IT'S HIP TO BE SQUARE

Following on from my look at the wonders of space age building toys and the delights of transparent plastic parts, heres another shelf warmer that never really made the big time.

US company Eldon, more renown for their Billy Blastoff Space set, Computer Truck and slot racing cars, made a brief foray into construction toys. Power Blocks was a modular, self contained buidling toy using square units containing motor, gears and batteries. Each block clipped together with flexible plastic connectors to make the main structure and then wheels, axles and other accessories could fit into the blocks to fill out the design.

 I first came across Power Blocks in the form of the Space Set - a garish transparent green set of cubes, wheels and chrome radar dishes. The package proudly proclaimed that it was possible to make 'hundereds of toys that move', in reality it was hard to make anything beyond a boxy car with a whirling scanner. The basic units are a great idea and are akin to Capsela and the much later Robotix, but what lets the idea down is the means of joining the parts together - a small flimsy plastic clip, which popped into recesses on each block, holding the together at the edge.

 According to the leaflet in the box, there were three main sets, Space in green, Vehicle in orange and a Deluxe set in yellow. So far ive managed to find only the orange and green sets, more for curiosity value than anything as its difficult to actually get the parts out of the box, let alone build anything! The polystyrene inner grips the blocks so tightly, the sets have survived more or less unscathed since 1969!

 The vehicle set come with extra wire connectors to reach from the battery block to the motor allowing a slightly greater degree of flexibility.