Gina Häußge

Gina Häußge

4 Wochen her • •

Gina Häußge
4 Wochen her • •

Thanks to @nblr and also @fr3d I'm now deep in nostalgia about the kits by Kosmos I had as a child.

It all started with the "Elektro & co" I got for Christmas when I was ~6. I remember that my mom had to help me read the instructions, and my dad helped me shoot a dent into our kitchen bin ^^ Good memories!

Then came the "electro E 2000". One afternoon I built a foam cutter with it and cut every bit of styrofoam I could find in the house ^^

Picture of the Elektro & Co. kit from the 1995 Kosmos catalogue

Picture of the electro E2000 kit from the 1995 Kosmos catalogue

@~n @Fred

Momentum hat dies geteilt.

Als Antwort auf Gina Häußge

Gina Häußge

Als Antwort auf Gina Häußge • 4 Wochen her • •

Most of my adventures probably were done with the "electronic X1000" kit and its addons. I had the X1000, X1500 and X2500.

The most important memory for me with those is building a metal detector and then realising that I could hear radio on its sensor output when I held the detector write close to the radiator. It was the US military's station in AM, which means everything was in english and I didn't understand a word (yet), but I was incredibly amazed!

Cover of the X1000 and X2000 instruction booklet.

Picture of the X1500, X2500 and X3500 addon kits from the 1995 Kosmos catalogue

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Gina Häußge

Als Antwort auf Gina Häußge • 4 Wochen her • •

After I got chemistry lessons at school I also got interested in that, so for Christmas I also got a C2000 kit!

I have to say that this didn't fully work for me sadly - I always was scared to do the experiments and do something wrong and then have no materials left over, as they got used up quickly... Not an issue with the electronic kits for sure!

Great memory was my dad showing me what happens if you put a ball of aluminum foil into HCl in a plastic cup on a block of ice ^^ 3/

Picture of the C2000 Chemie kit from the 1995 Kosmos catalogue

Als Antwort auf Gina Häußge

Gina Häußge

Als Antwort auf Gina Häußge • 4 Wochen her • •

Very exothermic reaction that led to a big hole in the ice block 😬

I'm very fond of all of these memories, and I'm extremely glad that my parents got me these precious gifts as a kid. And I try to tell them that as often as I remember (and will do so again right away).

All of this certainly helped me turn into the nerd I am today ^^

4/4

Als Antwort auf Gina Häußge

~n

Als Antwort auf Gina Häußge • 4 Wochen her • •

Oooh! Slightly envious here. 😍 Never had the chemistry kit - my parents were too afraid I’d set the house on fire with it or dissolved my limbs in acid or whatnot - probably somewhat warranted 😀

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Als Antwort auf ~n

Gina Häußge

Als Antwort auf ~n • 4 Wochen her • •

I grew up in a household where I regularly had to wash my hands somewhere else than in the bathroom because the sink was occupied by a partially coated copper plate soaking in a plastic cup full of HCl and H2O2 to be turned into a PCB.

And my dad studied chemistry and loves making shit go boom.

So... when I showed interest in that stuff, THAT argument would really not have worked XD

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Benno

Als Antwort auf ~n • 4 Wochen her • •

I also did not have the chemistry set.
But I had a text book and a very trusting pharmacist.
and your parents were right to be cautious: I am responsible that the playground in our village got a "no open fire" sign because I relocated the more exothermic experiments to the sandpit there.

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The Tattooed Nonna 🫒

Als Antwort auf Benno • 4 Wochen her • •

@benno never trust young kids with experiments

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ha…

United States marine (1976-2016)

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@Benno

Als Antwort auf The Tattooed Nonna 🫒

Gina Häußge

Als Antwort auf The Tattooed Nonna 🫒 • 4 Wochen her • •

Never trust young kids with experiments *unless supervised*

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Juli Jane

Als Antwort auf Gina Häußge • 4 Wochen her • •

"The most important memory for me with those is building a metal detector and then realising that I could hear radio on its sensor output when I held the detector write close to the radiator. It was the US military's station in AM,"

Damn, the exact same thing happened to me. Sure about US military station, though? For me it was "Voice of America" which was/is in English and US government, but is not military.

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Gina Häußge

Als Antwort auf Juli Jane • 4 Wochen her • •

I'm pretty sure it was AFN, stationed in Wiesbaden. Also listened to that for a while later when I got my first car, good music and I could practice my english ^^

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Gina Häußge

Als Antwort auf Gina Häußge • 4 Wochen her • •

There was also this in my home town:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Barr…

But then, I was maybe 8 or 9 at that point, so it might also have been "Voice of America" after all and I just turned that into AFN when I found that years later.

Most important: It was people talking out of my electronics kit in a language I couldn't understand a word in but was sure was English ^^

former barracks in Friedberg, Germany

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overflo

Als Antwort auf Gina Häußge • 4 Wochen her • •

Den wollt ich immer haben, war aber zu teuer :(
Kosmos hat echt einige wirklich coole Sachen gemacht.

Als Antwort auf overflo

Gina Häußge

Als Antwort auf overflo • 4 Wochen her • •

Ja, leider sind sie heutzutage auch teilweise etwas schwurbelig unterwegs, und soweit ich gesehen habe sind die heutigen Elektronikbaukästen mehr Plastik als Metall :/

Und ja, ich hatte TIERISCHES Glück mit meinen Eltern hier. Beide Funkamateure und als sie gemerkt haben, dass ich technisch interessiert bin wurde das direkt hart gefördert :) Wo das hingeführt hat, siehst du heute an mir 😂

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vautee

Als Antwort auf Gina Häußge • 4 Wochen her • •

Waaaah, I did have the "Elektro & co" one. Expanded with a few parts later on my dad brought from work.
Memories.

Als Antwort auf Gina Häußge

~n

Als Antwort auf Gina Häußge • 4 Wochen her • •

I had the XN1000 when I was a child and after years of begging got upgraded to the much cooler XN3000 - it laid the solid foundation for me half understanding how electronic circuits work. Every kid who shows even the faintest interest in electronics should be given one, imho. If you happen to be the aunt or uncle who has to, and can afford the gift? Do it

Full kosmos kit with two panels and lots of components assembled. It has three rotary knobs, a speaker and slots for unused parts.

Kosmos kit under the hood. Many compartments for storing parts.

Sales box from the end of the nineties. Very period typical design and slightly pasteish colours.

Closeup of a circuit showing transistors on pcbs with their illustrative sign underneath.

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Daniel Gibson

Als Antwort auf ~n • 4 Wochen her • •

I had one that looked like the left part of the XN3000 (XN1000 probably?).
Quickly got annoyed by the color coding of resistors (I'm red-green colorblind) and lost interest

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Daniel Gibson

Als Antwort auf Daniel Gibson • 4 Wochen her • •

Do kits like Kosmos XN1000/3000 still exist today?
I only found kosmos.de/de/easy-elektro-game…
(and a few related kits) which seems more simplified - OTOH it at least seems to have labeled resistors