Hi Guys,
I was hoping to be a little farther along with this before announcing it, but I feel cruel stringing you all along, so here we go.
As some of you might be aware, I have been looking for another project to get stuck into. I did consider quite a few options, all of which the forum members would fondly remember, but would be lost on the young 'uns.
I did research the 'Toyota BJ 45 Landcruiser' (the older one), but I wanted to get away from the 4 x 4 type of vehicle, and some of the other options were either going to be prohibitively expensive, or really hard to reproduce the body shape.
By pure chance, I thought of this one, and after researching it on the web, decided to go for it, as it looks quite simple to build, yet will be recognisable.
I am going to build a Mini Moke!
The first problem was finding one, as they're not too thick on the ground. So I joined the Moke club forum, and explained my plight, and asked if there was any member within 50 miles of me, willing to let me measure and photograph their Pride and Joy.
To my complete surprise, I got a message from a member offering me access to his Moke, and he only lives about 3 miles away from me!!
A phone call was made, arrangements to view were fixed, and Gary and I went to visit one Saturday.
It turns out that Steve (nice Moke owner), has an 'Austrailian' Moke, and is in the midst of re-building it.
He is quite knowledgable about them, being involved with the Moke club, and gave me loads of information about parts, different models, and even gave me some 'Owners club' literature, and web site addresses to aid in the build.
I have been drawing up scale plans on graph paper, for a couple of weeks now, and have juggled some of the sizes slightly to get the perspective right, but when finished, it will be Half Scale, measuring in at about 5 feet (60 ins) long, by about 27 inches wide, so not much different than the Toylander.
I have transfered these dimensions onto full sized drawings, and just have the floor pan and wing tops to draw up, and most of the major parts are done.
Gary has offered to get some large sheets of stiff cardboard from work, and then we can cut out the panels in this first to work out final assembly and sizes, and then use these as templates, before commiting to timber.
The only thing I am struggling to source are the wheels. To keep the perspective right, they will have to be 6" rims, with an overall diameter not more than 12". I have narrowed it down to two options, either standard scooter wheels (although these are 4" rims), or Quad Bike wheels.
The Quad option is looking favourite at the moment, but it's the width that's the problem, so if I can souce some steel ones, these can be machined and narrowed slightly. I have even found a supplier of 6" tyres, in Black!
So that's it, the cat's out of the bag!
Now all I have to do is build it,
I'll keep you all updated as things progress,
Keep Busy,
Regards,
Mark.
(Madman)
