Toys you had as a kid and that you kept

[vavavroom]

Because my Tremors Gladiator that I built about 33 years ago goes so well with the Dodge Power Wagon and the Scout that I helped my nephew build, I have decided to give him my Tremors truck. The three vehicles make a nice mini collection.





When I built the Tremors truck my plan was to also make a Tremors diorama but I never got around to it. I got a few 1/64 scale shriekers as they appear in Tremors 2 to give to my nephew along with the truck. Maybe he will build a diorama.

Maybe these pictures can serve as inspiration.

 

[vavavroom]

Maybe 12 years ago I helped my son age a 1/50 scale Cat D10 bulldozer. My son wants to give this model to his much younger cousin. I figured my nephew would like to be able to attach other things to the rear of the bulldozer. That's why I very quickly built an removable adapter plate that required minimal modification to the back of the model. I had to cut out a bit of shroud and drill and tap a hole. I fabricated the adapter plate from styrene, resin, and stainless steel. I'll also look for a nicer single-shank ripper that fits before I give him the model.

The model is about 6 inches long, 3.5 inches tall and it has articulated metal tracks.





The model came with this ripper. The adapter plate I made is installed. Note the single screw.


The adapter plate slides behind the two prongs on the chassis and is held in place by a single captive screw.


This is the adapter plate before I painted and aged it.. It's pretty solid.

 

[vavavroom]

Five months ago I helped my nephew with a few toy car projects for his collection. I did post pictures of those projects. Since my nephew is visiting for a few days we took on another project this morning. He's a big fan of the mid-'60s GTO, especially the convertible. Matchbox never made the convertible but they did make the Grand Prix coupé. Since the two vehicles are nearly identical he was happy with making a Grand Prix convertible.

We started with an almost 60-year-old 1-75 Series Matchbox with undersized wheels.


We found some 12mm wheels to replace those way-too-small 9mm wheels.


The interior was not in great shape. I'm not sure what kind of plastic Matchbox uses but these interiors tend to become very brittle and after 50 to 60 years they easily crumble into dust when handled. We stabilized the interior by painting it and by brushing the underside with an epoxy resin. The original steering wheel was missing so we found a proper three-spoke wheel in my parts box, drilled it, and glued it to a short brass "steering column" before painting it. We cut off most of the parcel shelf because we needed to fit the retracted convertible top that we made out of styrene and resin.


This is the Grand Prix stripped of paint, with the doors glued in to improve appearance and the baseplate with an added spring steel suspension bar. Both parts have already been etched in phosphoric acid in preparation to be primed.


Here is the finished resto-mod in coral blue. I showed my nephew how to paint small details like the grille, headlights, tail lights, etc, reasonably nice-looking. We decided to not paint the bumpers silver as it's very tricky and can always be done later.




Here you get a good look at the retracted convertible top.


The original rivet posts were drilled and tapped for M2 screws. I like flanged button head screws because no washer is needed.


Gratuitous wheel articulation pictures


There is some very satisfying suspension travel.

 

[Pablo]

My mom bought me an ear of Indian corn.

 

[vavavroom]

My mom bought me an ear of Indian corn.

Get a nice string for it and secure it with a bowline knot so it won't come undone. Or maybe get a holster for your belt if portability is important on-the-go.

 

[vavavroom]

Here is the last project I helped my nephew complete a month ago. He wanted to make a crew cab version of an old Matchbox Dodge Power Wagon tow truck model. He wanted a Park Ranger truck. So we made it.

We started with an almost 60-year-old model that wasn't as nice as nice as this one. We disassembled the model, drilled and tapped the cabin rivet post.


The bed of the Matchbox model didn't fit our concept. We sourced a bed from my parts box. We kept the base plate which we had to remove from the bed with my jeweler's saw. The bed was too wide so we cut the it lengthwise, narrowed it, and glued it back together with reinforcements. We ensured everything was nice and square. We also made a new bed liner from styrene. This made the bed structurally more sound.


We glued the new bed to the base plate. We found another Matchbox Dodge and scavanged the cabin and cut it. We filled the hole for the bubble light. For filling and shoring up metal parts we used 5-min two-part epoxy to which we added powdered zinc. Once cured, this composite material is nearly metal-like and can be sanded, sawed, and drilled while remaining rather durable. We also cut the cabin of the Dodge model and test-fitted the rear section of the cabin to the base plate.


This shows how we put the extended cab together. we used some metal reinforcements that we attached with C/A glue and reinforced with metal-filled epoxy.




We built a basic suspension for the base plate. The right bottom picture shows that the bed is square. The wheels and tires were sourced from my parts box and came for a 1/87 military vehicle.


We etched the model with phosphoric acid in preparation for being primed. We used automotive primer.


The original cabin glass insert did not fit because we extended the cab. We made an insert from resin, test-fitted and sanded it until we got a perfect fit. Then we made the cabin glass insert out of urethane resin that we tinted green. We sanded and polished the cabin glass insert, and then we coated it with high gloss, acrylic floor polish.

We then painted the body and undercarriage of the truck green and used white water slide decals for the roof, for the white stripes on the doors, and the front bumper. The Park Service logo was another water slide decal printed on clear medium. The black number on the roof was made with a water slide decal printed on clear medium. We clear-coated the vehicle to protect the decals. The red bubble light was the original bubble light from the Matchbox model we used for the cabin.


After we assembled the model we thought the front bumper was way too high above thebground and decided to add a supplemental truck bumper with extra driving lights. We found a suitable bumper from an Unimog model in my parts box.

I don't have any good final pictures yet because my nephew took the model with him. I have asked him to bring it back so that I can take a few pictures of it. I think that model turned out pretty good and it's unique.

 

[vavavroom]

Two better pictures in a more appropriate setting.


The headlights have little "lenses" that were created with small droplets of clear UV-cure resin.

 

[vavavroom]

My nephew's birthday is coming up soon. I made him a model that he can assemble with just two screws. I'm also going to get him a Photoshop subscription so he can design and print decals and whatnot for his projects.

I started with another Matchbox Grand Prix, one of his favorite vehicles. I wanted to make a Highway Patrol version. Not this particular model but one in very bad shape with missing parts



My nephew likes spats so I put them on. I also glued the doors shut to improve the appearance without massive door gaps.


I went with bigger wheels than the original model ad but not as big as the ones we used for the Grans Prix convertible we made and that IO have already posted.


Tubular stainless steel axles (capillary tubing) with brass nails to hold the wheels on.


I drilled nad tapped the rivet posts for stainless steel M2 screws with flanges. I drilled a hole in the roof and glues a blue bubble light in place after priming and painting the vehicle.


The old model didn't have the window glass or the plastic interior insert. I made a tinted insert so no interior would be needed.


I added decals that I made in Photoshop and that I printed on clear waterslide decal medium. I clear-coated the vehicle before I added the bubble light and before I painted the details.

 

[vavavroom]

Regarding the above post, if anybody wonders how I made the spats, I used two little pieces of 0.1mm styrene backing that I C/A-glued to the inside of the fender. I then filled the front section of the wheel arch with a mix of resin and powdered zinc. After the resin had cured I sanded the surface smooth and thinned the styrene backing with a small rotary bit. The compound material can be made with more or less metal content to adjust properties like flexibility and hardness. The more metal, the closer is the result to metal. If the metal content is high, I can drill and tap the compound material. It's an ideal material for patching and modifying diecast zinc alloy parts like those made of ZAMAK. I don't care for the baking powder and C/A glue method that is all the rage.

 

[vavavroom]

Here is the most complicated 1/64 project I helped my nephew with. he wanted a '59 Cadillac ambulance but he wanted it with the top of a '63 Miller ambulance.

The first shot shows the two vehicles that were used to build the third. Well, not the exact ones but the same kind.

On the left is a Matchbox model of a Miller Meteor ambulance that was used as the done for the neat top. The vehicle in the background is a Johnny Lightning model of a '59 Cadillac ambulance that was used as the donor recipient. The Matchbox model is crappy with a chromed plastic base plate. The JL is much btter made with a metal base plate. The vehcile on the right is the result of merging the other two vehicles. Frankenbulance?



JL with metal base plate on the top, MB with chrome-plated base plate.



How we made it

We disassembled both models, drilled the rivet post on the JL model. We stripped the paint off both models. We cut the raised roof section out of the MB model and glued it into a precisely cut out in the JL's rooftop. We used epoxy resin mixed with powdered zinc. We tidied up the graft with sandpaper, tiny files, a fiberglass pen, and various fine blades. We fitted the hole in the roof with a short tube for the bubble light. We then etched, primed, and pained the body. The decals were made in Photoshop and printed on clear waterslide decal paper and applied to the model. The model was sealed with clearcoat.

the body of the '59 with the roof of the /63 before etching


The body after it has been etched and primed


I have to mention the model did not have fully realized curved quarter windows and front vent windows. Instead the windows were part of the vehicle body and painted silver. We cut the windows out with my jeweler's saw and smoothed the edges with tiny files. We also had to make window inserts for the curved quarter window cutout. We made them from urethane resin. How we did this is too tedious to describe here. Along with the window inserts we made the bubble light with the resin and the addition of red dye.

You can see the quarter windows that we made to be press-fit and then secured with a tiny amount of epoxy resin on the inside flange that is part of each window insert. We got a perfect fit.


Beauty shots

 

[Pablo]

That final product is extremely cool! Even the paint looks heavy, the thing is a beast!!

I do kinda like the '63 the best just being a skinnier (looking) beast.

But "Cadillax" made me chuckle a bit

 

[vavavroom]

That final product is extremely cool! Even the paint looks heavy, the thing is a beast!!

Thanks.

I do kinda like the '63 the best just being a skinnier (looking) beast.

We modified the less curved A-pillars of the '59 to resemble the more swoopy ones of the '63.

But "Cadillax" made me chuckle a bit

I was wondering why I was producing so many typos. The keyboard was set to Swedish! Those blasted cats, they always mess with my keyboard.

 

[bunnspecial]

Maybe not exactly things I've kept, but I mentioned earlier in the thread liking Lionel trains and having quite a few of them.

Back in the 90s, I use to salivate over catalogs, thinking I'd never be able to afford any of it.

Now I find myself with a 2 year old who loves trains, a bit more disposable income, and access to marketplaces like Ebay where the items from the 90s often sell new in box or barely run for prices a fraction of their new price...so I've been indulging my son and myself with things like this...

This is a Lionel 6-18005, their 1990 reissue of the 1937 700E Hudson. The original 700E was groundbreaking, with a level of detail that Lionel had never before done, and frankly was not even normal in any model trains then. It was a true to scale model, 1:48 the size of the real thing(1/4"=1ft), which made it HUGE relative to most other Lionel production. It couldn't even run on Lionel's then standard tubular track, and they had to release track with a more prototypical rail profile and wide curves to be able to run it.

Original 700Es are thousands of dollars, and many have issues now related to zinc rot in the zinc casting. As a bit of side note, during WWII Lionel actually spent a lot of effort(some of it probably government/war effort funded) to figure out the issue of "Zinc Pest" and when production resumed after WWII, Lionel had solved it and freely shared it. Zinc casting issues didn't really resurface until the early 2000s, when Lionel moved production offshore and didn't have hands-on control of the zinc purity the way they did with US production.

The 1990 700E reissue, though, is free of that problem. This one appears to have never been run(that will change in the next hour...). It's every bit as detailed as the 1937 version, and has a the first generation Railsounds sound system.

I actually would really like to upgrade this one to electronic control, but am not sure I can bring myself to it on one this nice. I may look for another one that's been run a bit more to do that to. These are not expensive, relatively speaking. I need to trackdown a Railsounds 2.5 or 4 sound set, which is out there but a lot of those parts have dried up. When I first got into the hobby in a big way, I know of at least 3 or 4 sources that if I'd called and said "I need a Railsounds 4 Hudson board" they'd have said "How many?". Now it's a bit harder to find, especially as there's a specific version I'd really like to find. I'm curious to see what the original Railsounds sounds like, and I'd keep it but there really is no way to make it work with modern electronics unless I can find a REALLY obscure and obsolete upgrade board.

BTW, Lionel got a LOT of mileage out of this tooling in the 1990s. I have three other locomotives using either the chassis/running gear, one of which also uses the 700E boiler casting. By my count, there were 8 different locomotives through the 90s that used it, all of them different in one way or another.