Mercury Cougar Wooden Toy Car

We wanted to create a toy car that looked like a replica of a 1970's mercury cougar.

11.5 inch x 28.5 inch people of wood, Laguna iQ CNC router, V-Carve Pro 11 software, router table, wood glue, clamps, oscillating multi tool, wood planar, Rust-Oleum Flat Gray Primer, Rust-Oleum Gloss Protective Enamel Orange, Rust-Oleum 2x Ultra Cover Paint and Primer White, Sander, 80, 120, 160, 180, 2209, 300, 600, 800 grit sand paper, Minwax High Performance Wood Filler, Lazer cutter, drill, drill bit

First, we figured out that we wanted to do a 1970’s Mercury Cougar. Then we found a picture of a specific Cougar we wanted to do. We wanted to do the Eliminator. This is a 1970 Mercury Cougar, it has a wing, a hood scoop and it was orange (code 3). We chose this because it had good challenges in it and it would look good when we were done.

Sketch ideas in a notebook on what you would like the car to look like. We then found an outline of a 1970 mercury cougar. . This outline helped us create the part in VCarve Pro. We found this outline of the car on https://photovault.com/184829 website. We then scaled the drawing to 10.75 inches long and it is 2.88 inches high. After figuring out the dimensions of the car, we then put the outline into VCarve and scaled it to the right size.

We decided that we would need multiple pieces of wood that had to be the exact same depth as to use the same VCarve Pro program for each piece of wood. This would have been a small challenge for us as we would've had to measure all the pieces of wood we had in our inventory. We decided it would be smarter to take a large piece of wood and be able to cut multiple car outlines and know that all of them would be the same width.

Then we went back into VCarve and simulated the whole bitmap to make sure that none of the outlines would touch each other and none of the outlines would be outside of the wood we are using.

First we had to figure out what shape we wanted the windows. But we also had to put into consideration that we wanted to put seats in the car and also a dash. This meant that we could not just put a window on every outline because then inside would not be hollow, meaning we couldn't put the seat in. So then we decided that we needed the two outer most pieces to have the windows and then the other ones would have to be bigger so that we could put the seats in.

Once we had created the software the way we wanted it to be, then we had to sent the program itself to a Flash Drive. We had it sent to the Flash Drive because in order for the CNC Machine to work the program has to be in its system. Once we had sent it to the Flash drive, then we had to correctly put the wood on the machine so that it could cut it out.

Fist we got the wood position correctly on the machine. Then we added a few clamps so that the wood wouldn't move when it was drilling. Then after that we plugged in our flash drive to the remote. Then we found our program and sent it to the machine and it did its work.

When we had the cars cut out, the machine did not end up going all the way through. So then we took a multitool and cut the cars out.

We used a router table and we set the bit to the right height round each edge of the cars. This made the cars smooth and took all the sharp edges and splints out of the wood.

After cutting the cars out and putting them all through the router, we found two clamps. Then we found two pieces of the inside to glue together. Then we found Gorilla wood glue to use to glue the two pieces together. Then we put a little bit of glue on the one piece of wood and attached the other one to it. Then once we had it positioned how we wanted it, we used the two clamps and clamped them together. We put one clamp on one the rear end and one on the front end and let the glue dry for about 24 hours.

After the glue was dry, we took sand paper and sanded down the glue that was pushed out when we clamped the two outlines together to make the inside smooth. Then we took the third outline of the inside and glued that to the two that we had already glued together. After that was dry we took sandpaper to that was well to make sure there was no bumps or anything.

We then took the outline of the outside of the car and we were going to glue it on when we realized that the thickness of the top was not thick enough. Then we decided that we were going to do this the right way and create another outline of the outsides. So we got the right thickness of the top and we created another program in VCarve and cut out two more outlines.

We used the same piece of wood from when we first cut out the outlines. First we cut off the scraps off. Then we sent the wood through a planar. The planer made the wood all the same thickness, this was we would not have to use the multi tool.

We took the wood glue and put it only on one piece of wood and put the passenger side on. Then we put the car in clamps and let the car sit over night.

While the glue was drying, we started to make a seat and dash for the car. We took a 3.5'x1.5' piece of wood and drew an outline of a seat on it. Then we took the wood to the band saw and cut it out. Then we drew the dash with creating the right curve and the right height and cut it out with the band saw. After getting them cut out, we sanded them down a little bit and used White Rustolium paint and painted the seat and dash white.

Once the glue had dried, we took sand paper to inside of the car to make it smooth. Then after we got it smooth, we taped off the window, so that the paint wouldn't get on the outside. Then we took black Rustolium paint and spray painted the inside. Then we let the paint dry over night.

Once the seat, dash, and interrior are dry, then get the seat and the dash and get the wood glue. Then put the glue on the bottom of the dash and the bottom of the seat. Then put the seat in the dash in car. Let the glue sit over night.

Then we got the drivers side piece of wood to spray the inside black. Then we taped off the outside so that the over spray would get on the outside. Then we spray painted it and let the paint dry over night. Then we took the tape off and glued the drivers side to the car.

Once we had the car all put together and all the glue was dry, we then added the filler to the cracks. We did this so that you can't see any cracks or any imperfections in the wood. Then, we let the filler set over night. Then we came back and sanded down the filler and made the car smooth by sanding it with 80, 120, 220, and then 600 girt sand paper.

After sanding the car down, so that it had barely any imperfections, then we taped off the inside of the car so that we wouldn't spray the inside.

We decided we wanted orange paint. So after the paint was fully dry, we spray painted the car orange.

We decided that we wanted to add white pinstripes down the middle of the car. First we found the middle of the car. Then we decided that the stripes were going to be a half inch thick. So then we went a quarter inch off the center and that was our first line. Then we added a half in to that and made hash marks so we know where to put the tape. Then we added tape and used Rust Oleum white spray paint. We did this twice for both stripes.

We found a set of wheels but they were the wrong size. So then we decided to create a software. First we found out what size wheels we wanted. We decided that we wanted wheels with the diameter 1 3/4 of an inch. So we used the software light burn and made 16 circles. Then once they were cut out we used wood glue and glued four circles together. Then we let them sit over night. Then we went and painted them with black spray paint.

Once we had the wheels painted, then we found a 1' and 3/4' screw. We then found where we wanted to put the wheel and made a mark on the car. Then we found the center of the wheel and predrilled a hole so that the screw would go in easy. So then we screwed the screws in and into the car.