PlaymoFriends
Creative => Customs Gallery => Ships & Vehicles => Topic started by: Tim_w on December 28, 2005, 20:31:36
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Hello All :wave:
Following on from my recent water carrier post here is one of my fire engines. This particular model forms the backbone of my fleet and is the most versatile Playmobil has made to date. The added bonus is that it can carry 6 fire fighters although my fire appliances have a crew of 5 as standard. Another bonus is that you can stow a very large amount of equipment on board.
There are two specific versions of this vehicle in my fire brigade and each of my stations has both versions. This example is classed as a WTL or Water Tender Ladder and carries an extra triple extension ladder. The other vehicle is classed as a WT or Water Tender and only carries one triple extension ladder. However it also carries an additional high pressure hose reel connected to the vehicles pump. Although in real life fire some brigades use these designations there are variations between brigades. The West Midlands fire service for example refer to their appliances as PRL’s or Pump Rescue Ladders due to the addition of cutting gear for use in motor vehicle accidents.
Kindest Regards Tim :)9
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Here is a picture of the pump bay.
This pump bay has been customized using various Playmobil parts. It has 3 pick up’s which can be used to fill the tank and 4 delivery’s used to empty the tank under force through hoses. There are various pressure gauges and buttons, which are used to operate the pump and as with the water carrier in my other post there is a throttle control and radio handset.
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INTERESTING INFORMATION:
Here are pictures showing the equipment. I carry these vehicles up and down my stairs regularly and I can feel the difference in weight when they are fully loaded as opposed to empty. So today I decided to weigh one on our scales and I was quite surprised with the results.
Weight Loaded: 1.440g
Weight Unloaded: 1.080g
Weight of Equipment: 360g
Due to the large amount of equipment carried my WTL’s and WT’s do not carry any hydraulic cutting gear. This is left in the hands of another special appliance, which attends any road traffic accident in addition to a WT.
As for the equipment carried here there is too much to list individually but if you would like any information just ask and I would be more than happy to help.
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Nicely done, Tim. The weight figures are interesting - you certainly make the most of the machines.
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Wow, the pumb bay looks quite cool and impressive.
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Hello Gordon, Little Jo
Thank you both for the very kind feedback to my post as allways it is very much appreciated. It was quite a suprise to find out the actual weight of the equipment and as you can imagine it is a difficult task packing it all away again 8} !!
Kindest Regards Tim
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Its very cool even if i dont know what its all about
You have a nice array of tools.
and a hydrant?
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Hello Meg :wave:
Thank you very much for your kind reply to my post and for asking the question about the fire hydrant. I will try my best to answer your question without confusing either you or myself :lol:.
In the UK we do not have fixed hydrant's like the type in the USA. Instead our hydrant's are hidden below ground under a metal cover and most of the time you don't realise they are there. To access them our fire engines carry what they call a stand pipe and for all intents and purposes it is similar to US hydrant but thinner and less bulky. The difference in the UK is that the fire fighter lifts up the metal cover and attaches the stand pipe to the hydrant. The only trouble is the Playmobil version is a proper hydrant and is a little too large for the job. There is a better picture of what a stand pipe really looks like on the back of Gordon's water Carrier :).
Kindest Regards Tim :)
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Tim,
You explained it beautifully
In the US, we have laws to prevent parking in front of a hydrant, so that it can be used in an emergency.
I would think that without a hydrant, you dont have such parking laws.
Do parked cars get in the way of the stand pipe?
M
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I hope you don't mind, Tim, but I've picked up on Meg's question and posted some pics of a hydrant team at work I took some years ago. They are here:
http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=438.msg5910#msg5910
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Hello Meg, Gordon
Glad the explenation shed a bit of light on the differences. The pictures Gordon has posted are excellent and demonstrate exactly how our system works.
Kindest Regards Tim
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Nice photos.
You do think about everyting when it comes to your firebrigade, don't you? :) All that equipment, I'm pretty sure your firebrigade is ready to handle everything that could ever happen!
Great work!
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I wish I was more familiar with the existing engines that Playmobil has made so I could know at a glance which parts have been added. :-[
To my eye, this is all so neatly and cleverly done that I can't tell where the original stops and the conversion begins. :wow:
You certainly do show enormous dedication to your projects and a real eye for detail. 8-)
Thanks for sharing this, Tim! :)
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I wish I was more familiar with the existing engines that Playmobil has made so I could know at a glance which parts have been added. :-[
To my eye, this is all so neatly and cleverly done that I can't tell where the original stops and the conversion begins. :wow:
Hi Meg,
I've got a couple of requests to reply to about which is the best fire engine in Playmobil, and I aim to include pics of them all in that thread.
Gordon
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Hello Kristian :wave:
Thank you very much indeed for your very kind feed back. I get my ideas for the equipment by looking at real equipment lists for fire engines. Then i try to find a similar representation in Playmobil form. Its become more of an obsession :lol: now and i am allways looking for something new to add.
Kindest Regards Tim
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Hello Sylvia :wave:
Thank you very muc for your kind reply. As a guide the fire engine you see in the picture has not really been altered too much the only major conversion work is the addition of the pump bay and the yellow high visibility paint job. However the equipment comes from far and wide and varies a great deal to what you would get in the boxed set produced by Playmobil. My aim was to represent as much of the real equipment carried on a fire engine as possible using Playmobil.
I think Gordon's guide will be a very usefull reference indeed and i cannot wait to see it here on the forums :)9.
Kindest Regards Tim :)