Old Antique Toys: August 2012

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Tom Sanders to the Rescue (Again)

August 9, 2012
Another Hot & Sunny Day

Tom Sanders to the Rescue

(Again)

I already had Tom help me out with a previous guest instalment on this blog. A few days ago, I looked in my G-mail mailbox, and there was an e-mail from Tom with another instalment! Normally,I use my Hotmail account for e-mails, so this was a great surprise. As you know, I'm trying to sell off all of my toys and wait again for the fall, when more people are interested in buying toys. Of course, I couldn't resist a good deal, and I purchased 2 Tootsietoy Grahams.

So here's Tom Sanders again with his presentation.

Stacey,

Just in case, here is another segment of, "What did you do to that toy?!!" ....

This time it’s a tale of two Tootsie Toy Trucks. One, was custom built by a past employee of Tootsie Toy and overhauled later by me. The second is the result of having a "busted-up" Tootsie Cement Mixer.

As per my norm, I struggle with the machinations and semantics of whether to restore to stock configuration or go beyond and overhaul the item. With these two trucks, technically, I did both...

The Mack B Pure Oil Tanker- I live within an hour's drive of downtown Chicago the home base city of Tootsie Toy. Having friends who regularly scour the garage sales, auctions and re-sell shops in the Chicago area, I occasionally receive goodies to ponder. The story behind this Pure Oil Tanker was that it was modified originally by an employee of the Dowst Bros (Tootsie Toy) and was mostly in the machine shops. He would take the "seconds" to work up various concepts to show the marketing folks. I now have about 20 of these and over time will rebuild them for display. In this project, I simply took the bits and pieces in the box and restored it to his finished vision and not just another Tootsie Toy Tanker.

Photo Courtesy of Mr. Tom Sanders (Copyright 2012)
Please Do Not Copy Without the Permission of the Author

Photo Courtesy of Mr. Tom Sanders (Copyright 2012)
Please do Not Copy Without the Permission of the Author

Please do Not Copy Without the Permission off the Author

On the second, as stated earlier, I was given a basket case Mack Cement Mixer with the challenge (and bet for Tex-Mex) that the truck would never be whole again. With those loose parameters, I decided to go full overhaul and transform the truck into something completely different. This ended up being quite a challenge until I started scaling some measurements from a "Thermodyne" version seen at a truck show. That truck featured a sleeper cab and chassis and the sleeper intrigued me as that could cover the "engine" that powered the cement barrel. More dimensions, a game plan for surgery and then a sub-frame was what was needed to get to this point shown in the pictures.

Please do Not Copy Without the Permission of the Author

Surgery was severe. The parts laid out along the cab in picture give some clue. The removal of various pieces to create "the look" of a semi meant that structural integrity would be compromised. To counter this issue I built a sub-frame chassis using rectangular brass tube and constructed it similar to that of a race truck. The back and side edges the steps (into the cab) were used as strongpoints for assuring the cab would remain integral with the aft section. To hide this, I built fuel tanks on both sides to contain these fixed points. the sleeper dog house was made based on models using an index card cut and folded to shape. Thin wall steel was used as smooth bends were paramount to minimize any body fillers. All seams were soldered and sanded. The sleeper was compressed onto the truck with liberal JB Weld to handle security. A little body filler to cover the cab and sleeper seams was added and sanded when dry.

Photo Courtesy of Mr. Tom Sanders (Copyright 2012)
Please do Not Copy Without the Permission of the Author

Please do Not Copy Without the Permission of the Author

Until I hand build a more modern length trailer, I decided that setting up a tandem trailer assembly made sense. The concept is in place and even a mock-up has been constructed. Tootsie actually helped on this as the bogies on the trailers includes a rectangular cavity top center which will allow me to create a simple rear trailer hook-up for the trailing bogie.

This truck is not finished. Note that one exhaust stack (passenger side) still has tape on it so I know what side it ends up on. The wheels and axles are not set as well as I am considering various paint schemes. I did give it a paint job for basic display and I will update as I proceed. My challenger has already conceded and last week I enjoyed the Mex and a Margarita!

Best Regards,

Tom Sanders

SANDMAN OVERHAUL

As always, thanks to everyone for dropping by,

and have a great morning, afternoon, or evening,

wherever you may be.

Tom Sander's website can be found at:

https://sites.google.com/site/sandmanoverhaul/home

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

A Reader to the Rescue - Mr. Tom Sanders

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

A Reader to the Rescue

Mr. Tom Sanders

I don't believe in Karma, although I'd like to. But wouldn't you know, that when I wrote yesterday that I wasn't writing, and I asked for someone to help me out , I received help from Tom Sanders. I've communicated with Tom in the past, and he said that he'd help me out. And true to his word, I receive d a surprise just now as I was going checking my E-Mail.

So here's Tom's narrative to go with his fine work and photos.

Stacey,

Long time between communications.. I haven't forgotten about the Marx DC-4 request but the technology for overhauling is getting better so no sense in sharing obsolete techniques.

With regular work (marketing) is taking up more of my time due to the lousy economy. My overhauling and restorations have been getting squeezed for attention. The plan is to get geared up for holiday sales after October 1 and I have been working on "photo props" so that set pieces may be displayed as backround when I am selling an airplane. Most will never be close-up but I did my best to give them a nice appearance.

As you know the 1930's were swept up in the futuristic designs of Lowey and Bel Geddes and Barclay Toys took it upon themselves to feature their styles in many of their toy vehicles. I noted on your website your green Barclay tanker that had some of the look of the Texaco "Doodlebug" tanker truck. Their bus also has similar design work. Over the past 6 mos, I have kept my eye opened to see if any come up on Ebay. They did but, in all cases, they had major damage. In fact everyone had been shot with a BB gun or .22!! Needless to say, it would be difficult to restore and resell these. I made the decision to Overhaul them which means that they would get a treatment to make them better or at least further enhance the original intent. Add to that, some had various wall thicknesses where many were so thin walled that pinholes were throughout.

Repair of major damage took the form of using a mixture of 50% aluminum powder and 50% pre-mixed JB Weld to form a heavy consistentcy "putty". The other trick is to wrap model clay with wax paper and fill the vehicle cavity so that the solidified JB Weld matches the original inside contours. The next steps include various Dremel fittings and paint work.

My final and favorite touch is to use 1/2" diam "Perfect Tailwheels" to replace the old white rubber versions. Again, I am shooting for Art Deco style (and function) and not a restoration.

I also added pics of two tractor trailer combos that use the cab from the Barclay Auto Transport. Since these cabs are plentiful, it was an easy choice to go beyond haling cars around. Both are unfinished waiting for period artwork, lettering, etc.

Finally, I have no problems setting up photo displays that feature items from different toy manufacturers. I most cases I like to do displays that have some relative scale to each other. This means have two Tootsie Toy or Parker-Erie airplanes staged with a Wyandotte Super Mainliner does not cause me any angst. Same is true with the "AirStairs" from Tootsietoy ready to load passengers onto the Mainliner.

This means that the Tootsie Toy P-38 shows up well with the Barclay Sedan "USAAF Staff Car" and tanker. Looks like Hap Arnold has stopped by to inspect that new Lockheed YP-38 at Patterson AAF Base.

Overtime these will all be disbursed to the far corners so to have them together for a few pictures seemed worthwhile.

Best Regards,

Tom Sanders

Sandman Overhaul

As you can see, Tom is quite knowledgeable both about toy history and toy repairs.

his website can be found at:

https://sites.google.com/site/sandmanoverhaul/home

Here are some of his fine restorations:

Please do Not Copy without the Permission of the Owner

Please do Not Copy without the Permission of the Owner

Please do Not Copy without the Permission of the Owner

Please do Not Copy without the Permission of the Owner

What's interesting about Tom's photos is that they're photographed very well for exposure, colour-balance, focus, framing, and detail. What's more interesting though, from my point-of-view, is that he's taken the time to compose and arrange his items in the photo. Also, his point-of-view (camera height and angle) varies at different times.

You can tell that Tom takes pride in working to make the repairs, but in presenting them to the reader and viewer.

So Tom, thank's coming to my rescue.

In case you missed his website address, here it is again:

https://sites.google.com/site/sandmanoverhaul/home

As always, thanks to everyone for dropping by,

and have a great morning, afternoon, or evening,

wherever you may be.