TOYLANDER 2...Started at Last

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Hi
I'm Walter from Cwmbran in South Wales. I've had the plans for about 3 weeks now and spent a lot of time studying the manual.
Having ordered the Moisture Resisting MDF, (?22.50 a sheet, about double the price of standard MDF), it duly arrived and I started cutting on Thursday afternoon.
By Sunday teatime I have the bodywork mostly assembled, including front wings. The curved sections are made from thin steel sheet, covered with car bodyfiller, they need a little bit of work to finish but look good so far. The front panel is in as a temporary measure, to maintain body shape, but holes are not cut out yet. The side panels are on, with cutouts for door handles and filler cap. I have fitted temporary rear wing tops to maintain body shape for the next step, cutting and fitting the rear panel.

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Hi
I've also made a start on the undergear, I will have a swing axle and Ackerman type steering, I made the king pins from threaded rod and turned up the stub axles, about 10 degree offset on steering arms, all loosely assembled at present, have to cut to final size and weld up.
Walter

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Progress so far on the bodywork..tailgate next!
Walter

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Made some good progress this week. Ordered and received the wheels, steering wheel and bonnet. ( super fast servce from Richard at Toylander). Made up the bonnet with wooden formers, one at rear and another set back about 2 in from front edge. Had to remake the front panel with a reshaped top, to a new profile to correctly fit with the bonnet. Backed the front panel with thin ply after making the cutouts. Made the tailgate in a similar fashion. Made some progress on the hub/kingpin assembly and fitted both the axles temporary, although they are not properly finished, just to see what the whole thing looks like with the wheels on...LOOKS GREAT! I now have the front panel, valence, tailgate, filler cap and the dash made up, but won't fit that just yet, as I think I'll paint the interior first. I have also made a start on the steering collumn, using a piece of 1 inch tube, I have turned up a bush for top, and turned the shaft down to fit it, and have threaded the end for the steering wheel. Have to do the bottom end next.
Regards
Walter

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Quite a bit more progress now.
I have the front and back axles fitted and wheels on temporary. Steering collumn in and linkage made up. All needs a bit of fine tuning and final fixing but I'll leave that til I've got motor fitted.
Bonnet and tailgate  fitted, front bumper on, but all will need to come off again for painting before final fixing. The bonnet hinges are cut down strap hinges as suggested in manual, tailgate hinges are cut from tee hinges, with one side cut straight, other left sloping, and part of, bottom of hinge cut off.
Lots of small bits to do now, windscreen and fittings, door handles, lights, bonnet catch, and so on. I,ve put 2 pics on the gallery (in bare MDF with red dash), to show current state.
Regards
walter

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Sorry about the pic, I uploaded it but it didnt get to gallery, perhaps too big, I'll try again later.
I've bought an invalid scooter but havn't done anything with it yet. It gives me a motor with diff/ back axle and transmission brake, speed control, batteries, and lots of small parts like ignition switch, battery monitor, connectors etc. The wheels on Toylander are larger by ratio of 3 to 2, so I need to gear the drive down to suit. I already have an 18 tooth sprocket on each wheel, standard fitting from RLT, so I need 12 tooth on axle to maintain original buggy speed.
I have used the "standard" steering arrangement with a swing axle, altho I have ideas about a steering box of some sort. I find at the moment that the wheels foul the bodywork on full lock, as mentioned in the manual. To overcome this I have made a "special" bolt, to link the short extension on the steering collumn to the steering link (the one with the twist in it). This bolt is simply a piece of 10mm bar, turned to 6mm for the threaded end. The thicker end forms an extension part, (instead of a hex head) that will run between two stops. I hope this makes sense!

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[markh15]

Hi Walter,
The car looks great in it's new paint!   Harvey has been asking me to re-paint his S2 blue! I wish he'd make his mind up, he chose Red, I wanted Blue in the first place, Bl**dy kids!
As for the sprocket problem, the Cycle 'Cassettes' from the rear wheel have a good number of possibilities, You might find one with 12 teeth, the two I used had 14 as the smallest, but ask at your local cycle shop, they should be able to help.

The beauty of the Invalid Scooter is the 'Rose Joints' on the front steering (you did get one with 'Rose Joints?), this makes adjusting it a doddle. Check out my website Walter for a few ideas!
The other advantages of the scooter are all the realistic features they have lights, indicators etc.
Glad to see your making progress,
Keep busy,
Regards, Mark.

PS,
I've just come in from the shed Walter, and have noticed a flaw in my idea.  The small sprocket from the cycle cassette is threaded onto the hub bit, and is the one that holds all the others in place. The thread is very fine and there is not a lot of excess metal on the edge to allow it to be bolted to the scooter hub like I did.  Unless you can cut threads that fine onto the scooter hub, or make some sort of adaptor, I don't see how you can do it.
The only thing that I can think of, is to use a larger one at the motor end (18 or 22 teeth) the same as I did, and find a way to replace the 18 tooth sprocket which comes with the wheel assembly for a larger one (26 / 28 teeth).  I have never seen one of Richard's wheel assemblies, so I am only guessing, can the cog be removed easily, or would it be a big job?  Could you possibly bolt the larger sprocket to the smaller one, or would it cause alignment problems?
Hope this helps Walter,
Regards,
Mark.

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Hi Guys
I've got the sprockets from Technobots. They are 1/2 in by 5/16, whereas the sprockets fitted to my wheels by Richard are 1/2 in by 1/8, which suits standard bycycle chain. As the pitch of both sprockets is the same, and I have some chain that's 1/8 wide, intended for a BMX bike, I've now machined the sprockets down in thickness to the 1/8 required. I have also bored out the centres to 17 mm which is the diam of my buggy axle. Next I drilled and tapped the centre boss to take 6 mm setscrews, two per sprocket, one of which will line up with the keyway in the buggy axle shaft. Now fitted to the buggy axle and linked by chain to the Toylander axle, all works well. The buggy axle sits on spacers on the floor of the Toylander, and is bolted through slots and then through steel plates underneath, so there is fore and aft adjustment for chain tension.
Rightly or wrongly, I opted to mount the Axle/Motor unit upright, just as it was in the buggy. This has meant cutting a hole in the floor, to sit the motor low enough, and will also mean lifting the seat level slightly.
I note that there is a nipple in the top of the diff/axle unit, is this for oil or grease? Any idea?
Walter

[markh15]

Hi Walter,
its to top up the oil in the diff. Because I had layed mine down, this leaked slightly, and I had to fit a 'Blanking' plug, but all is fine now.
Keep busy,
Regards,
Mark.

[markh15]

Hi Walter,
Glad to hear that it's only 30mm. I was worried that it was going to be more!
This won't be as bad, or as noticable. That's why I lay mine down, with the motor towards the back, I only had to rebate the underside of the seat by a quarter inch to get the motor flange to clear.

My dis-engager too comes through the heel-board, I made the rod from the handle of an old paint roller, and formed a ring on the end to operate it.
It now sits hard against the heel-board when in Drive, and protrudes when in Neutral. When I slide the motor/diff unit forward to tighten the chain, I can slacken the clamp on the dis-engager lever, and move it around to keep the ring tight against the heel-board, clever huh?

I am going to order some new 3/8 chain and sprockets from Technobots in the New Year, the cycle chain is not upto the job, as it's stretching too much and I'm bothered that it might break soon.  I'll use it for the steering idea that's forming!

You must be on the final leg now, do you have a target date in mind, or are you just taking things as they come?

Keep busy,
Regards,
Mark.

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Mark
I have set the motor as low as I could, it meant cutting the floor, so the motor now protrudes below the underside by about 15 mm or so. I simply made a shallow box and stuck it to the underside to cover it. I have done the same for the gear lever as that is mounted below the floor as well. I've not got an end date in mind, its just ongoing! Now that it's "operational" I'll just add the other bits as I get time and inclination, and inspiration! I'm hoping to find some LED lights  sometime to keep battery consumption down.
Altho it seems finished ther's actually loads still to do, and the list gets longer each time I look.
The WigWag is in dash on right hand side, tied to pedal with string! I have to extend it slightly and link it with chain, so the links will give some adjustment.
Walter

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Pics are out of sequence, but never mind eh!
Walter

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[markh15]

Hi Walter (again),
When you say LED lights, do you mean LED Bulbs? If so, any decent Car Accessory shop, that dabbles in the 'Custom' scene will oblige.
Alternatively, I found mine on Ebay.
 
Go to the Car Parts and Accessories section, and type in 'LED Bulbs' in the search bar, and there will be hundreds to choose from in all sorts of colours, even white! This will be cheapest option.
On the other hand, if you use the small 'Push in' type (as used in side lights, indicator repeaters etc), these are 12 volt, but only 5 watts, and are plenty bright enough and low drain.
Harvey rides about with his on all the time, and it doesn't seem to make much difference, the car still goes about a week before needing a charge!

Looking at the new pics, I can see now how the motor is mounted, neat job! Looking at the dis-engager, could you not simply cut a slot in the heel-board and extend the lever through it? Then you could push or pull it as neccessary.
As for the slots, how about making mesh covers? This will add to the ventilation for the motor!
Just a thought.
Looking good Walter,  keep up the good work.
Regards,
Mark.

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Hi Guys
just got around to some pics, so here's a bit of an update.
The motor is all finished, and the motor engage lever is extended through the heel board. You can just see it in the pic with the red handle, its in the up position, which is motor disengaged. When the drive is engaged the lever is flat on the floor.  
The wigwag for the throttle is in the dash and linked to the pedal by a chain. The left side of the wigwag arm is cut off, and the right side extended to give suitable pedal movement.
The transmission tunnel is a piece of "square" gutter, which just clips in place.


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Hi again
sorry guys I seem to have posted the same pic twice!
See this for under bonnet, if you want another or more detailed pic, let me know.
Not up for xmas deliveries, can't get the reindeer!
Walter

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