Even Meccano sets were iffy, sharp metal edges and all.
I recall a tin friction powered toy aeroplane I had, you pulled it along the ground and a lead pulley wheel ran for a while propelling it. One day I decided to 'wind it up' on the palm of my hand. I didn't notice the serrated sprocket poking out the bottom so as I pulled the toy plane back I gashed the inside of the base of my thumb, claret all over the show. I ended up in Casualty (A & E) but they didn't give me stitches and to this day I still have the scar and can't bend my right thumb back as far as the left one.
Those were the days eh? The good old days doncha know, youngsters these days are too soft (contd. Page 45)
Another little gem I played with was the Jetex which was in fact a jet engine. This was a cylinder looking rather like half a cigar tube with a screw cap on one and a tiny hole in the other. You would insert a length of flammable fuse through the pin hole then coil it round a few times inside. Then you'd put in two snug fitting pellets and screw the cap on.
This contraption was then affixed to a model car or tank or anything toy size on wheels and placed along a piece of string that acted as a guide wire about 20 or 30 metres long. Then you'd light the fuse with a match or lighter and the thing would blast off, probably reaching speeds of 30mph which for something 6 to 8" long is very fast. It also spouted a lot of blue smoke on it's travel.
At the end of it's journey the jet cylinder would literally be glowing red hot and stayed hot enough to burn skin for at least ten minutes.
Of course kids being kids, some hardier, inventive or stupid individuals would experiment with their Jetex which led, so I'm told, to attempts to send insects into space, exploding cylinders and in one notable instance a broken window.
Happy days
