CONVERTING FALLER VEHICLES TO GWR VEHICLES

 

 

 Converting the LGW Man van to a GWR Parcels van.

 

     On removing the cab and van body from the chassis I found that the KeilKraft plastic kit was too short so took a section from another kit I had to make the wheel base of the chassis fit. This new body length would make the GWR Van a 2 ton variation. The chassis could now be fixed to the body but unfortunately the battery would not fit so I hunted on the net for a replacement and found a 2.4v battery that fitted and when connected to the unit the van took off too fast so fitted a diode that brought it back to an acceptable pace. I also had to add some lead weight to the van forward of the motor to counter the battery weight which is at the rear of the motor. Thus the van is balanced and performs well.  Below is the photo gallery of the above process. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            1.  KeilKraft kit.                                                                                                                                2.  Lengthening the body shell to be a 2 ton version.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  3.  Van body  made up.                                                                                                                            4. Patchwork base made to fit Faller chassis & motor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                5.Faller chassis & motor fitted and compared with normal parcel van kit.          6.  Faller Van, New extended GWR van & normal GWR van kit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                    7. Painted and ready for the road.                                                                               8. Comparison  of the three models. 

 

 

    Converting the Faller bus to GWR 1927 Maudsley ML3 bus.​

 

         When first looking at the Faller bus I thought that I could just cut the chassis to suit the ModelScene plastic kit bus but that would end up as a messy operation. The best option was to buy the individual parts such as the steering part, the front wheel assembly unit complete with wheels, the motor and bracket along with rear wheel set, axle and gear wheel and finally the charging plug  and on/off switch. I was going to adapt the original battery from the Man van to fit the Maudsley bus but found a suitable battery of 1.2volts output and will run at a nice speed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                1.The bus kit.                                                                                                                                2. marking out the floor of bus as to where the chassis fits on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                        3.Looking at placement of battery & motor.                                                                    4. Placement of charging connection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

 

 

                     5. Bus body shell.                                                                                                                 6. Fitting battery., motor showing wiring to switch and charging unit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

                      7. Top view of  the wiring.                                                                                                8.  Side view showing the reed switch position  and connections.

 

              

 

                  

 

 

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  9. Underside  of bus rear section showing gear wheel, on/off switch & charging connection.     10. Front section showing  Faller steering assembly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Below is the wiring map for the bus using parts only.