Dave’s Cool Toys Blog

I came across this incredible video of a 3-D animated building that I thought was very cool. This is a 3-D projection system by Urbanscreen in Germany. Why do all these cool things seem to be in Germany and not in the US?

Many years ago, I had a big HO Scale train set in my basement. (This is the best photo of it I could find, at right.) I made mountains out of plaster with tunnels for the trains, I had a house that was on fire, a McDonalds, farms, neighborhoods and, of course, a train station. I thought it was pretty good.

But my piano teacher’s husband had a much more impressive train set-up in his basement. He had used several different train scales to create the illusion of distance. He also made most of his houses by hand. It was very impressive and inspirational. I have some of the homes he made to this day. I can’t help but wonder what happened to the rest of them.

I grew up in the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania and not too far from us in Shartlesville, PA, was a tourist attraction called Roadside America. It was a most impressive train panorama covering 8,000 square feet, and claimed at the time to be the largest in the world. It was like condensing different areas of America into one location. You could walk all along the outside of the room to view the different areas. There are underground sections including a recreation of Luray Caverns, and you can choose to climb into some of the mountains to view the entire set-up from above. There are buttons located at strategic places around the room that let you operate parts of the display such as a merry-go-round. At certain times (once an hour, I think) Roadside America has a nighttime phase. Everyone gets a good location to watch and the "sun" sets and all the lights come on in the homes and streets of the little village. There’s also a patriotic display on one wall of the room. Most of the work at Roadside America was done by Laurence Gieringer and it has remained basically as it was when he died in 1963.

In recent years, my sister moved to New Jersey and I became aware of another railway near her called Northlandz in Flemington, which claims to be the "Worlds Largest Model Railroad". We visited a few years ago and it is quite a bit bigger than Roadside America. At Northlandz, you weave your way in and out of different rooms for nearly a mile, sometimes viewing the same location from very different viewpoints. Northlandz boasts 52,000 square feet with up to 100 trains traveling more than 8 miles of track, 400 bridges and trestles, and thousands of buildings. They claim that the building materials used would construct about 40 houses. Their tallest mountain is 30 feet high, which would be about 6,000 feet if it was life-sized. Northlandz also has a 2,000 pipe theater pipe organ, a large doll collection, and a 94-room dollhouse.

A few days ago I stumbled across a video online of an attraction in Germany called Miniatur Wunderland. I don’t speak German, but I think the translation is obvious. Miniatur Wonderland was created by brothers Frederick and Gerrit Braun and boasts that they are the largest model railway in the world. However, they currently occupy 43,056 square feet, which, by my count, puts it almost 9,000 square feet less than Northlandz. I believe we have a controversy here. At least for a little while since they have plans of expanding by 2014 to 64,583 square feet. (Although on their website, they also say that the "model area" is 900 square meters (which is 9,687 square feet, so it may be somewhat smaller, if I’m doing my math right.)

Some of Wunderland’s stats:
9,000 meters of track length
700 trains (longest is 14.51 meters)
250,000 lights
2,800 buildings and bridges
160,000 figures
4,000 cars

They have a staff of 162 people, requires 33 computers, and they have about 475,000 work hours into the attraction.

Whatever the stats, this project is impressive to say the least. They have wonderful details throughout such as a crime scene with a floating body, boats that travel on real water, cars that drive on roads (how do they do that?!), and a nighttime with an amazing light display (check out Las Vegas!)

Of course, I haven’t been to Germany lately, so I haven’t seen Wunderland myself, but from what I’ve seen online, it appears to be more colorful and bright than most miniature train displays I’ve seen.

Here is a wonderful "corporate" video of Miniatur Wunderland.

Dave’s Cool Toys

My friend Rich sent me a link to the following video (scroll down), which is very cool. It is a "behind the scenes" look at President Barak Obama recording his audio for the Disney World Hall of Presidents.

Well, I love Disney. I respect Barak Obama. Love the Hall of the Presidents. And I really enjoy behind the scenes stuff. So I don’t need to tell you how much I enjoyed this.

The Obama Animatronic will have a speaking role along with Washington and Lincoln (who will, for the first time, recite the entire Gettysburg Address). The revised and updated attraction reopened July 2, just in time for Independence Day.

Apparently, the Bill Clinton animatronic was recycled for President Bush, and now once again for Barak Obama. This is done because it is a much more complex animatronic and is needed for the current president’s speech. Once they are out of office, they have much less movement and do not require as complex an animatronic. It takes some time to re-work the show as the presidents must be moved around to make a space for the current one and the entire roll-call of presidents must be re-recorded and implemented.

Here is the behind-the-scenes Obama video as posted on the White House blog. I must say that one thing about this following video that I noticed is that President Obama didn’t seem to be aware of the attraction, asking if they were "holograms". Seems odd to me that the President wouldn’t be aware of this show.

Dave’s Cool Toys

After a short absence, we have Thinking Putty back in stock. If you aren’t familiar with Thinking Putty, it’s similar to Silly Putty®, only cooler. Don’t get me wrong. I love Silly Putty®. But Thinking Putty not only comes in cooler colors, it also comes in Hypercolors, Glow-in-the-dark, Color-shifting, Metallic, and Super Magnetic (which is VERY cool). You also get a big chunk of putty, not just a little egg full.

In addition to the colors we had before, we’ve gotten some new colors of Thinking Putty including Lava, Hot Pink, Scarab, and Strange Attractor. Strange Attractor is very cool. It is black with slight green speckles in it. It does everything the other putties do, but when you have a strong magnet, it really begins to get fun. It will repel and attract to the magnet and even envelop it in time. (Sorry, we don’t carry magnets at this time, but watch for them in the future.)

The Glow Krypton putty is the one I’m keeping to play with myself in addition to the blue I already have. I covered my hand with it and charged it up good and freaked out my son with it the other night. His response… "you are a very strange parent". Here is a shot of my putty-covered hand. This gives you a good idea of how much you get in a tin (putty is partially covering the back of my hand too).

Thinking putty is made in the USA and is compliant with ASTM F963, EU standards EN 71 Parts 1, 2 & 3, and CPSIA. Thinking Putty is inert, non-toxic and contains no latex or wheat compounds. You should not put Thinking Putty into your mouth, but if you eat a small amount, you’ll be able to play with it again in a few days (think about it).

Dave’s Cool Toys

Tranformers, Revenge of the Fallen, came out this week. I haven’t seen it yet, but my older son went with friends to a 12:01 showing and according to his Facebook posting it was "Awesome!!!!!" (there were a lot more exclamation points than I’m willing to put here.)

My younger son and I had to be contented with watching the original Transformers movie on DVD.

The first eight minutes of the new movie were filmed in June of 2008 here in our home town of Bethlehem, PA in the previous Bethlehem Steel facility. For several nights we could hear explosions and gun fire in the middle of the night while they filmed a scene that takes place, in the movie, in Japan. I went down to the location with my kids and some of their friends on two nights. The first night it rained and there wasn’t much to see. The second night we were able to watch helicopters flying low and in formation over our heads while explosions and gunfire took place at the Steel facility down the road from where we were standing. I tried to get photos, but it was dark and it all happened very fast and without warning, so most of my pictures were not very good. I’ve posted the better ones here. At one point the amazing pilots of the helicopters came out to the crowd and were warmly welcomed. I believe they were retired military pilots. And the director, Michael Bay also came out to the crowd while we were there and thanked the residents for putting up with all the noise, which was very nice of him.

Of course the Transformers are toys from our childhood, soon to be followed by GI Joe. When I was growing up, my cousin and I played with GI Joe all the time. We had lots of great Joes and accessories. Then, years later, they change Joe to a small action figure, then eventually (in 1992, I think) the 12 inch Joe came back. My younger son was a big GI Joe fan (I’m so glad he had the full size figures available by then) and still has all his toys, so we’re looking forward to the new movie.

What childhood toys will be made into movies next? Check out the very early preview of upcoming toy-based movies:

Dave’s Cool Toys

We spent the day in New York City yesterday doing touristy stuff (Circle Line Tour, The Intrepid Museum). Of course, I own a toy store, so we visited The Disney Store and FAO Schwarz. The photos here are my Wife and older son playing on the Big piano. Yes, they are the only people over the age of about 7 on the piano.

Incidentally, FAO Schwarz has been recently acquired by Toys R Us. This should mean that the classic toy store will remain in NYC in the future. Time will tell.

If you are going to be in New York City, you might want to visit FAO Schwartz and follow the signs to the Big piano (just in case).

FAO Schwarz
767 5th Avenue @ 58th st.
New York, NY 10153
Sunday 11:00am – 6:00pm
Monday – Thursday 10:00am – 7:00pm
Friday & Saturday 10:00am – 8:00pm

Dave’s Cool Toys

Save this date! June 18, 2010. This is the release date for Toy Story 3.

After a long and very troubled history including rewrites, shelved plots, controversies, and bickering between Pixar and Disney, Toy Story 3 began animation in April, 2009. The director and animation team Shaved their heads at the beginning of animation and will be seeing who can go the longest without a haircut or shaving.

The plot involves Woody, Buzz, and the rest of Andy’s toys being dropped off at a day-care center when Andy (who is now 18) heads off to college.

All the original cast members are back onboard for this sequel including Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, Annie Potts, John Ratzenberger (of course), Estelle harris, and Jodi Benson. They are joined by Michael Keaton as Ken and Ned Beatty. Jim Varney, who was the voice of Slinky Dog passed away and will be replaced by a close friend who reportedly sounds very much like him. Joe Ranft, the voice of Wheezy also passed away. Wheezy doesn’t seem to be in this film.

Just in case you didn’t know, I said "of course" for John Ratzenberger because he is in every single Pixar feature movie ever made (sometimes briefly). If you weren’t aware of this, I will post all his characters at the end of this post. See how many you know.

The "Teaser" trailer for the movie is being shown with the current Pixar movie "Up". But you can see it now by scrolling down. To watch a better version of the trailer, visit the Apple Movie Trailer site.

Oh! Also save the date for October 2, 2009. Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will be re-released as a double feature in Disney Digital 3-D in theaters. Reportedly the double feature will be for the price of one ticket.

It’s hard to believe it, but Toy Story originally came out in 1995. Coincidentally, that is the same year I started Dave’s Cool Toys. (Pixar has been slightly more successful.) Although it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago, when you think about the many amazing and successfull Pixar movies that have come out in the meantime (and not one bomb among them), it suddenly becomes clear how long it’s been.

John Ratzenberger’s roles in Pixar films:

Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3 – Hamm the piggy bank
A Bug’s Life – P.T. Flea the circus leader
Monster, Inc. – The Abominable Snowman
Finding Nemo – A school of fish
The Incredibles – The Underminer supervillain
Cars (and Cars 2 due in 2011) – Mack the tractor-trailer
Ratatouille – Mustafa the waiter
Wall-E – John
Up – Tom the construction foreman
He also appears at the end of Cars as all of his previous Pixar characters in car form.

Dave’s Cool Toys

Fireworks originated in China during the Sung dynasty, from 960 to 1279, when a cook discovered that a mixture of sulphur, saltpetre, and charcoal was highly flammable (I bet that was an interesting mealtime). Today’s fireworks are made colorful by combining potassium chlorate and various metallic salts which produce may colors. Strontium burns red, copper blue, barium glows green, and sodium produces yellow. Magnesium, aluminium, and titanium give off white sparkles or a flash.

As the Fourth of July holiday comes closer, most families will go to big community fireworks displays, which are performed by professionals that take many precautions to assure safety.

Some families will have their own backyard festivities with store-bought fireworks. Unfortunately, many will not take the safety precautions that the pros do.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that in 2004 (latest figures available) about 9,600 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms for fireworks injuries. Over half were burns and most involved the hands, eyes, and head. About half of the victims were under 15 years of age.

Small children are especially vulnerable because they are attracted to the bright colors of fireworks, but don’t understand the danger. This includes “safe” fireworks such as sparklers, which burn at between 1832º – 3632º Fahrenheit. Yikes!

In 2005 fireworks caused an estimated 1,800 structure fires and 700 vehicle fires.

Following are some fireworks safety tips to keep kids safe this holiday and all summer

• Only adults should handle fireworks. Tell children that they should leave the area immediately if their friends are using fireworks.
• Sparklers, generally considered safe for the young, burn at very high temperatures and can easily ignite clothing.
• Older children should only be permitted to use fireworks under close adult supervision. Do not allow any running or horseplay.
• Discuss safety procedures with your children. Teach children “stop, drop and roll” if their clothes catch fire. Make sure they know how to call 9-1-1. Show them how to put out fireworks by using water or a fire extinguisher.
• Read labels and carefully follow directions. All fireworks must carry a warning label describing necessary safety precautions. If they don’t have the label, don’t use them.
• Never use fireworks indoors.
• Be sure spectators are out of range before lighting fireworks.
• Never aim or throw fireworks at another person.
• Never place your face or any other body part over fireworks (eye protection is recommended).
• Never try to re-ignite fireworks that malfunction. Throw them away.
• Keep a bucket of water nearby for emergencies and for pouring on fireworks that don’t go off.
• Never carry fireworks in your pocket.
• Only light fireworks on a smooth, flat surface away from the house, dry leaves, and flammable materials.
• Check for drought conditions in your area. During those times, fireworks are usually banned completely.
• Keep unused fireworks away from firing areas.
• Store fireworks in a dry, cool place. Check instructions for special storage directions.
• Observe local laws.
• Don’t experiment with homemade fireworks.
• Be considerate of your neighbors and stop your celebrations by 10:00 p.m.
• Clean up all the sticks, wires, tubes, etc. that are left around after your fireworks. Put them in a bucket of water and let them soak overnight to be sure they are out.
• Many pets are terrorized by fireworks. Be sure your dogs and cats are in an area they feel secure in. Don’t take them to community fireworks displays.
• Use common sense.
• Even by following these tips, fireworks can still be quite dangerous. Use safe alternatives to fireworks such as Cap bombs, Sparklers, Party Poppers, Snappers, or Big-Bang Cannons (shameless plug).

Big Bang Cannons are the only safe substitute for fireworks. They were originally created because the inventor was concerned about the large amounts of injuries from fireworks.

Big Bang Cannons create a loud “bang” by imploding, Once the gas in the cannon ignites, it draws air back into the cannon, creating a noise as loud as fireworks. This makes them very safe because you cannot place anything in the barrel and expel it (that would only inhibit the combustion). They also do not use gunpowder or matches, instead using Bangsite as fuel. Bangsite is not combustible and cannot be ignited by fire or concussion (you can see why they are so safe). Because of these safety features, Big Bang Cannons can be fired by older children with adult supervision (follow all safety precautions). They are also quite loud and are certainly a great substitute for fireworks. Perfect for your 4th of July celebration!

Every month I sit in the waiting room of the orthodontist’s office waiting for one, or both, of my kids. In the pile of magazines on the table the first thing I look for is FamilyFun Magazine. Every month this Disney-owned magazine is full of great activities, crafts, food, tips and ideas, travel information, and much more. The craft and food ideas are easy to do and not very costly. Many of them are very simple, but extremely clever. I have to admit that several times I’ve been tempted to tear out a page and bring it home (I have not).

My boys are getting older now and FamilyFun is geared more towards families with smaller children, although some of the ideas are still good for older kids, or could be adjusted slightly for their age. It’s also a great gift idea for friends with smaller kids. Or maybe I’ll subscribe now and save the best articles for gandchildren. (Yikes! did I just say that?)

The price is right too. A 12-month (10 issue) subscription from Amazon is only $9.95. I don’t want to sound like Billy Mays, but that’s only 99 cents each! If you order before June 30, there is also an additional $3.00 discount. Worth every penny.

I’ve seen some critisizm that FamilyFun lacks some diversity in its travel destinations and activities. I suppose I would have to basically agree with that. But it doesn’t negate it’s strong points, which are clever and inspiring ideas for all families to do together.

Dave’s Cool Toys

If you’ve visited my Toy Trivia web page, you might know that Play-Doh was originally created as a wallpaper cleaner. It wasn’t long before it became apparent that it was a great modeling clay and it was quickly marketed as Play-Doh Brand Modeling Compound in 1956. Play-Doh was granted U.S. Patent No. 3,167,440 for a "plastic modeling composition of a soft, playable working consistency". The ingredients are a closely-guarded secret, but Hasboro has revealed a few… water, salt and flour. It doesn’t contain peanuts, peanut oil or milk. You can visit the official Play-Doh website here.

If you’d like to know exactly what makes Play-Doh the versatile stuff it is, visit this page on HowStuffWorks.com to learn more about starches, surfactants, and inhibitors than you ever needed to know.

National Play-Doh Day is September 18th. To date, over seven hundred million pounds of Play-Doh have been sold. Factories produce about 95 million cans of the compound every year. More than 6,000 stores in the United States carry the compound, and it’s sold in 75 countries.

I don’t think anyone would argue that Play-Doh has one of the most distinct odors that conjures up hours playing with the mushy stuff as a child. I’ve been trying to find out exactly what that smell is, but the closest I’ve been able to come is almonds or marzipan. Supposedly the almond odor was added to cover up the "industrial" odor from the ingredients. Doesn’t sound right to me. It is possible that it’s just a lucky combination of the ingredients. At any rate, I love the smell of Play-doh, but not quite this much… the Demeter company has created Play-doh Cologne Spray for that "fresh, just-out-of-the-can" aroma.

On our Fun Stuff To Do page, we have featured recipes for such things at Silly Putty. But one thing we haven’t had (yet) is a recipe for Play-Doh. I’ve done some research and found one here. In the future, I’ll try it out and post the results here. I also found this page with a bunch of recipes.

If you have run out of ideas for your Play-Doh Fun Factory, try this amazing idea… making cookies! This woman made space invader cookies using the Play-Doh Fun Factory. What a great idea. The possibilities are endless. I would try this one, but I don’t have the patience.

Need more Play-Doh? From now until May 31, 2009 (hurry) amazon.com is running a great promotion for a free Play-Doh Case of Colors with the purchase of the Play-Doh items at this link.

We’ve featured one of the amazing Sony Bravia commercials on this blog before. Another great one is the Play-Doh Bunnies commercial using stop-motion rabbits in a live street setting in NYC. It is absolutely amazing. Watch it here…

Dave’s Cool Toys

One of our most popular items at Dave’s Cool Toys (and one of my favorites) are Big Bang Cannons. We’ve been selling them since 1995 and they are still one of our most popular items.

Our Big Bang Cannon product pages have quite a bit of information about the cannons, but it would be impractical to answer every possible question about them on each of those pages.

For that reason I have created a Big Bang Cannon web page. Not only have I tried to answer every possible question customers could have abour these great items, but I’ve included some history, operating tips, a link to a pdf file of instructions for your cannon (in case you lose them), photos, and much more. I’ll keep it updated and add to it in the future.

Dave’s Cool Toys

The Sound of Music was on TV this past weekend. We didn’t watch it, but I always have to try to catch the Goatherder song. I really do like that song and the puppet show that goes a long with it. I know. "Dork."

By a strange coincidence, one of the e-newsletters I receive had a link this morning to this incredible video.

Here’s what I have been able to find out about it, although I can’t guarantee accuracy. This took place in Central Station Antwerp, Belgium at 8:00 a.m. on March 23, 2009. It took over 200 dancers who rehearsed this just 2 times. It was staged as a publicity stunt for "In Search of Maria", a TV program searching for someone to play the leading role in the musical "The Sound of Music." It was staged by the Belgian commercial VTM Network and none of the morning commuters had any idea it was going to take place.

Whatever the circumstances, it is wonderful. Enjoy. Be sure to click the "HQ" button for the very best quality!

When you’re done watching this video, you can see the "making of" video here.

Dave’s Cool Toys

We recently purchased the Crayola 3-D Sidewalk Chalk set. Crayola has been coming up with some very cool products lately and this is no exception. The packaging is very clever, letting you look through the glasses and view the art on other packages in 3-D (this is probably what sold me on buying it).

But would it work on our patio? My youngest son did some drawings and I went out to look at them with the glasses and they were very cool. He didn’t make his lines very heavy, so the effect was limited.

Since I haven’t really grown up yet, I had to try it myself. I started with my name, which you can see a picture of here. The concrete came out a little dark in the picture. The cool thing is if you have a set of the glasses you can click on the picture for a larger version and, with the glasses on, it will appear in 3-D as well. I made a spiral version with the colors blending so it looks like it’s sort-of cone-shaped. I didn’t get a good photo before my son’s scootering mostly erased it, though.

To see a cool video that truly does capture the effect, visit this link.

To plan your artwork you need to remember that cool colors (blue, green) will appear farther away and warm colors (red, orange) will appear closer and lift up from the surface when viewed with the glasses.

Does the 3-D work? Yes! Very well. My Wife and Sister-in-Law both tried to put their foot under the "A" in "DAVE", since it appears to be hovering high above the other letters.

The effect works through a process called Chromadepth 3D. The special glasses pull any warm colors like red, toward the viewer, and cool colors like blue away from the viewer. All the other colors are sorted by their position in the rainbow, or ROY G. BIV. Other than the glasses, you don’t need anything special to create 3-D art. Any good sidwalk chalk will work just fine. For this reason, you can take photos of your kids (or your) artwork and the photos will be able to be viewed in 3-D long after the art has washed away in the rain. Chromadepth glasses are available online from cheap ones to nice plastic ones (like those that come in the Crayola sets). Once your chalk is gone, you can even create more 3-D art with markers, crayons, or even on your computer. Just remember the order to create the 3-D effect in. I had limited success with crayons using the Crayola glasses. You can also find lots of artwork online that uses this effect. A quick search on Google Images found hundreds. Supposedly some movies also have inadvertently been created in Chromadepht 3-D just through the use of their color pallete including Mulan, Pocahantas, and Batman and Robin (although I haven’t tried this). I also found some cool 3-D videos online (although many of them are just video slide-shows). Try this 3-D flythrough or this Blacklight Maze.

If you’re looking for more chalk, check out the Chalk Fun kit at Dave’s Cool Toys (shameless plug). You can make your own sidewalk chalk, then use your own chalk creations to make art on your sidewalk. Not only is it fun, but it’s on sale!

Dave’s Cool Toys

This is amazing. I am completely stunned by this little bit of technological wizardry. I don’t wish to plug General Electric, but this is so much fun to do, I couldn’t help but post it.

At the GE Ecomagination website, you can view and participate in this very cool demonstration. I’m not sure what it says about GE exactly, but it is impressive. The call it a hologram, but anyone that knows anything about holograms would agree that it’s a completely innacurate term. It’s more like a 3-D interactive virtual reality thingy. They also call it Smart Grid Augmented Reality.

First, you need a printed Solar Panel Marker. What? You don’t have one? No problem. The website says "if you don’t already have one" you can print it from a pdf which you can download there.

Next, you need a webcam and you’ll need the latest version of Flash.

Once you have all that you’re ready to experience this cool technology. From the Ecomagination Smart Grid site, you click on either "Launch Wind Turbine" or "Launch Solar Energy".

This will open a window which should display the image from your webcam. Make sure you are in the frame, then pick up your Solar Panel Marker and hold it up for the camera.

Now the magic begins. In the image, from the center of your printed Solar Panel Marker sheet, a landscape will unfold complete with windmills (or solar panels, depending on which you chose) and the Smart Grid scarecrow, which you may have seen on their commercials. Tilt and move the paper and the entire landscape tilts and moves with it. Blow into your microphone, and the wind turbines will begin to spin. The scarecrow even waves. I had some trouble with the Solar Energy version. It kept crashing my browser. But the Wind Turbine version worked extremely well.

I’ve just found out that one of our favorite toys, Busy Beetles, and it’s companion, Batty Lizards have been discontinued.

Busy Beetles are a wonderful set of interlocking puzzle pieces of beetles that interlock, Escher style, into an endless combination of patterns. They are based on the principle of Tessellations. They are great.

We’ve been carrying them since 1999 and they’ve been a popular item over the years. Before that, starting in 1997, we carried a similar item called "Tessera". They were the same shape, size, etc. as Busy Beetles, but in cool, dark pearlized colors. I still have a few sets in my office somewhere.

I’ve ordered the last Batty Lizards that the distributor has in stock (they were out of the Busy Beetles), but when they are gone, we will have them no more. If we find another supplier for them, we will get them back in stock.

Goodbye Busy Beetles. We’ll miss you.

Dave’s Cool Toys