Toy construction set made from real bricks, wood, and concrete

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/11/14/square-cube-law.html

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These are adorbs and I love them, but they’re also hallucinogenically expensive, so I wouldn’t actually buy them even if I didn’t already make such things myself.

Apropos of nothing, sixth scale is the domain of GI Joe-style military models, of which a good chunk is Third Reich-focused. They also do 1:12 scale, which is both cuter and associated with dollhouses.

(They don’t make 1:87 bricks, as that would be too tiny, but they do 1:24 blocks and Jersey barriers which would work with “G” scale outdoor model railroads. Terran architectural models are commonly 1:10, 1:50, 1:100 etc., but I guess 1:12 and 1:24 might be common in the US)

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I work at an early childhood nonprofit, and my boss has a pile of the red brick ones (or similar brand) on the small meeting table in her office. I was fiddling with them, building a little wall during a meeting when a worker doing facade repairs outside the building lowered himself past her window on ropes. On the 31st floor. It was a pretty sudden and intense experience of white-collar-soft-hands shame…

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Malibu Barbie should be able to live in a fireproof concrete house now. :sunglasses:

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I’m subscribed to Big bad toy store’s news letter and they sell some cool 3rd party stuff for setting up custom dioramas. I’m rather amused over these bricks and materials, but the price does seem high. I think if you only needed a few it’s worth the expense but if you end up needing a lot then someone would be better off making molds

Didn’t we see this about a year ago? It’s still cute!

@bashful

Yes, but think about all the wooden pallet furniture and cinder block shelving you can make for Barbie and friends!

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I find it disturbing that these offerings are scattered over so many different scale factors. A wide selection at one or two scales would be more useful. O train and Barbie doll seem most relevant to modelers.

There’r people down the hill here by the river who use pallets and cinder blocks for construction.
They also use tarps, cardboard and old tents.

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those are some really big quarters!

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And, worse, an apparently random selection of what is available in which scale.

While we’re complaining, I note that they don’t offer any tips on what to use for scale mortar. When I’ve done scale bricks in the past, I’ve used PVA glue filled with sawdust, but it wasn’t great. I feel like car body filler would work well for the bigger sizes, but you’d have to work fast. Maybe plaster, or silicone window sealant in a syringe?

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You could probably use a slow setting resin mixed with something to give it some texture

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You can think of this as the inverse of Think Big.

Inflation.

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Did you try mortar?

The sand grains in big boy mortar are much too big, it’d look like there was coarse gravel in the joints (plus it’d be hard to apply neatly). You could use cement on its own, but in that case I would just use plaster.

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HO or bust.

Hipster Barbie?

(Or is there one already, I do not dare to look.)

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