Motorcycle rocking horse

I just finished my latest project:

For child 3 to her birthday.

In the course of half a year I spent over 200 hours with welding, cutting, screwing, soldering, sanding and spilling blood and sweat.
For supply material I spent about 300 to 400 euros.
And yes, I totally admit, this might be somewhat excessive for a toddler birthday gift - but on the other hand, who cares as long as daddy has some fun and keeps himself busy ;-)

The motorcycle is made of:

• a moped tank (I think it's from a Kreidler Flory),
• a headlight from a Simson SR 2,
• good ol' gramps ammunition pocket as a true to scale saddlebag,
• a self-covered leather seat,
• an old car tire
• and lots of steel elements and sheets.

Together with the lead battery for light and horn it got quite heavy and before it was painted it had the charm of a wheeled tank.

Actually I intended to design it in the style of a Harley. Truly nice suitable for children, deep black painted with some chrome elements, skull decals and a leather fringed handle bar.
But then I stumbled via Steampunk design upon Dieselpunk and then it was clear: that's it!

Oh, maybe I should describe what Dieselpunk actually is:
Well, to make a long story short, Dieselpunk is the style of the 20ies, 30ies and 40ies. In architecture, fashion, design music - the whole zeitgeist of this era.
Dieselpunk can be elegant like Art déco, but also dystopic and dirty with rust and oil.
Curious now? More information can be found here for instance.

Images

Lessons learned

• Welding thin sheets of steel
• Work on car tires: using the angle grinder stinks like hell; using a padsaw wastes the saw blades
• Pro tip: a rocking horse needs a wide basis or it will tilt over
• Upholstering and covering with leather
• Don't give a horn to children! (unless you either are or want to become deaf)