Thursday, December 24, 2020
8C (46.6 F)

Mr. Christopher Ferrone Sends me
a Christmas Present  in the Form of
His Latest Creation

     I haven't been posting for the longest time, so I was pleasantly surprised when Christopher Ferrone sent me his lastest creation. If you haven't read my blog, Christopher has sent me lots of his creations in 
the past. He happens to be the president of  Americoach Systems Inc. in Glenview, Illinois, USA.  He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering, so I can see where he gets his talent from.

He discovered my blog, and started to send me his marvelous toy creations, and so as they say "the rest is history". I don't know how he finds the time to create such fantastic work, but he does.  His latest work of art is a fire engine, and I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

        As you can plainly see, his work is very exceptional. He's able to visualize what he wants to do, and from there, he goes along making his toys.  Sometimes he takes old toys and works with them, and at other times, he'll take an old toy and remodel it to what he has in mind.

So that's it for today.

I'm a bit rusty at writing, from not having posted in a while,

but I hope that in the New Year I will get back to writing.

I'm always happy to have people send me photos, along with a narrative about their creations or old toys that they have come upon.

 Please take care of yourselves and your family during these very difficult and trying times. It's not the time to let your guard down, and with several pharmaceutical companies now having been approved to make the Covid-19 vaccine, hopefully, we all will be vaccinated.

Time will only tell when all of us will have received the vaccine,

but there is a shing light at the end of the tunnel.

In closing, 

I would like to wish each and every one of you, my readers

a Merry Christmas, and a very healthy and Happy New Year.

Sincerely,

Stacey Bindman

December 24, 2020

Hey Ma! Christopher is making more toys!!!

Saturday, April 23, 2020
Sunny with clouds
1 C  34 F

Hey Ma!

Christopher is Making More Toys

A few days ago, I had seen. one of my posts of Christopher Ferrone. The blog post

came up because I was searching for something. I hadn't written Chris in several years, and so this was one of those "eureka moments"! I wrote to Christopher and asked how everything was, including his family. All was well. Wouldn't you know it, that about 20 minutes later, he had sent me photos of one of his latest projects. I resized his photos, added the copyright notice to them, and then created a blog post.

So? What happened today? I get 3 e-mails from Chris for one of his next projects. It's to be a fire engine. This time, he has 2 different toys that he will dismantle and reconstruct for a brand new toy of an old large firetruck with its' long  with its' long  "rear mount". That's what that long part of the firetruck is called directly behind the truck itself. What impressed me most was the large file sizes that I received.The photos were taken with his cell phone.  I dislike telling anyone that I don't have a cellphone. She says I need one, and I think she thinks I'm a dinosaur!

The photo below is of a 1940's-early 1950's truck and rear mount.

A New Fire Engine Under Construction

Part 1

In this stage, Chris is going to use 2 different toys. He's going to dismantle them and then make the newer toy from the parts of the original 2 toys. You can see the progress from the image below. They are positioned (top to bottom) in the  stages of the dismantlement.

Part II

In this stage, Christopher is priming the toys with grey primer. Notice how he carefully places the parts, so that he will be able to assemble them easily. I don't think that Chris draws up plans for his new designs. I'm sure with the experience that Chris has,  he can imagine in his head how the truck will look.

In the picture above, you can see that he's starting to assemble the new truck and 

rear mount from parts of both toys.

Below, the new truck portion of the toy is getting a priming job.

I've stopped here for now because Chris still has

more work to do on this latest toy. I'll wait

until he sends me more photos,

so please stay tuned.

So have a great part of the day or night,

and please watch out, there's a horrific disease out there,

and you want to be healthy.

Stacey Bindman

Contact me anytime at:

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

Aero1Toys

Sunday, May 25, 2014
   A Beautiful Late Spring Day
             Sunny & Warm


   I always find coincidences "interesting" for lack of a better word (for now). I received an e-mail yesterday from Mr. John Armstrong. He's a fine toy builder who is on Etsy. For those who don't know, Etsy is a very interesting website for artists and craftspeople who make things with their hands.  Sometimes they even have antique toys for sale. In the case of John, he builds wood toys for children.

  The coincidence was that John wrote to comment about how I was as I wasn't blogging quite so often recently, while  at he same time, my wife and I were having to figure out what to do with out staircase that leads from our sunroom to the patio.  Both are hands-on work working with wood.

 The staircase is one of my spring projects, and I've probably replaced almost 80% of  it. The problem is that living in Quebec, the weather is extreme. Consequently even with cedar, pressure-treated wood, and high-quality paint, the wood will rot! Also, since the staircase was built when wood dimensions were exact (e.g. a 2" x 4" x 10' was exactly 2" x 4" x 10') as recently as 1992, my "repairs" have made the staircase totally out of proportion. Treads and risers are all sizes, and the staircase tilts.  A 2" x 4" x 10' now is really a 1 3/4" x 3 3/4" x 10'.

  And so, I decided that "this was it", and I'd be hiring a carpenter to do the work! I had removed 2 entire steps and supports, bought lots of wood, and the "final straw" was when a 2" x 8" x 10' pressure-treated piece of wood smashed my windshield, after I closed the trunk of my car. That wasn't yet the end. The top of the staircase had carpenter ants or flying ants. So my wife changed her mind several times. Replace some steps, rebuild the entire staircase, remove the entire staircase, and back again to just replace some steps.  The even bigger problem is our sunroom - a huge project! 

  So when John wrote, I know I had an introduction for today's post. When I went to visit Aero1Toys on Etsy, I was very pleasantly surprised.  The cars and engines now have nice decals that John prints out, and then seals them with a water-based poly to protect the toys and decals from scratches.

 Please click here to visit John's fine store on Etsy

Please click here to vista my original introductory post to John Armstrong's fine toys

#5205 GOLIATH locomotive

Inspired by the HUGE steam locomotives of the 1940s, at the end of the steam-powered era, GOLIATH is my largest and most powerful locomotive. This engine is all business, and with a smooth, crisp, Art Deco look.

The GOLIATH is painted with the markings of the A.B.C. & X.Y.Z. Railroad. The A.B.C. & X.Y.Z. of course being the Atlanta, Burlington, Chicago and Xenia, Youngstown, Zanesville Railroad.

The body of the engine is 6 ½ inches long and the body of the tender is 3 ½ inches long. Total length of the set (including fasteners) is 11 inches long. The wheels for GOLIATH are specially chosen for their dark, smoky look. As large as it is, GOLIATH will still interact nicely with all my other train cars.

Part of a line of traditional floor trains. These trains are slightly larger than, and do not interact with foreign manufactured train sets, such as Thomas and Brio, that require wooden tracks. The cars are connected with a hook and loop system. This permits longer trains to be made up and when played with can make a pleasant “clicking” sound, reminiscent of real railroad cars.

WARNING: Choking Hazard, small parts. Not for children under three years of age.

Like all trains of this size and type, these trains are not recommended for children under three years of age due to the use of small parts, which may pose a choking hazard. Any finishes used are lead free.

I decided to select the Goliath # 5205 locomotive  description and present that as a representative example for the description of most of John's railway engines and cars.

John takes lots of nice photographs of his merchandise. In keeping with my recent presentations, I removed John's coloured backgrounds and placed the toys on white.

The 5141 Ice Cream Car

Total length (4" including the fastener).

The actual car length is 3" long x 2 1/8" tall  (76 mm x 54 mm)

I like the bright selection of colours for these toys.

# 5101 Coal Car

Total length with fastener or metal eyelet:   4"  102mm

 Length x Height:  3" x  1 5/8"  ( 76 mm x 42 mm)

#592 Open Box Car

Total length with fastener or metal eyelet:   4"  102mm

The actual car length is 3" long x 2 1/8" tall  (76 mm x 54 mm)

# 5223 Soybean Car

Total length (4" including the fastener).

The actual car length is 3" long x 2 1/8" tall  (76 mm x 54 mm)

 # 5113 Egg Car

Total length (4" including the fastener).

The actual car length is 3" long x 2 1/8" tall  (76 mm x 54 mm)

# 5124 Water Car

Total length (4" including the fastener).

The actual car length is 3" long x 2 " tall  (76 mm x 51 mm)

# 5232 Orange Car

Total length (4" including the fastener).

The actual car length is 3" long x 2 1/8" tall  (76 mm x 54 mm)

# 5118 Oil Tank Car

Total length (4" including the fastener).

The actual car length is 3" long x 2 " tall  (76 mm x 51 mm)

#5122 Livestock Car

Total length (4" including the fastener).

The actual car length is 3" long x 2 1/8" tall  (76 mm x 54 mm)

John's most recent toys are still the same shape, but now they have more decals that present the many different variety of cars that one sees if you live near a railroad track.

Now if I might just invite John up here to Montreal to work on those steps!

My steps are just a "bit" larger than these fine toys, aren't they?

And I have some fence work to redo also!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com