd filed most of the "studs" off of...and then turned the axle blocks 90 degrees and stuck them in from the sides. Voila, dual wheels.

I used some train hitch recievers as fifth wheels on the frame of a truck, and I stuck the train wheels to the bottom of trailers so their axles pointed downward and served as fifth-wheel pins; this became a coupling system for a semi tractor and trailer. That wasn't in any kit, anywhere. I wanted to build a semi, so I figured out a way to do it.

Adapt, transcend, innovate, and excel. That's how I learned. I fully credit those years, those experiences, with my proven capability and tenacity as a builder, tinkerer, and problem-solver.

Originally Posted by pennsiveguy

Don't forget Erector Sets and Heathkit.

Both of these x 1000.

All of this led up to my love of cars, working on them, and modifying them. The saddest thing I see is young men now look under the hood with a completely quizzical look IF they can even get it open.

We live in a completely era.

[Dpc2u]

Been a crazy day so just now seeing the latest here, and wow, all the good memories they triggered! I did all that. Built rockets and launched lizards into space, rc planes and cars, built my own fireworks, electric trains, slot cars, model planes, tanks & cars, go carts, bottle rocket wars.... the list goes on and on!

I still have the Lionel train I got for Christmas when I was 6 boxed up in the attic as well as a big collection of N gauge.

Thanks for the memories gang!

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

Both of these x 1000.

All of this led up to my love of cars, working on them, and modifying them. The saddest thing I see is young men now look under the hood with a completely quizzical look IF they can even get it open.

We live in a completely era.

Yeah, just tinkering and fixing and tweaking stuff was/is second nature for guys of our generation. I was sent out to mow the lawn at about 12 or 13 and was pissed that it took so long. I took the muffler off the old 2-cycle Lawn Boy and saw that the exhaust port was about 75% clogged. Got that cleared up, and the mower had at least double the power and was actually fun to use. Next week I rebuilt the carb and got another big gain. The need or impulse to do that is completely natural for me.

But to today's generation, they've been taught that "you don't know anything about that" or "only an expert can fix that sort of thing, and you're not an expert" and they've given up. There's no escaping the fact that the increasing complexity of the world means that we're all experts in an increasingly smaller chunk of it. But that's no excuse to withdraw into helplessness. Don't even get me started about the intellectual tyranny of academia and the helplessness and docility they've so diligently cultivated.

My ex's 20-something sons - both very high IQ academic superstars (older one started his freshman year at Northwestern at the age of 16) and very successful in their fields - have no sense of agency or confidence regarding fixing anything or solving problems that aren't in their fields of study or wheelhouses. On a visit to them a couple of years ago I had to show the older son - a partner at a big international law firm - how a C13/C14 PC power cord was compatible with a large variety of other appliances/devices, not just the one it came with; I found this to be mind-boggling, even given that he's an Apple fanboy and has never owned a device that wasn't a Macbook or an iPhone. If his Volvo didn't start tomorrow morning and the SA at the dealership told him it was caused by the license plate frame being out-of-square, he would 100% believe it. Very sad and depressing. It's really pervasive. Kids have been indoctrinated to mistrust their own intellect and creativity.

[AlpineWhite_SJ]

Originally Posted by hubbahubba

Somewhere in my garage I have a box that has some unused engines from 40 years ago... I wonder how that would go?

Recommend saving until 4th of July to find out

[AlpineWhite_SJ]

Originally Posted by pennsiveguy

But to today's generation, they've been taught that "you don't know anything about that" or "only an expert can fix that sort of thing, and you're not an expert" and they've given up. There's no escaping the fact that the increasing complexity of the world means that we're all experts in an increasingly smaller chunk of it. But that's no excuse to withdraw into helplessness. Don't even get me started about the intellectual tyranny of academia and the helplessness and docility they've so diligently cultivated.

This is why I don’t totally believe screen time is bad for kids. My kids watch Kids YouTube like crazy and learn all sorts of things like how to draw, make stuff or generally find a step by step guide for something they’re interested in. It’s not all crap online..

[AlpineWhite_SJ]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

Hell yes!!
This is bringing back long-buried childhood memories.

Did anyone do bottle-rocket and roman candle wars?

We preferred to dig out the powder in fireworks and use an improvised tennis ball with a hole in it as a grenade and stick the leftover fuses in it to light it. That and lighting the flower fireworks and kicking them into the pool. They still go crazy underwater

Bottle rockets could be shoulder launched with some PVC piping.

Friend’s dad gave him a realistic looking metal gun that had a pellet flare attachment. We could launch those 100s of feet in the air because on 4th of July they lived close enough to a city fireworks show that they ghetto bird couldn’t get close to figure out where it was coming from.

CO2 BB gun wars and even the occasional spring based Daisy rifle. Higher FPS stuff was reserved for scoped killing of action figures from across the yard.

[Murf993]

stubby beer bottles

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by Murf993

stubby beer bottles

Molson, Labatts, Becks, Carlsburg, and Guiness were my first foreign beers. Didn't look back until craft brewing became the rage. My neighbor makes some pretty killer pilsners, stouts, and bocks.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by AlpineWhite_SJ

My kids watch Kids YouTube like crazy and learn all sorts of things like how to draw, make stuff or generally find a step by step guide for something they’re interested in. It’s not all crap online..

Better Red Green than Honey Boo Boo!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLd6174bz2k

If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.....

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by AlpineWhite_SJ

We preferred to dig out the powder in fireworks and use an improvised tennis ball with a hole in it as a grenade and stick the leftover fuses in it to light it. That and lighting the flower fireworks and kicking them into the pool. They still go crazy underwater

Bottle rockets could be shoulder launched with some PVC piping.

Friend’s dad gave him a realistic looking metal gun that had a pellet flare attachment. We could launch those 100s of feet in the air because on 4th of July they lived close enough to a city fireworks show that they ghetto bird couldn’t get close to figure out where it was coming from.

CO2 BB gun wars and even the occasional spring based Daisy rifle. Higher FPS stuff was reserved for scoped killing of action figures from across the yard.

These kids are missing out!! And I forgot all about action figures. I mean the 12 inch GI Joe's, not the little 8 inch ones made later. We had the helicopters, the bases, the jeeps...all our parents would allow us to purchase. A trip to K-Mart, Woolworth or TG&Y was a trip to heaven!

Originally Posted by pennsiveguy

Yeah, just tinkering and fixing and tweaking stuff was/is second nature for guys of our generation. I was sent out to mow the lawn at about 12 or 13 and was pissed that it took so long. I took the muffler off the old 2-cycle Lawn Boy and saw that the exhaust port was about 75% clogged. Got that cleared up, and the mower had at least double the power and was actually fun to use. Next week I rebuilt the carb and got another big gain. The need or impulse to do that is completely natural for me.

But to today's generation, they've been taught that "you don't know anything about that" or "only an expert can fix that sort of thing, and you're not an expert" and they've given up. There's no escaping the fact that the increasing complexity of the world means that we're all experts in an increasingly smaller chunk of it. But that's no excuse to withdraw into helplessness. Don't even get me started about the intellectual tyranny of academia and the helplessness and docility they've so diligently cultivated.

My ex's 20-something sons - both very high IQ academic superstars (older one started his freshman year at Northwestern at the age of 16) and very successful in their fields - have no sense of agency or confidence regarding fixing anything or solving problems that aren't in their fields of study or wheelhouses. On a visit to them a couple of years ago I had to show the older son - a partner at a big international law firm - how a C13/C14 PC power cord was compatible with a large variety of other appliances/devices, not just the one it came with; I found this to be mind-boggling, even given that he's an Apple fanboy and has never owned a device that wasn't a Macbook or an iPhone. If his Volvo didn't start tomorrow morning and the SA at the dealership told him it was caused by the license plate frame being out-of-square, he would 100% believe it. Very sad and depressing. It's really pervasive. Kids have been indoctrinated to mistrust their own intellect and creativity.

So effing true!!
This has been a point I try to imbue my daughter with. It's not simply enough to know HOW to operate a tool or instrument or device but WHY you would use it and HOW it works. This greatly reduces the chances of being cheated on with respect to repairs and other interactions. I'm proud that when she was in HS and through college, when was the "car guy" with her friends.

Originally Posted by AlpineWhite_SJ

This is why I don’t totally believe screen time is bad for kids. My kids watch Kids YouTube like crazy and learn all sorts of things like how to draw, make stuff or generally find a step by step guide for something they’re interested in. It’s not all crap online..

A valid point about screen time.

Cheers-MK

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

A trip to K-Mart, Woolworth or TG&Y was a trip to heaven!

Does anyone else remember the cheap submarine sandwiches in the glass case at the fronts of every K-Mart? Shredded lettuce, vinegar, and somehow they got it the same at every store. I can smell the joy of opening the plastic wrap now.....

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Does anyone else remember the cheap submarine sandwiches in the glass case at the fronts of every K-Mart? Shredded lettuce, vinegar, and somehow they got it the same at every store. I can smell the joy of opening the plastic wrap now.....

I remember these! Wow!! So many memories!!

[Turkish Pickle]

Originally Posted by pennsiveguy

Yeah, just tinkering and fixing and tweaking stuff was/is second nature for guys of our generation. I was sent out to mow the lawn at about 12 or 13 and was pissed that it took so long. I took the muffler off the old 2-cycle Lawn Boy and saw that the exhaust port was about 75% clogged. Got that cleared up, and the mower had at least double the power and was actually fun to use. Next week I rebuilt the carb and got another big gain. The need or impulse to do that is completely natural for me.

But to today's generation, they've been taught that "you don't know anything about that" or "only an expert can fix that sort of thing, and you're not an expert" and they've given up. There's no escaping the fact that the increasing complexity of the world means that we're all experts in an increasingly smaller chunk of it. But that's no excuse to withdraw into helplessness. Don't even get me started about the intellectual tyranny of academia and the helplessness and docility they've so diligently cultivated.

My ex's 20-something sons - both very high IQ academic superstars (older one started his freshman year at Northwestern at the age of 16) and very successful in their fields - have no sense of agency or confidence regarding fixing anything or solving problems that aren't in their fields of study or wheelhouses. On a visit to them a couple of years ago I had to show the older son - a partner at a big international law firm - how a C13/C14 PC power cord was compatible with a large variety of other appliances/devices, not just the one it came with; I found this to be mind-boggling, even given that he's an Apple fanboy and has never owned a device that wasn't a Macbook or an iPhone. If his Volvo didn't start tomorrow morning and the SA at the dealership told him it was caused by the license plate frame being out-of-square, he would 100% believe it. Very sad and depressing. It's really pervasive. Kids have been indoctrinated to mistrust their own intellect and creativity.

Eh man I don't think that's really an "issue". I'm sure just like how me and my good friend enjoys doing all sorts of work your ex's sons doesn't. My mom always says I took apart almost every little electronic thing to see how it worked and I completely believe it it's something I still do today. My dad's an electrical engineer and my mom's an anesthesiologist so I know being smart isn't an issue but I've also never seen either of them fix anything themselves, it generally ends up at my hands or a technician's if I'm not around. A few months back my dad ran into some issues with his laptop and I asked that friend to go to my place and help him out.

Keep in mind he went to college in the 80s when PCs were becoming a thing yet can't "fix" his own computer. But he can talk your ears off about blood cell separation and a bunch of other extremely cool medical stuff

Hell just the other day I finally wired a start/stop button from a Renault Megane to open my computer with the help of that good friend. Ordering a BMW one shortly and designing a 3D printed desk thing for it, too. Our 3rd friend in that group goes to Tufts, graduating in May with a dual degree in CS and Econ. I've built both of his desktops because he just doesn't know how to and has no interest in learning it. But just like that I have no interest in learning how to code

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by Turkish Pickle

Eh man I don't think that's really an "issue". I'm sure just like how me and my good friend enjoys doing all sorts of work your ex's sons doesn't. My mom always says I took apart almost every little electronic thing to see how it worked and I completely believe it it's something I still do today. My dad's an electrical engineer and my mom's an anesthesiologist so I know being smart isn't an issue but I've also never seen either of them fix anything themselves, it generally ends up at my hands or a technician's if I'm not around. A few months back my dad ran into some issues with his laptop and I asked that friend to go to my place and help him out.

Keep in mind he went to college in the 80s when PCs were becoming a thing yet can't "fix" his own computer. But he can talk your ears off about blood cell separation and a bunch of other extremely cool medical stuff

Hell just the other day I finally wired a start/stop button from a Renault Megane to open my computer with the help of that good friend. Ordering a BMW one shortly and designing a 3D printed desk thing for it, too. Our 3rd friend in that group goes to Tufts, graduating in May with a dual degree in CS and Econ. I've built both of his desktops because he just doesn't know how to and has no interest in learning it. But just like that I have no interest in learning how to code

You're exceptional, Pickle. This is apparent and certain, my friend.

[GenXer]

Remember pay phones?

There were rotary phones and the super high tech push button rotary phones that would still dial for you before the invention of touch tone dialing.

How about those long distance calling numbers!

5 1/4" single sided floppy disk that you can turn over and cut out the notch to record on both sides.

Let's not forget Compuserve and their $60/hour fees

Optional Math Co-processor

Leaded and Unleaded gasoline

Non antibacterial soap

110 film
35mm

Walkman & Discman & Betamax baby!