Customer Reviews

Making Mad Toys & Mechanical Marvels in Wood

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you liked "Whacky Toys, Whirligigs & Whatchamacallits" you'll love "Mad Toys & Mechanical Marvels in Wood" because the two books are _identical_ page-for-page, except for Title and cover! Buy one, buy the other; don't buy both.

Otherwise good idea source material for making your own, with appropriately vague instruction, to encourage the whimsical spirit.

As others have said, this book is identical to his 2002, "Whacky Toys, Whirligigs, and Whatchamacallits", word for word. Either book is terrific, you just don't need to buy both.

I enjoy Rodney Frost's works, however when this arrived, I noticed it was identical to his "Whacky Toys, Whirligigs & Whatchamacallits" that I recently purchased from Amazon. Only the cover and title was different.
It was returned to Amazon.

Although this book has lots of intersting ideas it is difficult to follow the plans to complese these projects. Other than that is is a good resource.

First of all if you already have Rodney Frost's book, "Whirligigs and Whatchamacallets" don't bother buying this book. This is just the revision title. I ordered it, because I lost my last copy. No matter what title it's called, this is a great beginner-friendly automata project book. Each project is well explained and you get traceable template patterns for each project. I've made 3 of them and it was fun. If you're looking for an artistic way to impress your friends or wanting to enter the world of Automata and don't want technical terms no avergae joe can understand, this is the book for you.

As always, just enough information to spur the imagination & allow you to create your own special toys! Better than getting fully detailed drawings & making a copy is to create your own similar, yet dissimilar creations! I enjoy his books & their ability to let you daydream your own creations!

The plans and directions are poorly explained. The drawings were not given in perspective. The pictures are not helpful in showing how to make the items. Most of the toys are just variations of the same thing.

This is an excelent book for advanced toymakers.
I have made several of the mechanisms.

For old timers be aware trhis is just a reprint of his pevious book
"Whacky Toys,.Whirligigs & Whatchamacallits."with a new cover.

Great book but as noted below, exactly the same as the other book still being sold here. 5 stars if you don't have the other book, one star if you do.

This author is somewhat neurotic. These projects rather qualify as kinetic art for a sculptor who might just as easily be a recluse hiding in the desert making cats disappear. The projects seem just a little disturbing the finish work is ... rustic. Much attention is given to making a frenetic movement in an old-worldesque style. One whirlygig has a allied machine gunner noisily blasting away at german keiser helmeted targets. It may work for some, but none of the projects would make me proud I made them, or proud to show them. Some would even make me worried that the neighbors thought that I aught to be institutionalized. There are a couple of schematics showing how he got arms to move from rotating shafts. But there are better sources for that.

This book just feels creepy.