How Toys are Made | Prehistoric Pals

Image of Brontie plush and plastic toy next to Bianca plush and plastic toy standing in front of prehistoric pals book Brontie and pals build a park

The 'Prehistoric Pals' characters come to life on paper first.

Have you ever wondered How Toys are made? As a kid I never imagined the steps it takes to make a toy and never imagined the amount of time it takes to bring a toy to life. It seems like magic sometimes, but really, it just takes some planning and tools. Anyone can make a toy–even you! The 'Prehistoric Pals' characters come to life on paper first.

The second step of how toys are made is to create the 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design) files to make Brontie, the Brontosaurus Dinosaur-Excavator toy. The building of the real, 3D prototype that can be painted to the colors specs and functions like the future toy that will be delivered to the store or to your door. The last step in to cut steel molds that can mold the melted plastic for production. How toys are made is the same way many products around your your house are made.

    Our dinosaur construction toys were meticulously crafted through a multi-step process that involved concept design, engineering, and prototype creation. We began by brainstorming ideas for toys that combined two popular interests for children: dinosaurs and construction vehicles. From there, we moved on to concept design, with our team of designers creating sketches and refining ideas until we had a clear and captivating vision for our products.

    Next came the engineering phase, during which we focused on making our toys both functional and safe. Our engineers carefully considered factors like materials, durability, and safety regulations, all while staying true to our original design vision.

    Finally, we created prototypes of our toys to test their design and functionality before mass production. This allowed us to make any necessary adjustments based on feedback and ensure that our final products were of the highest quality.

    In short, our dinosaur construction toys were made through a process that emphasized both creativity and safety, with concept design, engineering, and prototype creation all playing crucial roles in the development of our products.

    We hope this helps you understand how toys are made and encourages you to learn more about how other products are made and open you up to more fun things to learn and explore.

    First the development of our hero character Brontie, he is part Brontosaurus & Excavator.

    In step one we choose the type of dinosaur and the type of vehicle. In this case we are blending a brontosaurus and construction vehicle called an excavator. 

    Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, arm, bucket. They can rotate and can come with tracks or wheels. These machines are used mainly for digging purposes as well as various lifting and carrying tasks. These are a natural progression of their ancestors, the steam shovel.

    The Brontosaurus is named means "thunder lizard" from the Greek language. Brontosaurus had a long, thin neck and a small head adapted for a herbivorous lifestyle, a bulky, heavy torso, and a long, whip-like tail. The various species lived in what is now North America during the Late Jurassic period.

    In step two we create concepts with a combination of the dinosaur and the construction vehicle until we get to a magical mixture of both.

    Step 3, after reviewing the concept with the design team and getting feedback from our resident 5 year old dinosaur and toy expert, we 'noodle' the details of the concept to perfection.

    drawing of Brontie the brontosaurus excavator and steps showing how he was conceptualized.

    Our second character is Gronk, he is part Stegosaurus & Skid loader.

    Gronk was developed the with the same process as Brontie above. We combined a Stegosaur and a skid loader to achieve his Prehistoric Pals look.

     

    Stegosaurus is one of the most easily recognized dinosaurs of the Jurassic. Stegosaurus is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. There bones were found in the western United States and in Portugal.

     

    A skid loader, skid-steer loader, or skidsteer is a class of compact heavy equipment with lift arms that can attach to a wide variety of buckets and other labor-saving tools or attachments. The wheels on a skid loader typically have no steering mechanism, they are in a fixed, straight line relative to the body of the vehicle. By turning the left and right wheel pairs at different speeds, the machine turns by skidding, or dragging its wheels across the ground.

     

    image of Ground the stegosaurus loader and the steps showing how the was conceptualized and drawn.

     Third in the series of Pals character concepts is Bianca. She is a combination of Iguanodon & Mining Land Mover.

    Iguanodon: meaning 'iguana-tooth', is a genus of iguanodontian dinosaur. Many species have been classified in the genus Iguanodon, dating from the late Jurassic Period to the early Cretaceous Period of Asia, Europe, and North America. The Iguanodon was a large, bulky herbivore, measuring up to 9–11 meters (30–36 ft) in length and 4.5 metric tons. Mining land movers or earthmover refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks of moving huge earth moving tasks or other large construction tasks.
    Sketches showing the concepts of Bianca the Iguanodon Land Mover and how she was drawn and created.

     And Bianca's final dinosaur vehicle design!

    Final vehicle design for Bianca the Iguanodon Land Mover shown how she was conceptualized from dinosaur to vehicle.

    More characters to follow. Stay tuned! We will introduce 1-2 new characters with each new book!

    NEXT UP in the how toys are made series, the 3D CAD Engineering

    After the concept design are complete with the fusion of a dinosaur and a construction vehicle we add notes to the concept drawings for the articulation and other toy molding production and manufacturing details. With hand drawn pencil sketches we work out cosmetic and functional features. Details of how the wheels will be molded and details of how the neck or boom will articulate and be held in place in multiple positions. The hinging on Brontie's jaw is also detailed so the user can move open and close the mouth easily with one finger.

    The 2D design for the Brontie toy is translated into a 3D, solidworks CAD files were testing of fit and function can be accomplished. These files can then be use to create parts to make the prototype parts The prototype can be painted for use in photography for website and sales brochures.

    Dinosaur Toy Prototype & Production Ready Sample

    The 3D CAD gives us exact dimensions and accurate production details. The wheels are designed to press fit onto the chassis without screws to fast, easy assembly. With the 3D CAD files complete, we print 3D prototype parts. These need to hand sanded, primed and painted. The parts are test fit together and minor tweaks are made where necessary to arrive at the optimal performance. Below you will see the completely assembled prototype ready for painting.

    How toys are made shows the 3D CAD files and prototypye parts we created for the Brontie vehicle. Brontie the Brontosaurus and part excavator construction toy. The were latter painted and assembled for child testing.

    The final Dinosaur Vehicle – Brontosaurus Excavator Toys!

    We creates two samples of Brontie at the prototype phase from the 3d CAD files we creates. This give us additional opportunities to take photos for marketing, video's, website design (Such as the photo below), sales and promotional brochures. We hope you enjoyed our feature. More to come in the future, stay tuned!

    Here are two completed Prototype Brontie Dinosaur-Excavator toys. These are ready for kid testing, Marketing, website photography.

    Now that you have seen how toys are made, click the link below to go to the store and start collecting.

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