Lott's Bricks

I bought this set on ebay recently - it's a set of bricks made of artificial stone, called Buildec, by Lott's Bricks of Watford, in Hertfordshire. They are quite heavy, and feel very smooth and cool.



They come in a box which also contains four bottles of paint.


I think there should have been two layers of bricks in the box. These are the models you can make with box 1:




I have enough bricks to make the cottage, with a few left over for a path and a fence:


I had just enough to make the aeroplane hangar:



and the seaside shelter:


but only by turning some of the patterned bricks so that the plain side faced out.


Originally, the bricks would have been plain, without colour, and then the children who played with them would have painted them, following the directions in the instruction booklet:





The box lid states that no previous knowledge or skill is necessary, and the booklet even gives instructions for mixing the colours (blue, red, yellow and white) to create green, orange, a black substitute, brown, mauve and grey.



It looks like you could order extra bricks, which would be very useful if you wanted to make more than one building at a time, or if any broke!

The little figures by the cottage are 3.5cm tall or less, making this set 1/48th scale, or O scale in model railway terms.



I don't know anything about these china figures, except that they were "an attic find" in Kent, but they have no maker's mark on them. (Sorry, these photos have too much flash - I'll try to get better ones.)

Lott's Bricks were made in Watford (in Hertfordshire, England), from about 1917 to 1967. I found a wonderful website which shows many sets of Lott's Bricks, and says that these Buildec bricks were introduced in 1936. I'd first thought they might be older, but the 30s explains the models of an aeroplane hangar, an omnibus waiting room and a garage!

Super City Skyport Building Set - buy it now!

I got curious about whether the Super City set of my last post had been available in the US. So I had a look on US ebay - and guess what? The Super City Skyport Building Set is for sale right now - 2 sets, mint in box, buy it now - and seven have already sold. Sounds like old store stock. It's described as Marx Toys 6548 - interesting, when mine says Ideal Toy Corporation. Was there a link between Ideal and Marx, I wonder?
I'd love to hear if any of you buy a set!

Super City Construction Set

I recently found this Super City set on Australian ebay.

I hadn't heard of it before, and I don't remember seeing it in supermarkets - it was sold at Coles Stores and New World Supermarkets. Coles is an Australian supermarket chain, and used the 'New World' tag from 1962 to 1990. I would guess that this might date from the 1970s, but there's no date on it. It does say 'Made in Australia':


and also that it's a registered trade mark of the Ideal Toy Corporation:

so perhaps there's a US version as well.

It's a modular construction set, not a dolls house - it's designed to build a city with shops, utilities, businesses and houses. You can tell it's Australian from the spelling of the signs:



What caught my eye was the coloured plastic sheets that form the walls of the buildings, so that you can construct multi-coloured buildings - a similar concept to the Marx Imagination house or the Bozart Kaleidoscope house.

I've had a go putting together one of the buildings:



and also making a small house that I could almost use as a dolls house in the Kaleidoscope house. The square plastic frames, into which the coloured inserts go, are 5.5 cm wide, so this structure is about 13 cm x 7.5 cm, or roughly 5" x 3":







I think the tiny plastic dolls house furniture I've used in the top pictures came with the 1949 Ohio Art Corporation metal dolls house, although it may have been available through other companies too. I bought it from an Australian woman who played with it as a child.

I haven't tried the modern home with its second floor overhang:


or the research centre or medical centre:



and I'd need the Skyscraper Kit to make the skyscrapers shown on the lid of the box, and also in the Building Guide and Plans - no doubt so that kids would ask their parents to buy it for them!

Overspent!

I have just spent a lot of money on another dolls' house this week (which will arrive next week, I hope). So I could not bid on this, which was also on Australian ebay this week:


This is not actually a dolls' house as such, but a construction set called Bilda-Brix, by Playmate, which came with directions for some great modern designs, and all the bricks and windows and roofs etc:


I've seen other Bilda-Brix sets for more traditional designs, as well, but this one is definitely worth looking out for.

And because I've spent so much on the new house, I can't even think about asking whether I can bid on this art deco apartment building on UK ebay. Is this the exact same house which The Shopping Sherpa bid on last September? Or is there more than one? If it's not the actual house, but a duplicate, it suggests that it may have been made commercially (or possibly from a plan, although it looks identical to me, which houses built from plans rarely are).


Whether individually or commercially made, it's a terrific design, and will no doubt reach a high price again.

(This photo is from The Shopping Sherpa's blog post, as I can't work out how to save the images on the current ebay listing, in the new format. Luckily I was able to save the Bilda-Brix photos. If anyone can explain why this is so, or how to save photos from the new auction format, I'd be delighted to know.)