I was an engineer at Hasbro for 20 years...

[hasbroengineer]

I thought it might be fun to introduce myself and offer answers to whatever questions I can answer.

I designed/engineered the following products:

1985 A.W.E. Striker
It was very fun to do and challenging to hide all of the snaps. I personally drew every part in pencil on vellum as it was in the pre CAD days. I am particularly proud of the articulating steering and suspension. We were unable to afford acetal plastic for the suspension, so unfortunately it does sag a bit over time. I have five virgin samples that I snagged off the assembly line. Some day I'll offer them for sale.

1987 Defiant Space Shuttle Complex
This was a monster! I was responsible for the crawler and gantry portion, another engineer did the booster, and yet another did the shuttle itself. I designed the crawler and many of its components in 3-D wireframe and had as many as 12 draftsmen doing the actual parts drawings. I did the crawler base drawing in CAD, comprising 5 E-size sheets with 42 section views...yikes! It was so huge, I used a boxed sample as a table in my office for the next 3 years. Finally got it home after borrowing a pick-up truck.

1990 Avalanche
Except for the tank treads, this was pretty much done in CAD, with the help of 1 draftsman. The disk shooter was fun to do, and the spring-loaded missile launcher was a new design, the internals of which I standardized for use in many products for years to come. That's why most missiles are interchangeable after 1990 for a few years.

1992 G.I. Joe Headquarters
I did this job completely myself in CAD with the addition of sandbags, rocks, seat detail, etc. added by sculptors. I really like how the gatling gun turned out.

That's it. Went on to preschool, infant and girls toys for the next 11 years.

If you have any questions, comments, or whatever, I try to answer. I'll visit from time to time, but I'm not a collector, so be patient

[mizak23]

That's really cool. I'm actually in college trying to learn Industrial design, so I guess my question is what do you suggest I learn and focus on?

[hasbroengineer]

That's really cool. I'm actually in college trying to learn Industrial design, so I guess my question is what do you suggest I learn and focus on?

It depends on which area you want to focus on. There is the engineering aspect, and the design aspect.

The designer pretty much supplies the engineer with drawings/renderings and sometimes a non-working model. The engineer takes that info and makes it work and be manufacturable, safe, reliable, and cost-effective. That was my end, and I have a masters degree in mechanical engineering from MIT. Industrial design is a fine way to enter into the design end, and you should be very talented with Adobe Illustrator.

It's a fun career, but not too many jobs out there.

(edit) I should also add that most of the engineering is now done in China by the factories themselves to shave costs. The factories throw in the engineering for free in order to get the business. This started about 5 years ago, so this is not a very good way to proceed nowadays (I was layed off after 20 years).

[KING]

NICE!

Welcome aboard!!!

[Ron Conner - Treasures 'N Toys]

Welcome to the message board. It is very nice of you to offer inside info and to answer questions. I am sure many collectors would love to get their hands on some of those prototype pieces, including myself. But I can imagine they are close to your heart since you were their creator. It is nice to be able to give thanks to you directly for designing some very cool features on those vehicles. Thank you!
God Bless and Yo Joe,
Ron Conner
G.I. Joe Book Author @ http://www.backinthedaytoys.com/bitdt.htm
G.I. Joe Toy Dealer @ http://www.treasuresntoys.com/gijoe334.htm
G.I. Joe Fan Site Webmaster @ http://www.treasuresntoys.com/webcamp.htm

[Obiwanjacoby]

I thought it might be fun to introduce myself and offer answers to whatever questions I can answer.

I designed/engineered the following products:

Some of us may have your actual identity attached to certain preproduction paperwork on file. Would you allow your name to be released on this forum, or would you prefer to remain anonymous?

1985 A.W.E. Striker
It was very fun to do and challenging to hide all of the snaps. I personally drew every part in pencil on vellum as it was in the pre CAD days. I am particularly proud of the articulating steering and suspension. We were unable to afford acetal plastic for the suspension,

What kind of plastic is that? May we ask questions regarding plastics?

so unfortunately it does sag a bit over time.

No problem. Slide a penny in there and it's all good.

1987 Defiant Space Shuttle Complex
This was a monster!

Were the designs based on any pre-existing BPs or anything from Popular Mechanics?

I was responsible for the crawler and gantry portion, another engineer did the booster, and yet another did the shuttle itself. I designed the crawler and many of its components in 3-D wireframe

Were these the same wireframe graphics used in the commercials?

and had as many as 12 draftsmen doing the actual parts drawings. I did the crawler base drawing in CAD, comprising 5 E-size sheets with 42 section views...yikes! It was so huge, I used a boxed sample as a table in my office for the next 3 years. Finally got it home after borrowing a pick-up truck.

Do any of the printouts still exist? Can you recall how long the project took from start-to-finish?

That's it. Went on to preschool, infant and girls toys for the next 11 years.

Was that your choice, or someone elses? What was your preferred department?

If you have any questions, comments, or whatever, I try to answer. I'll visit from time to time, but I'm not a collector, so be patient

Thanks, we appreciate it. These threads get buried frequently, but bring it back up whenever you want. The original designers are frequently eulogized; maybe you don't realize just how many fans you have.

Welcome to the forum!

-PJ

[dockingbay97]

Welcome and be prepared to be bombarded with a ton of questions.

[hasbroengineer]

My name is Craig Selvage. You can find my phone#, but please refrain from calling. Thanks. I have nothing for sale... no old prototypes or whatever. I have the AWE Strikers, and the Defiant. That's it.

The AWE striker suspension used a polypropylene copolymer. The best we could afford regarding creep resistance. Acetal was the preferred material.

We were supplied a hand-made model from our R&D department for the design of the Defiant. It was pretty much a fantasy I think. I don't recall ever seeing a commercial but definitely my files were not used. The original prints are in the Hasbro archives. I threw away an original plot of the crawler in 3-D perspective when I left Hasbro...oh well. Roughly the time frame after receipt of the model: 3 months design, 6 months mold build in Portugal, 3 months debug. It was molded and packed out in Pawtucket, RI.

I moved on to preschool not by my choice, but my talents were better suited there... more mechanisms and original thinking, not so much copying models as in the boy's group. My favorite was doing mechanized dolls for the girl's group...did maybe 7 of them in all.

I'm no hero, just doing my job, but I always put my heart and soul into it. There's nothing like seeing people in the checkout line with your product in the basket. Commercials are pretty cool also. Currently my big sellers are the Playskool ball popper and the My Little Pony Good Morning Sunshine mechanized pony.

Thanks for the welcome, I appreciate it.
Craig

[Clutch II]

now you've got some people here drooling over original design paperwork and sample designed items ,welcome aboard

[Falcone]

I'm no hero, just doing my job

but doing that job does make you a hero


and yea, i cant imagine the joy and honor you would get when you see people buying something you made....