Wooden Toy Car
Brief: I was tasked to make a wooden toy car out of solid timber. The car had to be within the limits of being 200mm long by 120mm wide by 120mm high. It needed to have functional rotating wheels.
Research Boards
Technical Board
Inspiration Board
I created two research boards. One for the technical aspect of the project called the technical board. This one guided me in my toy car creation. It has a general framework of the aspects of the wood I used for the model.
The second board was for my creativity. It is called the inspiration board. This is the board that helped me stretch my mind and gave me the freedom to focus on my desired choice of car.
Ideation Phase 1: Sketches
For the initial stages of the ideation phase, I started off by doing some random sketches. One was a bit free and abstract. The other one was a bit structured with a sense of direction.
Ideation Phase 2: Inspiration Sketches
For the second phase of ideation, I developed sketches directly inspired by the desired car model; a vintage like mustang/muscle car. This helped me to have a visual representation of how my model would look.
Refined Sketches
The refined sketches highlight the final general outlook of the model.
Model Production: Workshop
The making of the car model was the most exciting and most difficult part of this project. I followed a couple of staged procedures I came up with. Firstly I started off by trimming the wood to my intended size. I then glued and staked the wood pieces together. It took approximately 30 minutes for the wood to set and cure. I then sanded the block of wood with a belt sander to a workable finish.
Secondly, I drew templates on the sides of the wood then sanded them accordingly. Maximum caution was required as the sanding machinery in the workshop can cause great damage if used absent mindedly. I then proceeded to make the wheels, sawing them out with a 35mm sized hole saw. I then used a 6mm drill bit to make a dowel joint for the rotation of the wheels. To give the wheels some grip, I made grooves with a band saw.
Lastly, I glued the top and bottom of the car together. I cut smaller pieces of wood to make the details of the car such as the back lights, fog lights, spoiler, and the door handles. I then sanded the car to a fine finish using a 600 grit sand paper.
Finished Product Model
