How to Design a Toy Car

Sketch the shape of your toy car onto graph paper, with each square on the paper representing 1 millimeter. Sketch from the side, the front and the top, as the more thorough your plans are, the more easily you can re-create them in the toy.

Draw the shapes for your car on balsa wood sheets. The car will consist of many pieces of balsa wood glued together. As each square represents a square millimeter, the thickness of the sheets, you can easily find the correct shape for each piece by looking at the views on your sketch. Each sheet cut will represent a slice made up of one row of squares. It is best to err on the side of making your sheets slightly too big, as you will be sanding later, but can not add wood if you cut too small of pieces.

Cut out the pieces of balsa wood using a crafting knife.

Glue the pieces of balsa wood together using wood glue and clamp the sheets between wood clamps. You can assemble the entire car at once by applying a thin layer of glue to the top of every sheet except the top one, and then securing them between the clamps. Let it dry overnight.

Sand the car down to smooth out the exterior of the car, and to file down areas that may be slightly larger than your desired shape.

Paint the car with the design of your choice and leave to dry.

Insert the wheels into the car. The small nails pass through the holes in the center of the wheels and can be pushed into the soft wood by hand. You want to push the wheels in so they are nearly touching the side of the car, with just enough room between the inner edges of the wheels and the body of the car for the wheels to turn around the nail freely.