Another Fine Restoration by Tom Sanders

Saturday, April 22, 2017
Overcast
8 C  46 F

Another Fine Restoration 

by Mr. Tom Sanders

Recently, I was fortunate enough to have hearted from Mr. Tom Sanders . Tom 

specializes in  creating and modifying old toys into customized finished models for his clients.

If you search my blog for "Tom Sanders", or Mr. Tom Sanders, you will find the many exemplary 

pieces of work that he has done in the near-distant past.

In Tom's own words:

Stacey et al,

"Another unique application. This time its to fix a wounded bird. I purchased this woeful Wyandotte Twin Engine Transport a few weeks back. It had suffered through a "stabilizer-ectomy" years ago when someone removed the two stabilizers. it was also missing its Fin, Propellers and the stock "panted" landing gear. Still, it is 1930's steel and worth making whole again. Years ago I had an interview with a past employee of Wyandotte All Metal Products, Inc. at an antique show in Michigan. He was the same gentleman that sold me that Wyandotte toy airplane Sirius "convertible". He related that Wyandotte had many concepts and plans to add to their toy line but WW2 and lost market shares dwindled the hopes for many of these concepts. One in particular was the idea of producing the Wyandotte Twin Engine Transport with a new stabilizer with twin fins that were popular on Lockheed airliners and the Beechcraft B-18 "Twin Beech" airplanes. Their goal was to come close to the airplane used as the get-away vehicle in the movie Casablanca.   

This airplane that I purchased pretty much fit the bill and so I proceeded to modify the airplane into a Lockheed 10a ala' Casablanca."

"Once again, another list of tasks-

1) remove the lead paint and inspect the steel and cust surfaces.

2) Cut, stamp and bend the stabilizer/fins combo piece and solder in place.

3) Remove the tail wheel (the wood wheel was saved for a future resto)

4) Cut and solder two steel plates under the stabilizer to allow the body lines to continue aft.

5) create a new tail wheel assembly featuring a wheel with an aluminum hub and rubber tire.

6) Create a new main gear system that also features wheels with aluminum hubs and rubber tires.

7) Paint the airplane using a period style Lockheed lightning bolt (for their Electra models) 

8) Install a Pair of Sandman Overhaul retro-fit prop kits.

That pretty much sums up the project. Interesting that it sold within 17 hours after I started my Buy-It-Now Auction to an ex Beech 18 pilot."

This customized restoration is another example of the fine work that Tom does through his company- Sandman Overhaul.

If you go to the web address below, you can see many examples of the fine work that Tom has done for his clients. It's certainly great to see what can be created with old toys to bring them 

"back to life".

So that's it for this Saturday. April has been a near-record for rainfall here in Quebec. Several of the cities around Montreal, Quebec have been inundated with rising levels of river water that have caused flooding. Hopefully, May will be a much better month, and the waters will abate.

Thanks for dropping by,

And as always,

Have a great part of the day or night,

Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

Toysearcher@gmail.coim

Tom Sanders Helps Out

Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Overcast
9 C 48F

Tom Sanders Helps Out

   My previous post was about Christopher Ferrone and his creativity with restoring old toys into new ones "with a twist". In that post, Christopher took 2 old toys from the 1930's and metamorphosed (changed) them into one. The new model , a combination of the 2 toys appeared to actually resemble a toy from the 1930's.

   In today's post, Mr. Tom Sanders wrote me and presented a nice airplane that he restored.  In Tom's case, he creates marvellous models from old toys, but  on a commercial basis (he is commissioned to create them). In the example below, he custom-made a base plate that holds a Wyandotte China Clipper airplane (to represent) a  Martin M-130 China Clipper at the time.

Above: Tom Sanders' trademark logo

Some information about Pan-Am.

Please click here to visit Wikipedia's fine article on Pan-Am
(If the link doesn't work, type in the words "Wikipedia" and Pan-Am to visit the exact page of reference)

Pan-Am was the largest American passenger aircraft company in the USA from 1927-1991.

The company was created in 1927 and started to fly between Key West (Florida) and Havana (Cuba). This route was highly successful, and eventually led to the airplane expanding into South-America. Having been financially strong, the Pan-Am was able to purchase less-successful  South American companies to expand its' South-American Business. Most of the South American business was on the west coast of South America. Example of key cities were Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Santiago (Chile), and Caracas (Venezuela) Also included were Mexico City (Mexico.) The airline also earned added revenue (Money) by having won the rights to carry mail (airmail) between America and the South American routes. Many of the airplanes were what were called "flying boats) that were capable of taking off and landing in the water.

The Pan-Am Logo

*Image courtesy of Wikipedia

A Sikorsky S-42 Airplane

*Image courtesy of Wikipedia

As you can see in the poster below, the route of Pan-Am was quite exotic. It's quite amazing how relatively inexpensive (to 2017 prices) the cost of flying to South-America was at the time. Of course, the buying power of a 1941 US Dollar was quite different from a 2017 American Dollar.

A Pan-Am 1941 Itinerary (Route) 

*Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Stacey,

Hope you are doing well and the Blog is rolling along. I will send you a couple of projects to consider.  This first is unique project. The owner is a collector of Pan Am artifacts from the Flying Boat era. He acquired a model stand some years ago that was missing its original model of the Martin M-130 China Clipper. We had some dealings earlier this year and contacted me with an unusual request, would I consider rebuilding a Wyandotte Pressed Steel Toy Clipper into a model?  Interesting thought as there are a few people making nice cast models. The reason is that he absolutely wanted a period produced model and those are as rare as hen's teeth!!

Part I 

(Creating the new model)

Below are the modifications that Tom initiated to meet the requirements of the client. You can see the extensive work that Tom did to create a wonderful model for his client/

There were a great number of modifications needed to make this work. Here is a partial list-

1) Rear wheel was removed and the belly pan modified to accept the fixture's "saddle" mount.

2) Wings were relocated 1/2 further aft and lowered by 1/2"

3) Tailing edge of the wing was tapered to match the M-130

4) Four new struts were created and soldered to the bottom of the wing. The sponsons both have new receptor holes for the bottom pins of the struts.

5) The main landing gear system was removed, the struts folded back up into the sponsons and gaps filled with solder then sanded smooth.

6) Brass plates were soldered to the bottoms of the sponsons to eliminate the hollowed-out effect.

7) New props, engine fronts/shafts (pop rivets!) and cowlings (brass tubes with aluminum inserts) were crafted and installed.

8) the tail assembly was soldered and bend-over tangs were removed.

9) More windows were added to the cockpit area (cut, grind, sand)

10) Two-tone silver and black paint to match prototype.

PArt II

(The finishing touched)

It's really great to see these old toys being restored and modified for collectors. In this case, the combination of the airplane model with the base plate of the world and focussing on North and South America. 

It's too bad that Pan-Am had to close down, because the airline had wonderful air routes for those who liked exotic places to visit at the time (and still today).

Thanks for dropping by,
and as always,
Have a great part of the day or night
wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman
toysearcher@gmail.com

Tom Sanders- Exceptional Model Rebuilder

Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Sunny with Clouds,
17 Celsius / 63 Fahrenheit

Mr. Tom Sanders

Exceptional Model Rebuilder

   I've written about Mr. Tom Sanders several times.He's an exceptional and skilled model maker, who does custom work for people wanting a specify model toy. He's also very kind when he sends me images for a blog, without my having asked.

Below is Tom's logo and the name of his company - Sandman Overhaul.

Please press here to visit Tom Sander's website

Many of Tom's clients ask him to make customized models. These people usually have fond memories of their father or mother, or are just interested in having a special model customized for them. Today's post presents  the yellow airplane, a Marx pressed steel toy, that would become the start for the B-17D z 14 airplane. This particular airplane was piloted by the customer's father when the father was stationed in the Philippines during WWII.

Below is the Marx airplane that the client sent to Tom for transformation into the airplane above.

Tom has an extensive library of reference books to which he refers to for accuracy in making his new designs for clients.

You can see just how much work has to go into making a totally different model airplane from the model that Tom received from his client. He uses different skills to manufacture parts for the new model. He cuts pressed steel, contours (shapes) the parts with a hammer, wells the new parts to the body with a welder, sands and polishes the bare metal, and finally he  custom paints the body to a beautiful finish.

 Below is the finished model in all of its' glory and beauty. It's truly amazing how Tom is able to remake a model airplane from the beginning, and I'm sure his clients are always thankful to receive their new models with their fond memories of their parents or friends who would have flown the "real" airplane.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as usual ,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

Mr. Tom Sanders Continued: The Best of Two Worlds

Friday, January 15, 2016
Clear, windy, and cold

Mr. Tom Sanders Continued:

The Mix of Two Worlds

   Whenever I write a post, I always send an e-mail to the person or company that I am writing about. I let them know that their post is up, and that they should proofread it. I let the person inform me of any spelling or content errors, and if any content should be changed or removed.

   I did this for Mr. Tom Sanders' post yesterday, and he graciously wrote back and thanked me for the blog entry. However, what Tom also did was provide me with content for today's post.

   I forgot to mention that Tom just doesn't restore toys. He is an "artisan extraordinaire" when it comes to restoration, but his major forte (strength in French) is receiving custom requests from clients from all over the world.  What these clients do is ask Tom to create specify combinations of toys, written mementos, and add additional content to create either a wall decor or a tabletop item. As you will see below, he creates "works of art" for people who have had fond memories of times past., or just want to have a memento of where they might have worked in their past.

Below: 

Tootsietoy Prototype # 12 Lumber Truck with Tandem Trailer

Owner:  A Forestry Lumber Museum in Belgium

 Below:

Buffered and Lacquered Clipper

(Personal Collection)

Custom Wyandotte B-24 Prototype.

What Wyandotte almost produced!

(Very rare)

Below:

The Marx "Minutemen Project - Update:

This was a USAF (United States Air Force) Aerobatic team in the 1950's.

The project will include 5 Marx Sabre Jets and a Marx "C-54" support Aircraft

Aviation Scale Models Projects 

AN A.C.Rehberger cast metal model of the Boeing B-314 Pan Am Atlantic Clipper, 

of which it is only 1 of 10 known to exist. THe airplane came on a clock, but the client

wanted a more Art Deco look hinting of the Pan AM style.

Battle of Britain Project:

This will include a custom stand to display the artifacts and the airplane model.

All of the artifacts are from a squadron in the RAF (Royal Air Force) in 1940.

As you can see, Tom has been quite busy restoring toys, but simultaneously finding models that can be combined for people who have cherished memories of times gone past.

Tom's passion for his work is certainly exemplified with the work that he creates for his clientele who want to have memories of  long ago - the best of both worlds.

I certainly enjoyed writing this post, thanks to the material that Tom Sanders sent me. You can surely see Tom's passion for wanting to share his work band many talents with everyone. 

Thanks Tom, and continued success,

Stacey

Thanks for dropping by on this cold winter day,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

And of Course- Marvellous Restorations

Thursday, January 14, 2015
Overcast, cold, and some snow

And of Course,

Marvellous Restorations

    I wasn't looking to find Mr. Tom Sanders while I was browsing on ebay, but I did. I was looking for a toy that someone asked me to identify a few days ago, and I think I found the answer - it's a Wyandotte oil truck, and estimated to be worth anywhere from $ 30.00 - $ 70.00 depending on the condition.

   However, I happened upon a fine Wyandotte seaplane and the name of the store (on ebay  happened to be ohmyflyguy. Wait a minute, I said to myself, I think I know who that is. Sure enough, I did a search for toy restorations on my blog, and lo and behold, I had found Mr. Tom Sanders - an old friend from a while back who helped me with my blog.

Please click here to visit Mr. Tom Sanders' ebay store

Please click here to visit Tom Sanders' Website

I can tell you from my own experiences with toy restorations that Tom is an expert. He has knowledge, experience, patience, and of course skills. He make my work (check it out on my blog) look like elementary school quality!

The photo below is the same one as the one above. I just did a fast photo-edit to remove the orange colours. This also helps to present Tom's masterpiece in all of its splendor.

If you do a search for  "Wyandotte China Clipper", you will be able to see what these toys look like without a restoration.

Of course, the question many of you will have is why would anyone want to take an old toy and restore it or purchase it? The answer is subjective (personal). Some people prefer the "as is" condition, while others prefer restored. In the "real world"  of old cars, it used to be that old cars were more valuable restored. Nowadays, collectors are starting to purchased old cars in found condition- go figure!

As for Tom Sanders, he has lots of work  scheduled to both sell and restore old toys for collectors.

That's the way it is -some people like them old, and some people like them old but restored.

Thanks for dropping by to visit,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey Bindman

Toysearcher@gmail.com

Tom Sanders Welcomes In the New Year

Monday, January 1, 2015
Overcast,milder, and flurries later in the day

Tom Sanders 

Welcomes in the New Year

  I received a nice year end  e-mail from Mr. tom Sanders wishing me a Healthy and Happy New Year. He had send me a step-by-step series of photos from one of his latest projects.   THe writing is yellow is from Tom.

Here’s hoping you had a great Christmas (no coal in your stocking) and you are getting ready to enjoy New Years! BTW, do you see and of the Northern Lights this time of year?

   What's interesting is to read what Tom write below. It's his knowledge of highway laws of the 1950's. Obviously he's working on a project that requires accuracy. I would never have known that  there were combination  truck s had I not read what Tom wrote. COme to think of it, I rarely see these "douyb;le-haulers up here in Quebec, not that I travels much! And of course,everyone who has seen photos of those long haulers in Australia will know that these trucks sometimes even haul a combination of 3 trucks behind them!

I am in a holding pattern on the COE Beer Truck project so, since idle minds are the devil’s workshop, I decided to start my next project. This one will be duplicating a Tootsietoy overhaul that I did about a year ago. This will be another one-off assembly creating a specialized “west-coast” hauler from the 1950’s. The west coast had different DOT highway laws and were not so strict as those east of the Mississippi. They allowed longer combinations and that is what this semi-truck double will represent.

To begin, I had found a Tootsietoy Mack L dump truck that had lost its dump body. The chassis is longer on these to accommodate the longer dump body. At one time Tootsietoy considered a modified tractor to this format but it was probably not pursued due to the cost of production. Based on the prototype that I once owned, the concept was valid if the truck either had a longer trailer or that it pulled two of the standard trailers already in production. I chose to follow the second option which was easier to accomplish. The majority of the mods have to do with the tractor. It involves building a new “sub frame” and 5^th wheel assembly along with extra wheels and axles.

Tom Sanders

Please click here to visit Tom Sanders interesting website

 In the attached picture above:

1)      I first started a layout with measurements to fit two sets of drive axles where there was only one.

2)      Here I jumped to a point where a pair of 1/32” thick brass side-plate sheets, 

two axle tubes and a 5^th wheel plate were soldered in place.

3)      This side view verifies the spacing of the two axles.

4)      Now the 5^th wheel is soldered to the chassis plate

5)      This is a view of the tractor complete and ready for paint.

6)      Here it is mocked-up with one trailer

7)      Then mocked-up with two trailers.

8)      Front ¾ view

9)      Rear ¾ view

Ultimately, I hope the truck resembles the original prototype that 

looked like the pictures in 8 & 9 (above 2 photos)

This certainly was a nice presentation to start off the new year, 

and most of the text and of course the nice photos and content were Tom's.

It's a "lazy day" for me today, and I'm going to the local gym to work out It opens at noon today,and I want to start exercising in the new year. I had dizzy spells for the last 2 years, and the GP (general practitioner  and the specialist (neurologist)  said that I had vertigo. Mysteriously, on November 2,when I was in Ottawa with my wife, my ear bled, and I smashed my nose with a hair dryer. At that time the dizziness went away. So I said I would start exercising again. At that point I exercised for 2 days!

So I'm back to "normal" now, but the neurologist specialist is sending me to neuro-otologist  - a higher specialist to test my hearing and see what the specialist can see.

It's just like the fine toys Tom  makes. You have to move up the ladder to find the specialist to do the job properly. Hopefully, I won' be going above the neuro-otologist - and I don't think there are higher specialist at that point!

So to everyone who reads this post, 

I want to wish all of the people who have helped with me my blog, and of course

all of the people who drop by to see what I write.

Have a great day, wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com