2017-06-24

Hot Rod Freaky Ford 27 Ford T Bucket Lavender/Lilac

Hot Rod Freaky Ford 27 T Bucket in Lavender/Lilac. I don't know what the color is really called. It's oops paint from Home Depot. The color varies a lot depending on the lighting or your monitor. On some monitors it looks grey I'm told. 

The original Plans for the 27 T Bucket called for a windshield made of wood, I did not like the look of it and the eight inch thick windshield certainly was not not strong enough made from the materials I have. Leaving off the windshield simplified the build. 

Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - T Bucket - MDF - Lavender - Amber Shellac - Metallic Purple 06
Hot Rod Freaky Ford 27 Ford T Bucket  Lavender Amber Shellac Metallic Purple
Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - T Bucket - MDF - Lavender - Amber Shellac - Metallic Purple
Hot Rod Freaky Ford 27 Ford T Bucket  Lavender Amber Shellac Metallic Purple
Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - T Bucket - MDF - Lavender - Amber Shellac - Metallic Purple Right Rear
Hot Rod Freaky Ford 27 Ford T Bucket  Lavender Amber Shellac Metallic Purple
Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - T Bucket - MDF - Lavender - Amber Shellac - Metallic Purple Left Rear
Hot Rod Freaky Ford 27 Ford T Bucket  Lavender Amber Shellac Metallic Purple Left Rear
Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - T Bucket - MDF - Lavender - Amber Shellac - Metallic Purple - Left Side
Hot Rod Freaky Ford 27 Ford T Bucket  Lavender Amber Shellac Metallic Purple Left Side

2017-06-18

Answering Some Questions About Making Toys From MDF

 A Full Set of Hot Rod Freaky Ford Toy Cars Made From MDF
A Full Set of Hot Rod Freaky Ford Toy Cars Made From MDF

Will MDF stand up to the hammering a small child will dish out, MDF always seems so soft, especially around the corners/exposed areas.

Yes, MDF hold up to children. My grandson Odin, has a toy that you put balls in tight fitting holes and use a hammer to pound the balls through the holes. The hammer head is MDF. At this point it has survived at least two children. The hammer head is showing signs of wear but it still has lots of pounding yet to go. Note that there are many manufactures of MDF and even with the manufacturer's product line there are different grades.

You need to test the MDF to see if it is suitable for your intended purpose. In the case of my Hot Rod Freaky Fords. These are essentially solid blocks of MDF that  have some holes drilled in them. Yes you can break them, but you have to work at it. I can't break one with my hands which I think might be a good rule of thumb. If you can break it with your hands don't use it for a toy.  Of course it's not going to hold up to getting beat with a hammer, but neither will lots of wood.

Sharp corners are easily damaged. I have one sitting on my bench that I dropped on a concrete floor and broke a chunk out of the left front corner. A pine body would have been damaged but probably not broken.  If it were maple the surface woulds have been marred where it stuck the floor. Odin has a complete set of Hot Rod Freaky Fords made from MDF that he has been playing with for about 20 months. There are some marks and dings but no serious damage.He has been know to throw them.

The rounder you make the corners the tougher they are. I sand the corners to a slight rounded edge because I'm going for the look in the plans. You could use a small round over bit in a trim router or mabe a 1/4 inch. You would need to try it and see if you like the look. Rounding over the corners can give a toy a completely different look. If you are painting with a brush I think the rounded corners are much easier to deal with.

20151218_103208 Wood Toy Car  - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Sedan - MDF - Brushed Yellow Acrylic Craft Paint - Black Wheels - Gray Hubs - Odin Christmas
Bright Yellow Hot Rod Freaky Ford 32 Sedan Made From MDF

Is inch and a quarter/inch and a half MDF available, or do we need to glue 1/2" or3/4" pieces together.

In my area MDF is available in 1/4 inch through 3/4 inch in 1/4 inch increments. It may come thicker but I've never personally seen it. To get stock for Hot Rod Freaky Fords you will need to glue up two 3/4 inch pieces.
IF it's a case of, "we need to glue pieces together" will PVA do the job, or are we better using Titebond III for everything.

Pretty much any glue will glue it together. I would not use Gorilla glue because of the foaming and its requirement for moisture to cure. I use Titebond II but any of the PVA glues should work fine. I like to use at least a water resistant glue for everything.
Conclusion

I feel I should add something about why I used MDF. Basically, I'm curious. In the True Colors scale I score as green as you can get.  We always want to know why. I got a pile of MDF shelving nearly free and decided to experiment with it. I love experimenting. If I were going shopping today for materials to build toys MDF would not be high on my list. In my  opinion material cost is almost irrelevant when making toys. At today's prices at Home Depot it costs about $6 US to buy enough S4S Oak to make one of these. There are much cheaper sources of Oak than Home Depot.  If you making them to sell you can generally get more money for hardwood, maybe a lot more and it's easier to work with.

Working with MDF generates lots of very fine dust that is a big health hazard. You need very good dust collection and I recommend using a dust mask even if you're working out doors.
The bottom line is that you can make toys from MDF but I do not recommend it.

2017-06-17

Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Sedan - Lavender

A 1932 Ford Sedan From the "Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series" in a pale lavender.

The body is made from two pieces of 3/4 inc MDF shelving glued up and cut on a scroll saw to make the 1-1/2 inch thickness. 

The body is first primed and sealed. The purpose of the primer coat is to seal the MDF, get rid of the fuzzies and provide a smooth surface for the paint. Since the paint I am using is water based I don't want to apply it to MDF directly as it causes the MDF to swell as the water gets absorbed and makes the surface very rough.

The lavender color is Behr Oops paint from Home Depot applied with an airbrush sanding with 220 grit sandpaper between coats. Sur to the very high humidity where I live I usually have to let each coat dry overnight before sanding.  

The top layer is Rust-Oleum Clear Glaze. This gives it a very glossy finish.

The exhaust pipes and hupd are brush painted with acrylic craft paint and top coated with clear shellac.

The wheels are brushed on amber shellac.


2017-06-13

Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod Freak Ford, 32 Deuce Coupe, Orange & Black

This is the second car in the Halloween version of the Hot Rod Freaky Ford. The body is made from two layers of 3/4 inch MDF laminated together. In these cars I cut the MDF before gluing them up. I can't cut them well enough on a scrollsaw so there was lots of sanding involved to get the two halves to match. I can glue them and cut both at same time but with 1-1/2 inch thick material you have to cut very slow. I'm not sure yet which works best for me but I'm leaning toward the glue first method. Glue first makes getting the windows right much easier. Sanding inside the windows is quite difficult.


 Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Deuce Coupe - Orange & Black
 Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Deuce Coupe - Orange & Black
 Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Deuce Coupe - Orange & Black
 Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Deuce Coupe - Orange & Black
 Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Deuce Coupe - Orange & Black
 Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Deuce Coupe - Orange & Black
 Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Deuce Coupe - Orange & Black
 Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Deuce Coupe - Orange & Black
 Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Deuce Coupe - Orange & Black
 Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Deuce Coupe - Orange & Black
 Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Deuce Coupe - Orange & Black
 Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Deuce Coupe - Orange & Black

2017-06-11

Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod Freaky Ford, Orange, 27 T Coupe

A new version of the Hot Rod Freaky Ford 27 T Coupe in Orange and Black Halloween colors.

The MDF body is primed and painted with Behr Orange Acrylic house paint and then top coated with Rust-oleum clear glaze. It took lots of coats to get the orange paint to cover evenly.  

The hubs and exhaust are painted with flat black acrylic craft paint and top coated with clear shellac. The wheels are finished with amber shellac. 

Tools used to make this car include:

  • belt sander
  • hand held drill
  • drill press
  • Japanese saw
  • strip sander
  • airbrush
  • paint brush
  • scroll saw
  • circular saw

Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 27 T Coupe - MDF - Orange - Amber Shellac - Black
Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 27 T Coupe - MDF - Orange - Amber Shellac - Black

Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 27 T Coupe - MDF - Orange - Amber Shellac - Black
Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 27 T Coupe - MDF - Orange - Amber Shellac - Black
Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 27 T Coupe - MDF - Orange - Amber Shellac - Black
Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 27 T Coupe - MDF - Orange - Amber Shellac - Black
Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 27 T Coupe - MDF - Orange - Amber Shellac - Black
Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 27 T Coupe - MDF - Orange - Amber Shellac - Black
Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 27 T Coupe - MDF - Orange - Amber Shellac - Black
Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 27 T Coupe - MDF - Orange - Amber Shellac - Black

Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 27 T Coupe - MDF - Orange - Amber Shellac - Black
Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 27 T Coupe - MDF - Orange - Amber Shellac - Black

2017-06-01

Wooden Toy Play Pal Trailer Truck Experimental Fleet

Wooden Toy Trailer Truck Fleet With Bat Car - Orange - Pink - Blue
The Play Pal Wooden Toy Trailer Truck Fleet
There are five toy trailer trucks in the test fleet. The 5th one is on a road trip somewhere with the QA guy and could not be located for the photo. 

Wooden Toy Trailer Truck Blue Flat Bed on Shopsmith Belt Sander Table
The missing truck.
None of my toy trailer trucks to to date have followed the original pattern. It started with the wheels. I didn't think the trucks looked quite right  The wheels for these are very inexpensive when purchased in quantity. So why not. Yep that looks like a truck. When the first truck cab was snitched by my grandson who refused to give it back even to get trailer attached I knew dual wheels were a winner. 

Next came the round nose on the trailer.  On the first one I had to clip the corners on the trailer to get it to turn without hitting the cab.  On the second trailer I used a circle gauge to layout the curve and cut it on my scroll saw. I liked this well enough that I'll likely continue to use it.

Adding some rails.  I had heard from others toy makers that little boys like to put their cars on these. The Play Pal toys all fit on the trailer as do Hot Wheels and Match Box cars. When I gave Odin his first trailer the very first thing he did was put a car on it. It rolled off and my three year old QA guy promptly told me it was broken. 

The first rails I added were eye balled. This didn't work very well. It was to narrow for most of the cars we had and most of them would rolled over the edge. The second rails were thought out a bit better.  Higher and wider they keep the cars on the trailer when tilted to 45 degrees. 

The box trailer was just a whim that worked out very well. It looks a lot like the trucks the tree service guys use to haul away tree debris. This wasn't intentional. I didn't think of it until I was writing this.  An idea for a new design with an arm for picking up debris and some outriggers to prevent tip overs while loading.  This trailer was a bear to get in the clamps. Either I need to change the design or make a jig. It's way to hard to clamp the box trailer pieces together.

2017-05-06 18.45.14 - Wooden Toy - Play Pal - Trailer - Truck - Clamps - Bessy
Play Pal Trailer Truck Box trailer in the clamps







Finished Play Pal Toy Truck With Box Trailer

Blue Wooden Toy Play Pal Trailer Truck With Box Trailer
Wooden Toy - Play Pal - Trailer - Truck - Blue - Box Trailer



2017-05-06 18 (copy).45.14 - Wooden Toy - Play Pal - Trailer - Truck - Clamps - Bessy
Wooden Toy Play Pal  Box  Trailer Glue Up In The Clamps
This was an experimental build testing materials and construction techniques. The entire project was made from wood I had on hand. I mixed up the woods to see how the paint would work with the different woods. I came up with the trailer design after giving my grandson the first truck with a flat bed and the first thing he did was try to haul a car on the flat bed. It rolled right off. Blocks didn't stay on much better.

The box bed is made from Southern Yellow Pine left from a previous Toddler Rocking Horse Project.  The trailers under carriage is made from spruce and the cab is whitewood.  The wheels are  3/4 birch purchased from Craft Parts.  The axles are cut from birch dowels.

The finish is Behr Oops Paint from Home Depot purchased for $0.50. I applied it using a brush on bare wood. There are two coats of paint with a light sanding in between coats to remove the fuzzies.

The wheels are finished with one coat of amber shellac and the axle ends are finished with red acrylic craft paint.

The toy truck was turned over to my grandson for QA stress testing.

Odin's Toy Factory Etsy Store
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