Radio Flyer RE-DO 1st Birthday Present round 2

scbird94 · Nov 13, 2009

About 3 years ago i made a wagon my daughters 1st birthday present: One-off custom pink cadillac wagon (pearl like crazy, make you want to eat it in sunlight.)

Now its time for my sons 1st birthday. Picked up a old radio flyer from co-worker for $10 (buy lunch). The cheap part of this project stops there.

The transformation. Low-Rider chassis with go kart rims and tires

The blue is a GM color called Jetstream Blue (option code 85U) that comes as an option on the 2010 Vette and CTS-V. Radio flyer graphic is painted on, below the 4 coats of clear coat. You seriously have to be in person to appreciate this color. It looks as if you could go swimming in it. I think i want my house this color.

Aluminum rims

Here are both of them together

Just figured you guys would be able to understand how someone can justify spending so much time and money on a birthday present. (my wife does NOT get it)

jwhcars · Nov 13, 2009

I think they look fantastic and both of them being a one of a kind.....later on when the children are older they will love them even more knowing that Daddy made them just for me.

catmech · Nov 13, 2009

Those are very cool. Just tell your wife its like a savings cd, at first it doesn't seem like much of an investment but when your kids are teenagers and wanting to hang out in the shop with their cool Dad building cars instead of the weird kids down the mall that is when it pays off.

Fidget · Nov 13, 2009

Those are super cool!!!

Mark-in-NH · Nov 13, 2009

Very nice, excelent work !! Your son will love it.
I think the low rider needs some hydraulic suspension and fuzzy dice.

bry@n · Nov 13, 2009

That is awesome!

Honestly, the child won't get it until they are in their teens and maybe older, but what a memory it will be. Shoot, I would nominate you for Dad of the year if I was getting those.

greg · Nov 13, 2009

That is why I come here , to see really cool stuff . Nice work , makes me want to mod a flyer now .

eborcim · Nov 13, 2009

Those are too cool. The low-rider needs some custom aluminum sport mirrors in the bolt holes. Beats the stuff outta the all recycled running gear and shipping container floor I made for my kid. But she did help me paint it....lime green.

dps · Nov 13, 2009

Great wagons! Can't believe those are hand-painted graphics; really excellent.

december45 · Nov 13, 2009

I did one simular ( not near as nice or expensive) for my nephew years ago.... had flames cool wheels the whole works... for him it was just a wagon... nothing more, it got kicked around, every sticker known to kids was plastered on it... and i could have been equally good uncle if i had just got him a wagon from toy r us... ( run of the mill) the wagon was just a short transition from trike to bike.... and then discarded. It became pretty evident that building the wagon was more important for me .... than for my nephew.... for him it was just a old wagon, that he played with and had fun with... which was the more important thing... and any old cheap beat up wagon would have been fine.

dps · Nov 13, 2009

@december: It is definitely more important to you now (I have similar issues w/ my grandkid) but if you're lucky he'll think of you as the cool uncle when his own kid is playing with it.

D50boy · Nov 13, 2009

Those are great! Don't be too sad when they get beaten around.

jmack · Nov 13, 2009

Are the kids actually allowed to play with these? Last year's present still looks pristine.

Brunsi · Nov 13, 2009

I wouldn't let my wife toss out my daughters old radio flyer so she keeps moving it out back behind the compost pile. Boy is she going to be surprised when I give it the hotrod treatment, Nice work, very inspirational.

Benw455 · Nov 13, 2009

Those are sweet!

scbird94 · Nov 13, 2009

jmack said:
Are the kids actually allowed to play with these? Last year's present still looks pristine.

Actually that was 3 years ago now, lol. She isnt too rough with her stuff, mainly hauls around stuffed animals and piles of leaves.

I have touch up paint for both so im not too worried about it.

Carter (my son) is only a year old but his favorite thing to do is wreck stuff and smash things so i think his might be a different story.

scbird94 · Nov 13, 2009

greg said:
That is why I come here , to see really cool stuff . Nice work , makes me want to mod a flyer now .

You can buy em cheap as heck in decent shape, and its only sheet metal so its not too bad to work with. You wouldnt beleive the looks when you go to the fair and moms are getting their stroller's wheels caught on little pebbles and you just run right over everything lol

Dan in Pasadena · Nov 13, 2009

greg said:
That is why I come here , to see really cool stuff . Nice work , makes me want to mod a flyer now .

Me too. I love these, however I'm coming to the conclusion that a lot of you guys have a LOT more money than I ever had when my now 27 and 28 year old son and daughter were the ages to use wagons!

Congrats. I'm not sure I could afford to do that now for my GRANDchildren...

Coach James · Nov 13, 2009

Cool!! How did you attach the wheels and axle on the low rider?

Coach

heffneil · Nov 13, 2009

Yeah can we get some more pictures of the underneath and some of the mechanics please?

Thanks!

Neil

blitzdemon · Nov 13, 2009

do want.
awesome work.

scbird94 · Nov 13, 2009

LOL camera battery just died. Will pick some up in morning. (pos camera) I wont leave you guys hangin dont worry i thought long and hard tryin to make it work so i will hopefully save you some steps.

scbird94 · Nov 14, 2009

Large bolt through center of wheel hub connects to welded nut onto spindle., This one is on the front, Rears are connected same way without a spindle (directly to end of tube steel)

Just an everyday bolt

Picture of spindle

Steering linkage (fully adjustable, had to set toe lol)

Underside of wagon- just bent tube steel and welded nuts to connect wheels. Chassis is powdercoated, not sure how well it will stand up being as how it sits so low to ground. I guess time will tell

scbird94 · Nov 14, 2009

Didnt take a pic but the bolts that hold the body to frame- tops are painted same blue (carriage bolts with square holes)

wrigh003 · Nov 14, 2009

Cool. I am thinking about doing a much more minor reconditioning of the secondhand wagon that my kids love so much. I think I'll wind up doing bedliner on the inside, though. Hell, maybe the whole thing.

They'll beat on them, but as mentioned, only for a little while, and that's just added character. Once they outgrow wanting a wagon around, just stick them in the attic- they'll be glad to have something cool that dad made for your grandkids one day.

Good job, dad. :thumbup:

e-tek · Nov 14, 2009

dps said:
Great wagons! Can't believe those are hand-painted graphics; really excellent.

They're not "hand-painted"...... :headscrat

But they are COOL!

wrigh003 said:
Cool. I am thinking about doing a much more minor reconditioning of the secondhand wagon that my kids love so much. I think I'll wind up doing bedliner on the inside, though. Hell, maybe the whole thing.

They'll beat on them, but as mentioned, only for a little while, and that's just added character. Once they outgrow wanting a wagon around, just stick them in the attic- they'll be glad to have something cool that dad made for your grandkids one day.

Good job, dad.

Build it - then say to the kid: "DON'T TOUCH THE %$%$^ THING!!! IT'S ONLY FOR LOOKING AT!!" :bounce:

dps · Nov 14, 2009

scbird94 said:
Radio flyer graphic is painted on, below the 4 coats of clear coat.

E, he says painted, I assumed it was a decal til I read this.

scbird94 · Jan 21, 2010

No its actually a negative graphic i had made for the paint shop. They sprayed blue then applied my graphic, then sprayed silver, then clear

wtfovr · Jan 21, 2010

*****'n...........both of them

One suggestion though on the blue one..........grey tweed interior

Freejack · Jan 21, 2010

Pretty damn cool, something very Trosely-esc about that low-rider wagon. All its missing is a extra long shifter with an 8-ball.

Jake

rieferman · Jan 21, 2010

I'll bet you could start a side hobby/career selling custom wagons and strollers in this style. For one, they're really cool. And secondly, when it comes to kids, lots of people are pretty spendy with their cash

sc3013 · Jan 21, 2010

scbird94 if this is what your doing for the kids, and I think its great, just wait till the grand kids. Your going to be doing all out full custom cars for them. If I knew grand kids were so much fun I would of had them first. Got five and three are teenage boys.

pseudorealityx · Jan 21, 2010

Where did you get the decals/logos for the sides? I'm refinishing my old wagon for my son. No real customization planned, just get rid of some rust, repaint, etc.

Mickey O · Jan 21, 2010

Very very cool, you want to adopt me, you could build me one for my 46th birthday, dad, I want a motor on mine.

scbird94 · Jan 21, 2010

pseudorealityx said:
Where did you get the decals/logos for the sides? I'm refinishing my old wagon for my son. No real customization planned, just get rid of some rust, repaint, etc.

Radio flyer has a few cool looking logo's, just google image it.

I have a very good vinyl graphic guy who does custom work. I was trying to find a decent picture for him to try to scan in, but when i was describing the graphic i wanted, he talked to one of his graphic-guru type buddy people and he happened to have it in his computer.

The ones on the blue wagon are a negative image for painting into then clear over

The ones on the pink wagon were post-thought, are a standard graphic you apply with squegee and water.

I bet he would ship no prob. He hooked me up good, was only like $25 per pair- i had to pay for setup but he has all that saved so you wouldnt have to worry about it

His name is Kevin Ness, works out of his shop in St. Joseph, mn

320-363-7690

Just say dylan sent you, describe the wagon graphic, he will know.

scbird94 · Jan 21, 2010

sc3013 said:
scbird94 if this is what your doing for the kids, and I think its great, just wait till the grand kids. Your going to be doing all out full custom cars for them. If I knew grand kids were so much fun I would of had them first. Got five and three are teenage boys.

I cant wait, got plans a brewin already. My buddy just had a little boy and nominated us as god-parents, plus my little nephew and neice are wagon-less.

Dunno what to do next though, started with big 4x4 off road thing, then f1 style, so what else is there? Full-out army camo with tracks? lol

scbird94 · Jan 21, 2010

rieferman said:
I'll bet you could start a side hobby/career selling custom wagons and strollers in this style. For one, they're really cool. And secondly, when it comes to kids, lots of people are pretty spendy with their cash

I would love that. If i could control the cost of paint more, or find a decent priced source for tires, i think i would absolutely build more and set up shop at car shows and swap meets. Probobly do good at county fairs and just on-line orders to i bet

rmalkow2 · Jan 21, 2010

Great job!!! I'm in process on a similar project just for the fun of it. No small kids anymore or grandkids yet so this will be my yard wagon or something cool to haul around camera equipment and cold drinks when walking car shows etc. I'm going for the early hot rod look with a twist. Maybe when it's done pics will follow. My prior project was a typical scooter that I back halved the frame with new tubing to form a rigid rear mount for a 15" mag rim and 60 series car tire. My son rode it at the Woodward Dream Cruise one year and we had offers to buy it all night. Making cool stuff from kids toys like this is great fun. I applaud your efforts and the incredible paint jobs. You are an artist.

scbird94 · Jan 21, 2010

Couple pics of the party

Big sister trying his out. Thats her pink wagon in the background

scbird94 · Jan 21, 2010

Pretty poor pics of morgan's wagon, here is a better shot of her paint- equally gorgeous lol

Radio Flyer RE-DO *1st Birthday Present round 2*

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Radio Flyer RE-DO 1st Birthday Present round 2