The making of a Dutch Toylander II

[Anthony]

Thats an interesting if not dangerous tool you have there in the lathe Robert - a Stanley knife type blade in a holder ?

[Robert]

Yes indeed, it's an ordinary Stanly blade in a holder at a lathe.
It's meant to be used for cutting polyurethane hoses in a precise way, but also suitable for cutting speedometers. 

[multisync]

Hi Robert
Thats an interesting approach, a bit of lateral thinking there, using battery voltage to give an indication of speed.
I take it that the meter reads the voltage at the motor, which can then be equated to speed. Clever idea!
I went to some lengths to fit a bicycle speedo, with a magnet on the wheel, and recalibrate it for small wheels.
Merry Christmas
Walter

[Robert]

Hello to all of you!
I wish you Happiness, Joy and the best of everything... Happy New Year 2010!

My Toylander didn't make great progress in the last weeks.
I'm mainly busy with small jobs and some fine tuning.

The dashboard has been completed.



The wiring has been rearranged a bit, I have done my best and hope Mark is satisfied with it ...
Some wires aren't arranged yet because I will need to disconnect them before I start painting.


Most of the electrical components are mounted on a plate, this will save a lot of time while (dis) connecting the wiring before painting.
The horn underneath the plate may seem a little to big, but remember:  "loud horns save life's"  and it brings great joy to the kids while they are using it.

[markh15]

Hi Robert,
Yes, the wiring looks alot better now, I'l give it 7/10 and an 'E' for effort!

I too subscribe to the loud horn theory. I changed the one on Harvey's car from the scooter's feeble buzzer, to one from a 12v motor scooter. It not only warns people when Harvey's about, it annoys the neighbours too!!

The problem being, I shorted something out when looking for the feed wire, and spent 3 weeks trying to rectify the problem, before finally finding the blown (indicator) curcuit board mounted in the black box under the bonnet!

Anyway, that's all sorted now, just intime to annoy Brian at the next Toylander meeting!

Keep Busy,
Best Regards,
Mark.

[brian]

Eyup Mark, happy new year to you and all my readers.

Just to let you know I've got a bid in for the beachy head lighthouse foghorn, and mine is the highest bid with ten minutes to go.

I might have a bit of bovver getting it under the bonnet, but a trailer could be on the cards.  Whatever, dunt thee guh gerrin complacent sithy, I recon I can clear't Newark site ant neaby town centre whi one push of the horn button.

Hope we all have a good year ahead of us, regards.

Brian.

[multisync]

Now look yer Brian!!
Anthony went to a lot of trouble to get us a spell checker, the least you could do is use it!
Note that ther's only one r in gerin!
Perhaps a translation into Welsh is available as on option on the forum!
Happy New Year
Walter

[brian]

Nagh  then Walter, yer shud know by nagh that in Yorksheer we duh things speshul, and as yer'd expect, we 'ave our own spell checker, an just foh thee, ave run mih message thru it agen, an as I expected, it passed we'artah problum.  

Wih still workin on't Welsh vershun but we're 'avin trouble wit double ff's, it keeps tryin tuh change em tuh summat rude an addin go go go ont end onnem, but we'll persiveer, am sure we'll get theer in time foh when your lot wins't five nations, so no sweat then. 

Happy new year to you and yours,

Brian.

[Robert]

Adding Doors:

Allready after the first testrun, I found that the side of the TL was to high for the kids to get into it.
This is caused by the fact that I needed more hight under the bottom for mounting the motor.
Since it keeps snowing and it's far too cold for painting I thought it would be a good idea to add doors to the TL.



I kept having doubts about the strength, but after the first cut there was no way back ...





The model and holes for the top hinge had to be modified.



Hinges in Landrover style:



These sliding locks will do for now. Maybe I 'll replace them with locks in Land Rover style.







I just wonder if the chassis is strong enough now the body has lost its strength.
Maybe I 'll need to reinforce the chassis, the next testdrive will show it!

[Richard]

Hi Robert,
When we tried doors on an experimental Toylander 1 [which we will never put into production for various reasons and all of them expensive :-(] we had to put more strength into the A and B pillars to aid the steel box chassis to avoid door aperture collapse.
You are producing a loverly project with lots of good ideas for the boys and girls and an old f*rt like me to try on our own cars.
Best wishes
Richard

[Robert]

Thanks Richard,

Yesterday, we took the Landy out for another testdrive and the chassis seems to be strong enough to carry the load of 3 children while the doors keep functioning.
But I think I will reinforce the chassis anyhow, just to be sure.

[Robert]

Hi there,

I've not been very active lately with the TL due to a kitchen rebuild project.
But never the less, some more ideas are incubating in my head while I pass the TL in the garage.
The next change will be Land Rover lookalike and functioning door handles.
To be continued!

[Robert]

Hi there,

I'm back! 
After finishing the kitchen project, the kids send me to the garage to finish their project. 
I have been busy with several small improvements:

Towing Hook:
They first ordered a towing hook, so they would be able to invite more friends for a ride.
(It's amazing how fast their group of friends is growing since they drive a TL)





Securing cables:
By adding the towing hook, I needed to provide that it would damage the back door.
This was solved by mounting two securing cables.





Reinforced Chassis:
Just to be sure, I increased the chassis height from 40 to 100mm under the seats.
This to assure that I don't get any problem with the lost strength due to adding the doors.



Metal Plates at the back side:
For the realistic LandRover look, I 'd like the plates at the back side to be from metal.
But I'm not satisfied with the proportions and do not have any detailed information about the curves at the bended side.
Can anyone please provide me with pictures of this part at a real Landrover?





Reinforced Steering Rods:
The horizontal steering rod was already bent a bit due to my sons driving skills, so I reinforced both rods by placing the M8 threated rods in tubes.



Land Rover lookalike and functioning door handles:
I'm still working on this one.
Its going to be quite complicated, but possible.
Here's a sneak preview:

[markh15]

Hi Robert,

I made the ones for Harvey's T2 from mild steel plate, and used the sizes that Richard quotes in the build manual.



I first made them from aluminium, but couldn't find anyone who could weld aluminium (to weld the edge pieces on), so I re-made them all from 18 swg steel plate.

I cut the back bit (where the lights mount), and folded the edges over, as you have done. Then I made the small 'rounded over' section (for the body curve) by first cutting a strip about 4 inches long and the same width as the edge flange, and bending the metal to 90 degrees about halfway along.
I then forming it around a piece of 19 mm solid bar on one side of the fold with a hammer, until it was the right shape.
I then cut the piece down to fit the cap in the edge flange, and had Gary T.I.G. weld it in place.
If you make them from a flat strip, it doesn't matter which side of the fold you curve the metal, as they are then reversable.

Once they were welded, a little grinding to tidy them up, car body filler to smooth out any imperfections, and a coat of Silver paint to finish them off.
Before final fixing, I marked out the light hole positions, drilled them out and filed them smooth.
I fixed them to the car with 'Evo-stick' and 2.5 mm 'pop' rivets to add the touch of realism.



It sounds complex how I have described it, but it's not really. I hope it has helped you out with your problem.

Keep Busy,
Regards,
Mark.

[markh15]

Hi Robert,

Forgot to say that there are a couple of close up shots (of the plates) in the 'Gallery' under the 'Toylander 2' section.

I put them on before I started using 'photobucket'.

Regards,
Mark.