Etsy Shop Listing - Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car from the Play Pal Series 573778337

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

I made this wooden toy car from a piece of wood I save from somewhere in the distant past. I'm not sure what kind of wood it is, but I think it is spruce. It looks like spruce and smells like spruce.

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

I finished the body with several coats amber shellac sanding with fine sandpaper between each coat until I get a finish I am happy with. The first few coats are simply to get rid of the fuzzies, wood fibers that are sticking up form the first sanding. After the first coat, the body of the toy will fill like sandpaper because the shellac makes them stiff.

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

After the first coat or two has been sanded, the toy will feel smooth to the touch. You can feel things with your fingers that your eyes can't see.

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

After the finish is smooth, the rest of the coats are applied to smooth out the shellac and get the color you want. Sanding between coats is not required unless you are going for a glass smooth finish or need to remove some imperfection.

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

I coat the inside of the windows with a brush. It is almost impossible to get a good coat of shellac inside toy car window openings any other way.

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

I usually do not spend a lot of time with the inside of the window opening. You can't see in there very well, and the chance that the corners of the window openings will be damaged is high.

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

The rest of the body I sprayed with an airbrush. The shellac I use can be sprayed directly from the can in my airbrush.

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

I don't always use the airbrush. I don't have a spray booth, so any spraying has to be done outdoors. Shellac, paint or any finish requires proper weather conditions to spray. I learned the hard way the alcohol solvent in shellac will pull water right out of the air when the humidity is high. The car looks like it is covered with dew.

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

The wheels are finished amber shellac. I like to spin the wheels slowly with a drill while applying shellac with a brush until the wheels are thoroughly saturated with shellac. Because the wheels are cut across the grain, they soak up a lot of shellac.

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

The ends of the axle pegs are hand painted with a brush and acrylic paint. I have special jigs made to hold these tiny parts while the paint cures. I like to paint the hubs on these cars. The bright colors are attractive to kids and adults all seem to like them too.

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

After the paint is cured on the toy cars axel hubs, I apply a coat of clear shellac. The shellac provides an extra bit of protection to the hubs, and in many cases, it will make the colors pop.

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

During assembly, I apply a bit of wax to the inside of the wheels to provide some lubrication and keep any excess glue from sticking to the wheel.

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

You can't see them in any of the photos, but there is a nylon washer installed between the wheel and the car body. This serves several purposes.  The washer helps to prevent any escaping glue from sticking to the wheel, and it acts as a bearing or spacer between the car body. With the nylon washers, the toy car will roll faster, further, and smoother than a toy car that doesn't have the washers. It does this by keeping the wheels from rubbing on the sides of the body, and nylon washers are very slippery. Because the wheels are not rubbing on the body, the finish is also protected.
 

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

Handmade Wooden Toy Bat Car Amber Shellac with Pink Hubs

How to Score Etsy Tags Using eRank

If you don't use eRank this is probably useless to you. If you have an Etsy shop you need eRank.

This isn't a question. It's a statement of understanding of how Etsy search works and a system for scoring tags. I've studied every Etsy document I can find on the subject, and this is my conclusion. I can't quantify it with numbers.

If I have a tag "Home Nursery Decor." In Etsy search, this will match Home, Nursery, Decor, Nursery Decor, Home Decor, and Home Nursery Decor. They will also combine with keywords in other places in the listing with exact phrase matches ranking higher.

If I plug "Home Nursery Decor." into the keyword tool, I see, "Sorry, we could not find any Etsy or Google search trend data for the keywords provided." So this tag, as a whole, scores 0. If I break out the top relevant scores using Etsy search counts for the score and total, then I get a score for the tag.

    Home Nursery Decor 0
    Nursery Decor 15,520
    Home Decor 22,650
    Nursery 3,390
    Decor 0
    Home 69,102
    Total  110,662


So now I have a score for my tag. In this case, there 110,662 Etsy searches that matched something in this tag. This seems like a very good tag to me.

The keywords in this tag will also combine with other keywords in other tags, but I don't go that far scoring my tags. However, I do consider if I want to use some of the same words elsewhere for exact phrase matching.  For example, if I use the tag "Dragon Home Decor," I can get an exact phrase match for "Home Decor" and "Dragon Home Decor" as well as a match for Dragon and "Dragon Decor. 

You could also do something similar for google searches. I messed with it a little, and to my surprise, some search terms on Google get lots of searches that get near zero on Etsy. Misspelled words on Etsy will get 0 or near 0, but get a large number of searches on Google.

Like I said before I can't give you numbers of sales or views for this method al I can do is tell you that for me it seems to be working and the numbers give me a method of picking tags that I can wrap my brain around.

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Green & Blue

I made these for my grandson more than 3.5 years ago at his request after he saw a picture of one in a book. They are about three years and 8 months old in these photos. They have survived many a dinosaur fight and even being used as a hammer. The tail makes a near perfect grip for a hammer.

I don't have any of these in my shop. Perhaps I should. They are quite easy to make and would look good made from some contrasting hardwoods, or maybe I could find some green poplar. We all know that T-Rex is green.


I did not go to a large amount of trouble to make these look nice. Ths turned out to be a good thing since the first thing my grandson did was use them like a hammer.

In the photos, you can see some places where chunks of wood were broken off. This happened on several occasions and the pieces were glued back on some bits were lost, and so we have some chunks missing. I made thes from some reclaimed plywood I had in the garage that just happened to be the right thickness. The colors were chosen by my grandson. They are painted with Behr Oops paint I got at home depot.

For some reason, that I was never able to determine he kept breaking the toy dinosaurs right arm off. After this happened several times I drilled and pinned the arms. It's been about a year since the and no more broken arms. The right arms were never broken.

Today after three years and  8 months, my grandson still plays with these. His interest in dinosaurs has never diminished, and I continue to make more and different dinosaurs for him.

Click here to custom order your T-Rex.

Scroll down until you see the custom order button. Click the custom order button and tell me what you need.

Click here to see my other dinosaurs that are in stock. 

Add capHandmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Green & Blue

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Green & Blue

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Green & Blue

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Green & Blue

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Green

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Green

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Green

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Green

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Green

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Green

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Green

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Blue

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Blue

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Blue

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Blue

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Blue

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs T-Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex Blue

Models vs Toys and Other Musings

I see people interchangeably using the terms model and toy. I've seen people call scrollsawn animal cutouts models and elaborate builds with hundreds of tiny parts toys. Perhaps this is just a language thing that I don't know about. However, I am curious.

At what point do you think a toy becomes a model?

If it is easily broken, it is not a toy or perhaps poorly designed or built. For example, dropping it on the floor breaks the toy. All my toys that have wheels on them get drop tested by my grandson. Wooden dinosaurs always seem to be getting into fights. Occasionally, one gets hammered on the concrete floor.

If it has many small, easily breakable detailed parts, it is not a toy.

What do you think?

These lines can get very blurred. They even branch out into other areas that are not toys or models. Since opening my Etsy store, I have discovered that many of my toys are considered decorations. You would think nursery decorations or for a child's room. I've had at least one of my cars be used as a cake topper, and four of them are sitting on a window sill in a kitchen in Australia. My dragons are being used for decorations. So much so that I am considering adding the puzzle as just a cutout to sit on a door frame and promoting it as decor.

Handmade Wooden Toy Cars In Australia

I see people interchangeably using the terms model and toy. I've seen people call scrollsawn animal cutouts models and elaborate builds with hundreds of tiny parts toys. Perhaps this is just a language thing that I don't know about. However, I am curious.

At what point do you think a toy becomes a model?

If it is easily broken, it is not a toy or perhaps poorly designed or built. For example, dropping it on the floor breaks the toy. All my toys that have wheels on them get drop tested by my grandson. Wooden dinosaurs always seem to be getting into fights. Occasionally, one gets hammered on the concrete floor.

If it has many small, easily breakable detailed parts, it is not a toy.

What do you think?

Handmade Wooden Toy Car Shower Cake Topper - Baby Blue - 32 Ford Sedan Hot Rod

These dinosaurs are toys buy my definition. They are two years old and have survived many dinosaur battles. Little did I know the tail made a great handle not only for dinosaur fights but for using them as a hammer. The first one was broken within a minute after giving it to my grandson.  He immediately grabbed it by the tail, made growling noises, began hammering it into the floor saying eat, eat, eat. At two he knew T-Rex ate other dinosaurs. I don't know how he managed to break the right arm off both of them, but he did it so many times that I finally pinned them. They haven't come off since.

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs Showing Battle Scars and Repairs by The Toy Shop Vet

Handmade Wooden Toy Dinosaurs Showing Battle Scars and Repairs by The Toy Shop Vet

Etsy Listing - 482847326 - Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck From The Quick N Easy 5 Truck Fleet - Red Acrylic Paint - Amber Shellac - Pine - Birch - Oak

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Left Rear View

Here is a red painted version of my previously posted shellac finished version of my tow truck.  It was played with by my grandson before the photos were taken. 

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Right Side

I made this version of the tow truck for my grandson. There are a few differences from the previous version. This one I painted red using Apple Barrel  "Bright Red" acrylic craft paint. I did not apply any primer or clear coat. The color was applied directly from the bottle with a brush. I have used this paint on many toys. It covers well, cures fast, and looks good by itself. Applying a clear top coat will make the color pop. This time I chose not to use the clear coat.

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Right Front View

I cut the body from a section of pine 2x4 using a scroll saw and a #5 skip tooth blade. The pattern is designed for cutting from 2x6 stock. I shrink the template slightly to fit a 2x4 Avoiding the rounded corners. You can't shrink it too much without using smaller wheels. You could make this from any wood you like by gluing up stock to the proper thickness. This toy truck would be an excellent candidate to make from MDF. There are no sharp corners or easily breakable parts anywhere on the body.

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Left Front View

I used solid axles made from 1/4-inch dowels for this version of the tow truck. Using sold axles lets you be a bit less precise with hole placement. If axle pegs are used on a six-wheeled vehicle, it is easy to get one or more of the holes out of alignment and have a wheel or wheels that don't touch the ground. Because the axle holes have some wiggle room the holes can be a bit off, and the wheels will align just fine.  However, I do like the look of the hubs provided by the axle pins.

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Left Side View

I used hardwood for the tow hook instead of plywood for this build. So far it has held up well. This would be stronger using baltic birch plywood or some shop made hardwood plywood.

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Right Rear View

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Right Side View

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Right Side Top View

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Right Side Top Front View

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Top Front View

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Top Front Right View

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Top Left View

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Top Left Rear View

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Top Rear View

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Top Rear Right View

Handmade Wooden Toy Tow Truck Red Version Towing The Lorry Truck