areaseven Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 (edited) In 2009, Top Gear's James May rediscovered some toy lines he grew up with and introduced them to today's youths - in a big way. James May's Toy Stories ran for six episodes from October to December 2009, with a special episode on June 2011. Each episode focused on a specific toy line, with some history behind their creation before May made some very ambitious projects to get kids interested in them again.Here are a couple of examples:Episode 1: Airfix (27 October 2009) - To get some school children into model kit building, May has a full-sized replica of Airfix's Supermarine Spitfire kit molded for them to assemble and paint. Episode 4: Scalextric (17 November 2009) - May pays tribute to the old Brooklands speedway by constructing a Scalextric track on the grounds where it once stood. Edited February 25, 2013 by areaseven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
areaseven Posted November 23, 2012 Author Share Posted November 23, 2012 (edited) Episode 3: Meccano (10 November 2009) - May has a life-sized bridge constructed out of Meccano parts. Episode 5: Lego (20 December 2009) - May is out to prove that Lego bricks are the future of housing construction by having a two-story house built entirely out of Lego and sleeping in it for one night. Edited February 25, 2013 by areaseven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikElvis Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 Never heard of these. I had doubts that James could pull off a show on his own but the first episode was really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benson13 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 I really enjoyed the episode where they built an entire house out of Legos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
areaseven Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 (edited) Episode 2: Plasticine (3 November 2009) - May has a garden made entirely out of modeling clay and has it entered into a flower show. Episode 6: Hornby (25 December 2009) - May attempts a world record in constructing the world's longest model train railway. Edited February 25, 2013 by areaseven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beltane70 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 I really need to see these in their entirety! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-ZeroOne Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 (edited) All the Top Gear presenters have made individual TV programmes on various subjects, and to a greater or lesser degree they're all fairly good presenters in their own right. May is probably the best, though when he jettisons his blokey-alpha male persona Clarkson can be pretty damn good (as when he presented a programme about his father-in-law, a Victoria Cross winner, or one he did on the great Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel - that was part of a poll-based series about the "Hundred Greatest Britons" and Clarkson was credited with near single-handely boosting Brunel to almost the top spot). Hammond is, er, the most prolific... The Hornby one was filmed semi-locally to me... Edited November 24, 2012 by F-ZeroOne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
areaseven Posted November 26, 2012 Author Share Posted November 26, 2012 (edited) The Great Train Race (12 June 2011) - After failing to achieve a world record for longest toy railway, May gives it another go with a train race against the German team that helped him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh5d8nx738E Edited February 25, 2013 by areaseven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-ZeroOne Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 (edited) For those who enjoyed Captain Slows "Toy Stories", a new one will be broadcast over the Christmas period in the UK - "Flight Club", which apparently will revolve around an attempt to fly a giant balsa-wood glider across the English Channel (!). Edited December 20, 2012 by F-ZeroOne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vespaeda Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 This is news most epic! Thank you for the introduction to May's Toy series; loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-ZeroOne Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 (edited) Broadcast time is 21:30 GMT this evening on BBC2. Edited December 23, 2012 by F-ZeroOne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-ZeroOne Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 (edited) I won't spoil it for you, but I don't believe this - some of the scenes were filmed at Dunkeswell airfield; thats just down the road from me, I've flown in a light aircraft from there a few years back! Edited December 23, 2012 by F-ZeroOne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
areaseven Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 (edited) Flight Club (23 December 2012) - Remember flying small balsa wood planes back in the old days? May attempts to re-live those glory days by flying a balsa wood replica of the Slingsby Swallow across the Bristol Channel (as the English Channel was off-limits at the time). Edited December 8, 2016 by areaseven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twoducks Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Thanks for posting about this series! It really is a lot of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-ZeroOne Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 (edited) There was another installment in this series today, in which James May assigns the greatest military hero of the 70s British toybox, Private A(ction) Man [1] his most dangerous mission yet - to boldly go where no plastic army man has gone before and break the sound barrier... but Mays team of (actual) rocket scientists find themselves facing a rival challenger, an unlikely British toy female pioneer of supersonic flight... [1] I believe in the U.S, his friends call him "Joe". Edited December 27, 2014 by F-ZeroOne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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