Does anyone know if any video was ever taken in the McCoy factory, or any other US modern tinplate? Was thinking about buying TMs Toy Train Revue from the 90s hoping there was something in there - would love to see exactly how these were made.
Any other articles or photos showing the specific processes would be appreciated as well, thanks!
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The TCA Museum has a great display from 1936 titled "The Story of the 264E" showing how a 264E is made from tinplate. This display is documented elsewhere on the internet - roughly the 3rd image in the results.
I cant help so much with the USA side of things ... but for general tinplate manufacture there are still places out there doing today, the same thing they have for 80 years or more ...
One of these little places is Kovap in Czechoslovakia ... the process's used by them would be very much the same I would think .. a very hands on and craftsmanship driven environment ...
@Fatman posted:...One of these little places is Kovap in Czechoslovakia ... the process's used by them would be very much the same I would think .. a very hands on and craftsmanship driven environment ...
I continue to be astounded by the stuff I learn by hanging around here. I had never heard of Kovap, but it looks like some of their items might be sold in North America around Christmas by Lee Valley (a Canadian company which sells woodworking and gardening tools).
The prices on their website seem reasonable (one Czech Koruna is currently less than a nickel) - does anyone know if they ship to the US? I might email them to ask, but am concerned about a language barrier...
@Mallard4468 I have bought direct from Czech via a store in Prague .. Ben Zerba
You can also order direct from Kovap themselves @ https://eshop.kovap.cz/products Both will send internationally , but funnily enough Bez Zerba is a little cheaper than Kovap itself and you can select to not be VAT taxed ( being a non euro country)
Zerba does English quite well , and I would suspect that so would Kovap as Czechs are usually far more multilingual than us 
@Fatman posted:@Mallard4468 I have bought direct from Czech via a store in Prague .. Ben Zerba
You can also order direct from Kovap themselves @ https://eshop.kovap.cz/products Both will send internationally , but funnily enough Bez Zerba is a little cheaper than Kovap itself and you can select to not be VAT taxed ( being a non euro country)
Zerba does English quite well , and I would suspect that so would Zerba as Czechs are usually far more multilingual than us
You are a bad influence. My mother told me not to play with kids like you. 
@Matt G from VA posted:Does anyone know if any video was ever taken in the McCoy factory, or any other US modern tinplate? Was thinking about buying TMs Toy Train Revue from the 90s hoping there was something in there - would love to see exactly how these were made.
Any other articles or photos showing the specific processes would be appreciated as well, thanks!
Although it is not precisely what you are requesting, Matt, the TM video "Lionel Legends, The Hudson" has extensive footage of the Lionel Chesterfield, MI factory circa. 1990 with an emphasis on the making the reissue of the scale Hudson. Not tinplate, but very enjoyable. It is viewable these days on YouTube.
Enjoy!
Bob
@Mallard4468 posted:You are a bad influence. My mother told me not to play with kids like you.
" Mrssss Malllllaaaardddd! .. can little Ducky come out to play? "
Its been a long time since I researched the Kovap toys manufacturing , but back then , as it also was back in the day, the factory often sent out toy parts to be finished and assembled by workers in their own homes and in their own time , being paid on a quality of work and piecemeal basis ... making it very much a village type operation ... I believe this is still done with things like the clockwork motor assembly ...the worker makes the motors at home and each day delivers their finished units to the workshop for incorporation into the toys . Here is one of the designers of toys I believe ( I dont speak Czech lol ) in an interview for a TV program ... shows off some of the rough hand made prototypes and resulting factory creations
Very interestingly towards the end I am pretty sure he is showing some toys he has designed for other firms possibly ETS for the train and what looks like the Mettoy commemorative double decker bus ( Mettoy sold them as limited editions in the UK )
And here is the " Unlimited " edition still sold by Kovap lol
https://eshop.kovap.cz/catalog...master-bus-rm5_2-146
Corgi ad has been replaced with " Space for your advertising " lol .. bit of Czech humour methinks
Took me ages to find it .. but here is the original video I wanted to link in my first post here ... again in Czech but shows more of the actual toy making process ..
And in a bit of sad news it appears the designer Michal Mozny suffered a stroke in 2017 
still living but unable to make the toys he has loved all his life ... But what a legacy he has left us with Quite the measure of a man that he got his own news report when he retired ...
and a longer video showing a lot more of the process's ... so much hand work ! And everything done by the company .. printing cutting moulding assembly and testing ... the first 5 mins or so is all about the factory then the rest of the clip is showing off the various toys
Apologies to OP... I kinda hijacked the thread (lol ) but hey you asked how they were made .. just not by Czechs
@Fatman posted:Apologies to OP... I kinda hijacked the thread (lol ) but hey you asked how they were made .. just not by Czechs
No way - these videos are amazing! Exactly what I was hoping for, getting to see the stamping presses & dies operate vs. what’s done by hand. The woman at the beginning of the longer video is a marvel of dexterity - she is surgical! Also that rubber stamping (or heat stamp?) machine is so cool seeing how that armature hits the stencil mask to pick up the design.
Thanks for sharing - it is a glimpse into the past! I especially love the patina on all the equipment.
The 264E display at the TCA museum is great, this is definitely on the bucket list along with seeing the Richard Sherry collection wherever that is (basement of the Alamo?)
Love the Making of the Hudson, just wish they showed the coil winding dept!
@Matt G from VA posted:basement of the Alamo?
make your own tinplate...by hand...the old school way...hand tools...it's fun...but extremely time consuming...
http://littleglitterhouses.com/MakingTinTrainCars
Howard...
@Fatman - thanks for all of the videos, and the (sad) update on the designer. As I was watching the first video about him, I wondered if he was still active; unfortunately, the answer came later. Watching the process, I was amazed at the amount of hammering that is done on the finished lithography - quite a skill to do that without damaging the finish.
After seeing more of the products, I'm almost certain that Kovap is the source of the tinplate toys that Lee Valley sells. Now, I have to choose between buying from a limited selection from a reliable North American vendor or rolling the dice and dealing with the Czech company that you identified.
I had no drama ordering from the Czech Republic , but that was before covid , and the mail in Europe is a bit messed up now , but if you are patient it should get to you ...
Meanwhile today I found a couple of sites with Interviews with Michal Mozny ... fascinating man .. he did indeed work also with ETS and even Marklin in the early 1990s when they were creating replicas and he contributed prototyping for the Marklin Maxi 1 !!!
Some articles ( via google translate )
I've been digging around google and found this video of the Bassett-Lowke factory - never heard of this manuf. but I've been reading up on them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZRJZdm-OGA
http://www.tcawestern.org/bassett.htm
My original post was looking for modern tinplate, because I wrongly assumed they never filmed any prewar factories. Was happy to find this, and now thinking the older the footage the better!
Not exactly a video, but a print article from 1919 relating to toy trains produced at the American Flyer factory in Chicago.
@Matt G from VA posted:I've been digging around google and found this video of the Bassett-Lowke factory - never heard of this manuf. but I've been reading up on them:
My original post was looking for modern tinplate, because I wrongly assumed they never filmed any prewar factories. Was happy to find this, and now thinking the older the footage the better!
Annnd just for the entertainment value ... here are some "nekkid" Bassett-lowke mechanisms the same as what they were making in the fillum ( albiet a few years later )
And here is a Van Riemsdjik from 1948 powered by a modified Bassett-lowke 4-wheel mechanism ... this is a rare controlled clockwork variant , only 600 were made ... the use of a unique form of governing invented by John Van Riemsdjik meant the locomotive could be set to run at any speed you wanted
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