Painting a wooden Land Rover?

[brewdexta]

Sorry Andy but someone has to ask the question. So why did you use MDF? Phenolic would have been the dogs dagglies.


However Im sure it will last a longtime and you have made an excellent job of it

Good question Dave, I guess I went with the flow, its the predominant material used for the Toylander and as long as its sealed then nobody seems to have an issue. However given it only took two 8 x 4 sheets including cock ups then spending a bit more on the sheet material may have been a better idea.

Either way I would still be painting it so as long as I make a good job of the finish I should be OK. Now Aluminium would be better still, or I could tell the kids that it got nicked and spend the dosh on one of these instead

 

[Shox Dr]

or I could tell the kids that it got nicked and spend the dosh on one of these instead

Steady now

 

[Shox Dr]

oh what the hell

 

[brewdexta]

I've been on a mini-break with the wife and kids so not much done but had a good weekend. Went to National Space Centre yesterday, it was full of Trekkies, must have been some kind of convention, must have taken Scotty ages to beam them up. Today went to Snibston museum, excellent, the kids loved them both.

Managed to test fit the motors tonight so I can drill the sprockets and fit roll pins etc. I test fitted the front axle, kingpins, wheels and steering on Friday, then removed it for painting. I'm going to paint all the metal running gear with black epoxy, any recommendations on which type/brand etc?

Here's a few pics. Back-end with motors in situ, just need to drill top fixings.

Side view with rear wheels fitted, they are quite chunky.

view of the front end, the lower panel with "PTO" is not fitted at the moment, I need to test fit the bonnet and windscreen before filling and painting.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Shox Dr]

Ace.

I've a Ramsey Wormdrive drive winch, if you haven't got one sorted yet

 

[brewdexta]

Ace.

I've a Ramsey Wormdrive drive winch, if you haven't got one sorted yet

A winch would set it off nicely wouldn't it . That may have to come as an after market add-on.

 

[Shox Dr]

Mine maybe a little too heavy though it's rated at 12,000lbs

 

[brewdexta]

I dry fitted all the drive train so now need to get it ready for painting, so removed all the metal bits for finishing then got on with the tub. Although its been recommended on here and on the toylander forum to use PVA as a sealer before painting, I know the kids will leave it out in the rain and the rain will puddle in various places, and given that I work away a couple of days a week, it will be there for a while. So, I looked on boat building sites and discovered a low viscosity epoxy with a slow hardener that gives you around 40 mins pot life at 20c, so probably over an hour at current northern temps. So I'm going to give that a go.

Tub filled with upol

And sanded down with 120 grit using Mirka abranet and vaccum to get rid of the nasty MDF dust. Also used an airshield mask.

Flip her over and fill the underneath, I shall seal and paint the underneath first, fit all the axles, steering and brakes then flip her over to finish the top.

I've cleaned up the steel bits ready for finishing, I'm tempted to zinc & nickel plate them, I've got a kit and thought I would try it out, I have loads of bits of old tractor to plate and thought I would practise on some of this first. I just need an additional long tank for the caustic soda, garden plastic window box will do, I have two already for the pickle and the electrolyte, one more for the passivate wouldn't go amiss I guess.

That's as far as I got at the weekend, the epoxy resin has arrived and I may apply that underneath this evening as it takes about a week to fully cure. I don't know if I'll apply one or two coats yet, I'll see how it covers first however if I have enough I may apply two coat to areas like the footwells that get some hammer and hold water.
Cheers
Andy

 

[Jules-Beds]

Fantastic looking build! very interested to see how it turns out. A mate mentioned the toylander range to me only a couple of weeks back. Ankle biter #1 is well on the way & I'm sure the missus will prefer one of these for him, than the Honda QR50 I've got in mind for his 2nd birthday. I'm also following your chipmaster VFD conversion with some interest; I've got 2 chipmasters, a good one & a donor m/c. Does the clutch cause any problems with the VFD, do you get seemless fwd to rev' direction change for screw-cutting etc? Any pointers or things you'd do different? Many thanks in advance.

BR
Jules.

 

[the artfull-codger]

Guys

I've just about finished the bodywork on my kids Toylander, its made out of moisture resistant MDF with some bits of pine batten, a little ply and the bonnet front wing top/corners are aluminium. It has to be sealed otherwise it will swell then turn into soggy weetabix. There's a range of systems people use on the Toylander forum, PVA to seal the wood then synthetic or cellulose of 2k etc. Some use brushes, rollers and some pay almost a grand for a body shop job.

However I thought I would illicit the opinions on this forum before buying/doing anything as I have enough unused paint on the shelf!

I will be filling and rubbing down the bodywork with upol filler first. My finishing criteria are :

1. Sealing the woodwork is paramount as the kids will leave it out in the rain and we get plenty of it up here
2. Finish is secondary as the kids will bash it into stuff, having said that I don't want it to look a dogs dinner.
3. If the kids really do a good job of hitting stuff, I want to be able to repair it relatively easily so its water tight again, I don't mind the odd battle scar.
   
4. I have two daughters, they already know not to even think its going to be pink it will be a classic Land Rover colour, probably the light green with black or silver "chassis"

Any suggestions welcome, I don't have breathing apparatus so won't be spraying 2K however I have a well ventilated barn so can roller it or use other systems.

Alternatively if somebody near West Yorkshire has spraying facilities for 2K I'm all ears, especially if there is some land rover colours knocking about, I may settle on Bronze green if its available.

I'm having difficulty uploading a picture on mobile broadband so it will have to be a photo bucket jobbie. This is from a few weeks ago, its moved on from this quite a bit, I just have to make the rear door and do a trial fit of wind screen and suspension/motors and do a bit of filling so about 2 weeks away from paint day.

Regards
Andy

Hi Andy,I've just been building the toylander jeep version of this, it's nearly finished but unfortunately I ran out of time so it's all under wraps till I get back to it [it's for my grandsons in perth w a so it'll be a couple of yrs till I go again] 9000 miles is a long way to go just to finish off!!he he

 

[brewdexta]

Fantastic looking build! very interested to see how it turns out. A mate mentioned the toylander range to me only a couple of weeks back. Ankle biter #1 is well on the way & I'm sure the missus will prefer one of these for him, than the Honda QR50 I've got in mind for his 2nd birthday. I'm also following your chipmaster VFD conversion with some interest; I've got 2 chipmasters, a good one & a donor m/c. Does the clutch cause any problems with the VFD, do you get seemless fwd to rev' direction change for screw-cutting etc? Any pointers or things you'd do different? Many thanks in advance.

BR
Jules.

Hi Jules, Thanks for the comments on the landie, I haven't done a lot to it recently, a bit yesterday and that was the first for nearly 3 weeks. The chipmaster works great on the VFD, from memory my only major mistake was not putting the motor a little more to the left as belt clearance was a bit tight. There's no real change in terms of clutch and reverse works fine however I haven't really tried screwcutting, I need to do some more work on the carriage yet. My major mistake was more general, I didn't have a donor lathe and finding bits is difficult and being an early model it has a fair bit of wear and tear. One tip, the selector handle O ring for the high low box tend to go crispy and leak oil, so you replace them with the usual standard size and it still leaks. I had to get a slightly larger size, cost quite a bit more but worth it. I have a bag full as there was a minimum order, let me know if you need one.

Regards
Andy

 

[brewdexta]

Hi Andy,I've just been building the toylander jeep version of this, it's nearly finished but unfortunately I ran out of time so it's all under wraps till I get back to it [it's for my grandsons in perth w a so it'll be a couple of yrs till I go again] 9000 miles is a long way to go just to finish off!!he he

I'm still a fair way off, mainly because I decided to nickel/zing plate the metalwork myself. Its sort of working but needs some practise to get it right, plus I've only had one day in 3 weeks to tinker. I did some yesterday, I got the front and back axle plated and the front bumper however the finish is very patchy, probably because I turned off the agitation pumps as I was getting huge amount of froth on top of the tank. So I decided not to passivate and paint over the top. So largely a wasted effort but worth giving it a go as I have some bits to plate on my tractor removation I think I could get it right given enough time. I did manage to cover most of the woodwork with epoxy resin so I shall be rubbing down and painting soon.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Jules-Beds]

Hi Jules, Thanks for the comments on the landie, I haven't done a lot to it recently, a bit yesterday and that was the first for nearly 3 weeks. The chipmaster works great on the VFD, from memory my only major mistake was not putting the motor a little more to the left as belt clearance was a bit tight. There's no real change in terms of clutch and reverse works fine however I haven't really tried screwcutting, I need to do some more work on the carriage yet. My major mistake was more general, I didn't have a donor lathe and finding bits is difficult and being an early model it has a fair bit of wear and tear. One tip, the selector handle O ring for the high low box tend to go crispy and leak oil, so you replace them with the usual standard size and it still leaks. I had to get a slightly larger size, cost quite a bit more but worth it. I have a bag full as there was a minimum order, let me know if you need one.

Regards
Andy

Cheers Andy! Will see how it goes. I work overseas most of the year, so all of my projects get plenty of thinking about & not so much doing. Will possibly be in touch re the o-ring - in about 2019... keep up the good work, makes for interesting reading!

VBR
Jules.

 

[brewdexta]

I pulled my finger out and sprayed it today and yesterday (the Landie, not my finger ), its all a nice Land Rover Pastel green now. Only problem is some of the fake chassis detailing required silver paint on top of the synthetic pastel green and rattle cans react with it, I tested it first. So I will need to pod out for 500ml of synthetic silver for about £16 inc P&P and I only need half a spray can.

It's shiner than it looks, crap mobile camera. I only got one slight sag under the dash which I sanded out and retouched. I haven't gone for a perfect finish as the kids will give it a hard time, and it is a Landie, but its still not too bad.

 

[Robotstar5]

Straightest bodywork I've ever seen on a Landy

 

[octo0072000]

only early series one had chassis in silver later was either green or black not that it makes any differance on a toylander
but looking good

here's a link to ever colour for everthing series 1 for the serious modeller

http://home.lyse.net/BJensen/BJLR/series1Paint.htm

 

[brewdexta]

I've keyed the green ready for the silver or I could have left it as it is. Too late now, I shall buy the silver, and make it an early one.

 

[Robotstar5]

I've keyed the green ready for the silver or I could have left it as it is. Too late now, I shall buy the silver, and make it an early one.

Don't forget to put the headlamps behind the grille then.

 

[brewdexta]

I think I've already cut it out - it must have been one of the last few early ones and they slapped a new grille on it - maybe

 

[octo0072000]

series 1 /2 /2a had lights in grill till 1966