|
|
One of the most interesting things about architectural building toys is the way the style
of building which the kit produces, and which is illustrated on the box or in the
instruction book, is often so culturally and chronologically specific. So for instance,
the german Richter Anchor blocks of the the late nineteenth century build magnificent urban municipal edifices such as town halls and churches, Arkitex from the 1960's produces rectangular apartment and office blocks. On the domestic front Bayko from the
1930's and 1940's portrays interwar British suburban life, with its detached houses, sports pavilions and cinemas whilst the 1950's to 60's Super City range builds american houses with colonial doors and clapboard finish walls within a modern framework.
Another interest to the collector is the wide range of ways in which such kits are actually built. One way of classifying them is as follows:
follow the links for images
the home made icon buttons lead to further information about each type
| TYPE | EXAMPLES |
|---|---|
| Bricks which are piled on top of one another.
These kits usually contain columns and arches and even angled roof bricks but less often window or door pieces. |
The wooden building brick, from the very basic to finely made sets
with turned columns and carved pieces. Archiblocks are a good contemporary
example of interesting wooden blocks. Some wooden sets have painted or printed detail. I have a number of these which include windows glazed in thin plastic. Artificial stone blocks such as Richter's Anchor blocks and Lott's Bricks. These may be either plain shaped bricks or have surface texture and detail. |
| Bricks which interlock.
|
The best known is Lego and its various imitators, including the british Betta Bilda. Block City and American Bricks are american sets of this type.
A similar design, but in rubber rather than plastic is Minibrix. Wooden interlocking kits include Dometo with a tongue and groove connection between the rows. |
Components which try to mimic the actual construction methods
of real buildings.
|
The most obvious construction method is bricks and
mortar of which the best known toy imitator in Britain is
Brickplayer. There are a number of current examples including a
spanish made range called Teifoc. Some kits from the 1960's and later mimic the modern method of building with steel frames and prefabricated cladding components. Arkitex is one example of these panel and girder toys. A third building type imitated in miniature is the log cabin, most famously in the american Lincoln Logs sets. |
| Kits which imitate the exterior appearance of buildings but with
different construction methods.
There are wide variety of these kits using a wide range of different construction solutions. |
Bayko, which consists of plastic pieces assembled by sliding them
between thin metal rods set upright in a base plate. The main pieces are either
brick effect wall pieces, windows or doors. Wenebrik components are all painted metal. They are connected together by means of a double fold in the metal on the top edge into which the lower edge of the subsequent piece can be slid. |
| Kits which make building components, rather than contain them.
|
Generally parts are produced from a supplied power mixed with water and poured into a variety of moulds, a british example of which is Linka. This is a category which I had not previously thought to include, until reminded of it by Geoff Lilleker. |
|
|
|
|
|