[TXnMA]

The losses of

• A.C. Gilbert Co.
  and
  
• Heathkit
  and
  
• Scientific American's "The Amateur Scientist" feature

-- inflicted dire damage on America's ability to identify and nurture young, inventive scientists and engineers-to-be.

[AdmSmith]

But we still have http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meccano, but I prefer to old kits. The ones today are too much ready-to-use.

[FreedomPoster]

Thank the lawyers, first and foremost.

[Ramius]

Yah. I built several heathkit kits back in the day. A radio... A depth sounder for the boat. The first computer I ever used was a heathkit that my uncle built. One of my favorite toys was the Heathkit electronics experiment lab. Geez that was fun. You could wire up all sorts of gizmos with that thing.