The ‘Furby’ is an interactive furry ‘species’ of animal. It speaks ‘Furbish’ and gradually learns English as you ‘teach’ it. The sensor on its forehead picks up light rays. If there is no light the ‘Furby’ ‘falls asleep’. It can also eat when you place your finger or anything else on its tongue. This was a great toy however I believe it was more of a craze as it went in and out of fashion quite quickly. It does not really compare to great toys like the Rubik’s Cube which are still very popular today.
The other winners were:
Craze of the Year – Alien Eggs (Grossman)
Game of the Year – Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? (Upstarts)
Boys Toy of the Year – WWF Wrestling Figures (Kidz Biz)
Girls Toy of the Year – Baby Annabel (Zapf)
The UK toy industry was worth 1.66 billion pounds in 1998 and was expected to have risen 3% in 1999.
The History of Toys: 1901-1950
1901 – The great Meccano goes on sale. It was invented by Frank Hornby in Liverpool; it captures the spirit of the age with a challenging construction toy. Hornby was one of the century’s leading toy makers and creator of Hornby Train Sets and Dinky Toys. He died in 1936.
1902 – The first Teddy Bear was created by Russian Morris MiTchtom.
1903 – Edward Binney and C. Harold Smith produced the first Crayola crayons.
1908 – Plasticine goes on sale.
1909 – The Kewpie Doll devised by Rose O’Neill. It was later patented in
1935.
1910 – Daisy Air Rifles go on sale.
1914 –Tinker Toys create the first interlocking construction toy.
1925 – Hornby produce the first electric train sets in the world.
1929 – The Yo-Yo was rediscovered by Frank Duncan in Los Angeles when
he saw waiters from the Philippines playing with the traditional Yo-Yo.
However it can be traced back to Ancient Greece. In the Philippines it
was first used as a weapon (like a boomerang) for hunting and war
until later it became a sporting item, then a plaything. \in 1930 Frank
Duncan brought over demonstrators to Europe to play the music halls.
Then the craze took off.
1930 – Charlotte Cla in the USA starts making Mickey Mouse dolls
based on the first Disney cartoon first screened in 1928.
1932 – A US architect, Alfred Butt began work on what became, Scrabble.
However he called it Lexico. Also in Denmark, Ole Kirk Christiansen
started his Lego toy company. Lego means “play well” in Danish (leg
godt). Later he discovered that Lego also meant “to put together” in
Latin.
1934 – Corgi starts to manufacture toy cars and other models. In 1965 their
model Aston Martin from the first James Bond film became the very
first BATR Toy of the Year.
1935 – Monopoly arrived in the UK. It was invented in the US by Charles
Darrow in 1933, the patent was filed on 31 August 1935 while on sale
in America. It was made under license in the UK by Waddington’s.
Darrow died in 1967.
1943 – After researching a suspension device Richard James developed the Slinky. It went on sale in 1945.
1948 – Criss Cross Words which was invented by Alfred Butt (originally
Lexico) fails to sell well and is sold to James Brunot who changed the
name to Scrabble. The sales averaged just 8,000 but from 1953 to
1955 it suddenly takes off and sales reach 4.5 million sets.
1949 – Leeds-based Waddington’s produced a mystery board game. It was
called Cluedo. In 1999 it celebrated its 50th Birthday.
The History of Scalextric
In 1952 a small company called Minimodels Limited introduced a range of metal bodied model racing cars which contained a unique type of clockwork motor. The inventor of these cars was Mr B Francis and the trade mark known as SCALEX.
By 1956 the novelty of such cars was flagging and so Francis began to seek new ways to update the product. Whilst witnessing a demonstration of electrically operated cars running on a track Francis instantly recognised the potential for his own products and modified his cars to take an electric motor. He also devised a rubber based track system with two parallel grooves in which metal rails carried electric current thus guiding the cars by means of a "gimbal" wheel suspended beneath them.
Minimodels Limited was sold to the Tri-ang Group in November 1958 who set about a wide range of improvements and additions and in 1963 four new cars were launched, complete with Tri-ang's RX motor and accurately moulded plastic bodies. The variable speed hand throttle replaced the original 'dapper' type controller and the construction of new track sections and buildings enabled authentic reproductions of actual racetracks to be launched.
Significant change in 1963 from rubber to polyethylene track, allowing it to be moulded in the factory rather than buying it from a contract rubber supplier and reducing production costs considerably. By this time there were 18 different cars, two motorcycle combinations, and a new purpose built factory designed to accommodate the rapid developments taking place.
Rovex was familiar with the type of production necessary for Scalextric and after studying the product carefully introduced three new models: the Ferrari, and JPS Lotus and the March. The cars were met with popular approval and Scalextric was swiftly back on the road to recovery.
Progress continued steadily and deliberately throughout the 1970's until the instant appeal of the home computer in the early 1980's began to undermine sales. This phase soon passed however and by the time Scalextric reached its 30th birthday in 1987 the variety and quality of the models was surpassed.
Now 40 years on, Scalextric continues to model an unrivalled selection of the world’s greatest racing and sports cars. The success and continued appeal of Scalextric is undoubtedly a tribute to the foresight of its originator.
Why Scalextric is so popular
Such developments led to the 1964 advertising slogan "the most complete model motor racing system in the world" Champion driver Jim Clark was retained to maintain the Scalextric momentum. The Scalextric World Championship which was staged in London soon after, increased the appeal of the game even further and very soon Scalextric was being manufactured in France, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and the USA.
The introduction of new gimmicks and themed sets, including the 1967 007 James Bond Aston Martin set, enjoyed substantial success until 1968 inflation impacted on demand. In 1970 a new product designed to increase steering flexibility was launched known as "You Steer". "You Steer" did not revive flagging sales as was hoped and a decision was taken to close the Minimodels Limited factory and transfer production to an associated company Rovex, now known as Hornby Hobbies.
The History of Toy Cars
The first British die cast cars were introduced in 1931 when Frank Hornby had the idea of ‘Modelled Miniatures’ to accompany his 0 gauge railway. Die cast models were cheaper and easier to make than tin toys and manufacturers could achieve more accurate scale models.
They were called Dinky toys and included aeroplanes, ships and figures. Dinky also launched a range of construction kits based on Meccano.
Competition for Dinky did not appear until the 1950s when Corgi launched their range of die cast vehicles, Lesney introduced their smaller scale Matchbox cars and Models of Yesteryear and Tri-ang introduced the Spot-On range. Corgi added extra features to their cars such as opening bonnets and detailed engines, using the new technology of plastic to add windows and lights.
The popularity of TV and films provided commercial opportunities for toy manufacturers. In 1965 Corgi produced the Saint’s Volvo and James Bond’s Aston Martin with ejector seat and pop-up bullet proof screen. A popular toy was the Batmobile with a three stage rocket-firing mechanism and a tyre slashing cutting blade at the front.
James Bond’s Aston Martin, made by Corgi toys, 1965
Battery power has had a huge impact on the production of toys. In the 1950s and 1960s Japan became the biggest producer of battery operated toys which could move faster and longer and had more features for children to play with.
Scalextric was created by Lines Brothers in 1958 and reflected the popularity of motor racing. The sets started at just under £4 and offered 24 types of plastic car and more than fifty buildings and accessories.
Testing the Scalextric track at Minimodels factory, Havant, 1962
The late 1960s saw a new type of car on the market, Mattel’s Hot Wheels, which had low friction wheels that could send a car over a further distance with a single push. The main die cast toy manufacturers were forced to revamp their model ranges making models with faster wheels and metallic paint.
Questionnaire
To experiment with how the general public would react to my product I produced a questionnaire and tested it out on 50 people entering and leaving a small model shop in Maldon called Colin Bliss & Son:
As the questionnaire shows there would be some demand for a remote control ‘low-rider’ and once created there would probably some demand for it at model shops and possible at larger toy retailers providing it will be quite user friendly and simple to work.
I also spoke to Colin Bliss himself and asked him if he thought it would sell well and he agreed but he suggested that it should be easier to make in bulk and not be a wooden net style assembly procedure.
Section Three: Choice
Idea No. 1 – The Low-Rider
A low-rider is usually a regular motor vehicle with some major adjustments. The classic low-rider was a usual automobile with adapted hydraulic suspension that enable it to bounce up and down and the wheels of the car would actually leave the road. This adjustment was usually only done to the front suspension and was switched on and off by a lever, knob or button attached to the dashboard. However over the years the adjustment has become popular to many people, mainly Americans, who began to collect low-riders. Now many low-riders have adjustable front and back suspension and each wheel can move up and down independently allowing the car to move to all sorts of pitches and also jump completely off the road which has become known among the American low-rider men as a ‘bunny hop’. Also many cars are adapted including personalised police cars, fire engines and ambulances!
The low-rider I would create would consist of either hydraulic or pneumatic suspension, with a small Hornby Railways style motor connected to an axle by a worm cog, built into a wooden net style chasse. The wheels would be either plastic or metal with realistic rubber tyres. The components of the car would then be hidden by a vacuum formed coloured plastic shell with some sort of aesthetically pleasing graphics such as flames, cartoon demons etc. All wires will be connected to a component at one end the central PCB at the other. A PCB is a small card with a copper circuit printed on it. It will be powered by some form of rechargeable battery which will be decided upon at a later date.
Idea No. 2 – Scalextric Smoke Start System
The Scalextric Smoke Start System would be special piece of track which could be added to a normal Scalextric circuit and would allow players to have a fairly administered start to their race. There would be a model lighting rig which went above the track similar to that seen in Formula 1 racing and rollers which would hold the cars off the track until the green light showed when they would be dropped and a puff of ‘smoke’ (talcum powder, bicarbonate of soda etc.) would be released to make it look like the wheels squealing out smoke on the track.
Idea No. 3 – A ‘Pull-back’ Car with Lights running On a Dynamo
This car would consist of a design similar to that of the low-rider but the components inside would be very different. There would be some sort of network of bands built into the rear axle that built up a forward motion force as the car is pulled backwards and once let go the car would speed off until the forward force has expired and the car rolls to a halt. But in this design there would be a dynamo a built into the front axle which would power two or four LEDs on the front and/or back of the car.
Idea No. 4 – A Mobile
Idea No. 5 – An Electrical Gear Ratio Demonstrator
This would consist of multi-coloured, different size gears attached to an A5 piece of polycarbonate. There would be a base also made of a suitable plastic. Attached to the other side of the A5 polycarbonate there would be a motor and battery holder and PCB encased in vacuum formed plastic. Wholes would be cut in the plastic in which to place switches, flaps, LEDs etc.
Once the circuit is turned on, the gear that is attached to the motor will began to turn and therefore all the linked gears will began to turn at different speeds.
Idea No. 6 – A Remote Controlled Racing Car
Idea No. 7 – A Toy Car Launcher
Idea No. 8 – A Mechanised Pinball Machine
Decision
Each solution proposed was evaluated on how easy it would be to build and why I should or should not design and build it.
The Low-rider
The Low-rider would be fairly practical in essence to create and also would be able to be used a good time before it is entirely finished being built. This means that if time ran out too early there is a good chance that it would still be suitable for testing to a fair extent.
The materials of the low rider are all fairly simple to come by apart from the hydraulics system which would be probably the most expensive single item and most difficult item to incorporate into the product once all other parts of it are completed.
The shell could be made of many different plastics as long as they can be used in the vacuum forming process. The main structural substance would be wood which is of course extremely easy to acquire. All the electrical components are fairly common and can be supplied by a range of electrical suppliers.
My overall view of the low-rider is that it would not be too difficult to build and design and the only major problem is acquiring and assembling the hydraulic lifting system.
The Scalextric Smoke Start System
This would be fairly simple to produce and could even be created by adapting an existing piece of Scalextric track. However there are many problems in this design such as the smoke depositing system. Questions raised by some of the public when confronted were:
What substance would the smoke be?
Is it legal to unofficially produce an add-on for Scalextric?
Will it stand the test of time?
All of these questions were considered and answers were thought up. My original plan for the smoke would be talcum powder however this had several flaws including the fact that it settles and makes a mess. Dry ice was another suggestion however it is fairly difficult for a youngster to acquire. Smoke would have been difficult to store also so this idea would certainly not be used. Also the problems of copyright would effect whether or not it would be wise to create a Scalextric add-on.
The Mobile
The mobile would have been fairly simple to produce however a lot of work would have to go into the designing of the graphics and items that hang from the frame. If the items were at all sharp the product would be rendered useless and there is a lack of machinery with which to create impressive hanging items. This meant that unless this product was made extremely well, it would not be very good.
The Gear Ratio Demonstrator
The gear ratio demonstrator was fairly simple to create and all the parts required were at hand however I believe that it is a very basic product to create and does not test my ability at design and creation. Also gear ratio demonstrators are certainly not rare or in any great demand.
The Pull-back Car with Lights working on a Dynamo
The dynamo would be the main problem with this however the rest of the vehicle would be very simple indeed to create. A simple model car would be created with a few adaptations so that a PCB and dynamo could be fitted into the vehicle. Unfortunately the problem with the dynamo is that it would disable the car from rolling freely and require a fair amount of force to light up the lights. However if it were turned down the car would have to be pushed at tremendous speeds in order to activate the lights.
The Remote Controlled Racing Car
This would be of a very similar design to the low rider only with a different look and without the hydraulic suspension.
The Toy Car Launcher
This would be fairly simple to create in essence but having closely inspected the Corgi and Dinky cars it has been discovered that each car has a completely different under design to the last meaning that there is nowhere to easily hook that car on to the motor. Further research showed that in fact the car would need to be pushed from at least two different sides and therefore at least two different motors would be needed.
The Pinball Machine
The simple reason for the production of this is that there is simply no demand for another new pinball machine. There are already hundreds of different pinball products and group pinball machines such as the highly successful Battle Dome which can accommodate 1-4 players.
Final Decision
Each of these factors has led me to my final decision which will be to produce the low-rider. The main good points were that it can still be tested if incomplete and is quite an advanced piece of equipment.
Section Four: Development
Pre-Construction Work
Wooden Chasse-Before the construction of my product began there were several trial methods used to test the reliability and aesthetics. To test the aesthetics, several designs were made of the possible graphics that would decorate the product itself. One major issue that had to be studied in the trial construction was strength. The way in which the corners of the frame would be joined was a key issue in the planning steps. It was eventually decided that they would be drilled and would have dowel hammered in. The dowel would be glued to fix it and increase the overall strength of the corner. The effectiveness of this was tested by building this joint and placing it under stress. It seemed effective and simple and was therefore used. The chasse was then built with Lego to get a good idea of the size and weight that the final chasse would be.
Plastic Shell-The plastic shell was produced by taking a large block of MDF and carving it to the shape needed. It was then placed in the vacuum forming machine and a plastic shell formed over the MDF mould. One prototype shell was made but was too small and therefore could not be used in the final product which meant that another was to be made. The second would of course be larger. There will be graphic designs used to decorate the shell itself. These designs have been created on Adobe Photoshop 6.0 and will be glued in various areas to the shell.
The Final Product-The final product will hopefully be a low-rider vehicle that is powered by 2 to 4 AA batteries. The car will be activated by the flicking of a switch attached to the back of the car. The PCB circuit has been designed to enable a reversing motor. Which means the car can travel both backward and forward without reversing or changing the order of the battery power. Two LEDS will signal the direction of the car. This will be attached to the top of the ‘cab’ of the low-rider, pickup style car. A green light signals forward movement. A red light signals backward movement.
Mass/Batch Production
There are several factors which both help and hinder the idea of the product being batch or mass produced. Possibly one of the greatest achievements of my product is the easily vacuum formed shell. Hundreds of these can be created in a matter of seconds for very little cost in terms of material. However a great factor that counteracts the shell is the wooden chasse. The wooden chasse is produced with several small cuboids of a hardwood. They are hard to join in the corners and “fiddly” to work with. This makes them certainly unsuitable for batch production. The rest of the product is made up of pre-manufacture components such as the motor, wheels and designs that are stuck to the side of the shell to improve the aesthetics. Overall the product is mainly suitable for simple mass production apart from the chasse.
Design Solutions
Wooden Chasse
Plastic Shell
Section Five: Planning and Realisation
Plan of Action
Materials:
- For the wooden chasse it was decided that a hardwood such as pine or oak is suitable.
- The shell is to be made of white polycarbonate.
- The mould for the shell is to be made of a large cuboid of medium density fibre.
- Graphics that are to be stuck on the side of the shell will be printed on photo quality inkjet paper.
- All other parts are available and are to be ordered from Rapid Electronics.
Tools:
- For the chasse a drilling machine, jigsaw, band saw, sanding machine, and hammer are needed. (Also PVA glue is required)
- The template mould for the shell requires a chisel, band saw, sanding machine and clippers.
- Shell itself requires the mould and a vacuum forming machine.
For all the machines that require it, safety goggles shall be worn and also protective aprons.
A total of nine weeks has been given as building time.
Techniques:
To create the large MDF mould block, several layers of 100x200mm MDF are stuck together using a secret pinning technique. Four pins are hammered about a ¼ of the way into each layer of MDF. Half of the nail is then sliced off leaving ¼ of the original nail in the wood and ¼ out. The surface of the layer of MDF is then plastered with PVA and a new layer of MDF is placed on top. The two layers are then forced into each other using the vice. This operation was repeated several times to get a block of six layers.
The wooden chasse will be connected at the corners using small pins of dowel. Holes will be drilled in each corner that will be connecting to another and filled with PVA; one half of the dowel is stuck in. The part that would be joining the corner also has a whole drilled and is also filled with PVA. This is a very strong way of holding the layers of frame together. It also eliminates the problem of the PVA soaking into the end grain of the wood.
Extreme care was taken when using all dangerous tools and machinery.
Section Six: Evaluation
As the product was not entirely completed a full test and evaluation cannot be performed. However the parts of the product that were completed were tested against specifications, strength, aesthetics etc.
Tests:
The shell was tested for aesthetics, strength and how it matched up against the specifications. The original mould was too small for the chasse and another one had to be produced. The second mould looked far better and fit well on top of the chasse. It was fairly pleasing to look and was fairly smooth. However there are several blemishes in it and some parts, particularly the bonnet area, are very rough. It is extremely strong and matches all of the specifications.
The wooden chasse was not as good as originally hoped. It was however very strong and could easily support the components it needed. Although it did not look very pleasing and in some points it as rather shabby, it did not really matter as it would be covered by the shell.
The graphics were very good and very pleasing and were exactly what was planned.
All of the electrical parts that were used were working well and if the dimensions of parts that were never ordered were added on the entire product would not exceed any limits on the specifications.
Overall the entire product that was built was safe and extremely easy to operate. The idea of hydraulics was unfortunately abandoned as it was discovered from the beginning that it was far too difficult to incorporate them. Plus the fact that the product met all specifications and also challenged my abilities without the hydraulic suspension in any case.
The Use of Resources
I believe the one resource that I could have used to a far better extent was the time. Much time was lost when waiting for orders of electrical equipment that could have been ordered at the very beginning. I believe that if the time had been spent more wisely the product could have been finished completely with some time still left to make adjustments and final touches. However the rest of the production was good and most of the product was assembled with a high quality apart from the wooden chasse which went wrong in several places.
The production followed most of the Lego prototypes and worked well apart from the lack of wheels and a battery holder in the final product.
Overall Evaluation
I believe that the largest waste was in time. It could have been spent in a far more wise method and much time was wasted waiting for ordered products. However I am fairly pleased with everything that was created, particularly the circuit with reversing motor and LEDs.
