The toy maker

Deepa Bharath

The mechanical hum of a sander pierces the silence of a quiet, gated

community in Newport Coast.

Robert Borders carefully examines the piece of light-colored wood in

his hands. Tiny dust particles shine as they fly around the bright garage

while Borders turns the sander on and off.

He tries to round off the edges and mold the wood to perfect shape.

He places the piece of wood on the toy car.

“Aha!” he says, with a single clap of his hands and a smile that

lights up his eyes. “That’s a good fit.”

The piece of wood sits perfectly as the hood of the miniature 1935

Cadillac that Borders is crafting for a friend.

The 70-year-old architect has made toys since he was a teenager.

Antique trains with carriages and cabooses, ships, airplanes of all

shapes and sizes, firetrucks, even a circus train and merry-go-round.

Children -- from his own grandchildren to the neighborhood kids --

enjoy his craft.

“For me, it’s the flat pleasure of making something that someone is

going to enjoy,” Borders said.

It all started in Casper, Wyo., when Borders was 16.

Young Borders got in trouble with the law with his friends Charlie and

Dave, he recalled.

“And there was this wise, old judge who looked down at us from the

bench and asked us what hobbies each of us was going to take up to stay

away from trouble,” he said with a laugh.

“He asked me, and I said I was going to make models. Charlie said he

was going to study religion, and Dave said he was going to take up

chemistry. “Well, Charlie went on to become a priest, Dave is a chemistry

professor at the University of Wyoming, and I still make toys.”

The so-called toys, however, are not simply done. Each piece takes

hours of work. Borders used to buy ready-made kits to build his toys, but

over the last decade he has been experimenting with wood.

“Making toys out of kits wasn’t just much of a challenge anymore,” he

said. “It wasn’t as much fun.”

So when he wants to make a model, Borders begins systematically with

research. The architect then goes to the drawing board and draws designs.

Then he gets down to executing his design -- picking the right kind of

wood, shaping it and making all the pieces fit.

Then there are the accessories. Borders has little wooden chests in

his garage filled to the brim with interesting, shiny, metallic parts --

what he calls “junk.”

They could be anything from the top of an electric razor to miniature

flags that may someday fly over a toy boat, or skull and bones that may

adorn a pirate ship.

Once the creation comes alive, Borders paints his model. And that’s

perfectly done too with coats of primer and glossy paint.

“I think I’ll go with a dull black for the top and a shiny back for

the body,” he said about his latest Cadillac.

Will it have an engine?

“An engine? I don’t know if he’s that good a friend,” he jokes.

Friends and family aside, Borders has also made several pieces for

charity auctions. His wooden playhouse was a big hit at the 1999 Project

Playhouse fund-raiser in Fashion Island. Borders’ entry won the grand

prize at the event.

He also made models of a firetruck and paramedic van for the Newport

Beach Fire Department as a way of thanking them for the efficient way in

which they responded when his wife had a health-related emergency.

Borders’ wife, Ruth, said her husband’s hobby is something that not

only keeps him busy but also makes him happy.

“He spends several hours a day in the garage,” she said. “But it’s

something he really loves to do.”

Then, there are the toys he likes to make and keep for himself.

“I made one of my friends an antique crane once because he was a crane

operator,” Borders said. “But, you see, I liked it so much I made one for

myself.”

He has more plans for the future too.

“I want to make another merry-go-round,” he said. “I really enjoyed

carving out the horses and animals. It was fun.”

In Borders’ ever-fertile imagination is also an idea for a children’s

picture book. The protagonist? Happy Blimp. The evil villain? Dr. Doom.

“It’s this story about this Dr. Doom who hates the guy in the Happy

Blimp,” he says laughing. “Dr. Doom is always trying to shoot down the

Happy Blimp.”

Borders says he would love to do the drawings and concept for this

original story.

Does he believe there will ever be a time when he gets bored of making

models?

“Bored?” he asks shaking his head. “I’ll never get bored. The only

thing that can slow me down is age.”

-- Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached

at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .