Yes we were! I can remember making flint lock pistols with my friends. Mixing powdered aluminum with powder sourced from fireworks that made the culdesac we lived in look like noon at night. Making “forts” in the field across from us that swallowed a whole tractor. Laying out all of our straight train track in my back yard, finished with some curved sections because we ran out of straight sections, and putting a flat car, equipped with a JetEx rocket motor on the track and lighting it. Buildng rocket motors with old coffee cans. Etc. We had so much fun. And we still have our fingers.