Disassembling a 3781 fire truck....the Bill Blackhurst method illustrated!!!

[Wolf Knight]

Hello everybody!!!

I have recently purchased a 3781 fire truck and was thinking about how it would be possible to clean it ... After reading Bill's thread of how to disassemble a fire truck in order to do so, I decided to go on with this project!!!

Many thanks to Bill for sharing his method with us http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=4371.0!!!
It is very usefull for all of us who want to keep our playmobil collection in a good condition!!!

To begin with, this is one of my latest items I got from ebay...


Ok, its not that dirty but believe me, there are spots that need a good wash...

In order to go on with this project, I asked my avatar to help me...and he was more than willing to call upon his knights to give some extra helping hands...


So, to follow Bill's instructions: ''To disassemble the whole truck, start by pulling the wheels & axles from the chassis. When you put pressure on the axles the black locks will pop out releasing the entire axles. Do this procedure to all 3 assemblies.''

In order to do so, we had to turn the truck upside down...thank goodness for playmobil knight power!!!


They turned the whole thing upside down with their bare hands  !!!! And they were so happy to do so that they go on top of it and started cheering!!!


Then, they began pushing the wheels out of their place and slowily taking them down...


The victorian playmobil people on the cupboard found this site interesting so they came out of their mansion to have a closer look!!!!

[Bill Blackhurst]

I love this instruction topic, Panos ! This is going to be a winner !

[Wolf Knight]

Bill goes on ''Next remove the 4 grey stabilizers from the chassis by pulling  them into their "in use" position & giving each a quick jerk to release them from their storage slots. ''

I think the knights got very eager to do this one as they had to pull and hit the stabilizers in order to take them out...


Unfortunately we had a casualty....I knew it was too dangerous for him to hang from the stabilizer like that...

And so I had to pick him up and call the doctor to take a look at him...


Well, stabilisers are out and we are ready to move to our next phase...


As Bill points out ''Next slide the 2 grey lower compartment drawers all of the way out to their open position, & get a small flat head type screw driver with masking tape wrapped around the flat bottom so you can slide the screw driver in between the white chassis, & the grey drawer locking tab. Pull on the drawers to release them from the chassis while the small screw driver is in between the chassis & lock slide.''

The knights got eager to push the drawers with their feet but my avatar stopped them.


Nevertheless, I noticed a gooey stuff on beneath the drawers...an oiley stuff of some kind to make them slide easier...It smelled bad as well...


So i gave the wrapped screwdriver to one of the knights and showed him where to push...


Now the drawers were out too, and looking them upside down, they really need to be washed...

[Wolf Knight]

I love this instruction topic, Panos ! This is going to be a winner !

And we are only half way through Bill!!!!

[Wolf Knight]

As bill goes on...''Next get a wooden clothes hanging pin, the kind with a spring in the middle & separate it then use it to push the fingers for the ladder turntable base toward the middle of the chassis above where the 2 rear dual tandam axles were located. You should feel the fingers unlock the turn table, then push the assembly clearing the fingers from their locking slots. ''

I had to use the wooden hanger itself to push the fingers.


and of course what we found underneath the chassis was more dust and more gooey stuff...


To quote Bill, ''Next remove the cable winch from its storage compartment by using  one half of the clothes pin to push the locking tab up to slide it out of its compartment similtaneously.''

I gave the wrapped screwdriver to one of the knights and release the cable winch compartment..


The knight felt quite victorious...as if he had beaten a dangerous menace or a formidable opponent...


Unfortunately there was a lot of pushing around so we had another casulaty...


I had to take this little guy to the doctor as well...


Now, the rest of the knights got envious of the one who took the cable winch compartment out of its place...so they started fighting about who is going to get the screwdriver next....


But my avatar put them back in line, reminding them that they are not little children to fight over such a silly cause...

[Wolf Knight]

Going back to Bill ''Next disable the rear cab locking tabs located inside where you just removed the lower grey storage drawers. Push the tabs toward the inside of the chassis. Once they are unlocked through the chassis approx. 1/2 inch, then go to the very front bottom of the chassis on either side of the cable winch mount housing & there should be a LH & RH black interior locking tab. You need to use the small screw driver again & gently pry each tab toward the front of the chassis releasing the entire cab from the chassis.''

I preffered to do this small part myself and let the knights think of their behaviour through a bit ...

Push the rear locking tabs with the wrapped screwdriver...

...thus taking the rear part of the cab off...


Then I let the knights handle the front bottom locking tabs...always under the strickt supervision of my avatar...


The whole chassis now came out of its place and the knights slide back and almost fall off the drawer chest...but they hang on...


Its time to look at the inside of the chassis....need a bath???


I got to take the black interior out with a bit of a push...


And finally let my knights have a look over the mess we just made...

[Wolf Knight]

Thank you all for going through this disassembly in pictures based on Bill Blackhurst instructions!!!!! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!!!! 

Now we only need to take the ladder crane appart....

But that is a photo session for another time....

[flatcat]

I love it!  I love it!

Excellent photographs, Wolf Knight and very funny too!

This will be of great help to me as I will probably need to take mine apart as well some time for an atempted refirb

[Bill Blackhurst]

BRAVO Wolf Knight  ! I'm embarrassed to say that I noticed some variations between my 3525 ladder truck projects designs, & your 3781 version ladder truck, but you were able to be versatile to conquer the differences, & make it look so smooth except for the trips to the doctor for some of your disassembly team members! I applaud your excellent story telling technique! Well done!

[Wolf Knight]

BRAVO Wolf Knight  ! I'm embarrassed to say that I noticed some variations between my 3525 ladder truck projects designs, & your 3781 version ladder truck, but you were able to be versatile to conquer the differences, & make it look so smooth except for the trips to the doctor for some of your disassembly team members! I applaud your excellent story telling technique! Well done!

Many thanks Bill!!! I am glad you liked the result!!!
Can you please post an image of that wooden hanger pin so that I understand which part of the hanger is exactly?