Christopher Ferrone Revisited

Wednesday, April 6, 2020
Sunny with some cloud
7 C   44.6 F

Christopher Ferrone Revisited

       The other day, I was browsing on the internet, when I came across a reference to one of my posts.  This post was from a "friend" I know of in Chicago. I say friend because he has helped me out with my block by providing me with at least enough material for 7 posts. His name is Christopher Ferrone. 

I decided to send him an e-mail, and see how he and his family are doing. These times are most disruptive and dangerous, and I wanted to see how Chris was. He is fine, and his children are all home with him and his wife. 

No sooner had Chris returned my e-mail, when I received another e-mail with one of his fine creations. What Chris does is take old toys that might be in need of repair, and he restores then.  In this case, and a big surprise for me, was the fact that he used 4 different toys by 3 different manufacturers. His final creation was marvellous!

"I will be sending you some recent photos of my recent truck creation.
It is made from 3 different broken toys:

1. Ty Nee Tot Cab
Tonka shovel
3 Nylint chassis (note the outriggers for stability
4.Nylint crane boom

put all together and you get this.
Thanks for checking in.
Chris"

This post was  a great surprise,  

'and I have to thank Christopher for  another fine contribution.

If anyone out there has something interesting that they would like to share, please send 
me an e-mail. I'm always looking for new sources.

Please take care, and as always

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

Livesteam Paddlewheelers

Monday, April 8, 2019
Cold and Sleet (Rain with Ice)
-1 C  30 F

Livesteam Paddlewheelers

Please click here to visit Peter's fine website

Please click here to see one of Peter's Steamboats in action

     I've had a cold or the flu last week, so I wasn't felling well. I always take a flu shot in November, but I guess this year, I got the wrong strain of the flu vaccine. Interestingly, I heard from several readers last week. One of them is Peter G.

In Peter's own words:

I "accidentally" found your blog packed with very interesting toy subjects, bravo ! 

I build large RC metal steamboats from scratch, and also (when time permits) restore antique steam boat toys for customers. I always loved steamboats, maybe partly thanks to a cruise, when I was, aboard famous "France". We lived not far from Lake Geneva (Switzerland); this clearly sealed my passion for the paddle steamers. In 1975, I was a 10 year old kid, and we used to build and fly RC planes with my father. The transition to building RC (Radio Controlled) steamboats was obvious to me.

    Peter also answered some questions that I asked of him. Building and restoring model paddlewheelers is his hobby.  He also builds models "from scratch" , meaning mostly everything is made with his own hands! Each model painstakingly takes between 2500 - 4000 hours of work - WOW!

    The model below is from a collector who asked Peter to restore it. , and "allowing him to do it the way Peter wanted"! " A collectorI know had bought this Carette and then realized it was in such a poor state, he realized that he  wanted the toy to be restored.

  "Of course, if a toy has a few scratches and is in decent shape, a collector will keep it as is, and eventually get the missing parts replaced (very hard to find) or rebuild. I had to get this old greasy toy to bare metal, disassemble, repair, and straighten it all up, then start rebuilding. I didn't go to the "like new" level, as I thought this toy would tell a better story the way I went"

Below are some photos of  before and after the restoration.

Peter certainly has his hands full to restore this model! The "Unterwalden" is a ship that Peter built, and you can see later in a YouTube video below.

    For myself, writing this post was a pleasure, as well as learning a little bit about radio-controlled RC) steamboats, paddle boats, and their restoration.  It was also a great introduction to this fascinating world of restoring model ships!

The Magical Talent of Christopher Ferrone

Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Sunny with Clouds
+7 C 44.6 F

The Magical Talents

of Christopher Ferrone

A few years ago, I received a letter from Mr. Christopher Ferrone with some nice photos of a refurbished and restored toy. I thanked Christopher for the photos and naturally, I added a post about him and his super skills at toy restoration. From time to time, I receive "surprises" in my e-mail account from Christopher.  Each time, I am more and more impressed with his mastery of toy restoration, and even metamorphosing old toys into new designs.

Christopher happens to be president of Americoach Systems, Inc., which also is affiliated  with the Chicago Sightseeing Company, and I'm sure is owned by Christopher. Chris not only has the sight-seeing company, but I decided to check up on him for writing purposes. I discovered that he has a location where he also repairs and maintains his fleet of sightseeing busses. Aha! So that's where he got his skills to be able to make such nice toys.

Today's toy happens to be a Canadian-made Lincoln toy toy truck

from the 1950's. Lincoln toys were well made and included both trucks and farm toys.

The toys were produced by Milner Metal Products t6hat was located in Windsor,  & Tilbury,Ontario, Canada.

All photos copyright  © 2018 by Mr. Christopher Ferrone.

Please do not copy without his written permission.

The toy truck was separated in the middle.

Chris wanted to add a centre elevation

to the middle of the truck.

Below is a photo of the newly-installed

centre of the truck.

The toy was sandblasted to remove

all of the old paint. A paint primer was then 

sprayed over the exposed pressed steel.

The primed parts were then sprayed with a

finishing coat of bright red paint.

The parts were then assembled together.

The old 1950's truck was changed into a 

beautiful retro fire truck.

So that's it for today,

Thanks for dropping by,

And have a great day or evening.

Stacey Bindman

Toysearcher@gmail.com

To Restore or Not to, That is the Question

Tuesday, October 18 2016

Overcast and Raining

23 Celsius 74 Fahrenheit

To Restore or Not to Restore,

That is the Question.

A reader by the name of Mr. Matt Lee has been e-mailing me, and we have been corresponding. 

He was asking several questions. One was where he might get replacement parts for his toy, and the other was whether or not to restore the toy.

It's always a question of what you want to do with the toy. If you plan to save it,then go ahead and restart it. If not, and you plan to resell the toy, then leave the toy alone - do not restore.

Mr. Matt Lee

Description:

Wyandotte pressed steel camper travel trailer.

Circa 1930's

Dimension : L x W :  11" x 5"  279 mm x 127 mm

I believe that this Wyandotte trailer is the larger trailer. There is also a smaller trailer measuring 5" (125 mm)  in length.

This trailer came together with a car.

The car was longer than the trailer.

Above:

 THe photo above shows the problem.The 2 rubber tires have either dried out, or the toy was placed near a heat source that eventually damaged the tires over time. In order to replace the 2 tires, you would have to cut the axle, replace the axle,then measure the axle, then cut it to its' proper length. You would then have to hammer the end float in order to avoid the rubber tires falling off, as the end of the unhammered axle could slip out of its' hole on the side of the trailer.le

Above:

This hammer is called a peen hammer. The rounded hammer head is used to flatten the axle. The reason for using this head is because it won;t damage the trailer body if used properly. The flat end of the hammer hear will damage the trailer side body.

I did find on ebay several of the smaller Wyandotte toys (car and trailer) for sale, as well as one in "as is" condition.

So that leaves us with the question  

to restore or not to restore - that is the question.

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

A Swedish Toy Collector Contacts Me

Saturday, July 2, 2016
Cloudy with rain
17 degrees Celcius (62 degrees Fahrenheit)

A Swedish Toy Collector Contacts Me

Part II

I periodically receive e-mail from my readers accompanied with photos. When I received a recent e-mail from Mr. Mano Forsman, I naturally had to ask permission to use his photos of his excellent restoration of an Airflow toy. 

"Good Evening Stacey,

Thank you for your kind words.

Glad you liked the pictures.

Absolutely you can use my photos and my name.

Here shortly about me.

Born 1946 in Vasa in Finland, moved 1967 to Örnsköldsvik Sweden. Retired Techcnical Illustrator/Artist. In 50s and 60s car restorations since mid 1960s. 

In Jukebox (AMI-58) restorations since late 1980s. In old tin toy cars since early 2000s. Nice original ones but real difficult restorations fires me up.

Here one of my toughest one. Alps Packard, got in a real poor condition. These toys was really made of quality steel!  Rear bumper, hood ornament, rear tail lights and deck lid ornament was all new made. Maybe not like new, but better than before. And was saved. 

Enclosed here also:

Our daily driver to day, Opel Olympia delivery 1957.

Also some about my recent restoration of our long time Eldorado 1963.

If you GOOGLE search on Mano Forsman Art Album, you will find some of my drawings and paintings.

Hope you enjoy.

Kind regards Mano"

Mr. Mano Forsman

As you can see, Mano has done a fine job with the restoration. The first step involves bringing down the rust from the old toy. Secondly, once the bare metal is exposed, an auto paint primer is applied. Auto body filler is applied to fill in the heavier indentations from extensive rust pitting. Later on, the car parts with the auto body filler are buffed to a fine finish.

This toy is a Japanese-made Kuramochi/Kosuge Chrysler Airflow, 

probably from the late 1930's-early 1940's

You  can easily compare below the "before" and "after" photos to see the extensive work

 that Mano has done to this toy.

And finally the finished and restorers toy!

That's it for part I of a 3-part series from Mr. Mano Forsman. 

The final result looks great and a lot of work went into this restoration

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or not,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

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

A Reader Brings Me Back to Writing

Thursday, May 6, 2015
Sunny and Warm

A Reader Brings Me Back to Writing

   If you're a regular reader to my blog, you'll have noticed that I haven't written anything new in many months.  The main reason is that try as I may, readership hasn't increased at all in the last year.  I joined Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,  all in hopes to broaden my exposure in the world - all to no avail. 

   So when I stopped writing,  hardly anything changed. There was some drop in readership, most likely from my regular readers (thank you everyone), but I still manage toy received about 200-350 page views per day regardless. Secondly, I find that Google really doesnl;t do much to increase readership either, aside from placing me at the top of their Google search lists when a search is done. However, this happens in most other search engines.  If I want broader exposure I would have to pay Google, which I won't. I don't earn anything from writing (Google would like me to sign up for Adsense- again no way!). For those who don't know, Adsense is one of the ways that Google makes money. Signing up for this would have Google place all kinds of ads  on my pages. Of course, I  would get paid, but again, with low readership,  it would takes months or even years to earn a few dollars! So why bother to have ads plastered all over my blog!

   Anyway, I have still been receiving mail from readers, and have been answering them.  Mr. Christopher W. Ferrone write me earlier this week and send me his latest creation. Christopher is the owner of Americoach Systems, Inc.- a diverse company that specializes in all facts of transportation for people (bus). Christopher's website is quite interesting, and he has lots of fine buses that are quite fine inside and out.

   Christopher also likes to restore and modernize toys, and he's sent me several examples of toys that he has made. So when I saw his latest toy, I just had to get back to writing. I won't be writing like I used to (almost every day), but will try to write!

The toy below is an original Ty-Nee-Tot toy. I haven;t heard of this particular manufacturer, so naturally, my interest has perked, and I'll have to do some research.

I like to place e toys against a white background. There wasn't anything wrong with Christopher's photos, but placing toys against what illustrates the toy and its' parts best.

What Christopher did was to add a nice dumpster to the toy and also added a crimped wire to the front so children could easily pull the toy.

What I like about Christopher's creations is that he sometimes transforms them into his own design and creation. In this case, not only is there the hand-operated dumpster  that rotates, and the crimped wire at the front for pulling, but there are also added wheels and axles to carry the extra load.  He's even added backup  and brake lights via decals.

In the image below, you can see than the inner container part is a different material from the nice metal  exterior.  That exterior looks like the quality floor material that you see inside some companies offices,, as well as floors inside some  trucks that are used for better footing for drivers who load trucks.

INn the photo below, you can see how the liner has been screwed carefully into 

that nice exterior part of the truck dumpster. 

I don't know how Christopher finds the time to create these "gems", when he has to run his comp;any, but he does.  If  Christopher is married and has children, I'm sure his kids had lots of fun growing up with his creations. I'd ask Chris for a "sample", but for sure, my wife would be not be happy. She already thinks I have the mind of an 8 year old (I'm 66), and I don't need to provide her with any more proof. For sure, I'd be playing with Christopher's fine toys.

So welcome back everyone, thank you Christopher for encouraging me to start writing again, and have a great day to all.

Stacey

toysdearcher@gmail.com