Tr3m5 Geepstar...

[tr3m5]

Greetings all,

I'm just starting my Geepstar project for my little boy. I sold my kitcar when he was born and have been yearning to build something ever since. I hadn't even heard about Toylanders until Richard turned up at our company open day a couple of months ago and as soon as I saw these little things the decision was made!

Anyway my lad's only 9 months old so I've got plenty of time, the plan is to make a custom Geepstar with a few of my own mods and tweaks.

So far I've bought a set of plans, modelled it up in CAD and sourced some nice chunky wheels (wasn't that keen on the tall-thin std wheels).

I'm having the panels cut in the next few weeks then as soon as I can get my garage clear I'll start my build.



I'll keep you posted.  

[bill shuter]

Why did you not cut them, it's very easy? you really can say you did it yourself then too!

[tr3m5]

Basically i'm a bit of a perfectionist and work in a world of high tech manufacture so like the fit and finish of precision machined bits

And Initially with friend of mine being able to do it 'quickly/easily' it was an obvious choice, plus I don't really want the mess as my garage is pretty spotless! Hopefully the weather will have perked up by the time I get to the filling/sanding and painting.

[brian]

Hello Mr Triumph TR3, Mazda MX5  ,   a name would be nice.

Welcome to the forum, any help you require will be available here on the forum, or a question posted usually elicits an answer of some sort.

Have a merry Christmas and kind regards,

Brian.

[tr3m5]

Ha, not quite...

My Nickname is 'Trems' and i wanted to buy the domain 'Trems.com' however this was taken so it suggested tr3m5.com instead

Fortunately I have first name too..

Cheers
-Paul

[brian]

Hello Paul,

thank you for getting back to us.

I always like to address a post with a proper name, I'm pleased you have not taken offence at my attempt at a joke.

Have a lovely Christmas and have a great time building your Geepster. Please keep us posted on your build progress.

Kind regards,

Brian.

[tr3m5]

Its been a while but I've finally found the time to get started on the Jeep.

The CNC panels arrived promptly and with an excellent finish (cheers Darrel!), I'm very happy I went this was as its now a low-mess, simple task of drilling and screwing together...it's worth noting I'm screwing the panels directly to each other as opposed to using interconnecting pieces as it advises in the manual.



Along with easily customising the design and having nice straight edges to join to, one of the benefits of CNC cutting the parts is that the windscreen is pre-cut and the frame recessed ready to fit:




I've got some nice countersinking pilot drill bits which I've give a nice sunk fit for the screws, I'll fill and sand the holes before I paint.



I'm just 'dry' fitting the panels to begin with then will re-fit with grip-fill or no nails to give a really strong joint.

Hopefully get a few more evenings in over the next few weeks and get the shell finished.

I'll try and keep the updates coming.
-Paul
Please note future reader: this particular vehicle is to be constructed with a steel chassis as is Paul's choice. Otherwise this body must have strengthening batten fitted to all joints as shown in the manual and requested by the safety testing house we put this design through. Richard. RLT Ltd.

[brian]

Hello Paul and welcome to the site.

If it were my build, I would reinforce the corner joints as in the plans. Screws into the end grain of MDF, even when reinforced with "No nails" or whatever has to withstand a lot of twisting and bumps when the test pilot gets at the wheel.

If you do not like the look of the assembled tub with the square timber corner reinforcing showing, you could use 25mm quadrent instead in areas where the reinforcing can be seen, PVA'd into the corners.

Just a thought.

Regards,

Brian.

[tr3m5]

Hi Brian,

The strength wont be a problem, the car will have a full steel chassis so there wont be any large torsional or bending loads on the MDF 'shell'.

-Paul

[tr3m5]

Just another quick update, done a little more of the MDF panel work, some metal fabrication and started on the front wings.



The wings are made of two tapered and radius'd MDF pieces, I have glued/screwed them together at an angle and then ground the heads of the screws off to allow me to shape the corner joint, so should look like one piece of curved wood when painted. They are also much wider than the RLT design, this is to accommodate the large pneumatic tyres I plan on fitting.

I have also made the wing tops, you cant tell in the pic as the protective film is still on but they are 20SWG (~1.0mm) stainless steel.


Next job is to mesh the grille, fit the rear wings and fabricate the inner front arches...

[tr3m5]

Donor scooter acquired!

I wasn't really sure what spec. of drivetrain to go for but when this came up locally for not alot I went for it:



Its a 'Karelma Pegasus' twin-motor 8mph with electric, regenerative brakes and variable speed. 8mph is clearly too quick for a toddler but the speed adjuster allows you to start really low so should be just the job.

Have done a little more on the body - perforated stainless grille and installed the seat and bonnet:






I've added an additional seat base and piano hinge to allow the seat to fold completely flat for what I call 'daddy mode' 




Next up rear wheel arches/mudguards, front inner wings and strip the scooter 

[whitevanman]

nice job, how wide is the axel that you are goin to use , the one i used on first build was of a 8mph was a lot wider than body ,still add to put arches on after cutting acces of as wheels stuck out more than half width of tyre, wish id taken pics of build more than half way through second one and still not took any , what colour have you chosen we went with tony sudds drad olive, my choice, this one might be dessert sand but one grandson at 5yrs wants tony sudds , 10yre old grandson wants to vinyl wrap either stars n stripes or carbon effect, 3 grandaughters want pink ,we all no that not happen  n 7yrolds not botherd as long as he can play on games on laptop
andytcracin.me.uk

[tr3m5]

Hi Andy,

Not sure on the axle situation yet, or the colour! Axle-wise it depends if i can get a second motor (upon strip-down I found that the second motor has been removed!)...



Ideally with twin motors I will drive each wheel independently using a keyed stub axle from each gearbox which will give a differential effect, better braking and also give much better drive on slippery/uneven surfaces. However the motor manufacturer is Polish (http://www.elcar.com.pl/index.php?show=moto) and their UK parts suppler want £300 for a new motor, so unless I can pick up a used item I'll most probably link the wheels directly using a fixed shaft and see how it drives. If its difficult to turn and understeers then I may look into other options.




I'm almost finished on the first-fit of the bodywork so am looking at the chassis, as mentioned the wheels i'm using are 13" overall diameter by 6" width:



They look really good in place and suit the Jeep, hopefully I can package them so they sit nicely in the arches...




More work planned this weekend, then looking to get the chassis drawn up next week...

[whitevanman]

was a transaxel type what i used , drove both wheels  not seen one like yours on a scooter

[tr3m5]

Yeah I guess you would describe them as 'radial' to the axles. Even individually they have loads of power ( the scooter does 8mph with me and the boy on uphill, scooter weighing 66kg) so if packaging proves to be a problem I could just remove the gearbox and mount a single motor transversely with a chain transmission.