Roy Toy Cabins

One of my projects this weekend was going to be building from two Roy Toy sets - first the two intended buildings, then something from them combined.

So above you see the #4 cabin and the smaller #3 cabin side by side. Well, you see them after Webster got out of the way.

But when I went to fool around with the parts, I realized that there weren't enough of the 3 1/2" #2 logs.

Umm ... I've got over 200 of those amongst my ten or so other sets ... but ... too complicated for this evening. I did quite a bit of work around the house and am tired.

So here you see the #4 cabin with an extra tier to make the doorway & windows a bit higher. The side logs of the #3 set are interchangeable with the front & rear logs of the #4.

I guess I'll be working into this gradually.

I think the concept is good, but the second set should be a fort. Experienced Block Players know that it is the little blocks that are most useful for flexibility, and the forts are full of short logs. Include a cabin or two for long logs, and something really interesting should be possible.

Another day.

What the heck - I still had good Block Play.

Addendum - In the course of cleaning up & putting things away, I fiddled with some pieces to see why they hadn't fit together very well.

It turned out that my #3 set was made with 13/32" thick parts, with correspondingly skinny notches, while the #4 has 7/16" thick parts & notches. Going through all my stuff, it would seem that there was a change from the thinner to thicker at some point, as well as a change toward lighter coloring (cf Lincoln Logs). This is close enough that fitting between the two ranges from almost to just barely - it actually would only slow down building a little, but I have enough Roy Toy to not need to mix, now that I know.

If you are buying Roy Toy now, it should all match reasonably well - though piece lengths seem to vary somewhat for pieces with the same slot spacing. Slot spacing is the critical measurement, and that seems to be sufficiently consistent for good building.

Added 13:30, 11/9/09