Toystorations

Friday, January 6, 2022                                    -6 C    21.2 F                            Cloudy with Flurries

I'm always surprised whenever I receive an e-mail.  I never know who, from where they live, what they do, and what's their interest in toys. 

This always reminds me of the great movie Forest Gump, when he says to a person sitting on a seat at a bus station stop.

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are gonna get"

  And so it came to be when I received an e-mail from Justin who has a great website on YouTube©2022. You absolutely have to visit his website because he has a great skill at restoring these old toys!

Justin's website can be viewed at the address below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldq_ZldjlNs

Justin happens to be a toy collector who has a great skill of restoring old toys. He was writing to me because he has a toy that he was restoring, but couldn't find out who manufactured the toy, and when it would have been made. So he wrote to me. I did some searching but couldn't find out the information that he sought out. SO, I asked Justin if I might use his photos that he sent me, and correspondingly write a blog post for him. He said yes, and thus came to be today's post.

Whoa!

You can certainly see what a craftsperson Justin is!!!!!!

If you've ever searched through my blog, you would have come across a few of my "restorations". 

Mine were very simple, so I can really appreciate what Justin has done from what was a "total wreck"to start off with!

I'll ask Justin if he does restorations for other people, or 

he just prefers to restore toys out of the pleasure that he gets. 

I hope that most of you have received your Covid-19 vaccinations, as well as the booster.  Up here in Montreal (Quebec, Canada), our hospitals are filled to capacity with people who have got sick from the virus. Worst of all, there are close to 12,000 hospital workers of all professions who are at home from either having got the virus or are just overcome with the virus, stress, or sadness from the people who have passed on.

As always,

Thanks for dropping by

And have a great day, wherever you may be.

You can always reach me at:

Toysearcher@gmail.com

                             

Chip Channel Restorations

Thursday, November 26, 2021 

Overcast with drizzle 

3C 36 F

Chip Channel Restoration

      Several weeks ago, I was doing a search for toys, when I saw a search result for Chip Channel Restoration. I had no idea what this search result was, but when I clicked on the link, I was awestruck. The link that had taken me to YouTube, whereupon, I had discovered someone who had a site, where he restored toys back to their original condition.But not just any condition, but to a condition that looked like the toy had just come off the assembly line!

        

Each new video on YouTube begins with a tow truck pulling the toy that will be restored on the episode. If you copy and paste the address below into your internet address rectangle you will be redirected to Chip'sYoutube website. "Chip" prefer's to remain anonymous, hence he asked me to use his pseudonym "Chip". 

Below is the web address (URL) for Chip Channel Restoration.

You'll have to copy and paste the address in order to 

redirect to Chip's YouTube website.

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR9GdLIOAGY

        

In the case of this video restoration, the old toy is a:

1954 Tonka Mobile Fire Department 

MFD Ladder Truck

As you clearly see, the fire truck is in a bad shape, 

and is in need of a big restoration.

When starting out, all parts of the fire truck are disassembled very carefully.

 Parts are also checked for lead, and I 

think these parts are replaced with non-leaded new parts.

Even small parts are replaced if they are in poor condition.

If a part is very rusted, a file will be used to 

grind off the damaged part.

Then a # 600 fine sandpaper on a

rotary sander is used to smooth out any rough parts. 

Towards the end, a fine buffing is used to shine metallic and plated parts.

Parts are all sandblasted to remove old paint and rust.

A primer or undercoating is now applied to all

parts before the new paint is applied.

The final stage involves painting, and

a powdered form of paint is used. 

I think an electrostatic process is used to apply paint

to the toy parts. I say this because the paint below is in the form of a powder.

Below is the truck in the state that it was purchased.

Below are different photographs to show  the quality restoration that

was done to bring back theses toys to superb shape.

Even decals are researched for the original truck, 

and are then custom-made to finish the restoration. 

Material for a back textured metallic plate was

found in order to replace what was originally there

and in poor condition.

 

Finished parts are assembled towards the 

final stages of the restoration.

Then the re-plated metal parts are all finished to a beautiful shine,

they are then re-attached to the assorted different painted parts

of the fire truck.

Finally, the truck is now finished,

It most certainly looks just like it would have been 67 years ago!!!!

Chip certainly is a master craftsman! 

I don't know where Chips finds the time to do his restorations. 

He told me that he works 50 hours in his job profession.

He most certainly dedicated and very much likes what

he does in his spare time to toys from a past time!

I've just "touched on" what Chip does!

His YouTube videos are about and hour and more,

and he very thoroughly shows the viewer

how toys are properly and excellently restored to

what they would have looked like when they were

originally purchased.

Now that's true dedication and a labour of love!

Thanks for dropping by, and as usual, 

I can be reached at

toysearcher@gmail.com

Have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

        

        

Another Fine Restoration of an old Keystone Toy

Monday, October 22, 2018
Clear skies and Sunny
7 C  43 F

Another Fine restoration

of an Old Keystone Toy

     I was chatting with Mr. Christopher Ferrone last week.  Chris is a successful businessman in the bus industry. However, one of his hobbies, for those who don't know, is taking old toys and restoring them with modifications. Being in the bus industry, Chris's company has lots of machinery to repair busses. What Chris does is to use this machinery to create his "masterpieces".

    His latest masterpiece is an old Keystone riding truck (circa 1940's) that was in good body shape, but quite rusted. Chris sandblasted this riding toy, and metamorphosed (changed) it into a superb steam-shovel/truck riding toy.  

As you can see, this toy is in very good condition. It even has its' rubber tires and wheels.

Below:

Chris decided to change the riding truck into a riding stream-shovel truck. You can see how much work that Chris put into designing, and then machining the new parts. He also did a fantastic job in  sandblasting and priming the old rusted and new parts.

Below: The Finished New Toy

This certainly is a fantastic new toy. It looks brand new! ALso, the toy can be ridden or it can be pushed. Notice that there are 2 handles on this toy. One for a small child when seated on the to of the steam-shovel  cabin, and another at the end of the steam-shovel grey part, which would be used to push the toy.

Chris even added a new "old" Keystone label 

in the back of the truck cab.

I did some restorations on smaller toys, but never did I do such

exhaustive and quality work as Chris. I just wonder where he finds the time to

create his wonderful toys!

Thanks for dropping by,

And as always,

Have a great part of the day or evening,

Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Talented Toy Maker (Chris Ferrone)

Thursday, September 14, 2018
Sunny and Clear Skies
25 C  77 F

The Talented Toy Maker

(Mr.) Chris Ferrone

I have been in contact with Mr. Chris Ferrone for more than a year. Chris is the president of 

Americoach Systems, Inc. (Specialized Transport Technology, Safety, Management and Logistics), located in Chicago, Illinois (USA). When Chris is not managing his fine company, he likes to search for old toys, from which he "regenerates" then into new composite creations.

In His Own Words:

"Hi Stacey

hope your summer is winding down nicely !!

here are some photos of my latest toy

the cab was from a broken Ty-Nee-Tot, by maplecrest truck

the mixer body was from a broken structo truck

I have blended them together to make a new toy

the scale of the two trucks was just right to make the composite toy look proportional

I hope you like it

thanks

Chris"

    As you can see, Chris's  composite toy turned out to be a great play toy for any child. I'm sure that he uses his company's "real tools" for his fine bus coaches to be able to restore this fine toy. And as always, I've never been disappointed!

If you do a search on my blog for "Chris Ferrone", you will find the many posts that I have had the pleasure in writing about.

Thanks for dropping by,

And as always,

Have a great time of the day or night,

Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

Toysearcher@gmail.com