Blog Archive

2019-01-01

Etsy Shop Update - Handmade Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod - 1932 Ford Sedan From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series

Handmade Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1932 Ford Sedan From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series
Handmade Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1932 Ford Sedan From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series


I added some new photos to the listing. Some time back Etsy chaanged the number of phots that were allowed from 5 to 10. I'm just getting around to adding some new ones.

I cut this car from a pine 2x4 with my scroll saw. The body is one piece, not laminated thinner stock. TH wheels and the body are both finished with amber shellac. I painted the hubs with metallic blue craft paint to add a bit of color. The exhaust pipes are 1/4-inch dowels painted with flat black acrylic paint.

Yes, six is the correct number of exhaust pipes. These came with flat head 8 engines. The two center cylinders shared a collector to one exhaust. 

2018-12-31

New Etsy Shop Listing - Handmade Wooden Toy Car - Bat Car from the Play Pal Series - MDF - Green

20181129-115511 - 649264854 Handmade Wooden Toy Car - Bat Car from the Play Pal Series - MDF - Green
Handmade Wooden Toy Car - Bat Car from the Play Pal Series - MDF - Green

 

Experimenting with acrylic paints and MDF on this one. Brush painted with acrylic house paint. Oops paint from Home Depot. No primer, no sealer, just several coats of paint sanding between coats until I was happy with how smooth the surface was.

Flat paint is easier to apply, and it covers better. At least that is the way it seems to me. When I am using acrylic paints, I have to relearn how to paint with it when the color changes.

2018-12-14

Free Plans For Bad Bob's Custom Motors Wooden Toy Cars

John Lewman over at ToyMakingPlans.com created these plans for me and released them in the forum. If you are not a member and you are interested in toymaking you should join the fun. My grandson loves these wooden toys.



Bad Bob's Custom Motors Wooden Toy Cars Green & Yellow
Bad Bob's Custom Motors Wooden Toy Cars Green & Yellow


Bad Bob's Custom Motors Wooden Toy Cars Yellow
Bad Bob's Custom Motors Wooden Toy Cars Yellow



2018-12-06

In the Shop - Blue & White Bad Bob's Custom Motors Coupe

Handmade Wooden Toy Car - Bad Bob's Custom Motors - Blue & White
Handmade Wooden Toy Car - Bad Bob's Custom Motors - Blue & White


Just out of the clamps. Painting with contrasting colors looks really good but, is tricky to pull off. You have to paint the parts separately masking off the spots where the glue will go.


Handmade Wooden Toy Car - Bad Bob's Custom Motors - Blue & White
Handmade Wooden Toy Car - Bad Bob's Custom Motors - Blue & White

Fitting all the parts together after they are painted is quite tedious. There is a risk of damaging the finish with tools or glues.  Being wood, fitment is not precise some parts need to be carefully modified to fit without damaging the paint.

Handmade Wooden Toy Car - Bad Bob's Custom Motors - Blue & White
Handmade Wooden Toy Car - Bad Bob's Custom Motors - Blue & White
 If you look closely at the photo above, you can see one tiny spot just above the fender where the paint was scratched off during assembly.

Handmade Wooden Toy Car - Bad Bob's Custom Motors - Blue & White
Handmade Wooden Toy Car - Bad Bob's Custom Motors - Blue & White
I learned the hard way that you must clean the jaws of your clamps before clamping painted parts together and be very careful not to touch the toy car with any of the metal parts of the clamps.

Handmade Wooden Toy Car - Bad Bob's Custom Motors - Blue & White

Small Quick clamps work well for this sort of clamping, The jaws are easy to clean and padded well. I've not had these stick to anything yet.


2018-12-04

What kind of paint are you using for your Bad Bob's Custom Motors cars?

Wooden Toy Cars - Bad Bob's Custom Motors
Bad Bob's Custom Motors

I use a variety of paints from various sources. I like the acrylic house paints the best. All of the paints are nontoxic when cured.

 I like to use a white primer to seal the wood and make the colors pop. In this case, I am using Zinsser B-I-N shellac based primer.

 I prefer to use an airbrush for painting toys but, I have to paint outdoors, and the weather where I live does not cooperate, and I have to wait or use a brush. I used an airbrush for these wooden toy cars. My airbrush is a Badger Anthem 155.

 I prefer acrylics over all other paints. They clean up easily, cover well, and are readily available in a vast array of colors. To clean, I flood with water to get rid of the bulk of the paint. The remaining paint is easily removed with ammonia-based cleaners such as window cleaner. I use household$ ammonia to remove dried paint.

 I used the following to paint these wooden toy car bodies.

Pink - Behr Acrylic House Paint
Green - Apple Barrel Gloss Green Acrylic Craft Paint
Blue - Behr Acrylic House Paint - Oops Paint
Yellow - Createx - Airbrush Paint
Red - Apple Barrel Bright Fed Acrylic Craft Paint
Lavender - Behr Acrylic House Paint - Oops Paint
Primer - Zinsser B-I-N



Pink - Behr Acrylic House Paint






Green - Apple Barrel Gloss Green Acrylic Craft Paint





Blue - Behr Acrylic House Paint - Oops Paint





Yellow - Createx - Airbrush Paint





Red - Apple Barrel Bright Fed Acrylic Craft Paint





Lavender - Behr Acrylic House Paint - Oops Paint

Lavender - Behr Acrylic House Paint - Oops Paint

Primer - Zinsser B-I-N



2018-12-02

New Etsy Listing - Handmade Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1927 T-Bucket From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series

Handmade Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1927 T-Bucket From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series Pink
Handmade Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1927 T-Bucket From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series Pink

This one had a small problem. The hole for the peg doll wasn't drilled deep enough. I carefully set up my drill press and bit to extend the depth of the hole and added about 1/4-inch. The result was not what I was expecting. Either the bit was too small, or something was misaligned. The peg doll got stuck in the hole when I tested it. After trying several different tools sanding, I finally wound up using a diamond burr mounted in a rotary tool to enlarge the hole.


2018-11-30

New Etsy Listing - Handmade Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1927 T-Bucket From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series

Handmade Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1927 T-Bucket From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series
Handmade Wooden Toy Car, Hot Rod 1927 T-Bucket 

My first peg doll. It came out much better than I expected. I had this car and one other collecting dust waiting for me to get around to painting a peg doll.

Painting inside the hole is a problem. It's hard to do and get it to look good, and it makes the hole smaller. The wood swells a little from the paint and its hard to sand. If I paint after drilling the hole, I have trouble keeping paint out of the hole. I finally decided to try drilling the hole after painting.

After trashing a couple of paint jobs, I figured out that the way to drill them out is to wait until the car is assembled and painted. I put blue painters tape over the area where I need to drill and use a good quality brad point or Forstner bit that is very sharp.

Waiting until the car is finished ensures the hole is vertical. No jig is required to get the hole straight. I hold it by gently clamping with a padded hand screw.