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Hello All. A while back I posted some pictures of some Tootsie Toy trucks I've upgraded or rehabbed if you will...

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into these...

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Well, here is aother one. I started with this little fellow (sorry for the bad pic):

Green truck

and with a little work, a little paint, a little imagination and some weathering, I came up with this...

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The best change I made was opening up the front wheel well. I think it really makes the truck.

Well there is a current thread on "true O scale" cars and trucks. So, is this really O scale? Let's see.

The next picture is my Tootsie toy compared to a 1/48 scale pickup truck made from a plastic model kit...

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and another compared to a 1/50 scale Athearn Truck...

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and with a typical O scale figure...IMG_0827

So what's the verdict? I don't know if its "true" O scale, but to me, it sure looks very close.

Next up are these two great candidates for rehab, an International Harvester COE and a Mack truck...

green international harvesterred mack

Here is a better picture, with the paint stripped...

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MMMM...lets see what we can do with these....Stay tuned and we'll see how they turn out.

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Last edited by Mark Diff
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Steamer posted:

those look great! I have the green/yellow dump truck in about the same shape.

also have the cement truck like this one, but it's missing the cement barrel. Need to get around to making something for it.

Dave, I have been wanting to do a Cement mixer. I found one on Ebay missing the barrel like you mentioned. In my exuberance, I paid 99 cents for it thinking I got a great deal. When I got it, it was more like HO scale, measuring only about an inch long...DRAT!  So, MMMMM....if you want to part with yours...? 

F800.5

In regards to the lack of, or mixing of scales for O scale vehicles; one vehicle always stood out to me.  The 1956 Ford F100.  This truck is a popular model and is produced in 1/43, 1/48, and 1/50.  I have always thought that the scale models of this truck looked out of scale.  In the real world, the F100 has an relatively large cab when compared to other manufactures.  I did a little research and it seems that the Ford 1956 F100 cab is nearly identical in size and shape to the F700-900 series cabs.  Using this fact, I have begun a project to use 1/43 scale F100s to create "comfortably appearing" 1/48ish dump trucks.  The attached pictures show my progress.  Note the mock up using a paper dump bed.  That bed would be approximately a 16 ton coal load in 1/48 scale.  I have some wheels from Don White and some other details, and will have to build a frame, but I think this cross scale experiment will make a fairly reasonably believable 1950s-60s era coal dump truck.

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Mark Diff posted:

Hello All. A while back I posted some pictures of some Tootsie Toy trucks I've upgraded or rehabbed if you will...

IMG_0988

As a little lad, I had that exact same green/yellow dump truck! Played the snot out of it. Probably ended up tossed. How silly of me. I recall LOVING Tootsie Toy products. Very durable, lots of play value. You could fill your pockets with them and head over to a neighbor's house to play (or sneak 'em into church!).

I can't remember what all Tootsie Toy items I had, but I also think I recall some tractor-trailer trucks, etc.

You're doing great "saving" those Tootsie Toy trucks and re-purposing them into very presentable layout trucks! Well done!

Andre

Last edited by laming

Couple of years ago I started ebaying old, beat-up Tootsie toy cars and trucks for my great-grandson Logan. Cheap. Stripped and repainted them. Idea was that he could play with them and if they got chipped, etc, it was no big deal. Eventually the project grew to a fairly large collection. This photo is the original set.

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This thread has done some memory jogging. I think I also had a blue and silver dumptruck, a box van semi truck, and a flat bed semi w/stakes.

The reason I remembered the yellow/green dumptruck is because later dad bought a brand new '59 Chevy Impala that used almost the same colors.

Really fun memories of Tootsietoy this thread has triggered! It would be WAAAY too easy for me to start collecting a "few" Tootsietoy trucks!

Andre

Last edited by laming

Again, thanks for all of the kind words. I am glad I was able to rekindle some fun memories from our collective youths. 

Rick: Great job on the F-100. Those are exactly the kind of projects I like. I wish I had thought of that one. 

Sean: LOL, That would make an interesting scratch built detail. But then some one would wonder if those bugs were true O scale. 

Big Jim: That is a really nice collection. I really like the autos. After this next set of trucks I currently working on, I have 2 cars to redo. Expect a lot of shiny chrome.

Hokie: Cutting out the wheel well was easier than I had imagined. I drew the area to be cut out onto a small piece of cardboard and then cut that out, turning it into a template. I laid the template over the wheel well and then traced along the edge onto the metal surface. Flip the template over and then repeat for the other side of the truck.

Having the cut out are marked onto the truck, I then drilled a number of small holes around the inside of the line marked by the template.

I then used my Dremel setup with a fiber backed cutoff wheel and cut along the line from hole to hole, making a rough cut out of the well. I then put a grinder stone attachment on to the Dremel and then smoothed out the opening to the desired shape. I used a hand file for any final fine filing that was necessary. I hope this helps.

 

Love the Tootsie work; my Tootsies didn't make it - strangely - and my Dinky Toys, while played with and enjoyed, I now see as largely British-irrelevant, and mostly military, which is not my thing.

I do have a Dinky 1957/58 Plymouth Plaza that is a prime candidate for a re-do. 1:43, I'm sure - so OK-ish. Just need some tires....and a Tootsie Ford tractor very similar to the green Tootsie IH tractor above, so it will get a little attention.  

Old plastic kit; found it at a train show in this condition:

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Now. The COE (any brand) has to be the best-looking tractor ever made.

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Last edited by D500
D500 posted:

Love the Tootsie work; my Tootsies didn't make it - strangely - and my Dinky Toys, while played with and enjoyed, I now see as largely British-irrelevant, and mostly military, which is not my thing.

I do have a Dinky 1957/58 Plymouth Plaza that is a prime candidate for a re-do. 1:43, I'm sure - so OK-ish. Just need some tires....and a Tootsie Ford tractor very similar to the green Tootsie IH tractor above, so it will get a little attention.  

Old plastic kit; found it at a train show in this condition:

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Now. The COE (any brand) has to be the best-looking tractor ever made.

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I've seen that kit on ebay a few times. Seeing pictures of it actually built, it makes me itchy get one. Yours really looks nice, with a little TLC, would make an excellent model.

rattler21 posted:

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Friday after the mail man left them at our home.

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Saturday morning after drying overnight.

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Saturday afternoon after a rattle can paint application by me and brush on paint for the wheels and saddle tanks by the great wife.          John in Lansing, ILL

Looking good John! Even something as simple as a repaint, can really make these toys/models look fresh and new. Good work!

BTW, one of the two I have been working on is complete, the other is just about to leave the body shop and headed over to paint. Stay tuned, I think you might like how these will turn out.

stevin posted:

those look awesome, what are you using to make the small separately applied details like side view mirrors and such? also how do you attach them? Are you drilling tiny holes in the body or are they just glued on?

If you mean the side view mirrors like these...IMG_0097IMG_0087

Then yes, small holes are drilled into the body and the mirrors attached with CA (super glue).

They are after market white metal parts I got from Don Mills Models.

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Last edited by Mark Diff

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