My Christmas present to myself last year was one of these (second hand but with gas burner adapter)...sadly been too busy this year to get it running but determined it'll be chuffing around the garden next year. With a full EN5026-1:2017 safety case of course 




Happy Christmas!!


Cheers,


Andy

Wonderful Andy!


Happy Christmas and all the best for 2018! :)

What a busy few days ..... you would never believe how many pieces make up a Lego City kit or 3 !!

Just thought I'd share what was in my Christmas dinner cracker with you... 


Came as a kit and I had to put it together. 

Cool crackers and well done on the build 

Jealous! I just got a plastic paperclip in mine!

I received a Philips "Electronic Engineer Kit" one Christmas from my Mum & Dad, some 50 years ago. The best present I think I ever received. It had 3 PNP germanium transistors (AC128 x 2 and AC128 x1) , Loudspeakers, switches and a selection of passive components. The components were connected using a "spring and loop" system mounted on top of a paper design "template" to fabricate various circuits. Scattered around the house, I still have several "remnants" of the Kit , which remind me of the great opportunity this present opened up for me.

Had the very same kit!


I also had a "Magnetricity" kit which was absolutely brilliant!! Taught me that amplifiers oscillate (and vice-versa) :)


Happy days!

I love some of the toys shown in this thread. I had one of those 1001 electronic circuit sets, it was the one with the springs to join the wires together. I found that over time they corroded and no longer made good contact. My best presents were always Lego, I preferred the general bricks rather than the themed kits, although when I was older I did enjoy the Technic sets. Seeing Andy's photo of the Lego motor module brought back some memories. I remember that my brother and I both had one, it even came with railway wheels to use on the Lego track. Unfortunately the battery terminals were eaten away by leaking batteries and they were never the same again.


As an engineer I have always tried to encourage my son with anything to do with engineering but none of the engineeringy toys went down very well unless they could be used to make swords or guns. I remember one year someone bought him a simple electronics set and the only part that interested him was a motor and helicopter blade assembly that could be launched using the motor!


A poll of colleagues in the office showed that most of them had a parent or grand parent who was an engineer so I thought that by default my son would follow in his father's and grandfather's footsteps but this is not to be. It just goes to show plying kids with STEM toys and opportunities does not make them into an engineer. I suppose that it is like any profession in life, you have to have a passion and an interest in it.