Hello everyone!
By now you probably have realized that I'm a Playmobil fire department theme enthusiast! I have always been extremely drawn to the retired 3526 fire engine, which to most people like me is the equivalent to the Merry Mens Feast set 3627 or the 3666 old retired steck castle to medevil theme collectors from which all other castles are judged, & are the Holy Grail to hard core collectors! I have acquired some of the 3526 fire engines over time that are needing parts, & components which are no longer available from DS, & are not easy to find used. It's difficult to find these fire engines in EUC, or complete, & if one becomes available MIB, they can demand up to several hundreds of dollars in auctions. Even in fair used condition this particular set is in great demand. In a quest to complete some of my 3526 projects I've been working on, I've hand made some parts, discovered some things, & found substitutions that can be utilized until with luck, I may be fortunate to find a part in a job lot, or a more complete set to purchase. The following pictures are of works in process, & I hope if you have one of these beautiful trucks that's in a state of disarray, that this project helps you to find a renewed interest to make it a front line piece of apparatus again! I hope you enjoy the pictures!
A picture of 2 of the 3 vehicles in process.
The telelight cross bar on the left side is one that I've hand made from scratch, & the one on the right is a factory original. The black spot lights came in the 3526 fire engine sets, & Playmospace sets; 3534, 3535, & 3536.
Front view of the hand made telelight cross bar.
Bottom view of the hand made telelight cross bar
Front view of the original factory telelight cross bar.
Bottom view of the factory original telelight cross bar.
Factory original 3 piece telelight pole in the extended position.
If you don't have access to the original black spot lights, with these substitutions you can still have some, however you will need to have the factory 3 piece telelight pole to mount them to. These are the part numbers you will need to order from DS to duplicate this custom project. 4 x 30064570 grey lamp housing, 4 x 30064560 grey lamp pivot, 4 x 30064580 lenses, 2 x 30255710 lt. grey light poles modified to be shorter. White lamp housings, & white pivots can be substituted for the grey ones if you desire.
Picture of lamps mounted.
Another view.
Side view.
Left water monitor with custom hand made control panel to replace missing factory original one like on the right side water cannon. I will be attempting to paint the custom one with chrome paint in the future.
A picture of the custom control panel removed from the water cannon for a close up photo.
Side view showing the factory original water cannon without the swivel mounting bracket. The right item is the factory original spot light showing the simularities. A discovery that I made during my experience with these vehicles, is the original factory water cannon is modeled from the black spot lights. As soon as I can acquire several of the spot lights as spares, I plan on attempting to hand make a custom water cannon using the spot lights as the starting base of the custom project. Although trying to find the spot lights is a project in itself!
Top view.
Bottom view.
