Girder and Panel Building Sets - Overview

Overview

The Girder and Panel Building Set construction kits enabled a child to build plastic models of mid-twentieth century style buildings. Vertical plastic girders were placed in the holes of a Masonite base board and horizontal girders were then locked into the vertical ones to create the skeletal structure of a model building. Brightly coloured plastic panels containing translucent "windows" could then be snapped onto the outer girders to create a curtain wall. Square navy-blue roof panels—some with translucent skylight domes molded into them—were laid on the topmost beams to complete the structure.

Bridge and Turnpike sets were later introduced that also employed frameworks of girders but with roadway sections instead of curtain wall panels and the addition of truss bracing and other techniques to construct models of various types of bridges, turnpikes, and interchanges. Still later, Kenner introduced sets with plastic battery-operated motors that could be used to construct buildings with elevators, drawbridges that opened and closed, and other motorized structures.

The Girder and Panel construction style emulated twentieth century construction techniques such as curtain walls of prefabricated panels attached to frameworks of girders, trusses, and cantilevers. Girder and Panel toy sets were an important toy in the transition from the metal-based Gilbert Erector Sets of the 1920-to-1950 era to the plastic toys of the modern age. While Lego is arguably the most popular contemporary construction toy, no other toy has replaced Girder and Panel as a reflection of modern building techniques.

Girder and Panel products have been produced by several companies since 1957, and they are still being made by Bridge Street Toys, a privately owned company based in Massachusetts.