Letter from Editor Tacos and Car Shows
CAR SHOW is now a Photo Contest! See Back Page for Details I don’t know how many of you are friends of ours on Facebook? Yep! Toymakingplans and Wood Toy Weekly both have Facebook pages and we try to throw at least some morsel of content up every day. Those that follow our pages were privy last week to our impromptu first ToyMakingPlans Taco Eating Contest. This came about because our Director of Social Media, Kenneth Smith, dared to suggest that he might be able to eat more tacos than myself. I’m well over six foot and just shy of three hundred pounds (though I like the sound of being just shy of 22 stones a bit better) and Tacos are my favorite food. In an hour we battled like Goliaths for the belt (a belt that wasn’t gonna fit either of us after this adventure.) In the end, Ken bested me by one third of a taco. He finished ten tacos to my two bites into my tenth and both myself and the taco crumbled to the plate. I should note for anyone following our competitive taco eating series that I was caught with three Pepto tablets after the contest and am currently under investigation for using PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs.) Just a bit more organized but equally impromptu we put together the idea of our first ever CAR SHOW and hopefully it’s not too late on this... In the office we started talking about the approaching, Car Show. We wanted to throw something at you all that really got you excited and in the mood to show your stuff to the Toymaking community. We laid out the rules in a way, that at the time made good sense for some of the charitable directions we were headed, etc etc but under more careful consideration we started to recognize holes within the idea we’d put together. First off, we’re most definitely an international operation here and the cost of shipping a toy however lightweight or small for some is gonna simply cost more than the opportunity seems worth, especially for our non-North American builders. Then we have the, “your builds won’t be sent back to you...” How can we ask you to create and send us your masterpiece builds and in the end, we aren’t gonna send them back to you? We Can’t. And thankfully wiser minds have prevailed and we’re making some immediate rule changes to the format of this Car Show and ALL our future competitions (which we have several in the works.)
First change is that this is now a Car Show Photography Contest - We DO NOT need your cars sent into our offices. Just send in pictures of your masterpiece build - ALL Cars entered will make the pages of our Wood Toy Weekly Car Show Issue. There is no longer a need for your cars to be sent in, I expect to see A LOT of UK entries and all my buddies working in these Australian Mansheds I’ve been reading about, better be representing. We hope these changes make the contest open to everybody and something more folks will want to participate in. Please note that the dates have not changed, submissions need to be emailed in by November 25th and we’ll be choosing the winners the first week in December. If you have any questions regarding the contest or want to challenge Ken or I to some taco eating, just drop me a line. Yes! We REALLY ate ten tacos... I may never eat one again, Ken had them for dinner again that night. Clint M. Director of Design and New Product Development clint.metcalf@toymakingplans.com
Submitted Editorial Want to see your work highlighted in the pages of WTW, just drop me a line, telling me a bit about yourself and answer our seven questions. 1.How long have you been making toys? 2.Who or what was your initial inspiration? 3.Did you have any early roadblocks? 4.What has been your favorite Toy Build project? 5.What does Toy Making mean to/for you? 6.Favorite tool in your shop? 7.If you could pass one piece of advice on to a new Toy Maker, what would that be? We especially want to see your work made from our plan sets. Please e-mail images with up to six images attached to each e-mail. You can send them directly to me at: clint.metcalf@toymakingplans.com
Contents
Can’t get enough of your
Follow our Community on these social media platforms as well facebook.com/toymaking
twitter.com/toymakingplans
Meet Toymaker, John Murphy page 4
instagram.com/toy_making_plans www.pinterest.com/ woodtoyforumgallery/wood-toy-plans/ COMING SOON to Reddit
Meet Toymaker, Daniel Abbink page 6
www.toymakingplans.com Submitted Photography
Try to include a broad selection of images providing the reader with a comprehensive view of your work. Include vertical as well as horizontal format images. Consider your background, try to not have too much going on in the background. Nothing beats a good workshop setting. We especially want to see your work made from our plan sets. Good photos greatly increases the chance of material being accepted. Digital images shot at high resolution with a camera of at least 6 megapixels assures a decent image. Low-resolution digital photos are simply not acceptable. Please e-mail images with up to six images attached to each e-mail. You can send them directly to me at: clint.metcalf@toymakingplans.com
Thanks!
page 10
Meet One of Ireland’s Best, John Murphy John Murphy lives in Bunclody in County Wexford (Erin Go Braugh!) He’s been
married to lovely Sandra for 16 years and they have two wonderful girls. Emma is 14 and Enya is 11. “Let me tell you those three lady’s light up my life” he says. John’s been a carpenter/joiner for 40 years. He started his apprenticeship in 1979 at age, 16. He spent the first 10 years of his career making wooden windows, doors, stairs and shop fronts. This taught me him to be accurate, and “making models from scratch as I do, is all about being accurate.”
“I really do make all of my models without plans. When I decide which one to build I search online for any information I can find. Then I study photos and videos of the real machine. That’s it, I don’t make plans as I go along because I never seem to make the same model twice.” John Murphy
1. How long have you been making wood toys? I started making models in 2013. The economy was in the bin here in Ireland, work was scarce and I needed something to occupy my mind and my hands. 2. Who or what was your initial inspiration? I discovered a book by Les Neufeld called Tremendous Toy Trucks. In this book there are plans to build 10 different trucks. I built them all and by the time I was finished I was well and truly hooked on model making. 3. Did you have any early roadblocks, obstacles? I learned the basics of model making from that book but I found it difficult to make wheels accurately. My earliest models never had all of the wheels on the ground at one time. To get over this I searched YouTube for videos about making wheels. I learned bits and pieces from several videos and now I make many different types of wheels without a problem. 4. What has been your favorite Toy Build project? I love building crane models. They are long complicated builds (the longest took 300 hours) tremendously challenging but it’s very satisfying to have a fully functioning crane model to show for all that effort. My favorite model is the heavy haulage rig. It’s a Scania truck pulling a Nooteboom trailer with a 90 ton Caterpillar excavator on board. 5. What does Toy Making mean to/for you? Model making gave me something to do when I was at a loose end. It developed from there into a passion. I’m in my mid 50’s now and I seriously doubt I will have time to build all of the models I want to build. I love seeing children’s faces when they see one of my cranes standing tall at a model exhibition. Some of the big kids are amazed too that this can be done with wood. 6. Favorite tool in your shop? My favorite tool in my shop is the new table saw I purchased a month ago. It’s a Bosch Gts 10 xc. It’s small but powerful and above all else it’s accurate. 7. If you could pass one piece of advice on to a new Toy Maker, what would that be? If I could give advice to other toy makers it would be “PATIENCE”. Think about what you want to achieve before you start a toy. If you try to be too ambitious you might fail. If you take small steps and learn as you go you too can go from simple models to the heavy haulage rig I made. And it only took a few years.
Meet Arizona Toymaker Daniel Abbink Daniel Abbink is a 69 year old Viet Nam veteran. He’s been married 45 years. He
and his wife have six grandkids and six great grandkids. Daniel started working with wood in high school shop class. He’s done some kind of wood work most of his life. About three years ago he found, John & Cynthia’s plans and started building toys. He loves it and hasn’t done anything else since. He says, “Guess were the grand kids go every time they come over.”
“Don’t rush it take your time study the plans. I’m talking from experience. I’ve thrown away and started over more pieces then I can remember.” Daniel Abbink
Hill Billy Hot Rods are available at: toymakingplans.com
Woody Wagon and Trailer and ShockHog Mark-1 are available at: toymakingplans.com
VW Hippie Bus and Beach Trailer are available at: toymakingplans.com
1. How long have you been making wood toys? I have worked with wood since wood shop in High School but I have just started making wood toys when I came across an add for toymakingplans.com on Pintrest 2016. I ordered some plans and now I’m addicted. 2. Who or what was your initial inspiration? John’s plans on toymakingplans.com, I saw these plans and said, I can do that and so I did. 3. Did you have any early roadblocks, obstacles? Just getting all the tools I wanted in time. I would still like to get a thickness planner. 4. What has been your favorite Toy Build project? That’s a tough one but I suppose the first one I built for my daughter, the Hippie Bus and trailer. 5. What does Toy Making mean to/for you? Relaxation. Toy making is my get away, I can go out to my shop and forget about everything else and time seems to go by fast. I just love seeing the smile on a child’s face when I give them a toy. 6. Favorite tool in your shop? Me! Without me, the rest are worthless. Just kidding. They all are at different times but If I had to pick one I would say my tabletop belt/disc sander it probable gets more use then any. 7. If you could pass one piece of advice on to a new Toy Maker, what would that be? Don’t rush it take your time study the plans. I’m talking from experience. I’ve thrown away and started over more pieces then I can remember. I had a boss once that told a coworker if you can’t find the time to do it right at first, when are you going to find the time to do it a second time. About 95% of my toys are made from reclaimed wood either free or very cheap.
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Toy Painting 101 We’d like to help everybody out with painting. Below is a simple diagram of brush types you might fight handy to have in your supplies, everything else is rather common sense on what you feel you need or want to have at the ready. John Lewman has been painting toys longer than anyone I know and he has a simple, yet affective method for toy painting, it’s this; John use 3 coats of brush-on crafts paint, sanded with 220 between each dried coat. The final coat is spray-on gloss clear acrylic found in any craft store like a Hobby Lobby. Though if you want a stitch more information than that, I have a concise How-To on the next page.
Round: pointed tip, long bristles for detail. Flat: for spreading paint quickly and evenly over a surface. Bright: flat, short stiff bristles, good for driving paint across the wood tooth. Filbert: flat brushes with domed ends, ability to perform some detail work. Fan: for blending broad areas of paint. Angle: versatile and can be applied in general painting application as well as some detail work. Mop: a larger format brush with a rounded edge for broad soft paint application. Rigger: useful for fine lines and detail work.
Brush Types
Lightly sand the toy as to just rough the finish. This helps the paint adhere to the toy. Clean off the dust with a tack cloth or damp rag. Use painter’s tape (I use Scotch Blue painter’s tape) to tape off any areas you don’t want primed or painted. You can use this tape after priming as well. Apply a coat of primer. You can use the brush-on kind or the spray-on kind. This will seal the wood surface, and help it take the paint better. Allow the primer to dry before moving on. For an even smoother finish, you can sand the first coat of primer, wipe it clean, then apply more primer over it. Do this a few more times until there no ridges remain Choose a color for the background. Pour a small amount of acrylic paint onto a palette. Acrylic paint dries quickly, so don’t pour out your other colors at the same time. You can use small dishes, plastic lids, and paper plates as palettes. Apply a coat of paint over your toy. Let the paint dry, then apply a second coat, if needed. Let this second coat dry as well. Don’t overload the brush with paint. The paint should come no more than halfway up the bristles. After you’ve finished, let the paint dry completely. Refer to the label on you tube of paint for exact drying times. Just because something feels dry to the touch does not mean that it is ready to handle or take on sealer. Every brand is going to be different, but you should expect this to take about 24 hours Apply 1 to 2 coats of sealer. Sealers come in many different finishes, including matte, glossy, and satin; choose one that you like the best. Apply a thin coat of spray-on or brush-on sealer, then let it dry. Apply a second coat, if needed, and let that one dry too. If you are using a spray-on varnish, be sure to work in a well-ventilated area.
Toymaker Tips John Murphy Shares his Wheel Building Pictorial First, pick a piece of wood without knots, they could shrink and fall out later. Mark one edge and keep this edge against the fence at all times. Choose the correct size hole saw for your wheels. Do not drill all the way through, as this makes it difficult to get the wheel out of the hole saw. Drill the holes overlapping like I have in the photos. This way the sawdust can escape. It’s easier to drill and stops the hole saw overheating. If you are making a wheel with a rim you will need to carry out the steps I did in the photos. When you are finished turn the piece over keeping the mark against the fence.
The center hole will be showing on this side and you can line up the hole saw with it and bore through only enough to free the wheel. This makes it easier to remove the wheel from the hole saw. For boring the small holes in the rim, follow the steps in the photos. It’s better to drill these holes before sanding. I showed this on a wheel that had been sanded for clarity. I showed the sanding being done on the lathe. If you don’t have a lathe you could do it with the drill press. It can even be done with an ordinary drill held in a vice.
Fun FREE Plan Silly Halloween Scroll Saw Spooks Simply print this page, cut out the pieces and stick’m to some wood and start making sawdust. Remember that there isn’t any scrap wood, just pieces not yet used.
Best cut from 1/4”, 1/2”, or 3/4” wood stock. Look next week for more simple Scroll Saw designs from Wood Toy Weekly
PHOTO CONTEST RULES
1. Must be completely made of wood 2. Must be a car built from one of our three selected car plans (Hill Billy Hot Rods, Hot Rod Jamboree or 1930 Rat Rod) 3. Photos must be received by November 25th. Judging will take place the first week of December. Email entries to: clint.metcalf@toymakingplans.com 4. MUST HAVE FUN BUILDING IT!
PRIZES
Best in Show - $100 Home Depot Card The PISTOL Trophy, A Feature in the Wood Toy Weekly Best Painted & Best Natural $25 Home Depot Card Two Honorable Mentions $10 Home Depot Card Questions:
contest@toymakingplans.com