Can you make ... part 2

The requests keep coming in which gives me some great excuses to launch into projects I have always wanted to do.

The first thing I did was build a paint booth out of melamine and plywood scraps I had in the garage. To help protect the wood and make it easier to "clean" overspray, I put on two coats of lacquer. It's now so pretty, that I almost hate to paint in it.

But, when the lacquer was good and set, the booth was put to use as I used it while sealing a wooden ship model before I apply paint to it. I did not go fancy on the booth by putting in air vents and such since it is more of a place to contain the paint, and I can drop a piece of plastic down to protect the drying paint from particles in the air or WPF (Wet Paint Finger) accidents.

The next thing was to search for a new project. I scoured around the internet looking for wooden toy plans. One of the first places I found was Vintage Projects. You can find plans to build your own power tools, motorized vehicles for the kids, boats, go carts ... lots of things. The plans are from the days when companies did not have to worry about getting sued over the stupidity of the end-user. While I found a number of interesting projects (will that 25' cabin cruiser fit in my garage or do I need to build a workshop?) most were too large for what I was looking to do. After a few more searches, I came across Fine Hardwood Toys for Your Children's Children from Wisconsin (that is the title of the site). While there are no plans provided, ideas were generated. After rummaging through the garage and deciding that buying a lathe to turn wheels was out of the question (at least until Christmas) a trip to Michael's to buy wheels was undertaken and later on a Saturday afternoon Levi helped me lacquer my interpretretation of a wood train (my train will be lucky to survive the horde as it is made out of pine scraps, and excess closet rod dowel with pre-turned 1" wheels from Michael's).

The kids have loved the train -- I started with an engine and two other cars: one is a barrel car that carries 4 "pickle" barrels (from Michael's too) and the other car is a "tanker" car with the tank being removable.

The kids have made all kinds of "trains" out of it -- Levi has shooting trains as he likes to lay the barrels horizontally like cannons. Rachel made a bubble gum train which has probably generated the most fights and squabbles as everyone wants to play with that train. Rachel is happy to oblige; of course, after she has removed all the gum.

Now I am getting requests for more cars for the train as it is "too short" (each car is 8" long); good thing that I made templates of the bodies and the placement of the holes, dowls and cut-outs. Next up will be a flat car with a platform over the wheels so that when Levi's WALL-E goes for a ride, he is not dragging on the train wheels. The girls have wanted to know where the Caboose is, and the request includes an option to put people or other items in it.

One great find at Michael's are these wood kits that retail for $1.00. That is correct, for $1 (plus tax) you get a wood kit that is usually around 12 to 20 pieces of very easy construction, paint (4 colors), glue and a paint brush. Did I say they only cost $1?

The selection is great too -- you can build complete trains (about 6 cars total), race cars, biplanes, pirate ships, rubber-band propelled submaries, rubber-band airplanes (they don't fly, just spin the prop), sail boats, jets and as you see to the right, space craft. The hardest part was getting Levi to leave the space ship alone long enough for the glue to dry. Next kit I may just use hot glue and call it good.

Back in my day, these things would have been a hoot for, uhm, bb-guns, fire crackers, oh, and other assorted mayhem. Come to think of it they may be a hoot today as well.

The tool set I am using is pretty simple: 12" Craftsman bandsaw, a Craftsman belt/disc sander combo, a Craftsman table saw, and a Craftsman 3/4 HP drill press with 10" clearance all supported by a Bostich air compressor. Now I just need a bigger workshop or get Denise to agree to leaving the van outside of the garage permanently.