The Girder and Panel Newsletter #2

The Quarterly Newsletter of The Girder and Panel (TM*) Collectors Club Box 494, Bolton, MA 01740 (508) 779-6058 October 1, 1994 - Issue #2 (C) Copyright 1994 by Edward W. Sterling, All Rights Reserved (TM*) Now a trademark of Irwin Toy Ltd., used with permission. There is no connection between Irwin Toy Ltd. and the Kenner Toy Co.)

THE SECOND ISSUE ARRIVES!

Welcome to the Girder and Panel Collectors Club! My name is Ed Sterling, and I hope you have read our first newsletter! I don't want to waste too much time here on (re) introductions. Response has been excellent so far, and I would like to thank those members who have "joined on" and sent in their $10. The copying and postage really add up, but I'm not doing it for the money! I hope you are enjoying this as much as I am.

A LOOK AT CURRENT PRICES

Prices are not getting any cheaper. Was there any doubt? These sets are not only fun, they are probably a good investment! Sets 5, 7, 8, and 9 are still available on a regular basis. Skyrail shows up perhaps once a quarter, and Hydrodynamic sets are really hard to find. I have had a number of callers offer Build-A-Home set 16 as well. The late sets from 21 to 33 are simply "gone;" I can't figure out why we never see these sets (perhaps very few were made, and thus less were actually preserved). Here's how I would rank the availability and average price range of the following sets, from most common down to rarest:

Set#  Name of set                            Seen      Exc. - NMIB
8         Motorized Bridge and Turnpike           Monthly   $100-130
==>  Any of the 1976-era 72000 series             Monthly   $40-80
7    Combined Bridge and Turnpike            3 x year  $70-90
5    Bridge and Turnpike                     3 x year  $40-70
9    Double Motorized Bridge and Turnpike         3 x year  $150-200
==>  Build-a-Home (14,15,16)                 3 x year  $70-110
25   Freeway USA                             2 x year  $70-90
17   Skyrail                            2 x year  $150-200
11   Hydrodynamic                       1 x year  $150-200
18   Double Skyrail                     1 x year  $200-270
12   Double Hydrodynamic                1 x year  $250-300

The rest of the sets are very rarely seen and really have no price record. That doesn't make them priceless, just hard to find. It may take you a year or two to locate, for example, a number 2 set, but a fair price for this little set might be $50, not $250. It also seems very difficult to locate any of the sets from number 21 to number 33.

DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE TOY SHOP NEWSPAPER?

Many of you heard about the Club in the excellent article about Girder and Panel sets published in the magazine Collecting Toys. The place where collectible toys are actually sold is (drum roll) The Toy Shop, a biweekly newspaper jammed full of thousands of ads. You can subscribe to The Toy Shop by calling 1-800- 258-0929, and I find they are willing to send you a free sample issue in most cases.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE LATER SETS: #21 TO #33

MODERN AS TOMORROW appears to be the first series which introduced some new styles. If you look at sets 1 to 18, fundamentally they all had green masonite boards, red girders, and those funny orange, yellow, and brown panels. The MODERN series introduced white baseboards, grey girders, a new style of vac-u-form panel with blue and white as new colors, and the first use of clear acetate (flexible plastic) panels to emulate "modern" curved glass in office buildings. The MODERN series focused on building modern office towers, and the term "skyscraper" is used a lot. Sets 21 and 22 were the first of the vertical "canned" sets; they came in very hard cardboard vertical cans with rounded edges, with tin tops and bottoms. The largest set 23 came in the traditional wide shallow flat box, a bit smaller than a set 7 box. One other new presentation change was made in the set 23 box, that being a light-plastic internal shell for pieces, instead of the sectioned cardboard used in earlier sets. The can versus box format seems to make the differences between the sets very significant, whereas the early sets varied mainly in size, not style. You look at these small cans and wonder why anyone would buy them, instead of the large set 23. However, late in the game the flat box disappeared too! Late catalogs from 1967 depict "Set 23C" which is in a vertical "can" box. These vertical boxes became the standard packaging of the later Girder and Panels sets, numbers 21 through 33, until the series ended in 1968..

FREEWAY USA followed the MODERN series in format; sets 24 and 25 were packaged in the same vertical cardboard can as sets 21 and 22, and set 26 came in a wide flat box like set 23. Set 26 also had the same internal plastic shell, with molded indented sections to hold the roadways, braces and girders. The big change in this series was the end of the wide grey 2-lane 3 inch flimsy road sections. The new road pieces were about 2 inches in diameter, with no dividing lines, and were an off-white/cream color. As well, the roads were now held in place with tiny round ribbed red pegs, which were seen in sets right to the "final" set 33.

BRIDGE AND TURNPIKE sets 27 and 28 were effectively the traditional sets 8 and 9 repackaged in the new vertical box format, with a new emphasis on building wired suspension bridges instead of having motorized bridges and elevators. Sets 8 and 9 reinforced the bridge with diagonal cross-braces, whereas sets 27 and 28 used strings intricately threaded between the bridge roadway and the overhead bridge structure. Sadly, these late-series sets had no motors, and the small green masonite pads were now replaced by apple-green metal stampings!

SKYRAIL sets 30 and 31 were reissues of sets 17 and 18 repackaged in the vertical boxes. I have no information beyond catalog information from 1965. They appear to be exactly the same as the original sets, only packaged in the vertical boxes.

GIRDERMATIC appears to have been the last series of the 1960s sets. The puzzle is that the boxes have copyright dates of 1964, yet the contents suggest that they were actually made a bit later than that. Like the early motorized sets, Girdermatic set 32 had a single green motor, and set 33 had two motors. The motors and battery cases are made of "apple green" plastic, not the bright yellow plastic used in sets 8 and 9. The green masonite building pads were replaced with apple-green metal stampings. These stampings were about 1 inch by 3 inches, and had 2 holes punched in them, which were "one beam-width" apart.

The box art in both sets depicts amusement rides, as well as factory machinery such as a gantry crane. The Girdermatic sets were the most unusual sets since the Hydrodynamic sets, in that they were intended to make structures unrelated to bridges, roadways, and conventional buildings. While not as complex as the Hydro- dynamic sets, they contained many unusual parts never included in any other set, before or after!

In a telephone interview I once had with Mr. Mike Oppenheim, the assistant to the VP of production at Kenner, Mike told me the president of Kenner never liked to waste anything. The Girdermatic #33 included 2 large 9 inch diameter plastic wheels with 8 spokes, which might be used to create a ferris wheel. The internal "waste pieces" cut out when to create the "spokes" where themselves reused to make a "fan" blade, which could serve as a factory fan or a decoration for one of the amusement rides. The Girdermatic sets are very unusual, and I will feature them in detail in an upcoming issue.

WHERE TO BUY A SET

So many of you have asked "where can I buy these sets nowadays?" Here's how I have collected many of my sets over the past few years.

The Toy Shop newspaper: I recommend this publication highly. Some things have changed in recent months, especially when they went from monthly to biweekly printing; however, it remains the best single place to find sets for sale, and it is a great place to advertise for "sets wanted."
Phone Auctions: this is getting to be the main source of advertised sets. Rather than stating a fixed price, the seller advertises a telephone auction for a specific date. The "real" action starts around 11PM and lasts into the bitter hours of the night, officially until there are no more calls for a 10 minute period. Sadly, it means prices get very high and puts most sets out of reach, except for the most determined collectors.
Antique dealers and estate sales: I have been surprised to hear how well some members have done at estate sales (auctions). I personally do not have the time for auctions. I also am doubtful that an antique dealer would carry a Girder and Panel set, but letters from members tell me "it ain't so." Therefore, don't be afraid to ask "traditional" antique dealers if they have old toys for sale. You never know!
Place a "WANTED" ad: sometimes it takes a little extra money to get what you want. I have been quite successful in getting calls from sellers, by placing an ad in The Toy Shop newspaper. I would also recommend checking your local "7-11" type convenience store, to see if there is a local "want ad" publication. Try placing an ad there, under "Toys" or "Antiques."

HOW TO BUY A SET

Once you've placed your own "WANTED" ad, or you've seen a hot ad in a newspaper or magazine, now comes the hard part: you're buying "blind" in most cases and you're not going to see this set until it arrives on the UPS truck. Here are some tips on "buying smart" to avoid disappointments.

Get the name and telephone number of each caller. Sounds obvious? It's something I forget to do myself, and then I could kick myself later.
Ask the caller to have the set right there in front of them. If that's inconvenient, offer to call back using "your nickel" at a later time. Tell the caller you just want to ask some questions about specific pieces, and you'd appreciate it if he or she would have the set available.
Determine the condition. Believe me, EVERY caller tells me "yeah, it looks like it's all there." If only that were true! Ask about the condition of pieces: are the roof skylights all smashed in? Are the holes in the panels all cracked? Are the holes in the roadway pieces cracked? Do Hydrodynamic clear pieces have all the tabs intact? Get the seller to poke around inside the set a bit and describe what they find..
Inquire about specific important pieces. For any #8 or #9 sets, have the caller check for the motors, the battery cases, the elevator cab, the swivel, the large masonite foundations, etc. For Skyrail, make sure the one (or two) Skycars are there, undamaged, with the battery pack intact; make sure there appears to be adequate monorail track as well. For Hydrodynamic sets, make sure the grey base unit is not cracked, and the motors are present. Also ask for a general description of the Hydrodynamic clear plastic pieces.
Color is important. Remember that all the Girder and Panel sets from #1 to #9 had red girders. If the caller finds yellow girders, someone has mixed in a Skyrail set! If there are blue girders, someone has dumped in a later 1976 set. If there are grey girders, someone has mixed in a later #21-23 Modern as Tomorrow set. It is very common to find jumbled and mixed sets. Be prepared to encounter some strange combinations of parts.
Don't forget paper and cardboard. I recently "blew it" by overpaying for 2 large sets, because I forgot to ask about the obvious: are the internal cardboard separators there? (A big NO in my case, dumb dumb dumb!). Sometimes the internal cardboard is not that important, and in fact there was none used in the "vertical" can sets. But a Hydrodynamic set or a #9 2-motor building set is a MESS without those cardboard compartments. Ask if the color manual is there, and make sure it is the correct one. Kenner had two generic booklets for Girder and Panel: a general set of tips for making buildings; and, a general set of tips for making bridges highways. Sets #7, 8, and 9 had an additional beautiful color project booklet, as did the Skyrail sets and the Hydrodynamic sets. Callers often say the generic booklets are the (more important) specific project booklets, so really press them to read the cover page to you.
Box condition may or may not be important to you. Sometimes I buy a #8 set just for the masonite boards and the motorizing pieces, if the price is right. The box may be a disaster, but that is not important. It is very common for the box ends to be split on all 4 corners; this can be repaired without being obvious.. It is also very common in the larger sets to find the boxes heavily taped. Ask about condition of the top cover and how badly the colorful box top artwork has been affected (by water, taping, scraping, etc.).
Finally, if you like what you hear and decide to buy, be nice and offer to send a postal money order first. This protects your seller, since the postal money order is as good as cash. It protects you too, because it would likely be mail fraud if they fail to send the merchandise!

THE COLORS OF GIRDERS

You should be familiar with the different colors of plastic which Kenner used over the years in Girder and Panel sets. It will help you evaluate sets, as it is very common for the wrong pieces to be put in the wrong box! If you buy a Skyrail set, do you realize it should not have red girders! Let's look at the different colors you may find.

BRIGHT RED

The earliest girders and beams were made of polystyrene. When compared to later girders, they appear as a richer deeper red, and they do not bend at all! Apparently the inflexible polystyrene broke easily, and the small dovetails broke off causing angry parents to write to the company with complaints! You find this type in sets 1, 2 and 3, and sometimes sets 4, 5, and 6, but never in any later sets.

DULL RED

Due to the complaints about polystyrene, Kenner searched for a new type of plastic. High density polyethylene (HDPE) had just been invented in 1959, according to Kenner engineer Mike Oppenheim, and it was just what Kenner needed to solve the problem. Thus, sets 7 through 16 all used the new flexible red girders. The color is a softer red, and a piece will bend ever so much when pressure is applied. You will still find beams with broken dovetails when you buy a used set, but compared to the polystyrene, the HDPE plastic lasts much longer.

"SKYRAIL" YELLOW

The Skyrail sets number 17 and 18 were the first sets to use a new color for the girders and beams. Kenner used a pale yellow color, perhaps close to that of a banana, for the girders, beams, and braces. Note one exception for comparison purposes: in sets 8 and 9, Kenner provided a small number of bright yellow beam-like pieces that did not have dovetails. These pieces were used to suspend pulleys between two regular red beams, and they were made of the same bright yellow plastic which was used for all the other motor-related pieces. When one of these pulley-beams is compared to a Skyrail beam, it is very obvious how pale the Skyrail yellow is. There were NO red girders used in Skyrail sets, so beware!

"MODERN AS TOMORROW" GRAY

Sets 21, 22, and 23 used a "battleship" gray color for the girders and beams, and the roof pieces were a tan-brown color instead of navy blue.

"SEARS TOWER" BLACK

Black was introduced as a girder color for the elusive "Sears Tower Set" of 1974. It was continued for some of the 1975 sets such as Action Bridge and Turnpike set 72030, and Sears-own "Famous Buildings" set 72011.

BLUE

Bright blue was used in the 1975 International Airport set 72060, as well as a Penny's Bridge sets 72062.

BROWN

The Kenstruct line in 1978-79 used a rust-brown color for girders and beams. These would have been the last girders manufactured by Kenner.

BRITTLE PANELS, FLEXIBLE PANELS

There are two distinct types of panels found in Girder and Panel sets: brittle "vac-u-formed" panels, and flexible acetate panels. The vac-u-formed panels were used exclusively in the original 33 sets from 1957 to 1968. The borders were usually opaque but the lighter center colors were translucent. Then the "Modern as Tomorrow" series (sets 21, 22, and 23) introduced a different paint style, which made the panels totally opaque. These panels tended to break easily when they were pulled away from the girder and beam structure. When the Sears Tower set was produced in 1974, with the new black girders, Kenner also introduced new panels made of highly flexible acetate. Instead of painting them, the new panels were printed with doors and window designs. All the 1970s sets used these flexible panels, as they were cheaper to produce, and probably broke less frequently when handled.

THE HYDRODYNAMIC SETS 11 AND 12

The Hydrodynamic sets are probably the most interesting and sought-after sets! Somehow, I missed knowing about them entirely as a kid (or is my memory failing me)?! They were produced between 1960 and 1963, and followed on the heels of the extremely popular Combined Bridge and Turnpike Girder and Panel sets numbers 8 and 9. At first, it seems odd that Kenner would create two sets that had little to do with constructing buildings. Mike Oppenheim is Kenner's senior toy engineer, and in 1956 he was right there to see the birth of the Girder and Panel concept. His boss was James Kuhn, an MIT graduate in chemical engineering who was Kenner's VP of engineering and production. Small wonder then that once the basic idea of girder and panel took off, Kuhn would set his sights on making a toy in which he could express his personal ambitions. Each set centers around a rectangular base unit of battleship gray plastic, which appears to be a 1.5 inch tray containing one or two pumps. The pump is actually inside a "tray within a tray" where liquid is pumped through plastic tubing. Each pump is powered by two "D" cells, hidden underneath on the sides. The floor of the main base unit contains the familiar holes which accept the red building girders. Thus, a traditional girder and panel framework is built right inside the base tray, and then all sorts of tanks, turbines, and siphons can be attached to the framework, receiving or dispensing colored liquid. Each hydrodynamic set came with several clear-plastic packets of colorful vegetable dye tablets. It is quite a rare occasion to locate a Hydrodynamic set that still has those colored tablets intact. In fact sometimes you wish they had been all used up, because after so many years in a moist basement, these tablets disintegrate and ruin the green cardboard inserts, if not the main box itself. (Note: this dye wipes off the clear pieces with a little effort; and even stained paper-signage will clean right up with gentle rubbing with a wet cloth). The tanks, sprays, siphons, turbines, and dippers were all made of heavy clear plastic. Most of these pieces had small fragile tabs which allowed the piece to be fit into the two stubs which are found in the middle of each horizontal red beam piece. These fragile tabs are a very important factor in determining a set's condition. Obviously if more than half the tabs are broken off, you have a set with almost no practical play value, either for yourself or a future buyer, so beware!!The "plumbing" consisted mainly of clear plastic tubing, cut in approximately six different lengths from 1/2 inch to 7 inches, which fit into bright green plastic elbow and "T" joints. Tiny green "stoppers" were pressed into holes in the clear plastic pieces, and then a pipe length was pressed into the stem on the "stopper." Green gasket rings were provided to join tanks to base units, or to stack numerous tank sections one on top of another. A number of tiny green valve units were also provided to control the flow of liquid through a circuit of pipes and containers! The very desirable number 12 had two separately controlled pumps, and came with about 50% more parts than the number 11. A special float-valve assembly could be wired up to a brass terminal on one of the pumps, and when a specific tank filled up with liquid, it would raise the float up to a point where an electrical circuit was completed. This would cause the second pump to kick in, and it would pump the liquid out and on to a different course. A modest amount of traditional girder and panel pieces were included, in order to build the "plant" in the middle of the base tray. But they are overshadowed by all the interesting "hydro-dynamic" pieces which channel the liquid "through the chemical factory." Two straight road pieces are included to serve as ramps into the "plant," and the small number of panels and roof pieces will make an "office" at the base of the plant. What should you watch for when buying a Hydrodynamic set? Obviously, the "hydro" pieces are much harder to find than the traditional red girder and beams, so ask a lot of questions about the base unit and the clear pieces. The pipe material is easy to find, as you can always substitute model airplane fuel line. In terms of appearance and presentation, having the original dark green cardboard inserts is quite critical to arrange and contain all the fragile clear pieces. With all the water that "the kid" was using to pump through his chemical plant, you will find plenty of water-damaged boxes, and possibly stained box-cover artwork depending on the color of the dye tablets. Most pumps I have found have been in operating condition, but after so many years, it may take removal and cleaning to get them running smoothly. I would advise against trying to remove the plastic housing which surrounds the motor itself; every one I have found is solidly glued.. Use a sharp pointed tool such as an awl or a drawing-compass to gently nudge the motor shaft around to get a tired motor-shaft spinning again; there is a convenient access hole on each side of the pump housing. I have compiled a very accurate and highly detailed inventory list for each Hydrodynamic set, down to the count of individual plumbing joints and pipe lengths! Members (only) may obtain the inventory list for both sets by sending a stamped self-addressed envelope (normal business letter size) and $1 cash. The list will also include a drawing showing the proper layout of all the pieces in the box (a complex issue that has taken a long time to figure out!).

BUYING AND SELLING

There certainly is hope out there! I was extremely happy to have the opportunity to purchase both a number 10 motorizing set (an extremely rare accessory kit) and a number 23C "vertical" Modern As Tomorrow set. Both are the only sets I have ever seen since I have started collecting. There really hasn't been much for sale in The Toy Shop newspaper lately. I have buying sets from people who have found sets at estate sales and auctions. Reader Mike Kibler in Indiana found both a #11 and a #17 in absolutely perfect condition at an auction recently. He got them for $30 each! Unbelievable! Beware of scams! I was suckered into one last year and lost a few hundred dollars! Here's the one that got me: A fellow calls and tells you he has "a stack" or "a dealers box of 6" Hydrodynamic sets, or Skyrail. He says his grandfather had an old toy store, and he found this in the basement. The sets are sealed in the original dealer box, so he doesn't want to open it. He needs money to pay the IRS, and they may trace him if he accepts a check or money order. So he says he'll sell the whole dealer box for $400, if you wire him cash using Western Union. Now it turns out Western Union has an "anonymous payee" service, with no ID required; instead, you use a code-word of some kind, and that's what this guy wants you to use. You send the money, he never had anything, and there is nothing for the police to trace. Not a bad scheme!? Should be on Unsolved Mysteries! Well, just don't fall for it.

GIRDER AND PANEL IS BACK IN PRODUCTION!

Reader Tom Terbrack from Ohio writes, saying the J.C. Penny Christmas Catalog is offering some new Girder and Panel sets made by Irwin Toy Co. of Toronto, Canada! I returned from Canada recently with one of these new sets myself, purchased at Toys R Us! Reader Mike Kibler in Indiana has found them at a local Toys R Us. I have seen them here in central Mass. at local discount stores, but not Toys 'R Us (yet?).

Incredibly, Irwin Toy discovered that the Girder and Panel trademark had been abandoned by Kenner, and they grabbed it in 1992! It's good to see these sets being made again. They use silver gray girders, and have some interesting new diagonal pieces to make slanted roofs. "The Architect" "Cityscape" and "Deluxe Skyscraper" all have an internal lighting system run by 2 AA batteries. Three sets are apparently being made: Set Price # pieces Name of set #55000 $ unknown 213 "Town Center" #55100 unknown yet if being made #55120 $19.99 298 "Cityscape" (US) , "Architect" (Canada) #55130 $29.99 550 "Deluxe Skyscraper" The US-made sets have very colorful and attractive box art, it is quite appealing and "eyecatching." The Canadian box art is more subdued, with lots of grey and red.

FOR SALE

I have a large number of sets for sale, and I will list them generally here, but I would appreciate you calling about reserving a specific set. They range from "average" to "a gem" and are priced accordingly. I have purchased about 80 sets over the past few years, hoping to find one better than the next, and using some poor sets to restore other sets to like-new condition. I also have some spare parts, but I must charge a high price for motorized parts.