Okay, so I’ve been obsessed with Land Rovers lately, especially the crazy 6×6 conversions. I finally decided to take the plunge and see if I could build something like that myself, starting with, you know, something a little smaller.
The Starting Point
First, I grabbed an old toy Land Rover Defender. It was pretty beat up, but hey, that’s part of the charm, right? It’s gonna get even more beat up during this, anyway.
I started by taking the whole thing apart. Screws everywhere! I made sure to keep all the little bits and pieces in a container so I wouldn’t lose anything important (famous last words, I know).
Making it Longer!
The big thing was extending the chassis. I used some scrap plastic I had lying around – I think it was from an old model airplane kit. I cut and glued the pieces together, trying to make it as straight as possible. It wasn’t pretty, but it was solid-ish.
- Cut plastic pieces
- Glued them together (lots of glue!)
- Prayed it would hold
Adding the Extra Axle
This was the trickiest part. I found some extra wheels and axles from another toy car – luckily, they were roughly the same size. I had to figure out how to attach the third axle to the extended chassis. More cutting, more gluing, and a lot of fiddling around.
I basically jammed it in there and hoped for the best. It wasn’t exactly precision engineering, but it rotated… mostly.
Putting It All Back Together
Once I had the extended chassis and the extra axle in place, I started putting the body back on. Of course, it didn’t quite fit anymore, so I had to do some more cutting and adjusting.
It ended up looking a bit Frankenstein-ish, with gaps and mismatched parts, but that kind of added to the “rough and ready” 6×6 vibe, I guess.
The (Slightly Wonky) Result
So, after a few hours of work, I had my own 6×6 Land Rover… sort of. It definitely wasn’t perfect. The wheels were a little wobbly, the body was a bit crooked, and the whole thing looked like it had been through a warzone.
But, you know what? It was MY 6×6 Land Rover. And I built it myself. It might not be ready to cross the Sahara, but it’s a start. Now, to find a slightly bigger toy to chop up next time…
