I miss insanely dangerous Christmas toys.

[bigbill]

It's not just confined to childhood. Some of you know I'm a retired sailor who spent most of my career on submarines. There's an old classic: "Mom, when I grow up I want to be a submariner" "You have to choose one or the other".. We had a 3" launcher on one of my submarines. It angled out just above the waterline and was used to launch noisemakers to evade an enemy torpedo, you've probably seen them in the movies. A lot of things are about 3" in diameter and can withstand 700# air pressure. We were in port in Charleston, SC and bored so we decided to see what would happen if we shot a potato out of the launcher. We looked around to see if anyone was standing on the pier and it looked good. Big woosh and then nothing. We looked around on the pier for pieces of potato figuring it would disintegrate but didn't see anything. Then we noticed the building about 100 yards away with a big window that was mostly shattered. Then we heard police sirens. Never got caught. My childhood prepared me well.

[EricKeller]

What better toy for a six year old than a scalding hot plate with metal molds and attractively colored (i.e. Hey kid, drink this!) carcinogens to cook into rubber bugs?

I forgot about the Mattel vac-u-form. The '60s version of the 3d printer. Similar safety issues to the bugmaker, including the exposed hot plate. I wonder how many permanent scars were produced by trying to make a mold of someone's hand?

[ElvisMerckx]

I forgot about the Mattel vac-u-form. The '60s version of the 3d printer. Similar safety issues to the bugmaker, including the exposed hot plate. I wonder how many permanent scars were produced by trying to make a mold of someone's hand?

I had something like this that made Hot Wheels cars, really bad ones that came out of the molds warped, marbled with residue colors from prior cars, and ill-fitting to the chassis. It was awesome.

[EricKeller]

the vac-u-form actually work(s) fairly well. It's perfect for making parts like cowls for r/c airplanes. You can still buy plastic for it, and repair parts VAC-U-FORM Parts

[Honus]

I had something like this that made Hot Wheels cars, really bad ones that came out of the molds warped, marbled with residue colors from prior cars, and ill-fitting to the chassis. It was awesome.

Son #3 has one of these devices- Amazon.com: Hot Wheels Car Maker Playset: Toys & Games

The molds are OK and the finished bodies are decent but the thing takes flipping forever to heat up and cool down. By the time the thing eventually heats up the kids have gone on to something else. Plays lame/annoying music too while going through the process. I might need to hot rod it for him... see if I can reduce the production time.

[EricKeller]

I might need to hot rod it for him... see if I can reduce the production time.

here you go: McMaster-Carr

[boxerboxer]

here you go: McMaster-Carr

I have a permanent half-chub for McMaster-Carr and how awesome it is.

[EricKeller]

I would probably go somewhere else for the thermocouple and temperature controller that would be needed for full functionality of this hot-rodded hot wheels making machine. Probably would deserve a cnc'd case. Never get done, but it would be really cool

[caleb]

The county I grew up in had a bounty on pocket gophers. When I was 6 or 7, my dad gave me a couple Victor #1s to keep me busy ridding the area of road-destroying rodents.

What could possibly go wrong?

[lumpy]

Oh,.... and speaking of danger at Christmas... In Europe the tradition is to have actually lit candles on the tree. Dried out pine trees, indoors, with actual burning candles. I was never comfortable with that but we never had a problem either. Americans use deep friers to prepare turkeys and every year there are holiday turkey frier fires!

One year growing up in Appleton we cut up the Christmas tree and fed it in small-to-medium pieces into the fireplace and it was incredibly intense and I distinctly remember my father saying afterwards that it wasn't a very bright idea and I think he was right. But it sure was fun to a 10-year old to watch that thing roar in the tiny fireplace!

When we were living in West Concord, MA, in a neighborhood of modest houses with a bunch of families' back yards intersecting, we had stashed our tree in the backyard after Christmas, and around March it was really good and dry, so we took it into the middle of the back yard and lit it off. It went up with a whoosh and a pillar of fire. Our neighbor saw it, and it turned out he still had his tree, so he chucked it over the fence and we lit that one off too. 3 or four other neighbors followed suit. Best community building exercise ever.

[steve garro]

The county I grew up in had a bounty on pocket gophers. When I was 6 or 7, my dad gave me a couple Victor #1s to keep me busy ridding the area of road-destroying rodents.

What could possibly go wrong?

I grew up running a string of #4's

- Garro.

[taz]

I had something like this that made Hot Wheels cars, really bad ones that came out of the molds warped, marbled with residue colors from prior cars, and ill-fitting to the chassis. It was awesome.

OH YEAH - HOT WHEELS FACTORY! I got some nice burns on my 9 year old hands from that one. 5 pieces of junk for every one that came out looking decent.

Let's give kids super heated injectable plastic and shag carpeting.

Hot Wheels Factory by Mattel - Sam's Toybox

[ElvisMerckx]

OH YEAH - HOT WHEELS FACTORY! I got some nice burns on my 9 year old hands from that one. 5 pieces of junk for every one that came out looking decent.

Let's give kids super heated injectable plastic and shag carpeting.

Hot Wheels Factory by Mattel - Sam's Toybox

That's the one! I might still have the one decent car that came out of that thing laying around somewhere.

[taylorj]

...this thread is so awesome. And just cause I was looking for the perfect opportunity to say KNOCKERS and have it be appropriate:

Click Clacks / Clackers / Kerbangers | Retroland

These rocked and I had them in every color and got sent to the principal's office MANY times because I was always was playing with my knockers (!)

[Honus]

I would probably go somewhere else for the thermocouple and temperature controller that would be needed for full functionality of this hot-rodded hot wheels making machine. Probably would deserve a cnc'd case. Never get done, but it would be really cool

I already have a digital PID controller, thermocouple and SSR from another project out in the garage.... Dang, too many projects and not enough time!

[bcm119]

Great thread.

My dad was a black powder muzzleloading rifle enthusiast and had a ton of supplies in the basement that he thought were well hidden. They weren’t. My brother and I would stuff the black powder into spent D sized Estes rocket engine tubes and seal the ends with hot glue. A model rocket igniter went in the middle, so they were detonate-by-wire type bombs. Later we figured out how to use our R/C car radios for remote detonation.

Dad also had boxes and boxes of 38 special shells, and percussion caps for muzzleloaders. The shells fit perfectly over the ends of aluminum arrow shafts, and if you stuffed a bunch of caps in the end, you had arrows that exploded on contact with hard surfaces (trees, sheds, neighbors roofs, etc).

We also made a lot of “burning arrows” with a rag dipped in kerosene knotted on the end. One day my brother shot one straight up with a compound bow, very high. It landed in a neighbor’s apple tree, and burned a large limb.

I have fond memories of bb gun fights, we had a 2 pump limit but I had stupid friends and they never abided by that rule. I caught a pellet on the hip once and it wasn’t a 2 pumper. I also hit my friend’s adam’s apple, which left a mark that was hard to explain to his parents. One day a neighbor from across “the woods” stormed over screaming “why is my sliding glass door lying on my living room carpet in a million pieces?!” I mowed a lot of lawns to pay that one off.

Estes rockets had limitless possibilities for modifications. A large outdoor Christmas light bulb screws very tightly into the top of a D sized engine, and a few balsa wood fins glued on makes a very fast, erratic rocket. One of mine looped out of the back yard and flew right through my grandma’s bathing suit, hanging on the clothes line. It left a gaping hole with burnt edges. My grandmother was cool enough to see the humor.

[Jake Rosenfeld]

Haha! 2 pump limit!!!! I remember that.

I also remember shooting cans with my pellet gun by shooting my brothers daisy BB gun at the trigger from 10 yards away.
Remote control BB gun!

[sbornia]

Great thread. My dad was a black powder muzzleloading rifle enthusiast...

OMG, I thought my brother and I were pyros with some matches, turpentine, model cement, and plastic army men in the basement. But you've raised the bar much much higher.

[nrs5000]

We also made a lot of “burning arrows” with a rag dipped in kerosene knotted on the end. One day my brother shot one straight up with a compound bow, very high. It landed in a neighbor’s apple tree, and burned a large limb.

Somehow I am reminded of the final scene of Throne of Blood by Akira Kurosawa.

Rockets were awesome. My rocketry career culminated with the Estes SR-71. That was a bit of a reach as my workmanship was nowhere near skunkworks standard. But it was a fun launch!

A buddy of mine has got back into rockets. He does big engines that require a license from the ATF. The rockets can only be launched in certain airspaces because they can reach altitudes of over a mile.

[j44ke]

Briggs & Stratton mini bike. No helmet. Innumberable cuts and a few burns, including one that blew up the size of a chicken egg on my hand from grabbing the exhaust while crashing. Eventually prohibited from riding it, then prohibited from going to my friend's house (who owned it) because I didn't get the message. Something about it I loved but it did not love me back. An abusive relationship. Why I know I should never have a motorcycle though am heartbroken with that knowledge.