05 01 15 Wood Toy News PART1

Building the Peterbilt Truck Stop Part 1 of 3 PART 1: BUILDING THE TRUCK

by Imants Udris "Udie" for ToymakingPlans.com

Above: Udie's custom built folding trailer landing gear

Below: Udie's custom built tanker

NOTE: The truck trailers and truck stop builds are covered in Part 2 and Part 3 of Building the Small World Peterbilt .

Wood Toy News

Friday, May 1 2015

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Above: Udie's custom built logging trailer

Visit Udie's Toymaker Forum and see more tips and tricks from Udie and his toymaker community! Click to See: http://forums.toymakingplans.com

Photos on next page: Now for their destination the "Truck Stop"

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This is basically what you can make from this plan set with a couple extra trailers from my workshop. Now let me walk you thru the actual build of the Truck, Trailer and Truck Sto p.

Truck Fabrication The majority of the components necessary to fabricate the truck are quite straight forward and the paper plan set can easily be fo llowed. I did find a couple of the accent pieces needed a couple jigs to assist me in making them, not only for what was required for building one, but extras for repeat builds. This is where the jigs come in really handy, allowing me to do repeat builds with ease. This document will expand on many things I did.

This project can easily be built using solid lumber for the main components or you may glue up var ious thicknesses of 1/2" and 3/4" MDF to m eet the lengths and widths required. I have elected to demonstrate the glued up components.

My build plan is to have components available to build all three (3) of the major versions of the truck. All the components were cut at the same time, bagged and tagged and stored in zip lock project bags. This makes life much easier when looking for components which will require painting only or components which will require addition work performed to them before the painting stage.

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It also is a great way to store them and all the other components for the entire project build in a common see thru plastic storage container. Some component quantities were increased and spares made where I will be needing them to tool proof a jig, in order to guarantee repeatable fabrication. In the center of the photo on the previous page you can see some components have been melt glued to nails. This is my preferred method of making a handle for easy hand brushing on the sealer, paint and final top coat. The main components, being the engine compartment, cab and sleeper have been attached to the chassis. This step is pretty straight forward. You will notice that the cab door window opening is a little different than the plan set as is the opening in the sleeper door. Here you can see the finished pieces and that I have painted the edges of the front w indows and sleeper window silver, just to give it a look of chrome trim around them. How I fabricated the door, sleeper door, sleeper window and front cab w indows will require a little explanation.

All the above mentioned components are made from 1/16” stock materials as per the plans set. I went thru the process and ripped these widths on the table saw, and everything worked out great. But when it came time to make the components I ran into some problems. The grain spacing in my stock wood was too large and as a result, when trying to scroll saw the openings I was getting a lot of splitting/tear out as well as w hen cutting out the profile.

I needed a tighter grain of wood 1/16” thick. Project Basswood is what I need and my local Michael's craft store and hobby shop stocks this as standard item. You should not have any problems finding this stock. Notice that the window opening is a little different from the plan set.

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I squared up all the inside corner s which was a lot easier for me to do than having to round the inside corners and I will explain why.

I found that using a sharp X-Acto knife and cutting straight lines in this thin material much easier to cut the window opening as opposed to using the sc roll saw. Now that is just me. Then using various sanding tools, such as women’s nail file and sanding sticks I was able to cleanly sand the inside edges.

While I was in the craft store purchasing the Basswood I found these wide craft st icks and came to the conclusion that these would be great to use when it came time to make the sleeper door and sleeper window components. Why use the good Basswood, let’s save it for other projects. These sticks are 1/16” thick, 11/16” wide and 5-7/8” long. I am sure, for future projects, these will come in handy.

Sleeper Window I did change the sleeper window design from the plan set. The plans show a rectangular window with rounded inside edges. Again, something for the scroll saw. Being lazy, I just drilled a couple of holes, and then used the X -Acto knife and cut straight lines from one tangent to the other and then sanded the ope ning smooth. Works for me.

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So that explains what I used for my 1/16” stock and how I made the opening in both the c ab door and the sleeper door window as well as the sleeper window. Here is where we are now in the build process. Before I glued on the cab door, sleeper door, I traced the window opening outline on the body, painted that area black and then attached the components. This photo shows the wind deflector in position changing the overall look of the truck assembly to another version. It was not glued on, only added in o rder to take the photo showing you the new version option. The paints I used so far have been red metallic paint, black craft paint and silver metallic paint. The wheels have been sealed with cr aft sealer, painted with craft black paint and co uple coats of craft varnish as I usually do. I will tell you this right now – using the universal sanding block was a real time saver up to this point and will continue to be thru the entirety of this project. So nice to have to have three (3) different grits of sandpaper available to you in your hand at one time.

I like to round over my axle blocks prior to mounting them on the chassis. By doing this they can act as a skid plate when the truck runs over something and not bump and stop. Only takes a minute to do. Also, when you mount the step assembly to t he chassis, a portion of the assembly is below the chassis frame. Do not forget to paint this area.

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Now I will move on to the components that were a little more sensitive for me to build. Ones which required some jigs and fixtures to assist me. Maybe you will not require them, but I did. Let's work on the exhaust stacks and gas tanks. Once again to make my life little easier, a couple of jigs were made in preparation of requiring to repeat this build many times in the future.

This little jig is going to help m e drill the holes in the middle of the muffler component dowel of the exhaust stack to insert the upper and lower pipes. I will demonstrate its use shortly.

This jig also helps me tremendously when I am tasked to glue two (2) pieces of wood together at a perfect 90° right angle by using the outside edges or inside edges as shown below. A little wax paper behind it prot ects the jig from glue squeeze out.

Back to the exhaust pipes.

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First I mounted a drill bit into the drill chuck that was the same diameter as the dowel I wish to drill a hole thru. I Positioned my jig in place with the two (2) inside edges touching the drill bit cutting flutes. Then clamped the jig in this position. When I remove this set up drill bit and replace it with a smaller diameter drill bit, it will drill into the center of the same diameter dowel used for the exhaust stack. Pretty simple set up with repeatable results.

The set up drill bit has been removed and replaced with the smaller diameter drill bit, equal in size to the dowel diameter which will be glued into t he hole. A couple of spacer blocks were positioned underneath the dowel to raise its height. If I did not add these spacers, the drill chuck would hit the top edge of the L-Square, restricting the depth I could drill the hole. I also added a little clamp and block to help hold the dowel while drilling. The cut away portion of the clamping block is less than the thickness of the dowel, guaranteeing when clamped it will be applying pressure to the dowel.

My results were quite acceptable and repeatable. This little jig will have hundreds of uses on ot her projects.

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I did experience some dowel movement, it did not sit perfectly parallel to the drill bit. I need to add some pressure from the side towards the right wall. My quick solution was to add a couple of short dowels of a lesser diameter between the main dowel and the clamping block. Notice that the end of the clamping block does not touch the inside wall of the jig on the right side. By adding the dowel spacers I now gave it forward pressure and the tongue of the clamping block will give me the sideways pressure. This guarantees the dowel will receive clamping pressure when I put the spring c lamp on the clamping block. This was my quick fix. Let me show you a more permanent fix. I made a couple of dedicated clamping blocks for this jig, customized for the most common dowel diameters I use most frequently. Easy to make if I change my dowel diameters, but I feel these will satisfy most of future ne eds. For extra gripping power, you could glue on some sand paper or use peel-n-stick sand paper on the tongue of the clamping block.

Now, we will march on and work on the gas tanks. See next page.


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How to cut a portion of the dowel off accurately and safely for the gas tanks. This truck photo shows the dowel gas tank in place with the flat side glued to the truck. To make the flat side, you could use a scroll saw, or the band saw with a V-notch jig and do a little sanding. I elected to use my table saw, which means I am going to require another jig.

The diameter of the gas tank dowel was 5/8”, so I drilled a 5/8” hole in a piece of scrap 2x4. Pressed the dowel into it, which was a tight fit, and flipped the jig over to use on the table saw. The dowel will not rotate during cutting due to the snug fit.

The block is wide enough that my push block will fit between the rip fence and the blade. I could safely make this cut without using a push block also. The blade is concealed in a tunnel providing more safety. I crept up on the profile I wanted and I am good to go in making dozens of gas tank profiles with the setup.

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If by chance I did not push the dowel in correctly as seen in the taper on the one on the left side (I darkened the surface with pencil lead to m ake the taper more pronounced). A quick trip to the sanding disc station and the taper is gone. It was a lot easier to correct a flat edge on a dowel that has a flat edge than trying to make one without inadvertently rotating t he dowel.

°

Now it’s time to drill the tricky little 50 hole for the filler tube into the gas tank. That is going to need another j ig for the drill press.

This jig is quite simple also. Nothing more than creating a 50° slope on a scrap piece of wood and mounting it onto a backer board. Position the flat edge of the dowel against the slope, move the jig to where you would like to drill the hole and drill away. The configuration shown here will allow you to drill the filler tube hole for the driver ’s side gas tank.

To drill the filler tube hole for the passenger side gas tank, the jig has to be rotated. Now for a little secret. I did not set the depth stop on the drill press to drill the hole to the specified depth. I felt that step could be bypassed. I just drilled the hole to a depth I felt comfortable with.

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Let me explain why.

I found it a lot easier to insert the filler tube dowel into the hole and then mark t he height. Remove the dowel, cut it and glue it back into position No measuring, just eyeball, mark and cut.

Here are my results. Left and right gas tanks with filler tubes for three (3) trucks.

Moving on.

The windshield sun shade, looks complicated, but really, it is not that complicated to make. I found the easiest way to make this component was to use a sanding disk station, a c ouple of angled jigs and make a quick handle for holding the component.

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I cut the required materials to size as per the plan set. Made a handle, because of the e quipment I will be using will give me more control and be safer. The handle was nothing more than a scrap piece of hardboard the same thickness as the component. The photo shows that I hot melt glued the component to the handle, but later on realized I did not need to do this. Using double sided tape work just as well and was a lot easier to remove when finished sanding the angles.


The plan set specified one of the angles as 32°. I made a little change to that. I used an angle of 31.6°, only because my chop saw has a pre-set indent for that angle. I do not believe my small change w ill affect the outcome or overall look of the finished product. Placed the component and the handle flat against t he angled block and started to sand the profile. With the handle I had total control and my fingers were safely away from the sanding disk abrasive.

I should mention that I attached a sacrificial piece of plywood on the sanding disk’s station metal table with double sided tape. I needed to minimize the gap between the table and sanding disc. The block was positioned close to the sanding disc using double sided tape.

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I continued to sand the 31.6° profile, until the left side of the component was starting to sand t he bottom edge. That’s it for this angle.


The next angle required by this c omponent is the 75°. This angle is the same as 15°. Reason being … as long as both angles add up to be 90° one becomes the compliment of the other. If I were to flip the jig to the 75° and place it up against the sanding disk, there is no way to safely and accurately shape this profile. By flipping the block to its complimentary angle of 15 ° you can see that I have more control. First thing to notice is that I use double sided tape to re-secure the component to the handle. Second thing to notice is I had to rotate the component 90° when attaching it to the handle. What was the bottom of the component is not the right side where the handle has been adhered to. My procedure here was to sand a little off, then compare it t o the paper plan profile and continue this sanding and comparing method until I felt I had an acceptable match.

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Now, let us look at the plans and my results. Because I made the component longer than necessary I was able to cutoff a small piece so I could photograph my results against the plan set. There is a little difference betwe en my finished part and the drawing. Is it the 31.6° or a combination of the angles and how much I sanded the angle down? All-in-all, for what the component is and its function on the truck, it looks good to me. Not bad for an old guy.

Moving on – the head lights will be fabricated in the same manner. Again a different set of angled setup blocks will be needed but the procedure will be the same and of course I will be requiring a handle.

The windshield sun shade we just finished was made using MDF. This time I've elected to use Poplar to make the headlights. Rather than cut the pieces to their final length and then sand the profile, I found it a lot easier to make my stock material 2 to 3 times the components length. It is a lot easier to sand a larger part than a small one. It will be a lot easier to attach the stock to my handle and the handle will give me more control It will allow me to see which side needs more sanding to match the required profile. I will cut to size after the angles have been sanded.

The first angle to sand was the 45° and hence a 45° angle jig block required fabrication. Block positioning and attaching the block was the same as I did when making the windshield sun shade. Again, little by little I sanded the Poplar and checked the profile against the paper pattern.

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The required angle as per the paper plan is 34°. Its complimentary angle is 56° (90° - 3 4° = 56°) So I made a 56° block jig. This time I did not have to remove the component, reorient it and re-apply it to the handle after sanding the 45° profile. Because the handle was the same thickness as the component all that was necessary was to change over to the 56° jig block, flip the component over and sand the second profile – bonus. Once again my method was to sand a little, compare the profile to the paper plan until my profile was acceptable.


My profile is a little off, but still looks pre tty good. I feel this is an acceptable part for my assembly. Unfortunately when cutting this a thin slice to compare it to the paper plan the point broke off. This did not happen when I cut t he real headlights to size.

When cutting small parts to size my preference is to use a Hobby Mitre Box and a razor tooth saw. For me it was a good investment and is a valuable shop tool. Most craft stores and hobby shops will stock these. I was able to purchase both the box and saw as a combination package on line for the price of o ne store price item.

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The headlights are made, they have been sealed, painted and top coated except for the surface glue will be applied to. Let's mount them.

rd

I required a third (3 ) hand when gluing on the headlights. Maybe you will too. Something to help me position the headlights in place as the glue cured. FYI: You can see the headlights glued in position on the truck, on the next page. Using a couple stir sticks, cut to size, is the jig I needed. Worked perfect for the spacing I needed from the front of the bumper to where the front of the headlight will be. I used a simple, low cost spring clamp to secure the jig in position. I purchased these spring clamps at the garden center and I did post a topic about them on the Forum if you wish to learn more about them. Go to http://ow.ly/MhZAt. Many times when I am assembling a project I find it so helpful to use all kinds of simple clamps as a third rd (3 ) hand. They make assembling so much easier.

Here is a headlight mounted in position with a little help of some green painters tape. Not that difficult to mount when you have a little jig to help you. When I first looked at the plan set, I was a bit concerned on how I was going t o do that as well as how was I going to make that component. As you can see, with a few jigs, making the part was not a problem and with another jig mounting it was not problem either.

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Here we are, the headlights have been mounted and the fender has been mounted. Everything went according to plan as per t he paper plan set. I am showing you the finished fender before I show you how make the fender. So, let us take a step backwards and make a fender.


Here are the fenders. They have been made to the same profile and after a little sanding will be sealed, painted and top coated. These fenders are not exactly as the plan set specified. I cheated a little and I will share with you how I cheated. Looking at all the photos of my completed Peterbilt Truck at the beginning of this article, do the fenders look a little different to you? I do not think so … they looked quite natural. Let us talk about the fenders.

The fender diameter specified in the plan set is 1-3/8” with a wall thickness about 1/8”. My fenders are 1-9/16”, 3/16” larger in diameter with a wall thickness at about 3/16”

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I can make wheels in many different ways as I am sure you can to. But I do have a way to make wheels with matching fenders at the same time as long as my finished product supports the project I am building. The Small World Peterbilt Truck Stop – Truck just so happens to be one of those projects. The fenders could have been made using 1 -3/8” dowel and slicing the dowel to the 1/ 2” widths required. So now you have the outside fender wall and all that is necessary to do is to scroll saw the inside fender profile. I have this dowel size in stock and totally forgot about it. It would have been nice to show you how to make the fenders using dowels. Maybe next time.


Here is the photo I posted in the Forum showing wheels, wooden donuts for making fenders and a jig that looks like it goes into the drill press chuck. I teased you by posting that you will have to read this article to learn what special tool I used to make fenders and wheels at the same time.

In the top right corner you now can see my secret tool. It is a hole saw. A hole saw that has two (2) different cutting wheels attached to one mandrel. That’s my secret. The jig in the centre of the photo is just something conjured up. It allows me to sand the outside surface of the donut smooth in the drill press.

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The inside surface of the donut was sanded using my home made Sanding Drum Jig. There is a Wood Toy News (WTN) dated June 11, 2014 which demonstrates how to make you own and the types of sanding drums I use with them. I f you are interested in making one, please take a look at the WTN: http://www.toymakingplans.com/website/News/Wood-Toy-News.html In the first photo of this section you can see how using this hole saw configuration has the ability to make excellent wheels and matching fenders. I only drilled down just over half of the thickness of the wood, then flipped the wood over and continued from the other side. nd rd In the second (2 ) and third (3 ) photos you can see my results. Not all hole saws will allow you to mount more t han one hole saw cutter on one mandrel. It is not that simple. So before you run out and buy a hole saw kit, I am going to have to tease you again and ask for y our patience once again. I am in the process of completing another article for a W TN with videos demonstrating how this hole saw works and a clear definition of what to look for before you buy your hole saw kit. It will also demonstrate how to drill holes in various types of wood without burning and materials you may not have thought about to use for making whee ls. Let’s get technical for a moment and I will explain the re sults and math behind the sizes I used to make my fenders. I used a combination of 1-3/4” diameter hole saw for my outer ring and a 1-1/4” hole saw for my inner ring. Both hole saws did exactly what they are expected to do. Each one drills a perfect hole to the diameter stamped on the side of the cutter. I am the only who is using them for a different purpose than w hat they were originally designed for. The 1-1/4” hole saw yielded me wheel diameters just under 1-1/16” and after a little sanding these could be used for any project that requires 1” wheels. The 1-3/4” hole saw yielded me an inside diameter which would be the outside diameter for a fender just over 1-9/16” but not 1-5/8”. The drawing specified a diameter of 1-3/ 8”. My fender is 3/16” larger in diameter. The drawing dimension for thickness of the fender appears to be around 1/8”. Mine are close to 3/16”. So looking at my completed truck assembly photos, did you feel that something was off, something just does not look right?

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I am going to tease you a little more. With a hole saw kit, that will allow you to mount two (2) cutter diameters to the mandrel you can make all kinds of fender diameters and widths. Make your own wheels or mate them to purchased wheels. And look – one donut will yield two (2) fenders. This tool will really prove it’s worth when tasked in making large quantity builds.

Conclusion and Results This project was a lot of fun to build, and yes … I nee ded a couple of jigs to assist me in making a few of the components, with repeatable results. But that does not mean you will need them. I also demonstrated where I cheated with acceptable results and modified my parts. This is truly a high caliber plan set and a real bang for your buck. There is so much potential for t his scale of toy and this plan set allows you to let your creative juices flow. I just might have to build another and dust off my air brushing equipment and really got to town on decorating it’s exterior, just like the guys in the real world do to their real trucks. Ok, one final look at my Canadian made patriotic Pe terbilt Truck (on the next page!). And don't forget to visit me at Udie's Toymaker Forum: http://forums.toymakingplans.com. We always welcome toymakers of all skill levels! It's a great place to learn and share your tips & tricks!

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Happy Toy Making the Peterbilt Truck Imants Udris (Udie) <<<<<>>>>>

Visit Udie's Toymaker Forum http://forums.toymakingplans.com

Email Udie at: [email protected]

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05 01 15 Wood Toy News PART1

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