Tin Car Rescue
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- Опубліковано 21 жов 2024
- These old Japanese tinplate cars were given to me as gifts when I was a child. It's time to show them some love and restore them for display.
In this episode (there'll be more than one) I dismantle the cars, soda blast the paint off the sheetmetal parts, remove the rust, knock out some dents and powdercoat the body and roof panels.
Hi Mark. During this restoration did you speak to your 10 year old self and say “be careful when playing with those cars! If you don’t it will haunt you!” 🥴
Such an engaging and enjoyable watch. Thank you. 👏👏👍😀
When you mentioned the noise driving your mother up the wall I felt proud that I never gave my sisters kids any toy designed to make noise.
Very nice! Brings back a LOT of memories of that time and those cars. Also, I very much enjoy your wildlife clips!
Excellent project and video Mark. Looking forward to the end result. Sadly I don’t have any toys from my childhood. As I had a younger brother all my stuff was pasted on to him. Cheers Nobby
Great job. Just like a full size car restoration only in miniature.
I once had aspirations to do a real car restoration but sanity prevailed and I pulled back from that particular money pit.
Regards,
Mark
Good one,Mark
We’re never done playing with our toys
Thanks for sharing the process and information
Thanks Dean. I still have a toy air rifle that is about 1/2 the size of a regular rifle. It has a lever action that pulls a piston back in a chamber that compresses air when it fires. It used to make smoke and had a rotary mechanism that created a ricochet sound when fired. I restored it about 25 years ago and gave it to my son. He had great fun with it but left it in the long grass one day and I ran over it with the mower. A second restoration ensued (as well as some bad language) but I still have it. It's all made from sheet metal. I suspect it would be not particularly well received as a gift anymore but I won't be disposing of it.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 great story, Mark, I had a similar one when I was a kid. In fact, all us kids had them we’d strap them to our bikes they went with us everywhere. Things were sure different than. It was a great time to be a kid.
ATB Cheers….
I can recall taking tin toys apart in my youth and finding the inside painted with all sorts of bright colors and strange writing. They were trying to get whatever they could out of the material they had on hand.
I was born in 1951. I well remember cheap tin toys from Japan, that had been stamped from sheet metal that had been recovered from tin cans. I recall disassembling a toy and recognizing that it had been made from an empty "Bugler" tobacco tin. It's possible that the tin was "liberated" from the trash of an American military base doing post-war occupation duty.
Well done Mark, a difficult job that required plenty of patience and skill. If only we could look ahead when we were kids and look after things a bit better.
I am honestly surprised that these two cars had remained in our possession for so long. My wife and I generally de-clutter at least once a year and anything that hasn't seen the light of day during that 12 months usually ends up on the roadside for others to take.
Regards,
Mark
What a great vehicle for demonstrating some metal restoring and finishing techniques. 😊 Great stuff and thank you!
Thanks Stuart. Up until about 10 years ago I had considered the cars to be un-restorable but being able to powdercoat and metal plate at home gave me the opportunity to make them look presentable.
Regards,
Mark
A labor (well labour) of love!
Another great video Mark. I'm always fascinated by the projects you come up with, and the care and attention you put into everything you do.
Mark back in the 1950's and 1960's my father worked as a mechanic for ford. Back then if you bought a new car they gave you a toy car that looked just like the one you bought sometimes in a different color but the same year and make. Back then by working there he was able to collect the hole set. And the license plate number was the year the car was made. The size of the toy cars was close to the ones you have. As kids my brother and me were not aloud to play with them. When he passed away i got the hole collection and they still look just as good as the day they were made. I keep all of them in a shadow box hanging on my wall.
Wow! That would make for a wonderful collection. I went to a toy museum in Wanaka, New Zealand just recently and they had display cases full of all manner of tinplate toys. All the old and original ones were a bit worn and damaged. It would be quite special to own some from that era that are still in mint condition.
Regards,
Mark
I'm torn apart. I like it with patina same as restored. Great work anyway!
I understand. I knew I would not be able to make them look original and pristine. Sometimes it's about halting the corrosion and decay. I am not sure if you have watched the excellent series of videos about the Tally-Ho project. www.youtube.com/@SampsonBoatCo
The project concerns the restoration of a classic sailing vessel and the owner of the channel and the project had to confront the challenge of how to preserve the boat but still make it a working sail vessel. As it turns out, he completely rebuilt the boat using about 95% of new materials. He often struggled with the notion of whether it was still actually the same boat when it was launched.
Regards,
Mark
Might i remind all folks that Mark has amazing tutorials on metal finishing/plating on his channel so go ahead, learn you bleeep off!
Thanks for that. Much appreciated.
Regards,
Mark
Great video to view and wait for the finish, Thanks :)
Gday Preso, brilliant job as always mate, keen to see the next episode, cheers
Thanks Matty. Wait until you see the new project which is currently sitting on my bench in a big box. I think it's the most ambitious project I have taken on in a long time.
Regards,
Mark
Save a few parts from an Erector set, NONE of my childhood toys survived! Way too many wrecks, explosions, etc. At least in the toy train world, these things were called "tinplate." Made by many manufacturers such as Marx (German I think). Anyway, you're the first guy I know that had tried to restore any! Looking forward to more video from The Master! Thanks, mate!!
Another great little project Mark. Nice work.
Nice video and resto. I was brought up as a Ford guy but that A pillar stumped me too. Thanks for sharing.❤
Your plating and powder coating episodes are always fascinating. Thanks for sharing!
Not corrosion. They are metal eating worms. They arrive in water. 😂
Mark, you and I are from similar eras although I think am some what older (i'm 82) so I know these post-war japannese toys well. Unfortunatly, none of mine survived my investigations into their engineering and production processes. I do rememer that the inside surfaces often retained the coatings applied for the metal's original use - usually beer or food advertising.
That is quite an ambitious project. I think you’re doing a great job. 👍🏻
Those are so cool, I still have my dads airplane toy with the same style drive as those, his was from the 1950's. Its in really good shape as he was super careful with his toys as a kid & he kept them away from me as I wanted to take everything apart growing up😄.
Amazing work, great discussion
I remember you telling me you like to mix it up a bit, well you certainly have with this little project. I also remember as a child getting a toy machine gun with a rotary trigger that gave it a rather annoying firing sound, it suddenly disappeared later that day, and when it reappeared it no longer made a noise, dear old dad had had enough, and modified it. Unfortunately, my parent's house had a deep dive in the 1974 floods in Brisbane and anything that remained from my childhood went with the rest of the contents of the house. Maybe a coat of clear lacquer may have perked up those internal parts.
I am pretty sure that the "modification" of annoying toys is standard operating procedure for parents everywhere. Losing childhood memories in floods and fires must be heartbreaking. Personally, I think fires are the worst. They tend to obliterate everything.
Regards,
Mark
Very cool project, Mark! I have my Dad’s tinplate Lionel and Marx trains. I love how they look, and these cars are fantastic. The detail is amazing considering the simplicity of the technology.
Great work so far mate, well done on
nice project.
cheers
ben
I have done up a lot of Meccano but never a tin toy, I've panel beaten them but never painted. A useful trick with tinplate is using a curved piece of brass to burnish creases by putting the tinplate on a sheet of hard rubber, its a good way to retain the original paint as much as possible. I look forward to your plating I've never done it but has some jobs that need it.
I tried to burnish out some of the creases. I found it really hard to actually see how the metal was moving around. I think those guys that do the paintless dent removal do a fantastic job. Those lights with the parallel lines must help to see where the deformation is still evident.
Regards,
Mark
Very cool a man of many talents great vid 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I have a toy car of the same size, that belonged to my dad. It's from around 1950. It was made in 'US zone Germany', a part of Germany was under control of the US post WW II. This car has a fictional brand 'Format Arnold', and is clearly inspired from different cars of that era. I also suspect to avoid legal issues.
This car also needs some fixing up, although not as much as yours. The metal seems quite a bit thicker, and has no dents. If I ever find the time to start working on this, your video will surely be a good help and inspiration.
Looking forward to see the next video and the end result with newly chromed parts.
Greeting from the Netherlands,
Peter
I thought it would be relatively straightforward to identify the make and model of both cars but I must say I was surprised to find out that they were really a sort of blend of two different cars. I recall watching a television drama about post war Germany and how the occupied zones were divided up amongst the Russians, the Americans and the British. It seems quite bizarre really. Spoiler alert, I ended up chickening out and zinc plating the bright metal parts. Mainly because zinc plating is a bit more forgiving on dodgy substrates.
Regards,
Mark
Mark, these cars reminded of the movie “Back to the future”, when Michael J Fox went to the past, and almost unalived himself. Though these cars are a few years younger than those in the movie.
I have never done any powder coating of any sort, I take anything I need doing to my local guy, also Mark, who blasts and coats them, and I give him some beer tokens. Talking to him, I understand that sharp edges, creases, and tight corners for instance cause the static electrical field to distort in such a way that it's difficult to make the powder stick, as its attracted to areas where the static charge is greater.
That is correct. Narrow channels and undercuts are notoriously difficult. Eastwood do sell a dual voltage gun which is more adaptable to the difficult areas.
Regards,
Mark
Hey Mark, Blue one is definitely a 1960 Ford Starliner, with the wrong 1/4 window. 1961 the stepped boot or truck was charged back to a flat side fin with round taillights same as Aussie XM Falcon.
Cheers preso
I just wanted to say that I really enjoy your videos
Thanks. I am glad you like the content. It makes me want to continue.
Regards,
Mark
I saw a video of a guy powder coating jig lures where he heated the metal lure and then dunked it in a fluidized bed of powder coat paint. This technique may solve the problem of the powder coat not sticking at the edges.
The part that were hard to cover was probably because of the way the power flowed throw the part!its like when it hits the part its been pushed away instead of be pulled in like two magnetic feilds pushing away
Id wager the trouble with getting the powder on is mostly due to the shape of the bent metal, although im not sure of any tricks to remedy that. If youre applying it hot, you could try heating the part with a heat gun rather than the oven. Obviously it would blow off the powder if you heat it after applying it, but i think it would give you more time to switch to the powder applicator before it cools completely since you wouldnt have to move it. Lastly, and this is a bit of a long shot with no real experience, but you might be able to stick some thicker metal stock, or even a fire brick or something, on the back of the part, or even nearby, to absorb some heat and keep it warm for longer. The thinness of these parts is probably what's causing them to cool quickly. I don't know how practical that would be or how you might go about it, but i think it might help if you could somehow manage it.
I'm still getting over learning that Dad secretly disabled the wonderfully loud engine noise crank on my toddler sized plastic ride-on motorcycle in the early 70's.
ON PURPOSE!
Ha ha! I get why that would have been done. I bought my son a toy chainsaw with some horrid noisemaker built in to it. I secretly rejoiced when he broke it.
Regards,
Mark
Hey Mark. Nice one mate. They don’t make toys like they used too do they. Cheers Aaron
Absolutely. I am sometimes horrified at the cheap and disposable plastic toys that proliferate around Christmas time. I suspect that about 98% of the stuff ends up in landfill before the year is out.
Regards,
Mark
Getting your affairs in order brother? I know the feeling... take care! Thanks for your time!
Little Mark to his Mom ...The dents are no problem Mom, I'll be restoring these cars 60 years from now anyway.
Great video again as usual! Was just wondering if it would have been an option to fabricate a miniature English wheel to roll the creases out of the roof?
I am sure that someone who has better knowledge than I about how metal behaves when it shrinks and compresses would be able to make that work. Back in the day when I was teaching, we used to make all manner of sheetmetal projects. Cake tins, dust pans and funnels were in the curriculum and year 8's would start with tinplate as the sheet stock. I had to attempt repairs on so many of these projects when kids would fold the seams the wrong way or bend in the wrong place. No amount of hammering or beating would disguise where the mistakes were made. I would often remark to the students that as soon as you bend the stock it changes it's crystalline structure and you cannot undo it easily.
Regards,
Mark
17:07. The inside of my early 60s toy police car was printed with a food label of some sort. Almost as if the manufacturer had repurposed a roll of pre-printed soup can material.
That doesn't surprise me at all. I think that post WWII Japan would have had severe material shortages
Regards,
Mark
We know the real truth you just want to restore these and get out on the Concrete and rev these up again 🤣 Static Powders/Chemblast are 10 minutes from me if you want me to drop some Cow stuff on their front doorstep 😉
I am now thinking that the KL primer I had used was the issue. I have since disposed of it. It actually came from Prismatic Powders in the USA.
Regards,
Mark
Hi Mark, I guess there was a little adult language going on with this project, 🤬🤬🤬 great job so far Mark. 👍👍👍👍👍
Yes, It's a good thing we live on acreage.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 Yes it is.
Regarding the parts cooling down before you could earth them for recoating. Could you have earthed them then heated them with a blowtorch afterward?
It's hard to apply the heat with a flame when the metal is so thin. The risk would be overheating in some areas and burning off the powder. The pro's use an infrared heat lamp or several depending on the size of the job.
Regards,
Mark
10:24 Yes we call it the hood :)
Just out of curiosity, and if you don't mind my asking, how old are you? Those toys seem to be the the same vintage as my own childhood toys.
I was born in 1958. I cannot recall exactly when they were given to me but I am guessing it was around the mid 60's. They are two of the survivors of the childhood toys I was given. I also have a couple of toy guns. These are probably politically incorrect nowadays but they are in much better condition than the cars were.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 Ahh! Yes, I was also born in 1958. I suppose we are the two oldest UA-camrs around, representing both sides of the world (Australia and Staten Island).
Victor
Mark do you think the power is out of date . We had a problem at work some time ago it was down to it had run out of shelving life.
I'm not sure but the KL primer gave me problems the first time I used it. I should have steered clear of it the second time around. What I really needed was something like a sanding sealer like spray on putty.
Regards,
Mark
Nice one Mark...
Now, I don't think you were really "...somewhat vexed..", I think you were #$@@&$ $@&%%@
35:50 = heat gun prep
I'm surprised they had such futuristic looking cars as models when you were a boy, Mark! 🤔🤪🤡🤡
Harrumph! Are you suggesting that I am old? I should make haste and challenge you to a bout of fisticuffs 😁
Regards,
Mark