TOPIC:

Possibly not the right place for it, but this is going to be mostly paint ...

Almost 2 years a go I saw a Tonka Dump Truck on eBay, just like the one I used to have as a nipper - or so I thought. It was cheap enough to tickle my fancy, "just" needing stripping and repainting. There's quite a bit of information on Tonka toys on t'internet, possibly the most complete (in terms of year on year changes anyway) is www.mightytonka.com/ , turns out mine was a 1973 model, this one is from 1974, the only difference being the material the fake air cleaner is made from.

I got got replacement decals, plus etch primer, intending to get on with it - but quickly got disillusioned. The problem is the "top hats" that hold the wheels on - according to internet sources, these can be easily pinged off with a long handled screw driver (cue youtube video of chap miming said action, butt spliced to footage of it magically "off"), or unscrewed with the aid of mole grips. All I can say about those sources is YOU, SIRS, ARE DIAMOND-STUDDED LIARS.

I really didn't want to resort to destructive means to get the top hats off, as there only seems to be one source of replacements - at 17 GBP for 12, plus the ever-present risk of having to pay 20% "Value Added" Tax and an administration fee After sitting on it for some time, I finally bit the bullet as the only other option would have been studding (all thread) and dome nuts. Today I got the wheels off buy cutting the top hats off the axles with a Dremel, but managaed to destroy the axles in the process The originals are/were 1/4" diameter, but with a fake top hat formed on one end - not practical to replicate, but a suitable shaft with top hats on either end will pass.

Further dismantling only took a few minutes, with a bit more grinding, some twising of metal tabs, and a bit of hammering. Tomorrow I plan to start on stripping the remaining paint, prior to sorting the rust. Pics to follow later - the ones immediately below are from when it first arrived ....

Oh... I remember the Tonka toys as THE toy to have back in the 70's... this one looks like a really nice project.
Regarding "Top Hats", are these what you are looking for?
www.homedepot.c.../204274215

Also search for "push nut" to find more of these.

Hey there,
I don't mind it here. I think it's a cool project. I figure most of us had a Tonka at one point or another. I remember buying one for my nephew's first birthday, it was the fully chromed anniversary model, his parents would not let his older sister play with it till the little guy was old enough to play with it first, lest she scratch it up. I wonder if it is still around my brothers house somewhere?
A few years back we had an older retired gentleman in our model club who's other hobby was to gather up the old Tonka toys, strip them down and restore them. Then he would distribute them to kids in his neighborhood. He passed away a couple of years ago and I am sure the kids in his town still miss him.......I saw the operation once years ago, he had bodies and wheels and axles and other parts all sorted in bins, a small sandblasting cabinet and his work bench in the garage....very cool, the world need more folks like that.....
Thanks for the memory Jonny, looking forward to seeing the end result.

Finally got around to doing something with this - bits are currently sitting in a bath (1kg of powder dissolved in 17.5L of hot water) of Bilt Hamber Deox C . Despite the manufuacturers saying how great it is and all the testimonials, after 24 hours, results have been really disappointing. Some of the paint (especially the black chassis) will flake off off with scrubbing, but there's been no sign of any de-rusting action whatsoever

Surprised you don't just run it through your media blasting setup

AndyAus wrote:

Surprised you don't just run it through your media blasting setup

Looks like the bits will end up there anyway - but the Bilt Hamber stuff sounded like it would be a lot easier

Some progress on this, after 48 hours most of the paint has come off the chassis and top surfaces of the "bucket" (with scrubbing), and the crustiest of rust is now dark grey (and crusty). Cab, front bodywork + the little orange truck I put in at the same time are untouched ....

After 72 hours some more paint has come off, and the grey crustiness is beginning to go ... I think the chassis was as good as good as it was going to get, so that got a light scrubbing in clean water, plus a quick drying & off to the shed for a coat of etch primer. Photo shows it in bare metal, with pitting where rust used to be.



I'm off to the shed again soon to see if anything else is done (after 96 hours)

You are very patient Jonny.

After 120 hours (5 days) I'm definitely past the point of diminishing returns, anything not off now is going to have to come off by more traditional means.