# An adventure in making toys - Old Time Farm Truck



## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Intro*

Edit 8 June 2015 Finished truck can be seen over here

One of my preferences in woodworking is wooden toys. I have a special interest in trucks and the model of the Old Time Farm Truck by Ron Fritz, Creeksidewoodshop.com on the Google Sketchup 3D warehouse drew my attention.

His model was in imperial dimensions and since I work in metric I redrew the truck in Sketchup with metric dimensions and also simplified it somewhat . You can convert imperial to mm in sketchup and the other way round, but you end up with mm figures which are quite unusable. Much easier to just redraw in mm. I also added scenes to the model depicting the different components and dimensions that can be printed and taken to the shop. (My shop is much too dusty to house a computer and I also don't have the luxury of a house and shop computer)

In this blog I plan to detail my build experience of the truck.









The next entry will depict the the chassis and axle housings.


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## Dutchy (Jun 18, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Intro*
> 
> Edit 8 June 2015 Finished truck can be seen over here
> 
> ...


Thanks George for sharing this on LJ.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Intro*
> 
> Edit 8 June 2015 Finished truck can be seen over here
> 
> ...


Hi Dutchy
Eintlik is Afrikaans my moedertaal wat uit Nederlands ontwikkel het. Ek kan Nederlands verstaan, maar nie regtig praat nie. Ek glo jy behoort Afrikaans ook te verstaan. 

For our English speaking friends a translation of the above:
Actually my mother tongue is Afrikaans which originated from Dutch. I can understand Dutch, but not really speak it. I believe that you (that is Dutchy) will be able to understand Afrikaans as well.


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## jim65 (Feb 8, 2013)

George_SA said:


> *Intro*
> 
> Edit 8 June 2015 Finished truck can be seen over here
> 
> ...


I am thinging about this one also, after I finish 3 model Ts, look forward to seeing your progress!


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## Wildwood (Jul 22, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Intro*
> 
> Edit 8 June 2015 Finished truck can be seen over here
> 
> ...


I am not familiar with your lathe especially whether spindle simply threaded or has Morse taper bore & threads. 
Do think you are wasting your time trying to make a chuck to work on that faceplate!

Much safer route would be nut and bolt a waste block of wood to the face plate. Using carpenters glue another smaller waste block centered on the faceplate. You could always true up that second waste Block with normal turning tools.

Using either carpenters glue & paper joints or hot melt glue; glue wheel to second waste block and turn out/inside of the wheel add spokes later.

You might find it easier to both hot glue & screw your wheels to that second waste block and make a wheel hub at the same time!

Might talk to members of a local turning club for help.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Intro*
> 
> Edit 8 June 2015 Finished truck can be seen over here
> 
> ...


Bill
Thanks for the advice, especially on what type of glue to use on the wheel blanks.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Chassis and Axle housings*

The plan and dimensions









Chassis components









Chassis glue up









Axle housings. - Due to the runout on my drill press (which is quite old) I can't drill a straight hole thru a long block. Thin pieces of wood is ok, but as soon as I drill a hole in a block 100mm and longer, the drill tends to wander a bit.

Therefore I split the blocks in half and cut the grooves with my table saw. After that I glue the two halves together.
The following photo shows the 4 halves ready for the glue up.









I used my small parts clamping jig for the glue up









The chassis and axles housings ready for glue up









The following photos shows the chassis with the axle housings from a few different angles.
After the glue dried on the chassis, I strengthened the corner joints with dowels (see last photo), because this truck is intended for a birthday present for our friends son. The truck should be able to withstand a bit of playing. I do the dowels after gluing the joints as that is just so much easier than trying to align dowel holes prier to glue up. Just drill a hole afterwards and insert a dowel. Quick and easy.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Bumper*


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Radiator*




























Clamped in my small parts clamping jig


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## Dutchy (Jun 18, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Radiator*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice to see yours.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Engine Block*










I had a piece of white oak which I salvaged out of someone's fire bin. It had a crack in, but by cutting and laminating I managed to get the crack invisible on the outside.









The sanding guidelines after cutting the block to size.









After sanding to shape on the disk sander

















The engine block and radiator ready to be joined. On this photo the crack that I mentioned above is clearly visible. After the radiator is fitted however, it will not be visible anymore.









Radiator and engine block glue up









Engine block / radiator assembly unit ready to be fitted. The headlights will be fitted at a later stage.


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## Dutchy (Jun 18, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Engine Block*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice to see George. Also like your SketchUp drawing. I am curious to the continuation.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Engine Block*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Jan, 
I enjoy Sketchup. I only started using it late last year as I did not have the time before that to go through the learning curve. I found some YouTube instruction videos and decided to make time to go through the learning curve of using Sketchup. The redrawing of this truck and the modification to it was part of my learning exercise.

Now I don't know how I ever got by without Sketchup. What I enjoy most is that you can make virtual test fits. Before I made a mockup to see if an idea would work or not. Needles to say that is much more time consuming and also limited in the amount of options that one can try. (Here is the link to the Sketchup file for those who missed it is in the Intro of this series)

My whole idea with this truck build is to do it in modules and to assemble the modules as I go along. I must say that I am enjoying this truck build tremendously. One day I hope to gain the skill level of also building a Peterbuilt truck.

N.s. Ek skryf maar in Engels ter wille van ons Engelssprekend vriende hier


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Cab*

Shop dog helper









Cab roof

























Cab body

































Gluing the cab roof on









Cab completed


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## Dutchy (Jun 18, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Cab*
> 
> Shop dog helper
> 
> ...


Je bent weer lekker bezig George.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Cab*
> 
> Shop dog helper
> 
> ...


 Ja Dutchy, ek vang so bietjie op


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Wheels*

Making the wheels was a bit of a head scratcher. Since I have a lathe I thought about turning the wheels on the lathe. I had a problem however, because I don't have a chuck for the lathe and I wanted to do some face turning on the wheels just to make them a bit more interesting.

I thought about making a homemade chuck and seeked some advise in the Woodturning forum. I again experienced the brotherhood of LJ's with quite a bit of good advise. In the end I decided to leave the lathe for another project and attack the problem from another angle and the idea for the Drill Powered Toy Wheel making Lathe was born.









I made two test wheels to see if it would work.








It worked quite well

I cut the wheel blanks with a hole saw and then mounted them to Toy making lathe with a nut and bolt.

























I am quite happy with the results.









Test fit to the chassis









I plan to use a wedge in the axle to secure the wheels









The wheels after painting


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## Dutchy (Jun 18, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Wheels*
> 
> Making the wheels was a bit of a head scratcher. Since I have a lathe I thought about turning the wheels on the lathe. I had a problem however, because I don't have a chuck for the lathe and I wanted to do some face turning on the wheels just to make them a bit more interesting.
> 
> ...


Ziet er goed uit. Goed gelukt.

Ik heb zaterdag nog een paar (5) wielen gemaakt voor een Jeep zonder draaibank en zonder boormachine. En ook dat ging prima. Dus voor het maken van wielen kun je zonder een draaibank.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Wheels*
> 
> Making the wheels was a bit of a head scratcher. Since I have a lathe I thought about turning the wheels on the lathe. I had a problem however, because I don't have a chuck for the lathe and I wanted to do some face turning on the wheels just to make them a bit more interesting.
> 
> ...


In the end making the wheels was much simpler than I thought it would be.


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## MadMike4066 (Sep 8, 2016)

George_SA said:


> *Wheels*
> 
> Making the wheels was a bit of a head scratcher. Since I have a lathe I thought about turning the wheels on the lathe. I had a problem however, because I don't have a chuck for the lathe and I wanted to do some face turning on the wheels just to make them a bit more interesting.
> 
> ...


A very good idea, that I am going to look into as I need to make a lot of wheels for toy trucks etc and have also been thinking about making a jig so as to get all the wheels looking the same (size & shape)


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Load box*

Load bed and load box bottom



























Side panels









Test fitting the side panels onto the load box bottom









I used my 5 min kerfmaker to cut the dados 


















Gluing the panels to the load box bottom


















Railings









As this is a toy that must withstand a lot of playing from a little boy, I inserted dowels into all the joints. I used my dowel making jig to make the dowels.




































Attaching the railings to the side panels




































Inserting some more dowels to strengthen the joints


















Final assembly of the load box


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Headlamps and mudguards*

I used the end of a broomstick for the two headlamps. I didn't have a 20 mm dowel and I did not want to fire up the lathe to turn a such a short 20mm spindle and also the broomstick was just the right diameter and it was only a very short piece that was needed. The headlamps will be attached to the engine block with dowels.

I also used two washers and attached them with screws to make the headlamps a bit more interesting










With the mudguards I reverted back to my original plan. While drawing the original sketchup plan I was concerned about the strength of the mudguards as there would be short grain on the roundings which might cause a weak spot. I then drew up an alternative plan changing the mudguards so that they would be made up of different straight grained pieces. After thinking this through again when I started making them, I came to the conclusion that the changed mudguards would in actual fact be weaker than the rounded ones due the the joints in the design.

I used a piece of teak from the scrap bin and positioned the layout in such a way to minimise the amount of short grain on the roundings. They seem to be quite strong.

I printed the mudguards and pasted the pattern to the wood and then I used my bandsaw to cut them out.









I used my homemade spindle sanders to finish the mudguards


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

George_SA said:


> *Headlamps and mudguards*
> 
> I used the end of a broomstick for the two headlamps. I didn't have a 20 mm dowel and I did not want to fire up the lathe to turn a such a short 20mm spindle and also the broomstick was just the right diameter and it was only a very short piece that was needed. The headlamps will be attached to the engine block with dowels.
> 
> ...


This is really looking good. I'm going to look back over this blog.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## robscastle (May 13, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Headlamps and mudguards*
> 
> I used the end of a broomstick for the two headlamps. I didn't have a 20 mm dowel and I did not want to fire up the lathe to turn a such a short 20mm spindle and also the broomstick was just the right diameter and it was only a very short piece that was needed. The headlamps will be attached to the engine block with dowels.
> 
> ...


George,
George,
George…
Wives have an uncanny knack of noticing things missing, regardless of how short it was.

Let me know what ward you go to at The Bay and I will come visit you !

Nice job on the headlights !!


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Headlamps and mudguards*
> 
> I used the end of a broomstick for the two headlamps. I didn't have a 20 mm dowel and I did not want to fire up the lathe to turn a such a short 20mm spindle and also the broomstick was just the right diameter and it was only a very short piece that was needed. The headlamps will be attached to the engine block with dowels.
> 
> ...


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## robscastle (May 13, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Headlamps and mudguards*
> 
> I used the end of a broomstick for the two headlamps. I didn't have a 20 mm dowel and I did not want to fire up the lathe to turn a such a short 20mm spindle and also the broomstick was just the right diameter and it was only a very short piece that was needed. The headlamps will be attached to the engine block with dowels.
> 
> ...


I see your reply,
does that mean you are already on the floor horizontal and paralysed from a beating and your face is so contorted it looks like a smile on your face ! tee hee


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Headlamps and mudguards*
> 
> I used the end of a broomstick for the two headlamps. I didn't have a 20 mm dowel and I did not want to fire up the lathe to turn a such a short 20mm spindle and also the broomstick was just the right diameter and it was only a very short piece that was needed. The headlamps will be attached to the engine block with dowels.
> 
> ...


The broom stick is now too short to be of any use in a beating, so I am safe for now


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## robscastle (May 13, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Headlamps and mudguards*
> 
> I used the end of a broomstick for the two headlamps. I didn't have a 20 mm dowel and I did not want to fire up the lathe to turn a such a short 20mm spindle and also the broomstick was just the right diameter and it was only a very short piece that was needed. The headlamps will be attached to the engine block with dowels.
> 
> ...


OK good work George Looking forward to seeing the finished product !


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## Dutchy (Jun 18, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Headlamps and mudguards*
> 
> I used the end of a broomstick for the two headlamps. I didn't have a 20 mm dowel and I did not want to fire up the lathe to turn a such a short 20mm spindle and also the broomstick was just the right diameter and it was only a very short piece that was needed. The headlamps will be attached to the engine block with dowels.
> 
> ...


Thanks for sharing George.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Final Assembly*

Assembly of my Old Time Farm Truck

The finished components that need to be assembled

























A test fit









Gluing the mudguards 

















The second mudguard gets added









Gluing the engine block to the cab - the 4 lb hammer provides a nice clamping force









The mudguard is glued to the chassis









An alignment block attached to the loadbed with double sided tape









Test fit









Glued on









The cab and engine block plus the loadbox added









OOPS!!!!!
I should have attached the headlamps before gluing the Cab and engine block to the chassis









I had to shorten the headlamp attachment dowels









I used epoxy to glue the headlamps on to compensate for the shorter attachment dowels. They were glued to the engine block as well as the mudguards. That should make it strong enough.

















As I had an extra wheel from the test wheels that I made, I decided to ad it as a spare wheel. This is not on the original plan. I finished it with poly









Ralbuck suggested using wedges to secure the wheels (made with my Drill Powered Toy Wheel making Lathe) to the axles and also to lubricate the axles with candle wax.

















Finished (all the components were also secured with dowels to strengthen the bonds)


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## johnstoneb (Jun 14, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Final Assembly*
> 
> Assembly of my Old Time Farm Truck
> 
> ...


Nice looking truck. Enjoyed the blog.


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## handsawgeek (Jul 31, 2014)

George_SA said:


> *Final Assembly*
> 
> Assembly of my Old Time Farm Truck
> 
> ...


George,
Excellent build!

I like the use of a simple screw and washer to represent the headlights. Clever!

Now, try building a duplicate with hand tools only. You will find the exercise to be fairly challenging, but very gratifying in the end.

Keep posting. Enjoyed this a lot.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Final Assembly*
> 
> Assembly of my Old Time Farm Truck
> 
> ...


Thanks for the nice comments.

Ed, when I have a bit more time on my hands after retirement, I might just take you up on the hand tool challenge


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## Wholesaletoys (Apr 10, 2015)

George_SA said:


> *Final Assembly*
> 
> Assembly of my Old Time Farm Truck
> 
> ...


Lovely, good work.


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

George_SA said:


> *Final Assembly*
> 
> Assembly of my Old Time Farm Truck
> 
> ...


That is a nice clean toy and nicely done.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## htl (Mar 24, 2015)

George_SA said:


> *Final Assembly*
> 
> Assembly of my Old Time Farm Truck
> 
> ...


Really nice how to sorry to be late to this party.


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