Many of us have an FP with missed opportunities, like a date you had to cancel because you came down with a cold, or a special credit project that would have cinched a promotion at work, only your biggest rival got to the boss first.
With me, it was an Erector set.
My parents had bought me a 1964-vintage A.C. Gilbert Type 3 Erector set. The design had been initially marketed the previous year, with girder strips that looked more substantial than than the latticework design of the Type II sets. The also included more plastic parts, like the boiler cap that resembled the front end of of a small steam locomotive, and would even fit atop the older boiler you would find in the Type II sets (or the dwindling stock you could order from Gilbert). Then there were the domes.
The first new sets had three domes included, two clear and one yellow, whereas my set only had one yellow dome. But it included an order sheet that allowed you to purchase more parts, including the domes. In fact, they had the third color available, white domes. I wanted to buy a couple of these, along with two clear domes and two boiler caps , the latter to adorn an Erector boiler that a friend gave me.
My father stated bluntly that I would have to use my meager allowance money to pay for my order, and that I would get no advances on my allowance to enable me to quickly put in my order. My order to Gilbert ended up in limbo, and eventually they went out of business. These days, eBay can be a good source for parts, but I have yet to see any white domes, and the norm is what domes are available are surrounded by a huge set that drives up the cost.
I have to hope that there’s a big, dusty warehouse in New Haven that has reserves of unsold parts. Meccano, who now owns the Erector brand, might do well to revive some more-unique Erector parts.