By Andrew Liszewski
When I was a kid I was always partial to building toys like LEGO, Construx, Ramagon, K’nex, Pipeworks and even my friend’s Capsela sets. While I’m sure they helped foster my imagination, I liked the flexibility of being able to build whatever I wanted. And while I’m not sure if it’s the best choice for young kids, this Hydrodynamic Building Set can be reconfigured into everything from a water treatment plant, to a distillation plant to even an ice cream factory. I mean what kid wouldn’t love to spend the afternoon with their very own water treatment plant!
The set includes working tanks, pipes and valves that are all powered by an electric pump. All you need to supply is the water, and a bit of patience as you tweak the valves to produce the perfect flow. When fully constructed the working models look like they belong in a mad scientist’s laboratory, but they’ll probably guarantee you at least a B if you have a science fair coming up. At the least, your display will look a lot cooler than all those paper mache volcanoes.
You can find it at the Discovery Channel Store for $79.95.
[ Hydrodynamic Deluxe Building Set ] VIA [ GadgetGrid ]
I love all the little warning signs plastered over it, very authentic.
I own hundreds of pounds of Lego bricks now, and I’m a huge fan, but I must admit reading “construx” takes me back. I have a HUGE place in my heart for those little blue seamine looking connectors and never was their such a fun and easy set for making huge buildings. I will have to buy some old ones for my 5 year old:) Just in case you also played with them, did you know that Crossbows and Catapults is back? Big sets, cheap and just like they were. You can still put 9 rubber bands on them and get lethal velocity from the little pucks.
Yeah, there are a few containers of LEGO and Construx still sitting in my parent’s basement. They were definitely my favorite as a kid. Construx were particularly useful for building GI Joe HQs and what not. However those blue connectors were almost as painful to step on as the 4-dot square LEGO bricks.
And while I was aware of Crossbows and Catapults, I never had them as a kid. I had to rely on the original firing cannons on the LEGO Black Seas Barracuda pirate ship for waging any kind of wars.
Wow, I recognized the structural elements used to hold this thing together! They were used in a build-your-own skyscraper set that I had as a child — and this is back in the 1980s! I am surprised that they managed to stick around long enough to resurface two decades later.
Of course, Wikipedia knows all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girder_and_Panel_building_sets Seems what I had was from the General Mills era…
Is it just me who wants to make a watercooled laptop from this…?