Making Heirloom Toys

Well written book! LOTS of tips (specific to the toys and general woodworking) including jigs for safe, clean cuts and final finishing Plans are very DETAILED, easy to follow and clear. I have made the dump truck and a couple grasshoppers and was very happy with the results. The kids love them and will cherish them for years. The author did a great job in putting this book together! Nice work.

This is a great book. The beginner might find it a little hard to follow at first. I used the plans as a starting guide and was amazed at the ease of following the instructions. I made many of the toys to send to Walter Reed Hospital for the children of the wounded vets from Iraq. I was told that they went over well. By far the best toy is the model "T" stakebed truck. I did follow the plans exactly. Made seven of them for my family. This was a great chore and the result was amazing. It is a difficult toy to build the first time but gets easier with each one. The scaling was hard at first but once you get a mental picture it is much simpler. Highly recommend for any "toymaker."

Brought for my father who is retired and lies to make wooden things for grandkids. He reported he loved the book and got some really good ideas.

This book has very creative and quality toys to build. It has excellent plans, instructions, drawings and full color pictures. I recommend it highly. I have built the truck fleet and they are the talk of our family and friends.

I used this book to make a little dump truck, a jet plane, and a tugboat, soon to be given to my grandson. I did not find the fact that not all plans were full-sized a problem This is common and the %enlargement (if needed) is given The instructions were clear. (However, if you are making the little truck, check the width of 2" hinges available before gluing down the hinge block!) The designs are classic, and range from simple (the ones I made) to complex (the truck on the cover is said to take 40 hours.) There are a couple of educational toys included.Many of the toys' parts are made out of fine woods, but you can substitute available wood in most cases. Makowicki is concerned with toy safety, e.g., the crane uses a magnet to lift barrels, not a hook, and he specifies child-safe finishes - references in appendix. He also gives many ideas for jigs for cutting angles on the table saw. (If you aren't going to produce for sale, in many cases you can use a band saw with a narrow blade or a scroll saw and sand smooth, instead of making the jig.)I made the toys while taking a shop course, so I learned the safe way to operate power tools at the same time.I also purchased Tarjany's "30 Toy Vehicles Made from Wood". It has cruder designs, but look there for semis, flatbeds, bulldozers, etc. (I made the long-hood semi with a gravel trailer.) His airplanes suffer by comparison with Makowicki's.I am going to purchase Makowicki's "Marvelous Transforming Toys" next.