How to make a DIY toy truck

It’s been a while since I made a toy, so I decided to make this car out of a few pieces of plywood I had in my shop.

First of all I made a rough sketch of my idea. I then designed my templates in illustrator.

I joined two plywood pieces together with double sided tape and used spray adhesive to glue the template on it.

I cut all the pieces on my bandsaw. For the inner cuts I made entry holes on my drill press and cut them out on my scroll saw.

I used WD40 to remove the templates from the wood.

I gave all the pieces a sanding with a sanding block.

I began glueing the pieces together. I also used a few nails here and there.

I clamped everything until the glue dried.

I then used my block plane, to round over one edge of a scrap spruce piece.

I cross cut it with a handsaw and a miter box.

I then glued two spruce pieces in the back of my truck. Those pieces act both as reinforcements and seats.

I then glued the bumpers in place. I used a hole saw to cut two pieces to act as lights and glued them on the front of the car.

I also used a hole saw to cut the four wheels. I clamped them together using a bolt and two butterfly nuts. I mounted the whole piece on my drill press and used it as a lathe to sand them all flush with a sanding block. I also used this method to created a rounded edge, to all the wheels.

I sanded everything again and filled all the gaps with glue and sanding dust.

I made the holes for the wheels. I glued only two wheels to the edges of two dowels.

I gave all the pieces a coat of white primer. I sanded afterwards and then applied another coat.

I sprayed a few coats of black on the wheels.

I masked the bumpers and the lights with blue tape and applied a few coats of orange spray paint to the truck’s body. 

I then glued the rest of wheels. Cut the dowel flush with a flush trim saw and added a few shots of black paint to the exposed wood of the dowels.

I finished the piece with a few coats of clear varnish to protect the paint.

My truck is ready, I hope you liked it!