Altered 3880 roller shutters

[playmofire]

This little change came about as part of my custom work on my 3880 fire engines.

I find that the roller shutters on the 3880 are a bit too low and as a result you cannot make maximum use of the storage space, or if you do it is difficult maneouvring items out.  This is most obvious with the traffic cones and so I've used these and a fire extinguishers as illustrations, but the same problem arises with other items when the roller shutter means that you cannot easily (if at all) have two items one above the other.

First, are pictures of the original roller shutters in place.  The words "left" and "right" refer to the side concerned when standing behind the fire engine and looking towards the front.  As you can see, the problem is most acute on the left side where the top of the storage area "doorway" is lower than on the right.

The next two pictures show the altered roller shutters in use.

[playmofire]

The only slight difficulty the change brings is that it is a bit fiddly getting hold of the roller shutters to close them when they are open fully.

The change itself is quite simple and involves taking the roller shutters out (this involves dismantling the 3880), cutting the top most strip off the roller shutter using a sharp modelling knife and then putting wverything together again.  The picture shows the original on the left and the altered one on the right.

Dismantling the 3880 has one or two potential problems, so I'll post details on how to do this in the next couple of days.

[Little Jo]

Oh yes, I had this problem with inserting items (especially the cones  ) too.

Good idea. Operating the shutter as an adult, the fiddly getting hold shouldn't be an issue. (Maybe PM had this as the first solution and they recognized that for children the usage of the shutters might become a little bit difficult so they spended some futher plastic for an additional lamella ...  )

[playmofire]

Operating the shutter as an adult, the fiddly getting hold shouldn't be an issue. (Maybe PM had this as the first solution and they recognized that for children the usage of the shutters might become a little bit difficult so they spended some futher plastic for an additional lamella ...  )

I think PM also had in mind clumsy fingered adults like me!

[FireChief]

Hey Gordon,

I've never put much thought into the shorting the roller doors, seems to be quite the easy fix. Thanks a lot for the instructions.



Ben

[Tim_w]

Hello  Gordon 

This is an excellent solution to a very common problem . I have also suffered the same difficulties in getting road cones into the lockers on my 3880. Needless to say the relevant modifications will be taken out before it is put back into service.

Kindest regards  Tim