TektōnTM Plaza Building Guide

TM

Buildings you can build 4

Curious about buildings? 6

Intro to Tektōn™ Plaza 8

Listing of parts in the set 10

How the parts work 12

Blueprints (how to build) 15

Did you know? (fun facts) 18

CAD drawings 20

Contact us 22

What’s inside

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the possibili t ies are endless...

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The parts in each of these sets are interchangeable with the other sets, and the sets can be combined to create entire cities: complete with office buildings, airports, highways, and manufacturing plants.

Or the strongest design for a bridge with the Bridge and Turnpike™ set. Or have fun pumping water through tanks and changing the water flow by opening and closing valves in the piping with the Hydrodynamic™ set!

These classic sets help you understand and test the basic concepts of building strength (physics) and how water moves (fluid dynamics) in a fun, and creative way.

Accessories

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Are you curious about How buildings are made?

How bridges work?

How chemical plants operate?

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Tektōn™ Firestation

The Girder and Panel™, Bridge and Turnpike™, and Hydrodynamic™ building sets were developed to help answer these questions!

The building sets are designed to be replicas of actual buildings and bridges using a 1/87 scale (also known as HO scale)

Investigate the strongest structure for a tall building with the Girder and Panel™set.

Tektōn™ Tower Building

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Introduction to your TektōnTM Plaza Set.

About the Toy:The Tektōn™ Plaza Set (appropriate for ages 6 and up)

allows you to design and construct quite large and magnificent

buildings! Experiment with cantilever construction and

unique architectural designs. This set can be used to build

office buildings, department stores, hospitals, and much more:

your imagination is the limit!

The sets includes plastic columns and beams which are

interlocked together to create the basic outside frame, just

like real buildings are built using iron beams and columns.

Then, thin plastic panels are added to the outside of the

frame, creating solid walls, windows and doors on the

frame. The building is completed with roof panels, decorative

flags and signs. Because the parts are scaled to the common

HO scale (1/87), many accessories such as cars, trucks, trees,

and trains can be added to your model city.

About Bridge Street ToysA privately held company, Bridge Street Toys is located in a

suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. The company was founded

by two engineers who strive to provide fun products that will

inspire children to pursue careers in engineering, architecture,

and technology.

About Girder & PanelTM

Girder & Panel™ differs from other construction sets in that it

lets children experiment with real engineering principles. The

sets, which are perfect for science fair projects, allow the

builder to investigate and create structures that are both tall

and strong. Originally introduced by Kenner Products in the

1950’s, there is an entire generation of engineers and

architects who have many fond memories of playing with this

set as children. Fifty years later, we are proud to be able to

bring this inspirational toy back to market!

Some of the buildings you can construct(instructions on pages 15 –17) Remember you can make

your own variations and designs – the possibilities are endless!

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1 idea book

192 beams

128 columns40 stubs

18 roof panels

8 signs

1 storage case

10 flags

Included with TektōnTM Plaza

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3 footings

72 window panels

10 utility wall panels

10 door panels

18 lobby window panels

3 footings

TM

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

1 template for notching panels

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Another column or stub can be used to lock the beams in place.

4th Once your structure is built, attach the panels to the side using the three pegs. Start with the ground floor and then work your way up the side of your structure.

5th Now for the finishing touches.

Roofs: Lay the roof panels on the top of your building.Push them down gently until they are flush with the beams. Stubs may be used to secure the roof panels in place, though they are not necessary.

Flags and Flag Poles: Bend the flag slightly and insert notches in flag between two small posts on flagpole.Then insert the flag pole into the top of a stub or column.

place panel onto these 3 pegs

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How The Parts Work

Like this for a rectangular shaped building.

Tip: The columns may be a tight fit the first time that you put them into the footings. However, after a couple of uses, they fit perfectly and are easy to use!

2nd Take the columns (see page 4 if you need help figuring out what the column looks like) and place them in the square holes in the foundation pieces (footings).

3rd Connect pairs of columns with a beam. The notch on the top of the beam slides into the top slot in the column.

1st Start with a solid foundation. Place the footings together to form the shape of the structure you will build.

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Blueprints (Boutique & Restaurant Plaza)

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How The Parts Work (continued)

Extra Credit: Build a cantilever section on your structure. A Cantilever is any part of the building that is not supported using columns from the ground level, and functions as an overhang. Cantilevers can be many stories high and can be as wide as your building structure.

Your cantilever can be built with or without the support of a second level of beams.

6th (extra info) When your building has an inside corner, the panels will not fit because a beam or another panel is in the way. You will need to cut the two panels that will form the inside corner.

Once you have notched your panels, you are ready to attach them to your structure.

notched panel placed onto structure panel’s side was cut to make it fit

Take one panel and trace the corner to be cut using the provided stencil.

Take the other panel and trim 1/4 inch off the entire side.

1/4 inch sq.

{1/4 inch

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Blueprints (Hotel Plaza)

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Blueprints (Office Plaza)

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Did you know?

An architect is a building designer. This person considers the construction site while planning, designing, and overseeing how a building might look and function.

Civil engineers are concerned with how a building project will fit into the community in which it ’s being built. They worry about such things as electric and communications supply, possible flooding, the sewer service, and other structural issues.

It takes both engineers and architects to create buildings such as world’s tallest skyscraper: Taipei 101, located in Taiwan.

Until the 19th century, buildings were rarely over 6 floors high. The development of steel and concrete, and the invention of elevators and strong water pumps (so that there would be running water in tall buildings) were very important in creating the skyscrapers we have today.

1,671 ft

1,250 ft

Taipei 101 Petronas Towers Sears Tower Empire State Building

1,450 ft1,486 ft

Did you know?

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View from the Empire State Building, the 2nd tallest building in the United States.

The word skyscraper was originally used to describe a tall mast or sail on a sailing ship.

To qualify as a skyscraper the building has to be at least 500 feet (150m) tall.

There is a difference between structures called “buildings” and those called “towers.” Buildings refer to structures designed for habitation (such as offices and apartments). Meanwhile, the word “towers” refers to very tall telecommunications and observation structures.

The CN Tower in Toronto, Canada (pictured here) is considered the tallest man-made structure in the world!

It is sometimes hard to define which building in the world is the tallest because buildings can be measured in three ways: tallest to roof, tallest to structural top, and tallest to occupied floor.

The first skyscraper was constructed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1885, and was ten stories high.

CN Tower 1,815 feet high

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CAD Drawings “CAD” (which stands for “Computer Aided Design” ) is a computer program that helps real engineers make sketches of their work. The program allows you to rotate your creation, so that it can be viewed from different sides and angles.

top view (bird’s eye view)

view from the front view from the side

3-D view of the building (as seen from the top and side of the structure).

Hotel Plaza

Scale: 1:8 Created by: BST

9/21/2005 Material: Plastic

15.04”

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4.00”

6.00”

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Other Products From Bridge Street Toys

And there aremany more productson the drawing board

Bridge-Mania, a Bridge & Turnpike™ Building Set

City Buildings, Girder & Panel™

Building Sets

A Skyscraper, a Train Station, and

Boston Turnpike Set

Hydrodynamic™ Building Set

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Have a Problem Or a Question?Contact Us Please let us know if we can help you. customerservice@BridgeStreetToys.com1-781-237-5005

Have a Great Idea?Do you have a great idea for a building and want to share it with other builders?

Send it to us at: funstuff@BridgeStreetToys.com

We will post pictures of creative buildings on our website’s Hall of Fame page.

p.s. Please send your photo in “jpeg” format and include your first name and age.

Need More Parts?No problem. We are selling spare parts! Check with your favorite local, educational toy shop, if they’re not available there you can order them online through our website:ht tp://www.Br idgeStreetToys.com

Our Promise to YouWe guarantee our products to be free of materials and manufacturing defects. Should your building set have a defect which makes the set unusable, please contact our customer service department for a replacement product.

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© 2005, Bridge Street ToysTM LLCWeston, MA 02493

www.BridgeStreetToys.com