Sixty years ago this month, the April 1963 issue of Popular Mechanics showed how to put together this handsome transistor radio. And miraculously, the magazine proclaimed that you could make it in a half hour, at a cost of less than $25.

The secret was the fact that it included to pre-wired subchasses that you could buy from Lafayette. One of them was the AM tuner module, and the other one was the audio amplifier. It was an easy matter to install both of them in a cabinet (which could also be found in the Lafayette catalog), add a speaker, and wire them together.

The young man shown here is about 80 years old, but he’s shown here in 1953 working with his father on an electronic project using a 6-in-1 kit they constructed themselves, thanks to the plans in the April 1953 issue of Popular Mechanics.

With components mounted on a board, with Fahnestock clips for interconnection and adding additional parts, the kit started out as a simple crystal set, and was then modified to more and more complex receivers. It could also be turned into a code practice oscillator, thanks to the key mounted on the board. It was powered with an isolation transformer, and the article warned to insulate the primary side, and avoid touching any of the connections when the kit was plugged in.

For modern kids wanting the same experience of being able to build multiple electronic circuits, we recommend the kits shown below.

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