The "Back in my day" Thread

Dave Theisen said:
The overwhelming participation in this thread explains the declining GA numbers and all the white hair (or no hair as in my case) in the audiences of Oshkosh forums. :)
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Yes. Those wanting to "save" GA should be working on extending life expectancy.....
 
All y’all with memories of exchange phone numbers, anyone else remember one of these next to the phone?

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Dave Theisen said:
The overwhelming participation in this thread explains the declining GA numbers and all the white hair (or no hair as in my case) in the audiences of Oshkosh forums. :)
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Hey, my hair isn't white! Well, it has gotten kinda gray though...
 
JackL-3J said:
Being able to fly a minimally controllable gas powered model plane (RC being a gross overstatement of its capabilities), or Estes rockets without anyone calling the authorities . . ..
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Astrocam! Grainy, blurry pictures that took days to develope.

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www.pinterest.com
 
Dave Theisen said:
The overwhelming participation in this thread explains the declining GA numbers and all the white hair (or no hair as in my case) in the audiences of Oshkosh forums. :)
Click to expand...
They aren't at PoA, but I have taught both of my sons, and my niece to fly (Armstrong starter, tube and fabric, natch'). One son owns my old BC12D.
 
I don't think I had any of these "dangerous" toys from the '60s, but most of them are familiar. REALLY wanted the air cannon, though.
Funny how many were made by Wham-O....

Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
I don't think I had any of these "dangerous" toys from the '60s, but most of them are familiar. REALLY wanted the air cannon, though.
Funny how many were made by Wham-O....

Ron Wanttaja
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"Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball . . .."
 
Velocity173 said:
Astrocam! Grainy, blurry pictures that took days to develope.

Loading…

www.pinterest.com
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That is the modern version. The original used a small disk of film that you loaded / unloaded in a darkroom or a changing bag. I don't recall how you got it developed - probably had to send it back to Estes.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
That is the modern version. The original used a small disk of film that you loaded / unloaded in a darkroom or a changing bag. I don't recall how you got it developed - probably had to send it back to Estes.
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Our high school had a darkroom. A little trial and error with nasty smelling chemicals, (masks, glasses, surely you jest) and Nessie was in clear focus (if one squinted enough).
 
Directions / instructions / manuals written by engineers instead of attorneys.1000000249.jpgBe sure to disconnect that spark plug before replacing your air filter!
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
That is the modern version. The original used a small disk of film that you loaded / unloaded in a darkroom or a changing bag. I don't recall how you got it developed - probably had to send it back to Estes.
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We had the 110 version that came out in 1979.

www.dembrudders.com

History and Use of the Estes AstroCam 110

UPDATE: MAY 2020--NEW PHOTOS ADDED THAT WERE RECENTLY FOUND IN MY LIBRARY Anyone younger than age 25 or 30 probably doesn't remember much about the chemical-photography days thanks to the...
www.dembrudders.com
 
TCABM said:
All y’all with memories of exchange phone numbers, anyone else remember one of these next to the phone?

c4451d3817212c135365419ab1162a9b.jpg
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Our phone co-op had a 3 minute beep on the party lines . It was needed when we had 5 or more people on our line.
No rural phones here till 1956.
 
We had Jarts. I always wanted a Vac-U-Form and some of the others… some of my friends had the Creepy Crawlers (and of course Imcredible Edibles). There was another one a buddy had, the Strange Change Machine. You took a little Starburst-size/shape chunk of plastic and stuck it in a heating chamber, and it expanded into a creature of some sort. Then you could stick it into a heated crusher and turn it back into the little plastic square with a debossed Mattel logo. Cool as hell.

Our kids had an Easy Bake oven and a bunch of other stuff that’s fun but not 100% safe even when abused or used stupidly. You ought to see the stuff my older siblings had from the 50s and early 60s!

Yeah, stuff got hot. Yeah, the chemistry set we had came with real chemicals, and you could buy all kinds of other chemicals at the hobby shop. And yet we all survived. If you touched something hot you only did it once. The only scars any of us or our kids have came from things other than toys.

I guess back in the day we figured out pretty quickly that if you did stupid stuff you might get hurt. We still did stupid stuff, we were just careful (and still mostly cartilage, probably).
 
The kids in the well to do families had these on their bikes ...

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Daleandee said:
The kids in the well to do families had these on their bikes ...

View attachment 135545
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I had something like that, but I think it was a knockoff version, I don't remember the key switch. It was on my Schwinn Sting-Ray (with the obligatory STP sticker on the seat). But baseball cards and clothespins worked almost as well.
 
Back when I was a kid… we had Daisy lever action BB guns and bottle rockets and would have “wars” when we were young enough that child protective services would probably be called for us just being outside the house alone nowadays. And the always popular game of chicken with a bow and arrow. We would stand together and one person would shoot an arrow straight up, it would disappear into the sky and the one standing closest to it when it landed won… we were stupid kids, but by some miracle we all lived into adulthood (though some of the old group didn’t make it past their early 20’s).
 
Flatiowa said:
Back when I was a kid… we had Daisy lever action BB guns and bottle rockets and would have “wars” when we were young enough that child protective services would probably be called for us just being outside the house alone nowadays. And the always popular game of chicken with a bow and arrow. We would stand together and one person would shoot an arrow straight up, it would disappear into the sky and the one standing closest to it when it landed won… we were stupid kids, but by some miracle we all lived into adulthood (though some of the old group didn’t make it past their early 20’s).
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I suspect some of those in the old group that failed to make it past their early 20s was not because of PLAYING war. They are probably resting with some of my contemporaries; either in Arlington or in the jungle in S.E. Asia after participating in the real thing.
 
Bill said:
Speaking of back in the day games, who here had one of these?

View attachment 135546
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Ours would collect all players around the 30 yard line in a big vibrating pig pile. Either that, or right before a touchdown, the player with the ball would reverse course and score for your opponent. Not sure I ever made a field goal with the kicking player and the amorphous ball of lint that represented a ball.
 
Mahneuvers said:
Ours would collect all players around the 30 yard line in a big vibrating pig pile. Either that, or right before a touchdown, the player with the ball would reverse course and score for your opponent. Not sure I ever made a field goal with the kicking player and the amorphous ball of lint that represented a ball.
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Yeah they were goofy as hell. Then in ‘77 these guys came out and changed gaming forever.
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Flatiowa said:
Back when I was a kid… we had Daisy lever action BB guns and bottle rockets
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I wasn't trusted with a BB gun, but I did have the bottle rockets, a .22 and a 410.

Bottle rocket fights at night were a blast...
 
Skip Miller said:
$ 0.179 for regular gas. West Hartford, CT, about 1963 during a “gas war.” Imagine filling up for 2 bucks or less!

-Skip
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For a gas war price, my Dad once filled up for 0.099 per gallon. Unfortunately, he was almost full already. :D
 
robin ardoin said:
Channeling our old Zenith console TV/radio/turntable.... and clicker!
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We had a simple Zenith TV with clicker. One evening I was watching TV and my parents were going out. My mom walked into the living room and the TV channel changed and then changed then changed.

It took a few minutes, but we figured out her metal chain belt, as she moved, made the proper frequency sound to change the channel.

FYI for those who don't know, the Zenith remote clickers were ultrasonic. When you pushed the button, it range a tuned metal rod to make the right sound to change the channel or volume.
 
Dana said:
Estes model rockets...
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I was a Centuri rocket guy. Way back, before Estes bought them, and then there was one.

Started with a Cox plane, but moved to a Sterling Ringmaster with McCoy .35. I sill have the engine in a full bodied, trike, Ringmaster.

WOW, searched to see about Ringmasters and found this site. You can buy the classic Control Line kits from them.

Products

Control Line Airplanes. Ringmaster Flite Streak Voodoo Hobbies U Control
vintageperformancemodelairplanes.com

And Brodak has some, including Sig kits - https://brodak.com/control-line-kits.html
 
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