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Anyone know where Bilofix came from?
Bilofix is very like Airfix Engineer*, an Erector like system with holed
beams, nuts and bolts, wheels, and brick connectors. I have been told it's
1950s, even that Lego made it. Sounds like Billund. But then spielofix... .
The only website I have found says "probably Germany"** which is always a
safe guess for a construction toy.
It is very, very nice wood, impeccably sanded and sealed. It feels harder
than pine, does not have grain like pine or oak, and has grain much like
beech but paler (this on the IKEA scale -- yes, I am that sophisticated).
Airfix has flexible plastic beams.
Bilofix does not come with brick connectors. Airfix has a 1.25" spacing of
holes along the wooden beams while Bilofix has 1.18" or 3 cm. (I measured an
8 unit beam.) The nuts and bolts have different thread pitch but the
diameters are close enough (Bilofix .338", Airfix .365") to work together.
Supposing that Bilofix is made to metric standards and Airfix to British (it
is British made) explains a slight incompatibility between Bilofix and
Airfix on the brick connector which fits snugly into the holes.
The Airfix brick connector is a right angle bracket with 2x2 studs and a
"plus sign" which fits snugly into an Airfix hole. The plus damaged a
Bilofix wooden beam - probably a bad idea with wood. The Airfix studs fits
Lego only after abusive force. Airfix bricks of this era are hollow
Kiddicraft clones - Lego is said to have metricized Kiddicraft dimensions by
1951.
I am collecting old construction toys of all types (there are hundreds.)
Happily, my Engineer kit included several printed brochures illustrating the
Betta Bilda bulk packs of the day.
Unfortunately the Bilofix brochure has more pictures of what to build with
their assortments (numbered 1-5) and no dates or copyright. The models are a
mixture of mechanicals (airplane, wheeled vehicles, windmill, crane),
furniture, war toys (howitzer, submarine, chariot, knight), and animals (a
duck, bird, dog or rat on every page.) Even full-size doll carriage. The war
toys are probably the biggest argument why this could not possibly be from
any Lego subsidiary.
In conclusion, Bilofix is much higher quality than Airfix Engineer.
* Note: Airfix is best known for scale models (airplanes for one.) Airfix
also made Betta Bilda, a straightforward brick system primarily
distinguished from Lego by its elegant roof tiles. Lego has never blessed
this sort of tile system, probably because it forms a segregated group
without studs (another example is seen in Auburn bricks.) Betta Bilda is
one of the more costly vintage toys to acquire (but not as costly as some
metal girder systems.)
** http://www.xs4all.nl/~jvdam/meccano/non/bilofix.htm
*** Letter clues in Bilofix
Anyone who cares to suggest a European language for these abbreviations,
please do. All the parts to Bilofix are labeled with a letter and number
(number for variable length or diameter).
nr. - set number
G - wooden screw dowel
R - rubber tyre
PH - wheel hub
H - wooden pulley
K - block with hole piercings
S - bolt or screw
M - nut
NL - wrench
L - holed beam, girder, log?
KR - metal hook (crozier)
Finally, why the word "fix" in the name? Naturally it means "to make fast,
firm, or stable". Does it sound good or mean anything outside of English?
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