DurableToys.com Useful Info and Discussion Archive 01

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	Needle in a Haystack DurableToys.com

DurableToys.com Useful Info and Discussion Issue 01 by David or Debra McCusker, Needle in a Haystack DurableToys.com. We share whatever news comes to mind or what customers bring up in this space on a schedule best described as random. Generally updated items are at the top. If you found this page by chance and are looking for products, just click on a thumbnail pic or the top logo for the welcome page. We invite your email or other submissions. Email or events not originally intended for this page will be summarized for privacy. More general info.

Current Topics Page

This page is an archive of older topics of discussion. For current topics go to toydisc.htm.

Special Olymics World Games 1999 - North Carolina

North Carolina hosted the Special Olympics 1999 World Games. These games are for atheletes with special challenges. Most activites were centered around Raligh NC with host communities spread out at least 60 miles. Needak's (DurableToys.com) owners (most of them) attended the table Tennis competition on 6/28. We were part of a cheering section from a church's men's organization which also supported the games with translators and other volunteers. There was a wide range of playing ability from extremely serious on down. The site was Univerity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's indoor tennis facilty, with 21 tables set up. This event held twofold interest for us: we sell weatherproof outdoor table Tennis tables by Kettler on durabletoys.com/sports. And I [Dave] was an adjucnt instructor for the Univeristy of North Carolina at Greesnboro. We spoke to folks from Pakistan, China, Ireland, Great Britian, Czech Replublic, and elsewhere. Next time the games are in Ireland, likey at or near Dublin, and we hear that they will use Kettler Joola tables.

Really BIG Online Orders

It was only in 1996 that we first used secure online ordering here, for books. When we needed a third light truck it only took minimal time. First, a visit to autoallies.com and we knew that the selection of vehicles was far better than any one local location. Secondly, the search ability is better than the local dealer would have you know about. Then I found a working online order system of autobytel.com with secure interface and real people backing it up with professionalism. Total transaction time, three days from the getgo mouse click thru some fax machine tag then scheduled DELIVERY (if ours was an in-stock unit using standard finacing). For our transaction there was another few weeks to await stock that was not yet ready. Then delivery - with a full tank of gas and pefectly clean and waxed. Want to know more? Contact David VanPelt at 800-779-2433 or visit www.modernchevy.com . They feature Chevrolet cars and trucks. Please let them know you heard about it here. Updates: Second really big online order was four hours from fulfillment when the dealer announced that they wouldn't deliver as promised. No sale, tuff! Really big online order was sold through the web at the autotrader.com web site. Another 4 wheeler was purchased and delivered after a 2 million square mile search through autotrader.com. Another local purchase was found on autotrader.com. So far, four for four purchased through the above sites have been delivered by the other party. We also search carsdirect.com to find used cars and trucks online. Two more have been collected by online auctions, one abandoned at the airport (really long term parking-they sell!) and another through a salvage specialist auction house. However, the latter two are risky, buyer-beware terrain not for everyone. More, see wagon anecdotes elsewhere on this page.

New Building has Room for Toys

Here at the DurableToys.com Ranch we ran out of space for tons of your favorite toys and other things. Construction is complete on a barn/storage building. Our building design has a gambrel (barn) roof, just like our logo. The first floor has over 10' of headroom with a 9' high door ($$$$!!) to allow us to handle larger vehicles. More factoids: Mr. Fogelman, crane owner/operator, traded places with me on the 12th truss from the front, he was the hooker and I controlled the crane. Over eleven yards of concrete form a tied-in floor to footer, and part of the fill material is a broken computer printer. The lean-to on the side is 30' long and 16 gallons of paint went on the masonry the old-fashioned way. Mercifully, the lower level is nice and cool, but the upper floor can get real hot. Thanks to friends Sandy and Rodney for your advice.

Secure On-Line Ordering

We have in place secure ordering, where it is safe to enter a credit card number and the order is readable only within our system for order fullfillment. No customer inforation is stored on a web server. Just go to "durabletoys.com/toyhow.htm" for instructions and a link to secure ordering checklists. Look for the symbol on your browser indicating secure- either a locked padlock or unbroken key. We use procedures and facilities with strongly encrypted data so that information is never stored on the web. This seemingly reduces the "personalization" of our site since there are no "cookie" files read or written nor online customer databases with which to refer. Our personalization comes from an actual people at the telephone number and with online ordering free of phony familiarity. Our overall system earned the BBBOnline Secure mark. We process these orders daily Email "manager@durabletoys.com" when you have questions. We have a complete privacy policy along with term of sale, see the index.

What's Going, Going ... Gone?

While is is much more fun to tell about what's new, some of our favorite products get discontinued and then go away. Our latest loss is the line of Roadmaster tricycles. They first went from USA to far eastern production and now are out of production. Fifty three years of classic red tricycles is now gone. Radio Flyer has introduced a line of tricycles much like the ones we won't have in the future. We also lament the loss of Kettler's Trucky and (previous) sandbox. The Kettler Jumbo (red), XR-12, Safari and Formel 1 hard tire, and Bison cars are now gone, too. The Kettcar Monaco is also gone, and now the Hand Trolly Trailer wagon is down to the remaining few in stock. The nostalgic Irish Mail is gone as well. We try to hold the last few of an item beyond the point of advertising it on the web, just for the "must have" requests, but printed pages stay out there for a while. Use our "Order/Browse" tool to see what is still available. Two lines of major brand wooden toys now fill the Amish shop gap nicely with red Radio Flyer and green John Deere Kids Toys. But even the JDK wood toys are going also, but we bought plenty of the available items. When practical, we buy and store as many of a near discontinued item as I can to keep a favorite such as the late Kettcar Safari now the Irish Mail. Mercifully, the wagon selection just continues to expand with neat concepts like different materials. In the future you will be able to get a perfectly matching trailer or obtain parts without a problem because wagons are just timeless. In summary, get the must-have unusual items while you can as listed by the "Order/Browse" tool available from the index page.

TWINformation and more

Thanks to Kristin, dedicated mother of triplets:

"...I just found your website and am so upset that I didn't know about your company before I wasted the money to buy a wagon at Toys R Us....

Please, please, please help me to get the word out to the other families of multiples, your wagons would have been a lifesaver for my family and many others. There are two national newsletters for families of triplets and more. One is MOST (mothers of supertwins) and I happen to be [a state] coordinator for this one. There number is (516)434-MOST and their website is www.MOSTonline.org".

"The other organization is called the Triplet Connection, phone is (209)474-2233 and their website is www.tripletconnection.org

Both newsletters go out to SEVERAL THOUSAND FAMILIES with triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets, sextuplets and now SEPTUPLETS! Both newletters do accept advertisements. Almost all of these families have to find one way or another to transport their children and the only way thus far is spending at least $500 on a stroller and then when they outgrow that, we must pray that we can find a safe way to keep several small children out of harms way when we are away from home. This not an easy task. I bought the Radio Flyer because it was the largest wagon that I found. All four of my children can sit around the outside with their feet dangling down, but there's no room for any extra things that must accompany us AND it is very difficult to pull. I am going to start spreading the word to other families in my situation. Do you offer a catalog for folks not connected to the www?" [ed.: only on the web]

"Please send me any information that you could and I will start showing it at some of state meetings.

It's gonna take a lot of convincing to get my husband to get a new larger wagon, but I'm starting on him tonight!!!

Sincerely, Kristin"

Granular Silicon Test Facility Completed

Our shade tree now has under it a 64 square foot granular silicon toy test facility (sandbox) like the one that Dr. Benjamin Spock is shown to have enjoyed. It is so big, we built it around our compact Kettler modular sandbox. This helps our team of toy testers get plenty of experience with large scale tractor-loaders and backhoes, that we now have on toymod.htm. A sandbox and plenty of sand moving equipment is an excellent basis for constructive and imanginitive play with cooperation among children. Young minds really enjoy the blank slate approach and they just don't need a pre-packaged script and characters to have a good time. Note that the smaller Kettler sandbox will allow you to haul the 300 lb. of sand youself and that it can be moved or used on a place other than anchored to the ground. Thanks to Blackwell and Sons of Burlington for bringing us two tons of sand with one of their dump trucks and then dumping it directly into the big sandbox, where I think it will stay for the next forty years.

Local Road Show

Update: Local Road Shows are no longer done from our shop. Thanks to visitors to downtown Burlinton, North Carolina at our past visits to the "Community Flea Market". Needle in a Haystack DurableToys.com went there with small items and a selection of larger trikes, pedal cars, and wagons. We usually brought "out of the box" experience items like returns, boo-boos, dents or just plain ugly boxes with perfect stuff inside. We do not have facilites (nor complete stock) for sales at our location unless a special event is planned. Presently, some returned items especially those that are boxed for shipping appear under search category "Manager's Specials".

Yes, we have multiple ways to ship

In the aftermath of the July, 1997 UPS strike, we want our customers to know in what ways we have become better prepared to serve our mail-order buyers. First, we began to use the Post Office standard mail (parcel) for packages up to 70 lbs. They have about the same rate structure as UPS so it works with standard S/H dollar amounts, and it is reliable. We also have a Fed-Ex account which is now combined Express and Ground. Update: We have sold our cargo trailer as we outgrew it about as soon as we got it. We use LTL freight now.

Donated Cars - UPDATE: Both Sold

We have donated a car to one of our church charities and it has been sold as a fund raiser. Just like durable toys we have always tried to own good stuff and then take very good care of it, even at 148K miles. Donated funds are used in support of retarded citizens in Alamance and Caswell Counties served by Camp Greenleaves, (in NC) plus numerous other worthwhile directions. Thanks Philip for buying the car. Update: We have donated another vehicle to an educational charity, and it was then sold to a DurableToys.com customer to help fund worthy efforts.

Team DurableToys.com Dominates Kiddie Games- UPDATE: Sorta

At a statewide convention in N. Wilksboro, NC my three size kids won the bottom three weight classes of the Kiddie Tractor Pull. They were pulling a little sled with a moving weight to make it harder to pull with more distance. The pull vehicles were Ertl pedal tractors just like what we sell on toypedal.htm. Traction was the limiting factor for the big kid- spinning the right rear tire, but the younger ones reached hard stall with burning leg muscles. Did they have an unfair advantage or what??
Uptate 8/1999. Two of three kids entered in another tractor pull, winning one first and one second place finish. This one was at our local Ag park, and the pedal powered puller was really good. This one used an Ertl pedal tractor modified with big air tractor tread tires, lower (numerically higher) overall drive ratio and spool drive live axle turning both wheels. This pedal tractor had so much traction and axle torque that the endgame of the contest for the higher powered kids was a sky-high wheelie and leg fade for little kids.

Your Toy Guy joins prof org

David McCusker joins the Society of Automotive Engineers (S.A.E) as a full member. Past career work included aircraft and shipboard electronics plus recent consulting on electric propulsion for light passenger and EV racers. More recent consulting has been to provide details of the "Ackerman" steering geometry to the designers of two different four wheel pedal cars. This could have been predicted by my Mom who says that my first word was "car".

Wagons Etc. Donated

Click for pic. Needak, Inc. (DurableToys.com) has donated a Valley Road #350G wagon to Blessed Sacrament School http://www.bssknights.org in Burlington, NC on 3/25/97. The wagon was presented to the 4th grade nature club at the "outdoor classroom" site which includes a garden and pond. The pond project has received many donations of material and labor from area businesses. An article in the "Alamance News" in Graham, NC 3/27/97 issue describes the project. Hidden in the picture with some students is the wagon (850 lb. capacity), afterward they loaded it with dirty shovels just as rain started. The wagon may also be used on the playground especially since traditional playground items are being regulated out. Note: DurableToys.com and our customers have donated or given away for promotional use HUNDREDS of other items. Give away is a nice option when an item is not saleable after a return or has been replaced at the customer's home for shipping abuse, etc. or it may be just a dusty assembled toy. We supply the toys in "Centro: La Communidad" and the adjacent "Little Angels" playroom in Burlington.

A Reflection of Your Good Judgment

The wheel toys that we sell are not equipped with lights or even reflectors (like a bicycle) and thus are not intended for after dark use. But we have found that some reflective material on each end may save a parked vehicle from a destructive encounter with the car. This is by far the most common reason for parts requests. Our fleet has had a few confirmed "saves" by having reflective materials. The toys are always scattered about our sidewalks and driveway every night; if they didn't survive outdoors, we wouldn't have this problem. Reflective "dealer decals" are now in and will be supplied with all large items. The stickers are white with black lettering and they reflect light back to the source from any angle. It is the same Avery material as our NC license tags and speed limit signs. You'll see it. UPDATE: third artwork. If you have squashed a toy be sure to inspect your tire for damage to the internal cords. Initially look for bubbles in the tread and both sidewalls and then look again after some use, ask a tire pro if in doubt. Update: We ran out but possible changes to content are holding new artwork.

Measuring Kettcar Cornering "G" Force

This question had to be answered. How many Gs can a Kettcar pull in cornering on fresh asphalt?

Just for comparison, a passenger car will corner at from 0.60 G on up to around 1.00 G (Ex Corvette C5), 0.80 G is typical for modern cars on low-profile radials. Race cars can far exceed that up to 5 Gs with the use of lots of areodynamic downforce, high banking and sticky tires. A fighter jet can corner through the air up to CLASSIFIED Gs, more than the mere passenger can take. As early as the 1920's experimental aircraft have exceeded 10 Gs of cornering force in air.

First the methodology. Radius of the skidpad is 15 feet, marked with a line- also works well as the 3-point line at the basketball goal. Time the moving car through part of an arc to get the speed in feet per second. Calculate cornering in Gs with the formula: V squared over Radius divided by G (32.2 feet per second squared). Results: The smaller Kettcars (Grand Prix and XR-12, Sportster) could not be ridden fast enough to reach the cornering limit on a 15 foot radius curve, thus all further tests were done with a Kettcar Safari (Same chassis as a Formel 1). There was a running Bonneville start and then a timed portion of the arc to get the speed in feet per second. The 10 year old who weighs about 70 lbs. reached 0.52 G with massive understeer. Ralph Nader would have been proud of the way the front end broke loose first and just plowed. But with the author on board, at 69" and 160 lbs., the car would roll and eject the rider every time at around 0.55 G, without breaking traction. Being top heavy really reduces the ability to cut seriously hard turns. The moral is, the size and age limits are evidently for safety and not because the car can't take the abuse.

Now for some background that relates to the above. The analysis is pure high-school (at least 1970s) Physics, plus some engineering school Dynamics. Later, a course at Charlotte (now Lowes) Motor Speedway reinforced the vehicle dynamics in the classroom and on the track. Look up Car Guys, Inc. at www.carguysinc.com or 1-800-800-GUYS. The advanced driving school taught the kinds of things that police officers know and use in pursuit. While not racing, or even racing techniques, the training served to teach the fastest and safest way around a road course. One main area of education was the vector math of cornering and braking, a maximum of either one or the other is possible. Other lessons learned help eliminate the effects of visual forshortenting of corners and conserving one's options to compensate for judgement tolerences.

Racing does provide vast benefit to us in our daily transportaion needs. It is as much engineering competition as it is strategy and skill on the part of the team, driver and crew members. Racing is a team sport where a team is an economic unit that may include one or more cars in a given race and 130 or more persons who touched the race car. For example a team photo of the away crew for a one-car team shows 38 people, 9 trucks, 8 trailers and 15 race cars. Figure on 7 to 10 million dollars a year, with one complete race car costing about $150,000. This is in addition to a fixed shop base, plus engineers and other employees working for many related entities and sponsors. Race cars are optimized for different types of tracks and backup cars are retained and rebuilt to recover from the inevitable crashes. Superspeedway cars have optimized gearing and aerodynamics for speed while short track cars have huge brakes and shorter gearing. At the edge, optimization tradeoffs are minute, many and mandatory since compromise from total perfection insures defeat. Defeats are amplified with fewer sponsorship dollars, so the effect of every decision is recursive.

Racing forces technology improvements at a fast pace due to the unbending schedules and real-time performance reward system. Late doesn't work, unprepared or behind the times promises failures and there are no set-asides, only merit. Unlike stick and ball sports, mortal risk balances large shared rewards. Each team has hundreds of key players working years ahead of each contest on millions of dollars of equipment. Deep thinking happens continuously before and during each event. Alliances among manufacturers, team crew chiefs, drivers, sponsors, spotters, kin, and others are formed and broken years, weeks, days, hours and seconds apart. Racers assist, exploit, trade, trick, thwart or attack each other in a real time display of the operation of human nature. Winning a NASCAR race is more than taking the checkered flag and honors in victory lane. (NASCAR is a registered trademark of the National Association for Stock* Car Auto Racing, Inc.) *They race purpose-built tube frame rear drive race cars that only resemble "stock" unit body street cars from Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, Pontiac and otoatae. There are really other races both internal and external to the day's main event. Season long points championships for drivers, teams and manufacturers reward conistant performance across as many as 36 races. Within a race, there are bonus dollars and points for specific milestones such as leading the most laps, and each caution flag condition intitiates a fractional lap dash back to the start/finish line. Sometimes stabbing the brakes to change a competitor's green flag restart position is done for selfish benefit. (Update: Rules change alters the yellow flag strategy to covet the "lucky dog" position which is the first car one lap behind so that it gets a green flag restart at the end of on the lead lap.) This sport has an extremely complex coaching task that falls to the "Crew Chief" and other crew members. Learn more about NASCAR racing from UPS at the ups.com webite primer on racing: Racing 101

Racing advances automotive safety for all of us. There is the well defined environment of major race courses (only tens of them) with familiar professional drivers behind the wheels. In addition, very similar cars race together in a series producing a huge predictable pool of spectacular crashes to provide a lot of good data. The data is collected by skilled operators, careful verbal expressions, many cameras, black box force and event recorders, off-car data telemetry and sadly- injuries, which are then analyzed to an extreme degree. Really rough crashes can be survivable with the right preparation, and the lessons learned do filter down in the form of notable or unseen changes. In particular, restraint systems are so highly evolved that they make the point that air-bags are near useless except to save the yahoo who refuses to buckle in.

Racing also advances areas other than safety, such as reliability, emmission control and fuel economy, even of large cargo vehicles. Some examples are anti-lock brakes, traction controls and electronic management of drivetrains, common on everything from motorcycles up to class 8 heavy trucks. In particular, tire technology has really advanced to the point where we have quiet tires with wide, hard cornering footprints yet they still displace rain water at speed. As highway speeds have increased in recent decades, brakes are now larger and more fade and lockup resistant. Racing experience and the legal climate have caused design standards which either limit the speed potential of a vehicle or see that it is equipped with tires, brakes, cooling, stability and areodynamics that are consistent. Some races are 24 hours straight in any weather and light, and some limit the fuel capacity and thus range or overall fuel use for the event. Racing is also used to design the engineers who then rotate out into the more mundane world with more open minds. Look into the depth of the engineering and performance that racing offers to the race fan as well as the rest of us. Another point: Television cannot begin to replicate the experience of watching racing live. Sensations from 6000+ horsepower in a wheel-driven "car" reaching 325 mph in 4.6 seconds from rest will impress the most jaded youngster. This writer has seen two US presidents in person but that falls short of actually seeing Earnhardt race Petty- which can never be replicated in that generation.

Questions or comments? Email us at manager@durabletoys.com

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NEEDAK, Inc.
Burlington, NC 27215
Email: manager@durabletoys.com

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