Flivver With a Kick
STUDENTS at the University of Houston recently converted a sedate Ford into a bucking bronco! Under the direction of W. C. Rowlette of the automotive shop, they built Leapin’ Lena for the school’s annual Frontier Fiesta show.

A ‘39 Ford which hadn’t been doing anyone much good was stripped of its old frame. The correct mechanical touches gave it
the lope and bounce of a real Western horse and a saddle was added. Then, the mechanized bronco was ready for the show.

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Robots in Ragtime
THE Japanese have come up with something new in toys. It’s a mechanical orchestra and its tinny music has captured the hearts of the youngsters.

Jiro Aizawa, an ex-Kamikaze plane designer, is the creator. Loath to discard his mechanical training after the war, he turned to experimentation with robots, a subject in which he had long been interested. His results are quite amazing.

The orchestra’s actual music is produced by a phonograph record synchronized with the movements of the players. In its repertoire are: Buttons and Bows, Beer Barrel Polka and Rumba Tamba.

Boy! It’s Keen
A REAL METAL RAPID FIRING “G-BOY” REPEATING CAP PISTOL

$1.95 (Gun Only)
Box of 5 rolls caps 7 Boxes . . . $1.00

RAPID FIRING!
LOOKS LIKE A REAL “45″
ACTUALLY SMOKES ON FIRING HAS LOUD EXPLOSIVE REPORT

It’s a real thriller. Yes! Looks and feels like the Automatic “45’s” carried by our Army Officer . . . It’s made of strong lightweight aluminum . . . with a plastic “Pearl” handle. It’s easy to reload. Any boy would gladly give his entire allowance for one of these.

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BASEMENT Golf

By Allan Carpenter

POPULARITY of miniature golf has brought the game right into the basement in the form of a knockdown course that can be picked up and stored away almost as easily as you would a game of croquet. It’s an exciting game the whole family can enjoy the year round—from the youngsters on up to the avid golfer who will find it good practice in keeping his putting eye keen. Standard putters and irons are used and scoring is done as in real golf, penalties being counted as strokes. As for space, most basements, especially those with compact heating units, will accommodate the “concentrated” nine-hole course pictured in the illustration above, but, where there’s only a minimum of space, a lot of fun can be had from a much smaller course. As each green is complete in itself and lightweight, the course can be quickly set up. Most of the greens are fairly shallow to permit stacking them in little space when not in use. Where yard area is sufficient to permit an outdoor course, a suggested layout for an 18-hole one is given in the plan view on page 197. Construction of nine additional greens is given to supplement the nine shown above.

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These look like they would be a blast. Giant tinkertoys!

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PLYWOOD PLAY PLANKS

Give your child countless hours of interesting, instructive, and clean play by making him this jumbo-size set of building blocks.

ANY kid who has this plank set will be . the hero of the block—and his hero will be his dad for making it for him. With the set, he is equipped to build any number of walk-in projects. Houses, forts, ships, castles, garages, locomotives—there’s no limit to the designs that healthy imagination and young hands can produce.

The planks are light and clean. They are simple enough for a three-year-old to use, yet interesting enough to keep a ten-year-old busy. No nails or fasteners are needed —the planks interlock strongly and safely. They won’t crack or warp and children can’t break them. Even the most ambitious play-plank buildings can be dismantled and stored in a few minutes.

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FOR THE KIDDIES

TOY FIBERGLAS CAR, manufactured in Connecticut by the New London Metal Processing Corp., has a top speed of 5 mph, powered by a truck battery.

JUVENILE JIVESTERS. below, can play real tunes on these plastic toy instruments manufactured by Emenee Industries, 200 Fifth Avenue, N. Y.

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You’ll shoot your eye out!

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Get this new 1000-shot Red Ryder Carbine
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Stilt Bike Gives Second-Story Ride

Bicycle riders will have no trouble in making their way up in the world if they construct a stilt bicycle like the odd one pictured below. Built by Bryant Guthrie, a telegraph messenger boy, the odd vehicle was made from the frame of an old bicycle and lengths of pipe welded together at the joints. One long pipe runs down from the handlebars to the bottom of the frame, where it is connected to two shorter iron rods to form the steering mechanism. A cross-bar on the rear fork of the frame makes a convenient spot for any hitch-hiker to stand while getting a ride on the queer vehicle.

I wonder if they installed it outside the Piggly Wiggly.

Electric Pony Bucks and Trots
A NEW entertainment device which holds lots of fun for the youngsters is an electrical pony invented by Otto Hahs, a mechanic of Sikeston, Mo. The pony is operated by electricity and is set in motion by depositing a nickel in a slot in the neck of the beast. The pony lopes, trots and bucks, the rider regulating the gait with the bridle reins, to suit his tastes.

TOY WALKIE-TALKIE THRILLS YOUNG COMMANDOS
THAT young “commando” in your home will be the envy of the neighborhood when he goes out to play war with a toy walkie-talkie like that shown above. For all its G.I. look, the toy is built of scrap stock and a length of webbing or a belt.

The rectangular case is a 2-1/2″ by 3″ by 10″ closed box, with rounded top and bottom pieces overhanging the sides 1/8″ all around. Make the body of two 1/2″ by 2″ by 9″ pieces and two that are 1/2″ by 2-1/2″ by 9″, gluing and nailing the simple butt joints for strength. The mouth and ear pieces shown are turned in a lathe and then sawed off on a diagonal, as shown in the drawing, but if you are good at whittling there is no reason why you can’t shape them by hand. Two dowels form dummy controls on one side.

How the telescoping antenna is put together is shown in the drawing. Drilling the 1/2″ diameter dowel takes great care, and it is best to drill from both ends.
Finish with khaki paint and trim with white as in the photo.—Frank Mccarty.

How do you cheat in Tick-Tack-Toe?

Tick-Tack-Toe brain is invention of 18-year-old Noel Elliott, finalist in the Westinghouse science talent search. After three years’ work, involving a study of the 362,882 possible variations, he perfected the machine so that it either wins or ties every game. It responds with a light flash when you pull a switch in any square. Sometimes it’s caught cheating a little.

This thing looks incredibly fun!

Propeller Drives Homemade Flying Merry-Go-Round
A FLYING merry-go-round in their own back yard is the pride and joy of young” Christopher Elliott and his sister Maureen, of Beccles, Suffolk, England. Built by their father, the novel whirligig has a two-passenger open gondola suspended from twin booms that revolve around a central post firmly set into concrete. Driving power for the unusual homemade flying machine is furnished by a one-horsepower gasoline engine that whirls a twenty-three-inch wooden propeller incased in a protective cowling of wire and metal. Cross bracing between booms and center post adds stability.