Girder and Panel building sets

Girder and Panel Building Sets were a building toy that was created by Kenner Toys in the 50's. This came about when Kenner President Albert Steiner witnessed the construction of a new office building in Cincinnati. This girder and panel construction method inspired Kenner to introduce their Girder and Panel Building sets. These sets were categorized with their familiar Brown bordered panels and red colored girders on a green Masonite board. The success of this toy inspired Kenner to introduce the Bridge and Turnpike sets. From there Kenner introduced their all-time best selling set – The No. 8 Motorized Girder and Panel, Bridge and Turnpike Building set. Kenner even offered a Motorizing Kit to let kids who owned the earlier Girder and Panel and Bridge and Turnpike sets motorize them. Kenner then introduced their Hydro-Dynamic sets; these sets allowed kids to be hydraulic engineers as these sets pumped water through plastic pipes into tanks and back into a plastic tray with a small reservoir. You could actually control the flow of the water with plastic valves.

Other Kenner Building sets were the Skyrail sets, which introduced yellow girders and beams, different colored window and door panels and which had battery powered Sky Cars that ran on monorail steel rails from building to building, and the Hydrodynamic sets, which consisted of motorized pumps that moved colored water through pipes and tanks that you could control in a large plastic tray. As new subdivisions started to spring up around cities beginning in the 1950s and after, Kenner Toys reflected the trend in their Build-A-Home Building sets which could build brick or colonial-clapboard homes, with patios, swimming pools, TV antennas, barbecues, dog houses, trees, vines and shrubs. Later, Kenner upgraded their Girder and Panel, Bridge and Turnpike sets by changing the design to the Modern-As-Tomorrow and Freeway USA sets, which introduced grey colored girders and beams, new panels, newly designed and colored roofs, roadway pieces, realistic road signs and other items such as toll booths, sign and lamp posts. The last sets Kenner made before they sold to General Mills were the Girdermatic sets, which seemed to be based on mechanical structures, rather than buildings. These sets introduced many new parts which are unique to Girdermatic sets, including a new green colored motor and battery controller, round platforms, cog belts, truss assemblies, giant beams, and Ferris wheel rings, with which you could build moving cranes, observation towers, several different types of bridges, industrial plants and mills with conveyors, and amusement rides such as a Ferris wheel, incline ride and whirling swing.

Kenner Toys

By about 1968 the production of Girder and Panel sets had stopped and did not start up again until about 1974 when Kenner, now owned by General Mills, produced the larger 1100 piece Sears Tower set #72001 with black girders and panels which could make a five-foot tall model of the Sears Tower. Kenner Toys then revived the Girder and Panel line with a series of inexpensive sets. The green Masonite base boards were replaced with interlocking plastic plates. The panels were now flexible printed acetate sheets.

Kenner (when owned by General Mills)

The following list of sets were made when Kenner was owned by General Mills:

Kenner Toys ceased production of the 72000 series of Girder and Panel sets in 1979, ending the long run with their four "KENSTRUCT" sets. The Girder and Panel trademark seems to have been abandoned by the company. In 1992, Irwin Toys of Toronto, Canada applied to the US Trademark Office for the assumption of the abandoned trademark. Irwin then began an entire new line of Girder and Panel sets unlike any that were made before. There were new blue/grey girders, beams, and new diagonal beams for slanted roofs along with new wall panels and some new plastic items were also added. Initially they produced three sets, called "Town Centre," "Cityscape" and "Deluxe Skyscraper." All sets now had an internal light run by two AA batteries.Beginning in 1996, Irwin produced a second line of speciality sets beginning with the Gas Station set listed below. These sets had very little U.S. distribution and were mainly sold in Canada.

Irwin Toys Girder and Panel sets

55000 Town Centre 213 pieces 55120 CityScape (called The Architect, in Canada) 298 pieces 55130 Deluxe SkyScraper 550 pieces 55101 Gas Station 133 pieces 55102 Fast Food 133 pieces 55201 Police Station 299 pieces 55202 Fire Station 299 pieces55301 City Centre 591 pieces55302 Emergency Centre 589 pieces

Beginning around 2005 and to the present the Girder and Panel sets are again being produced and now sold in some speciality shops and on the internet by Bridge Street Toys. They have produced number of different sets along with matching parts for the older Kenner Toys and Irwin Toys sets, These are much more durable than the original sets and some are listed below:

Bridge Street Girder and Panel sets

{|
Tekton Bank
109 Pieces
-
Tekton Fire Station
103 Pieces
-
Tekton Tower Building
263 Pieces
-
Tekon Plaza Building
515 Pieces
-
Tekton Truss Bridge
255 Pieces
-
Tekton Bridge Mania
465 Pieces
-
Hydrodynamic Starter Set
180+ pieces
-
Hydrodynamic Deluxe Set
300+ Pieces
-
Boston Manor 250+ Pieces

External links

[http://www.bridgestreettoys.com/index.html Bridge Street Toys' website]

[http://www.girderandpanel.net Girder and Panel History and Sets]

[http://users.rcn.com/ed.ma.ultranet/gphistory.html Another Girder and Panel history]