Toylander

Image: Toylander

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The 'REAL LIFE TOY' company have designed a scale model of the series I and series II Land Rover that is bought in kit form, with plans that enable you to buy or make as much of the Land Rover as you require. The basic form of the Land Rover is supplied as paper plans for you to cut out of marine plywood or moisture resistant MDF and aluminium sheet metal. The rest is up to you...

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Real Life Toys

Having resisted temptation to buy a set of plans for a long time now I decided the time was right to indulge in a new project...

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Toylander models are designed to accept ether one or two electric motors to power the Land Rover up to a maximum of 10mph. What I intend to do with my model is fit a Honda 5.5 horse power petrol engine and drive train similar to that found on racing karts! I want to gear it down so it will have bottom end pulling power but should also reach speeds of about 10-15mph.

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In order to keep things simple & get the project under way I am going to use the running gear from a disability scooter. I should then be able to modify the Toylander to accept the Honda engine at a later date.

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The first panels are cut from 1/2" moisture risistant plywood and sanded down ready for assembly of the body!

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I have bought a stripped down mobility scooter found on e-bay which will provide me with everything I need to get the TOYLANDER up & running. The scooter will give me the more powerful 24V set up and it includes the speed controller, soft start & reverse facility easily & cheaply! This scooter is also practically good because the drive wheels are the same size as the wheels/tires that I will be fitting to the model ensuring that the gearing will be correct.

Image: Toylander wheels/tyres

A set of 4 400X8 tyres & wheels have been found and bought. Another ebay purchase!

Image: toylander

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2 sets of hubs and bearings have been sourced for the front axle in the form of these 1" Taper bearing 4" PDC hubs. In order to fix the front hubs & wheels I have found these stub axles supplied by www.autow.co.uk that can be shortened to the desired length & welded/bolted into place. These will be welded to the mobility scooter front axle to convert from the current set up to the required new set up. As the rear axle is to be the drive axle I may have to make my own hubs...

Image: Toylander front end

As the body work comes together the rolled alluminuim wing fronts are resessed into the panels ready to then be fillered & sanded to give a genuine look. The side panels have been sanded to also give the rounded shape of the Land Rover wings. You can also see from this picture that I have had to cut away some of the inner wing in order to fit the steering linkages to the front axle.

Image: Baby anti luce fastener

Locating miniature Land Rover items is difficult but I was happy when I can across a pair of these 'Baby Anti Luce Fasteners' for the tailgate!

Image: H4 RRY Number plate

Deciding on a number plate for the TOYLANDER. This one will be great as it is being built for HARRY.