
PROJECTS: Toy Inventor’s Notebook
2. ONTOGENY RECAPITULATES PHYLOGENY —
IN URETHANE!
Roth made his fiberglass car bodies without
molds or detailed plans. He created rough forms
right on the finished chassis with wood, chicken
wire, and globs of plaster. Next, he laboriously
carved the finished shapes by hand. After he
covered it all with fiberglass, he’d knock out all
the plaster from underneath the finished body.
Each car was a one-of-a-kind!
I made my Orbitron in a similar way. With the
chassis and wheels as a starting point I cut a
small block of 30-pound-density rigid urethane
foam. Industrial designers use this uniform,
no-grain material ...