15 replies to this topic

[Pablo]

On walks with my dogs, I find lost toys all the time - I take 'em home and scrub 'em up.

This Hot Wheels aircraft was half buried in beach sand

 

 

The owner of this tin car moved away and left it oxidizing in the grass.

I gave it a 3 day waiting period then commandeered it as salvage rights

 

 

Sweet design and paint job, eh ?

 

 

 

Some day a kid will visit and I can gift them. This one needs some cleanup and a refurb.

It's an interesting design and is billed as a noise maker as opposed to a running car.

But it does run - spin the centrifugal (?) flywheel (?) gear system up manually, then let 'er rip.

 

 

After I straightened the gears and re-positioned the noise maker spring action clip, it runs pretty good.

On it's first test run on my workbench it flew right off the edge onto the carpet, taking my spacers box and some brass bits along with it

 

Front axle holder on right side is broken - looks like a broken solder joint ? If so, it came to the right place for a fix

 

[Bill from NH]

PdL collects tin toys.

[Cheater]

Nothing this new, though.

[Pablo]

His have probably never been played with - mine got "rode hard put away wet" and had grass growing up around it - barn finds in miniature.

Any special techniques to soldering tin, or is it a no-brainer? Could be the first refurb to take me less than a month?

[Pablo]

Chassis is bent bad. No wonder the kid abandoned it - front axle out of commission, gears bent, noise maker misaligned, handling gone

 

 

Dremel carbon steel wire wheel will remove the rust patches and polish the tin nicely.

 

[Bill from NH]

These tin friction cars come in at least five different paint schemes. Their retail price is $5.99 US.

[Pablo]

Chinese drive train is a clever design consisting of four gears and a flywheel device.

After some TLC, a cleaning and a lube job, it's working nice

 

 

 

[Pablo]

Front axle holders repaired - 60/40 solder jumps gaps well

 

[Pablo]

Done. Track test (dining room floor) results:

Noise: good - a 3 year old would be fascinated for a few seconds

Speed: unimpressive, but acceleration is good for a few inches

Handling: perfect - goes straight for 3 feet

 

Once tin is bent out of it's original shape, it's toast. Seam between the two halves will never be true again.

I made a weak attempt to dress it up with Pactra trim tape and called it good

 

 

Conclusion: the only right way to play with tin toys is leave them in the original box for at least 40 years

Next one I find, I'll just hit it with some WD 40 and put it on the shelf

[Bill from NH]

$5.99 will get you a new one. Sounds as if they're sold by their fancy paint jobs, rather than based on their performance.

[Phil Smith]

They run $54 on Amazon: Schylling tin plate car friction powered design 4

[Bill from NH]

I went to the Schylling website on the bottom of Pablo's car. 

[Pablo]

$6 plus $5.25 shipping from Massachusetts. That's, what, about a 600% mark-up?

[Phil Smith]

Wow! You're right: Tin Friction Cars
 
Schylling is the seller on Amazon. I looked at some of their other toys listed on Amazon and they seen to be priced the same as they are on Schylling's website. So I imagine the Amazon price is a typo.
 
Cool car for $6! I may get some for my grandkids.

[Pablo]

New beach find. Skiploader? No mechanical problems, so I simply washed it and added it to my collection. 

 

 

Maybe my toy fleet will give a smile to a child again - for a few minutes until they break or lose it. 

[Bill from NH]

You're getting "shelf queens" you didn't have to build.