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Author Topic: Made by Dad  (Read 1217 times)

Offline el_capitan

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Made by Dad
« on: January 22, 2014, 07:29:59 pm »
My wife checked out a book at our public library called Made By Dad: 67 Blueprints for Making Cool Stuff.

There are some really cool projects in here!  I spent the last three nights making the Slingshot Car Launcher.  It's a pretty cool toy that we worked on together.  I just had such a good time building and working with my boys (ages 4 and 6). 

Anyway, I thought I'd post it up here for those of you who are into the DIY mindset, like little projects, and have kids or grandkids around.  Fun stuff. 

There's even a site for downloading templates for a lot of the projects.  Totally worth checking out!

Offline pinnah

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Re: Made by Dad
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2014, 06:34:25 am »
We might all be better off
if we spend more time at the public library.

Trying to visualize a slingshot car launcher....matchbox cars? ???

Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Made by Dad
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2014, 09:15:53 am »
We might all be better off
if we spend more time at the public library.

I dunno, I spent a lot of time at the public library when I was a kid. Now I'm a communist pinko lawyer. Is that really what you want for your kids?
Heck yeah I blog about homebrewing: Brain Sparging on Brewing

Offline el_capitan

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Re: Made by Dad
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2014, 07:13:16 pm »
We might all be better off
if we spend more time at the public library.

Trying to visualize a slingshot car launcher....matchbox cars? ???

I was planning to post a pic last night, but then I thought of all the work involved with hooking up cords and stuff, and then I decided to just go pour another beer instead. 

My wife was supposed to photograph the finished project today - I'll post up some shots.  Yep, Matchbox cars.  Today we got started on the "Extreme Car Ramp" which is made out of two cereal boxes and some scrap cardboard.  That's what's so cool about these homemade toys - it's just scrap material that you have around the house, but they're really well-designed and the finished product is pretty cool. 

My kids are really proud of the fact that they made it themselves, which is really satisfying for me too.  They're making the connections!  They read the materials list and go gather all the things we need, and are really pumped about it.  Way different from buying a Hot Wheels set at Walmart and snapping the pieces together, throwing the packaging away.  We're re-purposing cardboard boxes from Christmas. 

Stay tuned for pics of some of our cool projects.

Offline el_capitan

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Re: Made by Dad
« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2014, 06:40:26 pm »
Well I finally uploaded some pictures of our Matchbox car projects.  Hours of fun, I tell ya. 

The Car Jump



The Car Launcher


Offline Pinski

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Re: Made by Dad
« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2014, 10:24:12 pm »
My Dad and I found my old case of Matchbox cars from the '70s out in the barn a month or so ago. Talk about a trip down memory lane.
Steve Carper
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Clubs: Oregon Brew Crew & Strange Brew
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