Handmade Play Pal Tractor Trailer Wooden Toy Truck
I finished a Play Pal truck test build last night. I gave it to my grandson Odin last night. He is my quality assurance tester. If he likes it we make more. I think he likes this one. He slept with it all night last night.
I made a few changes from the original plans. The bed is wider. The same width as the 2x4 it is cut from. I could not see any reason to make it narrower and the covers the dual wheels perfectly. I used eighteen wheels instead of ten the plan called for. An eighteen wheeler with only ten wheels just doesn't look right to me. My grandson grabbed the first cab he saw with the dual wheels and refused to give it back. He has a cab in his toy box without a trailer.
I made the body and trailer are cut from pine and spruce leftover from other projects. The trailer bed and cab are pine and the trailer undercarriage is spruce. The wheels are 3/4 inch birch hardwood purchased from Craft Parts. The axles are birch.
The body and trailer are painted with Behr Oops paint I get from my local Home Depot. Two coats with a light sanding between coats to knock the fuzzies off.
The axle ends are rounded on with sandpaper and painted with metallic blue acrylic craft paint. They get coated with glue when the wheels are glued on and the excess is wiped off. the glue dries clear effectively clear coating the axle ends.
The wheels are finished with one heavy coat of amber shellac. I mount them on a dowel and turn them with a drill while applying the shellac with a brush. I keep apply shellac until they stop soaking it up. Some of the wheels will soak up an amazing amount of finish.
A scroll saw was used for the curved parts. I used my Shopsmith Band Saw to resaw 2x4 for the bed. A drill press was used to drill the axle holes. Most of the sanding was done by hand but I used my Shopsmith Belt Sander to smooth the flat surfaces on the cab. The bed was cut to length using a Shark Saw and the axles were cut with a Harbor Freight flush cutting saw.
Odin's Toy Factory Store
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| Completed Blue Play Pal Tractor Trailer on my Shopsmith Belt Sander Table |
I made a few changes from the original plans. The bed is wider. The same width as the 2x4 it is cut from. I could not see any reason to make it narrower and the covers the dual wheels perfectly. I used eighteen wheels instead of ten the plan called for. An eighteen wheeler with only ten wheels just doesn't look right to me. My grandson grabbed the first cab he saw with the dual wheels and refused to give it back. He has a cab in his toy box without a trailer.
I made the body and trailer are cut from pine and spruce leftover from other projects. The trailer bed and cab are pine and the trailer undercarriage is spruce. The wheels are 3/4 inch birch hardwood purchased from Craft Parts. The axles are birch.
The body and trailer are painted with Behr Oops paint I get from my local Home Depot. Two coats with a light sanding between coats to knock the fuzzies off.
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| Paint Curing On The Toy Trailer |
The axle ends are rounded on with sandpaper and painted with metallic blue acrylic craft paint. They get coated with glue when the wheels are glued on and the excess is wiped off. the glue dries clear effectively clear coating the axle ends.
 |
| Dry Fitting The Trailer To be Sure Everything Fits Before Painting Toy |
The wheels are finished with one heavy coat of amber shellac. I mount them on a dowel and turn them with a drill while applying the shellac with a brush. I keep apply shellac until they stop soaking it up. Some of the wheels will soak up an amazing amount of finish.
A scroll saw was used for the curved parts. I used my Shopsmith Band Saw to resaw 2x4 for the bed. A drill press was used to drill the axle holes. Most of the sanding was done by hand but I used my Shopsmith Belt Sander to smooth the flat surfaces on the cab. The bed was cut to length using a Shark Saw and the axles were cut with a Harbor Freight flush cutting saw.
Odin's Toy Factory Store
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