Institution: Woody LEGO Duck

I have been obsessed with LEGO ever since I can remember. Those small plastic building blocks were definitely one of my preferred toys as a kid and I still buy LEGO sets now and again, even though I am in my thirty-something now (I have also written iii Instructables that have to dress with LEGO so far).

As a fres mother my boy is unquestionably still too young for the small Lego set pieces, but he has a bunch of LEGO PRIMOS.

I have notable for a few years that the LEGO company has also produced wooden toys and wanted to corrupt unitary. Sadly they are scarce and most of the time really overpriced. The wooden LEGO duck is by off the beaten track my favorite toy with of that line, but I was never able to bargain it. So I at length decided to make my own. The bonus of making one myself is that I can give information technology to my son and not worry about its appreciate.

The special thing about it is that when it moves IT opens and closes its beak. I hope that you will have As much fun with it as I do.

Mistreat 1: A Brief LEGO Story

Many probably don't know, but before the founder of LEGO Ole Kirk Kristiansen produced the small plastic bricks, he solely produced wooden toys.

In 1934 he came up with the constitute "LEGO", which stems from the Danish words "LEg GOdt", meaning "acting well". Ole Kirk always said that "children merit the second-best" and afterwards adopted the motto "only the Best is good enough enough".

Afterward solely producing woody toys until 1948, Ole Kirk purchased a plastic injection molding machine that would deepen LEGO forever and make it the household name it is nowadays. From that moment on, he began replacing the woody toys with plastic ones.

IT took until 1958 until a patent was filed for what became the modern LEGO brick. They were a vast improvement over LEGO's earlier Automatic Binding Bricks.

The wooden Lego set duck was first produced in 1935 and was invented up until LEGO stopped making wooden toys in 1960. It is without a question the most famous wooden toy Lego set ever so produced.

If you would like to see Thomas More wooden LEGO toys than drop dead in front and check unstylish this photostream.

Step 2: Replicating the Original

There are many different versions of the lego duck, and then I had to decide, which one I would like to replicate. I decided to side the most known version, but usage a wire as the hinge for the head and not a wooden pole (this version was also produced). Later Ole Kirk switched over to making the entire mechanism out of wire. You can of class build and blusher the duck however you would the likes of.

Before start I had to solve the chemical mechanism. I wanted to take a nigher looking at the original duck in the LEGO mansion, but sadly couldn't imputable COVID-19. So I started looking around the web and found this technical drawing. While information technology shows a newer version of the duck (with a wire mechanism and non a awkward one) it was truly ministrant, but as you can see in the picture altogether the measurements were removed. After some more research, I found this full building templet of a transcript of the LEGO duck made from plastic bricks. Luckily on page 4 for in that respect is a small snipped of the drawing with measurements, so I was competent to scale everything to the correct size up.

Indeed my duck should glucinium highly just about the unconventional one.

As for the woodwind instrument I decided to choke with larch since I bought a vintage toy (a broken one I am planning along fixing) and I am very sure that IT is ready-made from larch tree.

Step 3: What You Need

Hither is what you need to make your personal woody LEGO duck:

Corporeal

  • Wood (4 mm, 8 mm, and 18 mm thick). Equally explained in the sunset step I used larch tree. Sadly I can't plane 4 mm thin. Therefore I used plywood for these parts.
  • 6 mm globular wooden pole (two 63 mm long pieces and one about 108 mm long)
  • 1 mm wire (I proved thicker wire, but couldn't bend information technology) and thinner cable is too flimsy
  • Blusher: red, naif, blue, smuggled, white, brown, dark yellow*
  • Varnish*
  • Spray Sticky Paste
  • Carbon Paper (I used this one (#CommissionsEarned**))
  • Nails (three 1.5 mm x 20 mm)
  • Optional: primer

Tools

  • Roll saw
  • Drill press (1.5 millimeter; 2 mm; 3 millimeter; 6 mm; 7 mm; 10 mm drill bits)
  • Disc sander
  • Pair of pliers
  • Scissors
  • Router (rounding cutter: diameter 32.7 mm, radius 10 mm with a bearing)
  • Paintbrushes
  • Clamps
  • Optional: 44 m hole proverb

* Delight make sure that all the paints and varnishes are safe to use of goods and services for toys. In Europe, they have to follow with Rumpus EN 71/3 "Safety of toys - Part 3: Migration of convinced elements". Check the can, information technology should take a label thereon.

** Eastern Samoa an Amazon Associate I clear from qualifying purchases.

Step 4: Let's Perplex Started

Start by downloading the templates from the last step and black and white them. Apply sprayer adhesive to the back and stick them to the wood that matches the heaviness that is famed on the composition.

Please make sure to align the grain along the length of the duck. The template also includes the wheels, should you non want to apply a hole saw. To cut the other 8 millimeter pieces a buzz saw may be amended than a scroll saw. But I recently got my scroll saw and sought-after to practice straight lines.

Abuse 5: Sawing

Instantly on to cutting the pieces. I used a ringlet saw to so. There are illegal lines, blue lines, and green lines.

The blue lines are required so that you buns hold the pieces during the routing and should help you with getting better corners.

So in the first go, cut along the lines that are thicker in the 1st see of this step. You should weakened precisely around the dark lines and somehow adpressed along the blue lines as shown in the second picture.

As you can reckon in the picture I didn't cut to a fault more or less the line on the 4 millimetre pieces since I had some tear down out and patterned that I could well sand them to the correct size, as shown in the tierce picture.

Step 6: Routing

Now onto the routing. I got the second I needed but had to find out that IT didn't fit into my router. So I had to take off the base plateful. I wanted to fill out the corners, but retributive slightly and not all the way. Thusly instead of victimisation the whole radius of 10 mm I misused about 8 mm, as shown in the image connected the left.

In the long run, the pieces should look the like as shown in the last picture. Make a point to round some sides.

Step 7: Sawing #2

Now back to the ringlet adage. Bu cut along all the black lines. Equally you can project in the fractional video, I forgot the inside of the front of the duck and had to take it later o.

Step 8: Drilling

Onto the drilling. Most of it is pretty direct. The sizes of the holes are celebrated on the template. I used a maw proverb to cut the wheels, American Samoa you behind see in the second picture.

The unripened lines on the front slice of the duck Marks a 7 mm hole that needs to be drilled. Mark the center of the hole on top of the duck and drill all the way through. Make a point that the piece is standing perfectly passant otherwise the mechanism won't work.

Step 9: Assembly

Before the assembly, all the pieces need to personify sanded. But make sure not to remove the paper from the bottom pieces equally shown in the first picture, since you will demand them for alignment later on.

Simply gum the wings to the body pieces as shown in the second picture.

So glue the eyes to the top of the headland of the duck as shown in the third picture. I used a piece of conducting wire for the alignment.

As you can see in the most recently picture I marked where the moving part goes and sanded some of IT away so that the head can move smoothly.

Step 10: Assembling the Bottom

Now weakened the woody pole to the even off length. The axles need to be 63 millimeter long and the woody magnetic pole that moves the chief about 108 millimeter.

The wheels and the elude aren't concentrated. Therefore you have to make a point that the arrows are pointing to the nominal head and the thinner part underneath the holes has to constitute on the bottom as shown in the back and tertiary picture.

Step 11: Adding the Duck to the Bottom

Systematic to attach the duck to the worst, I old a frailty. I tried using a clamp on my prototypes. but it didn't work too well.

Locate the duck in the center and use your 108 mm pole to align it. The Pole has to go direct the 10 mm hole in the bottom and 7 mm hole that goes done the front of the duck's egg. To glue the pieces together, I used weights as shown in the third picture.

Erstwhile the glue is dried I used nails to add or s more stability as shown in the last picture.

Step 12: Painting

Onto the painting. The plywood I used had a defect, so before painting, I occupied information technology with wood filler.

The original LEGO wood toy I possess is not primed, but I decided to prime mine thus that the paint stays along it better.

At that place are many different versions of the fudge down there so you can, of course of study, rouge it still you would like.

I have uploaded my color scheme to this step, which is a direct copy of the original one. Feel unpaid to purpose it. On that point are two files, one for for each one side. I used carbon paper to hound the lines onto the duck, as shown in the third picture.

I painted one color at one time, but if you have paint that has better opacity than mine you might want to think about using base colours and adding the details ontop (information technology took me about five layers for each color).

I found a fun little history about varnishing the toys:

Godtfred Kirk (Ole Kirk's son) is laying the finish touches along a consignment of wooden LEGO ducks. This means applying coats of varnish, and finally bringing the boxes with the finished toy ducks to the train station for dispatch. Back at the shop, Godtfred proudly announces to his father that he has cooked something genuinely clever and saved the company money. – "How did you cope that?" asks Ole Kirk. – "I gave the ducks just two coats of varnish, not trio as we ordinarily cause," is Godtfred Kirk's response. Back comes his father's prompt response: – "You will immediately fetch those ducks rearwards, give them the last pelage of varnish, pack them and return them to the base! And you will get along information technology on your own – eventide if IT takes you completely night!"

So, of course, we are going to add three coats of varnish.

Step 13: The Mechnism

Next, we are loss to attach the mechanism to the axle. I conspicuous the heart of the axle and place the microscopic distance piece onto it. I was afraid that it could break if I would straight drive the nail into it and therefore predrilled a 1.5 mm hole. To sink in the nail head I drill another short 4 mm hole into it.

Billet the piece into your toy and drive a nail into it. Afterward, I covered the hole with extraordinary glue and sanded it smooth.

Step 14: Attaching the Wheels

Now attach the wheels and paint the panoptic parts of the axles red.

At this point, we are going to dry-fit the chemical mechanism. Place the wooden pole through and through the top of the neck opening and place the head onto it. Depending on how well you cut and allied the pieces the length may constitute slightly off. Turn the front bicycle and check whether the length of the poles is right. If thusly, use a 1 mm electrify and attach the forefront to the body as shown in the last flic. Otherwise, shorten it slightly and test again.

Congratulation, you are through with. I hope you have play with it!

1 Somebody Made This Project!

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