DalaGStanator's Customs, Mods and Experiments

After being pleased with how the Forest Patrol jeep looked in the test run, I felt like building a new cardboard chassis rather than adding magnets to my vehicle bodies. Unlike them (or the die cast/plastic vehicles), I thought it should also be my first one with steering (or any articulation) to see if it would make much of a difference. Sure enough, it clearly looked better than having both axles be rigid. To achieve the steering, I mounted the front axle on a hinged plate and glued the magnet at its other end (inspired by the Faller system). Attempting to "drive" it manually made it steer in the opposite directions when going forwards, but not when reversing; likely because it works more like a coupling/drawbar between two units. It even "refused" to stay in line when tested on TOMY road. As such, I was a bit surprised it moved correctly when following the TrackMaster engine. If I had the motor and battery on board the chassis and laid a metal wire under the surface, I don't see why it shouldn't work like a Faller vehicle.

As much as I love how it looked compared to the die cast, I don't plan to incorporate (front wheel) steering in future cardboard vehicles. One reason being it might be a bit hard to shape the front/s without leaving huge gaps to prevent the wheels from colliding. The other reason is I (realistically) wouldn't have many opportunities to use Plarail/TrackMaster as a "Magnorail alternative" due to the height needed above the tracks (and the size needed to hide a big layout with something other than cloth).