Anker Steinbaukasten 4A

Ankerstein only provides plans for the numbered series of sets: 4, 6, 8, 10, etc. The "A" series (4A, 6A, 8A, 10A) are only intended to take a regular set & expand it to the next larger set by providing the necessary additional stones (plus a few extra to fill out the box) and the next larger booklet.

I've always regretted that, since it means that when I just want to take out a box & play for a bit, I don't have any designs my 4A or 6A. so they don't tend to get mush use.

Today, I decided I'd just see what I built without a design, using the 4A box. This is what turned up, using only part of the stones.

Kinda cute, but I'd have to say I didn't enjoy it as much as building from a design.

That may just be me.

And nonetheless, it was good block play.

GK-NS

The Ankerstein GK-NS, or Grosse Kaliber - Neue Serie (large caliber - new series), are pretty much the same as our familiar GK-NF, or Grosse Kaliber - Neue Folge (large caliber - new series), except for the large arches have a notch out of the upper corner. Sometimes that makes a difference, though not so much here, where the large arch isn't used.

One small difference: in the boxes, the notches are filled with #19 stones. With those stones in place, the NS arch substitutes nicely for an NF arch; without them the NS arch provides some additional interesting options.

In this church, though, it is only the two extra #19 stones that are used, so if you only have a current Anchor #4 set, you can't build this as shown. I think my handful of readers either have multiple sets or no sets, so not a problem.

Good block play.

Varis Architect

For a number of years, I have coveted the log building sets from Varis Toys of Latvia, but was daunted by price & shipping costs.

When Varis added the Architect line, I was even more intrigued, but still held off.

But I finally broke down & ordered (via a UK seller on Ebay) the smallest set, with just 25 pieces.

It arrived yesterday, and is a delight.

The pieces are 20mm pitch (a little over 3/4 inch), like the old Ankerstein Klein Kaliber. They are very well made, so are not to small for building small structures.

These are not intended for the huge castles that advanced Anchor builders enjoy, but that is not their intent, nor does Varis offer the variety of block shapes that requires.

Yesterday I immediately built the small church illustrated on the box and diagrammed with layer plans on the excellent sheet included.

Today I pressed onward & built something freelance. Even with so few blocks, it is possible to create something interesting, especially if one has some experience building the 'facade' structures from the plan booklets of the smaller Anchor Stone sets.

This structure is about 8 1/4 inches high, or about 21 cm. Not too shabby.

The block size has been used by other makers, so I may try adding a few blocks borrowed from other sets.

But I am impressed enough that I have already ordered the next larger Varis Architect set, with 63 pieces.

Good Block Play.

Ankerstein Starter Set

I keep an automatic change-watch on the update log of the CVA plans & info archive website, which gives me intermittent small pleasures and occasional real treats.

A recent example was the introduction (to me at least) of a new Ankerstein "Starter-Set" - which on closer examination turns out to be our old friend the Heinzelmännchen, with a new box label and plan sheet.

I'm am being cautious not to say these are new plans, because some are from William Seppeler's many Heinzelmännchen designs in his Anchor Stone Constructions blog, and others seem to be from the rudimentary sheet that came, but I have not carefully checked.

Under either name, this a very good set size for beginners, dabblers, younger children, and the budget-limited.

But please note that this is NOT the same as the "Starter Set" in my Amazon-based Block Play Store - which is actually a Set 4. My store Ankerstein listings are automatically generated by the Amazon software - while I am happy if you purchase Ankerstein & other Amazon items there & give me a small commission at no extra cost to yourself, I am just as happy if you order from The ToyHouse and mention my blog.

Whichever set, whichever source, Ankerstein is always Good Block Play.

[modified 12 Nov 2010]

Märchen 1

A year or three ago, Ankerstein introduced a pair of new sets as Märchen 1 and Märchen 2 (Fairy Tales 1 & 2), which intrigued me greatly, but if they were ever offered in the United States, I missed them.

A week or three ago, the printed materials for these sets showed up as scans on the CVA repository site. Look under Vorlagen => Neue Fabrik => Märchen.

Not just the booklet pages are there, with the constructions and stories, but also the figure pages with fairy-tale characters to cut out.

I wanted to build with them right away, but I didn't know which stones were included in each set, so I set the project aside until I could rummage through my hard drive folders for wherever it was I saved the pictures that I downloaded when the sets were announced.

Today I gave up on getting around to that any time soon, and decided to just see what I could do with just what is in a #6 box, and so we have the Märchen 1 oven in the title image, at top.

Then I started writing this blog post, and while checking that my links work properly, I took a moment to check that site under Einpackvorlagen => Neue Fabrik => Märchen.

They might not have appeared in the site's Änderungen page, which is what I monitor for new stuff, but there they were. Including an end-shot of one of the little wooden stands, in case you want your figures "as-factory."

Now I know what stones belong. Which I find more comfortable, though neurotypicals may find that less of a requirement.

Between my various sets, I may not have exactly the right stones to duplicate a Märchen 1, but I can fake it. Aside from the thin #58 stones at top (of which just one is used in just one construction - as a door - fake it with wood or card?), the likeliest problem for most people having just a couple of sets would be the three #98 arches, since there are just one each in the Set 6 and Set 6A. Use the 6A's pair of #100 half-thick arches as a substitute. My extra Set 4 provided me with a third #98.

Right stones or not, I had fun. And there is still Märchen 2 to explore.

Good Block Play.

Note - the larger images linked by clicking the images above are reduced from those on the CVA site.

Ankerstein Leuchtturm

Just before I shut down & went to bed last night, I discovered new plans for Ankerstein Set 6 on Burkhard Schulz's Anker Bauvorlagen.

The downloadable PDF booklet contains three excellent plans, "Brücke - Uhr - Leuchtturm" (Bridge - Clock - Lighthouse), by a longtime friend of this site, William Seppeler of Anchor Stone Constructions.

The plans demonstrate yet again (cf the Czech Anchor site) that not everything that could be done with Anchor blocks was discovered by the Richter designers a hundred years ago. They also show that one of the key benefits of example designs is seeing ways to use components that one might not come up with on one's own.

Another benefit is of course inspiring one to build.

I began construction before the sun came up this morning.

The third plan, which suggests a harbor entrance watch tower (perhaps Italian?), is particularly compelling. I especially like the stairway turning through the building, and the sandstone arch halves used in two different orientations. And there's just enough of a bridge to win priority over the Bridge design for now.

There is a small error in the level c diagram, where a red stone at left is marked "15" but should be "19." Easily corrected when it becomes evident at the next level or blatantly obvious at the one after.

I'm not sure if this is the designers last hurrah for Set 6, since his blog has long since left me behind for bigger sets, or if we can hope for future revisits to an old favorite.

My biggest desire in plans is to see more single-box plans (actually, the only ones I've seen have been photos not plans) for the "A" boxes that are officially intended to extend a given set to the next level higher - a 6 plus a 6A makes a Set 8, add an 8A for a Set 10 - but for those of us that more often want quicker Block Play, that means that the smaller sets, the lower numbers, get satisfactory use, while the higher numbers sit neglected.

For just those rare occasions when I might be willing to tackle a three-box Set 10 construction, I can't justify an 8A, but I'd be delighted to have the opportunity to build with the different stone mix and new (to me) stones found in box 8A. That would provide a nice new and different building experience, within the familiar style and linseed-chalk-sand scent of a firm favorite among construction sets.

If you are new to Ankerstein, most folks seem to recommend starting with Set 6, except for smaller children who are better off with a Heinzelmännchen. I think that for many, set 4, followed by expansion Set 4A, to make a 6 plus a few extra stones, may be a better approach, albeit for more money and with boxes that don't conform to the 6A, etc.

If there is a better place to buy them than The ToyHouse, I don't know of it, and I'd say that even if I hadn't gotten a few freebie stones and printed materials. Woof. Please mention the Block Play blog.

Always great to be stacking Anker stones again - noting that if I hadn't had them out a few days ago, it would have taken a lot longer to get myself to try building this.

Good Block Play.

Froebel Gift 3

How many blocks is enough? How many different block shapes are enough? How fancy do the blocks need to be?

It often seems that "more is better" is the universal response - eg Legos or Archiquest. Today we look at the other end of the spectrum, and find out that - at times at least - eight blocks, a single shape, and the simplest shape, are enough.

This is Froebel Gift 3 - part of Friedrich Fröbel's conception of early childhood education, which he called "Kindergarten" and introduced to worldwide acclaim.

The Gifts were intended to be given to children as educational toys, were very carefully designed, and were supported with well-explained lesson plans.

Following the first Gift of six soft balls in different colors and the second gift of three important shapes, Froebel's Third Gift introduced block play with eight 1" cubes of wood fitted into a cubical wooden box, to demonstrate breaking up into parts and reassembly in the same and different forms.

Unfortunately, too many of Froebel's followers were too worshipful, too unimaginative, too rigid, and missed major points of his teachings entirely, and instead followed examples in the plethora of Froebelian books as if they were gospel. Froebel's approach fell from favor, and teh Kindergarten movement sought new directions.

The banishment even extended to the blocks which make up his instructional tools in Gifts 3 through 6 (the later gifts introduced more complex educational play - including the precursor of Tinkertoys, and hence K'nex et al). They were to be replaced by Carolyn Pratt's enlarged Kindergarten Blocks or Unit Blocks, based on the rectangular blocks of Froebel Gift 4 and Gift 6.

Admittedly, the rectangular blocks do make for better play, and some of the smaller blocks of Gift 5 present real problems, but there is still something important that can be gained by a block builder spending some Block Play time with the eight cubes of Gift 3.

Click on the small scans here, from one of the last of the books of the Froebel Kindergarten era, and you can print out larger scans of kind of designs that appeared in ever-increasing numbers in book after book. If you get caught up in them to the exclusion of exploring your own designs, you may be a rigid Freobelian at heart, or you may be like me and just enjoying the therapeutic aspects.

Fortunately, Froebel Gifts are still (or again) available from different sources - even Ankerstein, whose popular stone blocks get their start as a development of Froebel Blocks, has a set in their composite artifical stone.

Many of the designs were passed forward from book to book, and were quite quaint by the end of the era- the locomotive here, and several other topics, was about as unrecognizable in 1907 as 2009 to Americans unfamiliar with early 19th century Germany.

For a bit of a digression, I have been admiring, but not quite buying, Stönees rock-shaped building "blocks," and it occurred to me that it might be fun to select eight of the more cubish (of a single color, for me), and see how many of the Froebel Gift 3 construction one could build. My previous Gift 3 post showed that I am not too rigid in what I use, at least.

I expect Stönees to deliver - just as Froebel Gifts long have - Good Block Play.

Ankerstein

Anchor Stone blocks again, at last, after another long drought. I am sure at least some of you are breathing a sigh of relief - Ankerstein builders seem to represent my largest bloc of readers.

This design is from the second LaVelle booklet, available for download, along with the rest of the huge CVA archive, from cva.flying-cat.de (look under Vorlagen for plans). With minor tweaks for my eccentric Set 4, which is a recent GF set with a recent production NS notched arch substituted in.

Browsing through the Vorlagen is time well spent for those seeking additional inspiration, and browsing through the other sections will surely entertain & inform. Ability to read German is not required. (My samples are reduced resolution from those on the download site.)

Today's special guest stars are Playmobil Penguins. Fortunately Pinocchio's Toys had half sets, which met my budgetary limitations.

With or without special guest stars, Ankerstein is Good Block Play.

Ankerstein in the park

It was so warm & sunny today that I took my Ankerstein #4 set along and found a picnic table in the park to build on. The design isn't from the GK NF book that accompanies current sets, though. Instead it is from the #4 NS (Neue Serie = New Series) of notched-arch fame.

Since the large Arch isn't used in this structure there is no difference in bricks, so it doesn't matter which set is used. Not that most NS designs can't be built with unnotched arches, some of them just lose some charm.

With or without the notched arches, NS designs typically reflect later, simpler trends in architecture than the GK-NF and earlier designs.

I reproduced the entire set #4 NS designs in an earlier post, but here is the page for this little building again, so you don't have to peer at the thumbnails (images can generally be clicked for larger versions).

This structure fits the low & wide pattern that has perhaps been what has been drawing me to Lott's Bricks & Bayko for my recent posts, but is a more substantial looking structure - an electrical substation perhaps?

Good block play.

Bungalows & such

Today I am indulging in a little bait & switch. I built a bungalow with Lott's for my tradional title photograph, but want to talk about Anker.

Because - unfortunately - the Ankerstein set I want to talk about is very hard to find. If I have ever seen one for sale, it has gone for more than I could afford to spend on it.

But the Ankerstein company has recently changed hands, and the new owners intend to increase production and introduce new sets.

Recent production of Ankerstein has been heavily influenced by adult enthusiasts who seem to generally subscribe to a pholosphy of "more expansion sets, more stones, bigger buildings."

I'm not knocking that -- they have surely done an immense amount of good in helping the the reborn (after the fall of Communist East Germany) company get up and running and survive its early growth years to become something very admirable.

But the new owners are toy people, currently specializing in top quality toys for younger children. The Ankerstein line will complement their current line very nicely at the high end. Especially with some lower end Anker additions to fill what seems to be a gap.

And the old Landhaus series set 301 (shown here in scans reduced from the ankerstein.org CDroms) seems like a very good series to look at. It is the closest Richter came to the Lott's approach, and the dates are just complicated enough to suggest that neither was "inspired" by the other.

So why bring in Lott's? Because all my Lott's constructions so far are from sets with no more stones than an Anker Set 4. And for toy store sales easy starter sets, multiple choices, and low entry cost, all matter. And the roofs make a big differenence in ear;y accomplishment with fewer (expensive) stones.

So lets hope that, while not neglecting the advanced enthusiasts at the high end, that the new direction includes exploring some of the alternatives at the low end, old and perhaps even new (what would Richter have done with the ability to laser cut & line wooden doors and windows?).

And by the way, how do you lie today's shallow pitched roof using the same Lott's Tudor gable stones (turned lined side inward) and cardboard roof as last weeks steep-roofed tudor cottage. A nice contrast.

Good block play.

Ankerstein 4

Back to basics: Today I built a straightforward plan from the Ankerstein Set 4 booklet included in current production.

Well maybe not entirely straightforward -- the notched arch of the NS sets is substituted for the the standard GK-NF arch, but that is a minor adjustment.

I haven't built with Anchor Blocks for a while, and as always when I return, the scent and feel of the stones is a evocative pleasure.

The blog Don's Hobby Keep is doing a series of posts showing the layer-by-layer construction of an Anker building. Check it out, and be sure to check following days for more stages.

Good Block Play.

Addendum -- double checking the link to Don's blog above, I followed a link in a comment there and discovered a picture of the same building as above, built with a Set 6. Sure enough, when I check my Set 6 book, there is the same page reproduced in the early part of the book. Nice pictures of several constructions -- check them out as well.

Second Addendum -- I found another new Ankerstein builder blog, with a new and different perspective and very well done. Unfortunaelty, I couldn't seem to post a comment, so must say "Welcome!" here, and hope he sees it eventually. Again, check it out.

Ankerstein NS 8

This Anchor project from the NS 8 designs may be the most difficult I have built yet.

Or it may simply be a side effect of coming out of a bad mental health episode.

Part of my theory of blocks and mental health challenges is that it is good to be able to step back in complexity without too much change in what I was trying to do.

That may have been what I was unconsciously already doing with last week's Ankerstein NS 2 exercise.

I had also been renewing my acquaintance with Challenge block sets, planning a Block Play post on them as a break from Anker, and I continued with them after I stopped doing Anchor stone building. I still intend to return to them at an early opportunity.

When things were at their worst, I went for the preschool activity of Parquetry blocks, which I consider to be legitimate Block Play, albeit somewhat of an outlier.

So why when I was ready to return to Ankerstein did I tackle a challenging NS 8 project?

Ummmm ... because that is what I wanted to build?

Sometimes motivation is the critical component.

And it was a good project, as difficult as it was.

Although an NS 8, the only notched arch required is the 93aR from NS 4. A 100aR from NS 6a is called for but a 100R from GK NF 6a works fine. And although substituting an unnotched 98R for the 98aR would mean more redesign, and probably require a few more small stones, it would not disrupt the overall lines of the building.

However the 19R and 31R notch-filling stones from the 6a are needed. Pairs or singles of 69R from the Kleine Gernegross can substitute for the 31R stones, and 19R stones are in the Heinzelmaennchen, if you have that. Or if you have GK NF 4 + 4a instead of 6, you can substitute 15R stones for pairs of 19R a couple of places.

However you go about it, it is good fun.

And good block play.